10 Best Acid Westerns, Ranked (original) (raw)
Image via ABKCO Films
Published Aug 21, 2024, 3:11 PM EDT
Luc Haasbroek is a writer and videographer from Durban, South Africa. He has been writing professionally about pop culture for eight years. Luc's areas of interest are broad: he's just as passionate about psychology and history as he is about movies and TV. He's especially drawn to the places where these topics overlap.
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The acid Western is a revisionist subgenre that blends the traditional elements of Westerns with the surreal, psychedelic, and countercultural themes of the 1960s and '70s. This was an era where authority was called into question by events like the Vietnam War; themes that shine through strongly in most acid Westerns. Unlike the classics of the genre, which tend to glorify frontier life and rugged individualism, the acid Western usually deconstructs these myths, presenting a darker, more disillusioned view of the Old West.
Anti-heroes and morally ambiguous plotlines are the order of the day here, as well as hallucinatory visuals and a hefty dose of existentialism. For example, the lawlessness of the frontier is depicted as unstable and deadly, rather than liberating, while the open skies and sprawling deserts become wastelands of spiritual decay. Optimism is in short supply in this genre. While certainly not for everyone, viewers who enjoy gunslinging and trippy imagery are likely to appreciate the best that this subgenre has to offer.
10 'Bad Company' (1972)
Directed by Robert Benton
"I will always keep to the straight and narrow, so help me God." In this bleaker, more realistic brand of Civil War Western, the young Drew Dixon (Barry Brown) flees the draft and teams up with a group of outlaws led by Jake Rumsey (Jeff Bridges). As the boys navigate the treacherous frontier, they encounter privation, violence, and betrayal. What begins as an adventure soon turns into a stark odyssey of survival and lost innocence.
Bad Company is lean and mean at just 93 minutes long. It does stumble occasionally (the comedic moments, in particular, occasionally fall flat). However, the thriller elements are well-executed, complemented by rapid-fire editing to ratchet up the tension. It's also notable for subverting the traditional romanticized vision of the Old West, at a time when this was still relatively uncommon on screen. It pulls no punches and represents some of the most vital and hard-hitting filmmaking by director Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer, Places of the Heart).
9 'Greaser's Palace' (1972)
Directed by Robert Downey Sr.
Greaser's Palace
Image via Cinema 5
"Dad, I was swimming in a rainbow with millions of babies." This surreal outing blends biblical allegory with absurdist humor. Directed by Iron Man's dad, Greaser's Palace centers on the Christ-like figure of Jesse (Allan Arbus), a zoot-suited drifter who paraglides into a desolate Western town ruled by the tyrannical Seaweedhead Greaser (Albert Henderson). Jesse performs miracles and revives the dead, attracting the attention of the town's eccentric inhabitants, including Greaser, who sees him as a threat to his power.
Greaser's Palace is so strange that it's genuinely difficult to make sense of what the director was going for. Is this a fantasy film, a parody, a social satire, or a straight-faced misfire? What's undeniable, though, is that it's trippy. There's crude humor, explosive violence, abundant anachronisms, dreamlike imagery, and catchy musical numbers. It's up to individual viewers to decide whether this is a disastrous mess or a boundary-pushing acid Western.
Release Date
July 31, 1972
Runtime
91 Minutes
Director
Robert Downey Sr.
Writers
Robert Downey Sr.
Producers
Cyma Rubin
Cast
Albert Henderson
Seaweedhead Greaser
Luana Anders
Mr. Spitunia
8 'Zachariah' (1971)
Directed by George Englund
Image via Cinerama Releasing Co.
"Zachariah, you don't need a gun to die!" Westerns don't get much more acidic than Zachariah, which is very much a product of the late '60s/early '70s psychedelic counterculture. In short, it's a surreal Western musical fusing Buddhist philosophy with hippy irreverence. It was even inspired by Herman Hesse's influential book Siddartha, set in ancient India during the time of the Buddha. The film is about a young man (John Rubinstein) and his best friend (Don Johnson) who set out to become gunfighters in the Wild West.
