10 Most Ambitious Westerns Movies Ever Made

10. High Plains Drifter

Clint Eastwood's first self-directed western is an ambitious and ambiguous piece of Wild West myth weaving that still strikes audiences with its unusual approach to the legends of the west.

Telling the tale of Eastwood's unnamed Stranger arriving in a small town with its own shameful past, the film is a perfect example of Wild West Myth, with flashes of raw violence and laconic humour balancing the overall paranoid atmosphere. It is certainly an offbeat western and in lesser hands might have made for a terrible piece of work, but thankfully that isn't the case: the film intrigues and then delivers the goods.

Despite being only Eastwood's second directorial work, the material is handled with the self-assurance of an experienced professional, managing to pull off the distinctly unusual blend of revenge western and ghost story, with a deft use of ambiguity such that whether or not you feel there's anything paranormal going on at all will be the main point of contention with your pals after a viewing. The picture would have been an ambitious undertaking for even the most seasoned filmmaker, never mind a then-newcomer as Eastwood was.