10 Most Visually Stunning Westerns Ever Made

Quentin Tarantino had arguably dabbled in the western genre before with his Kill Bill duology before he brought a revisionist glee to the fantastic Django Unchained - but he arguably delivered a more visually distinct distillation of the genre with his subsequent gonzo chamber piece, about a group of strangers gathered at a stagecoach lodge where all is not what it seems.

Boasting a score from none other than Ennio Morricone himself - who won his first competitive Oscar for his efforts here - it's a more moderately paced effort compared to the more consistent blood-letting on show in its predecessor, but what really helps it tick is the sheer sense of claustrophobia conjured by Robert Richardson both in and around Minnie's Haberdashery, the centrepiece of this ultimately bonkers face-off.

Shot in 65mm and transferred to 70mm for projection, it remains one of the few films to be shown in the latter format over the past decade and it tells; every frame feels calibrated with a frostiness that seeps into the bones in shivering fashion. Richardson has shot six films with Tarantino to date, but this - to paraphrase another Quentin character - may just be his masterpiece.