Along the way, they encounter a series of surreal and musical challenges, including a rock band of outlaws and a mysterious gunslinger who forces them to confront their own identities. Music is a through-line here, and Zachariah has been described as the first "electric Western". Indeed, co-writer Joe Massot got the idea for the movie after he joined the Beatles at an Indian meditation retreat in 1968.
7 'The Last Movie' (1971)
Directed by Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper riding a horse through an open field in The Last Movie
Image via Universal Pictures
"Don't cowboys have fantasies?" Dennis Hopper directed and starred in this genre deconstruction as Kansas, a stuntman working on a Western being filmed in a small Peruvian village. After a tragic accident during the shoot, Kansas stays behind and becomes involved with the local community. However, the villagers begin reenacting the film's violent scenes, blurring the line between reality and fiction.
The Last Movie is a meta-commentary on Hollywood, reflecting Hopper's own less-than-ideal experiences in the industry. The unconventionality extends to the film's form as well, with a number of bold filming and editing, including cinema's very first use of lens flare. Likewise, there are moments where a title card reading "Scene Missing" pops up, giving The Last Movie the feel of a real unfinished film. This experimentation scared off audiences at the time, resulting in Hopper essentially being exiled from Hollywood for several years, but later generations have been kinder to it. The Last Movie is now a cult classic.
The Last Movie
Release Date
September 29, 1971
Cast
Dennis Hopper, Stella Garcia, Don Gordon, Peter Fonda, Sam Fuller, Kris Kristofferson, Michelle Phillips, dean stockwell, Russ Tamblyn
Runtime
108 Minutes
Director
Dennis Hopper
Writers
Dennis Hopper, Stewart Stern
6 'Ride in the Whirlwind' (1966)
Directed by Monte Hellman
Image via Jack H. Harris Enterprises
"This is the 'less work I done on a weekday since I was 4, 'less I was sick." Ride in the Whirlwind is one of two low-budget Western collaborations between director Monte Hellman and star Jack Nicholson, who also penned the screenplay for this one. It follows three cowboys—Vern (Cameron Mitchell), Wes (Nicholson), and Otis (Tom Filer)—who, after stopping at a remote cabin for rest, are mistakenly identified as members of a notorious outlaw gang. The cabin is soon besieged by a posse seeking justice, and the trio finds themselves on the run.
The film is a minimalist affair, very much eschewing the heroics and grandeur typical of the genre. It has a rough-around-the-edges authenticity, in part due to the influence of producer Roger Corman. Thematically, Ride in the Whirlwind is very bleak, questioning the possibility of justice and depicting the Old West as a danger zone where might makes right.
5 'The Shooting' (1966)
Directed by Monte Hellman
Jack Nicholson in The Shooting
Image via Proteus Films
"I don't give a curly hair, yellow bear, double dog damn if ya did!" The other Hellman/Nicholson project is the even grimmer The Shooting, which has been described as an "existential Western". The plot centers on former bounty hunter, Gashade (Warren Oates) and his dimwitted friend Coley (Will Hutchins), who are hired to lead a woman (Millie Perkins) through the desert on a journey for a cryptic purpose. As they travel, they are stalked by an unstable gunslinger (Nicholson), an odious villain if there ever was one.
Unsurprisingly, Nicholson delivers a solid performance as the antagonist, accentuated by Hellman's stylish direction. In particular, the director definitely uses the landscapes to add to the tension and emphasize the themes. The harsh environment practically becomes a villain itself. The story is fittingly ambiguous, revealing itself to be a stranger and stranger as the movie rolls along. This fatalistic atmosphere has earned The Shooting a cult following. Not to mention, it's widely seen as being a big influence on Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man.
The Shooting
Release Date
October 23, 1966
Director
Monte Hellman
Actors
Jack Nicholson, Millie Perkins, Will Hutchins, Warren Oates
Run Time
1 hr 22 min
4 'The Hired Hand' (1971)
Directed by Peter Fonda
Warren Oates looking at Peter Fonda in The Hired Hand
Image via Universal Pictures
"It's cold on your own." This meditative, introspective Western marked the directorial debut for actor Peter Fonda, an icon of the 1960s counterculture. Here, he plays Harry Collings, a drifter who, after years of wandering the frontier, decides to return home to his estranged wife, Hannah (Verna Bloom). Seeking redemption, Harry takes up work as a hired hand on her farm, but his past and the violence he’s tried to leave behind eventually catch up with him.
