True Grit (2010)
John Wayne won the best actor Oscar for his film adaptation of Charles Portis's 1968 novel, but this 2010 remake was far from a pale imitation.
Let the Coen brothers put a new spin on the story while remaining respectful of the genre. When her father is murdered, 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) recruits one-eyed sheriff Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges, 71) to help catch the killer (Josh Brolin, 53). Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon, 51) joins them in their hunt for him. Some critics went so far as to say that the new version surpassed the original, and it was nominated for 10 Academy Awards.
One of those nominations went to the remarkably confident Steinfeld, who more than lived up to her own opposite icons of hers who had been acting for decades before she was even born.
Nicholas DeRenzo is a contributing writer covering entertainment and travel. Previously, he was executive editor of United Airlines' Hemispheres magazine, and articles by him have appeared in the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Sunset, and New York magazine.
The Revenant (2015)
Based on a true story, this brutal revenge film follows 1820s colonist Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) as he fights for survival and seeks revenge against those who left him for dead in the winter landscape of what is now the Dakotas. DiCaprio, who earned his first Oscar nomination in 1994, finally managed to win one. The team behind the camera accomplished even more impressive feats: Alejandro González Iñárritu, 58, won his second consecutive Best Director Oscar (his first was for Birdman), while cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, 56, won his third Academy Award in three years.
The much-talked-about bear attack scene where bones are broken and blood splattered is worth admiring, even if you're looking at it through your fingers while covering your eyes.
Django Unchained (2012)
Quentin Tarantino (58 years old) had paid homage to film genres such as black exploitation cinema and kung fu movies before turning his attention to the spaghetti western with this raucous and violent epic. The formerly enslaved Django (Jamie Foxx, 53) teams up with German dentist-turned-bounty hunter King Schultz (Christoph Waltz, 65, who won an Oscar for the role) to free Django's wife (Kerry Washington) from the cruel Mississippi plantation owner Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Tarantino would return to the Western with The Hateful Eight in 2015, in which eight strangers wait out a blizzard at a stagecoach stop where the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Samuel L. Jackson (72) wowed audiences as the evil Stephen, an enslaved man with an undying loyalty to Candie. Jackson has said that it is one of his favorite roles of all time.
The Sisters Brothers (2018)
Despite its all-star cast, you probably haven't heard of this crime western from French director Jacques Audiard (69). Very few people went to see it, which is a shame, because it's weird and witty in a way few Westerns allow themselves to be. Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly (56) play the hitmen named after the film, who is hired to hunt down Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed), a chemist who seems to have discovered a way to extract gold from the rivers. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a private detective with shifting loyalties.
Beyond the four main actors, the ensemble includes notable characters like Carol Kane (69 years old), the mother of the Sisters brothers, and Rutger Hauer (in one of his last film roles) the wealthy businessman who sends them on their mission.