This isn't the most exciting film plot-wise, but it compensates with its slow-burning drama and visual poetry. The cinematography by then-novice Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, _The Deer Hunter)_is a consistent treat. As with The Last Movie, The Hired Hand's uniqueness did not go down well with contemporary audiences, but it has since been viewed far more positively. The film's admirers include Martin Scorsese, who called it a 'moody, expressionistic and autumnal" piece.
The Hired Hand
Release Date
July 17, 1971
Runtime
90 Minutes
Director
Cast
Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Verna Bloom, Robert Pratt, Severn Darden, Rita Rogers, Ann Doran, Ted Markland
Main Genre
Western
3 'High Plains Drifter' (1973)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood as The Stranger having a drink in High Plains Drifter
Image via Universal Pictures
"We are all brothers in the eyes of God." Clint Eastwood channeled his collaborators Sergio Leone and Don Siegel with this supernatural Western about revenge, blending elements of horror and mystery with the traditional frontier tale. He leads the cast as The Stranger, an enigmatic figure who rides into the corrupt town of Lago, where he is hired to protect the townspeople from outlaws who are set to return. However, The Stranger’s methods are anything but conventional; he inflicts his own brand of justice on the town, revealing hidden sins and past betrayals.
It's soon implied that The Stranger is not quite human. The film's ghostly touches and moral complexity set it apart from most of the Westerns Eastwood had been involved in up to that point. Indeed, the film is almost a satire of the star's earlier works. It's certainly not as trippy as many of the other movies on this list, but it's a great early example of the genre beginning to question itself and explore new terrain.
2 'Dead Man' (1995)
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Image Via Miramax Films
"Every night and every morn, some to misery are born." Jim Jarmusch is one of the most eclectic directors working today, with a filmography that hits upon practically every genre, including the Western. His take on the classic genre comes in the form of this poetic, existential black-and-white gem about William Blake (Johnny Depp), a timid accountant who travels west to the town of Machine for a job, only to find himself embroiled in a series of violent encounters that leave him wounded and on the run.
Cue a deathly story fusing revisionist Western, social critique, and a surreal dreamscape. Jarmusch pulls off a delicate balance of pathos and humor, anchored by stunning visuals and a haunting score courtesy of Neil Young. Plus, the film has been praised for its well-researched depiction of various Native American cultures, something which is generally lacking in Westerns. The result is one of Jarmusch's very best (if somewhat challenging) movies. There's no Western quite like it.
Dead Man
Release Date
May 26, 1995
Cast
Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, John Hurt, Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Jared Harris, Mili Avital, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina
Runtime
121 Minutes
Director
Jim Jarmusch
1 'El Topo' (1970)
Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky
A man riding on horseback through the desert in El Topo (1970)
Image via ABKCO Films
"Too much perfection is a mistake." When it comes to quintessential acid Westerns, nothing can top this groundbreaking gem by offbeat legend Alejandro Jodorowsky. El Topo mashes together Western iconography with religious symbolism and vivid psychedelia, in the process blowing the genre wide open. Storywise, it's about a black-clad gunfighter (Jodorowsky) on a quest for spiritual enlightenment, but the plot takes second place to the startling images and surreal vibe.
In essence, this project is a spiritual fever dream, provocative in many ways. Jodorowsky was renowned for his fertile imagination, and here it fires on all cylinders. Among the most important psychedelic films ever, El Topo extended an immediate influence, quickly being embraced by figures like Bob Dylan and John Lennon. Later directors like David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Gore Verbinski have also taken inspiration from it. Weird, gutsy, confusing, and intense, this film laid the foundation for every acid Western to follow.
El Topo
Release Date
December 18, 1970
Cast
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Brontis Jodorowsky, Mara Lorenzio, David Silva, Paula Romo, Jacqueline Luis
Runtime
124 Minutes
Director
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Main Genre
Western