All 6 Kevin Costner Western Movies, Ranked

Like both John Wayne and Clint Eastwood before him, Kevin Costner isn’t solely defined by the work he’s done in the Western genre, but many of the Old West stories he’s brought to life endure. He’s become further tied to the Western in more recent years thanks to the ever-popular television show, Yellowstone, as well as the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys a few years before that.

Kevin Costner made a return to cinema and the Western at the same time in 2024, with his ambitious multipart epic, Horizon: An American Saga, getting its first entry released in June 2024, with a second planned for August 2024. To focus on the movies he’s been a part of, and specifically how he’s thrived within the Western genre, what follows is a ranking of all the Westerns he’s starred in and/or directed, starting with the merely okay and ending with the classics.

6 'Wyatt Earp' (1994)

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

For as tired as it might be to compare the snappier, more exciting, and more quotable Tombstone to the longer and more exhausting Wyatt Earp, it’s hard to resist. After all, both concern Earp and his dramatic life, with both films covering the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral to some extent (Tombstone was a little more focused on it, admittedly). And both films came out incredibly close to one another, ultimately setting them up to compete, with Tombstone getting released in December 1993 and Wyatt Earp getting released in June 1994.

Wyatt Earp functions more like a traditional biopic for its titular character, covering many years in the man’s life and playing it fairly safe overall. The one thing that really holds it back from being pretty good is the length and (lack of) pacing, because Wyatt Earp seriously drags at times. There’s a strong supporting cast here, the film looks good throughout, and it doesn’t really feel like anyone wasn’t trying necessarily… it’s just that Wyatt Earp lacks excitement, and getting sucked into the story at hand is difficult (which might well be a death knell for any movie 3+ hours long).

Wyatt Earp

Watch on Apple TV+

5 'Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1' (2024)

Director: Kevin Costner

Hope you’re ready to hear the word “long” a lot, because like Wyatt Earp and some other soon-to-be-mentioned films, Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 is very long, clocking in at just one minute over three hours. And it’s set to be just one-quarter of a mammoth epic, because Kevin Costner – the film’s director and star – is planning for this American saga to be four parts long. If this initial movie has set a precedent, then folks could be in for one 12-hour epic. Horizon’s second chapter is indeed on the horizon, with a planned release date of August 16, 2024, but it’s up in the air when Chapters 3 and 4 will come out.

Anyway, all that’s to say there’s not much that can be said about Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 without the other chapters. On its own, it’s not particularly great, and each of its subplots – centering on people living through the Civil War, the film spanning from the early 1860s to the middle of the decade – feel rather divorced from one another, for now. It’s a bit like watching the first 30 to 40 minutes of a normal-length feature film and trying to judge it. As far as first acts go, there are certainly ways Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 could feel a little more satisfying (The Fellowship of the Ring, for example, kicks off a greater story for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but still feels like a complete film), but maybe time – and future chapters – will make this installment seem better in hindsight.

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

Watch in theaters

4 'Let Him Go' (2020)

Director: Thomas Bezucha

Let Him Go stands out among Kevin Costner Westerns for a handful of reasons. For one, it’s the only Western movie he’s been in that clocks in at under two hours, it’s the only one set outside Old West times, and it’s the only Western of his that wasn’t directed by Costner himself or Lawrence Kasdan. Its narrative involves a retired sheriff and his wife going on a desperate mission to rescue their grandson, and it’s overall one of the more underrated movies Kevin Costner has starred in.

Hitting the beats you’d expect a neo-Western/thriller film to hit, but nonetheless hitting them well, Let Him Go is the perfect rainy afternoon movie; the kind you’d catch on cable and be pleasantly surprised by, if cable was still a thing. Costner and co-star Diane Lane both rose to popularity at around the same time (and they played Clark Kent’s parents, too, in Man of Steel), so it’s good to see them both given substantial roles here, and they give strong performances in what ends up being a pretty solid film.

Let Him Go

Watch on Peacock

3 'Silverado' (1985)

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

A movie where some supposed outlaws are surprisingly heroic, and it’s a corrupt sheriff who’s ultimately the villain, Silverado came out during a fairly uneventful decade for the Western genre as a whole. The Golden Age of Hollywood saw plenty of popular Westerns, and then those of the Spaghetti and Revisionist varieties proved popular in the 1960s and some of the 1970s, but the 1980s didn’t seem to see as many. The genre took off again, to some extent, in the 1990s, when Revisionist Westerns came back in fashion and got even darker (see Unforgiven, for example).

So, Silverado might well be the best Western of its decade, or at least the best of the big-budget Hollywood ones (granted, not a ton of competition, but it’s something). A young and up-and-coming Kevin Costner is just one part of a gargantuan and impressive cast that also includes the likes of Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Danny Glover, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Linda Hunt, and Jeff Goldblum. It’s big, and a little uneven/unwieldy, but it’s mostly a good deal of fun, and succeeds in feeling like part-throwback, part-revisionism, as far as Westerns go.

Silverado (1985)

Rent on Apple TV

2 'Open Range' (2003)

Director: Kevin Costner

The only film to date directed by Kevin Costner that doesn’t hover around or exceed the three-hour mark, Open Range is another entry in his filmography that can be considered kind of underrated. It’s not so much that the people who’ve seen Open Range undervalued it; more just that not enough people seem to have viewed it in the first place. It has a simple premise, revolving around an ex-gunslinger forced to gather some allies to defend himself against a corrupt lawman and his forces, but it’s the way the straightforward story’s told that makes Open Range work.

Costner is good in the lead role, and the sometimes terrifying, sometimes Dumbledore actor, Michael Gambon, is an effective villain, but it’s probably Robert Duvall who steals the movie, and makes it as good as it is. Something about Duvall makes him a perfect fit for the Western genre (he’s one of many reasons why the Lonesome Dove miniseries is so great), and he shines here. But the rest of Open Range is also rock solid, with good characters and a compelling central conflict, ultimately making it a rewarding watch.

Open Range

Rent on Apple TV

1 'Dances with Wolves' (1990)

Director: Kevin Costner

Dances with Wolves was the first film Kevin Costner ever directed, and it’s proved to be his most successful critically, not to mention one of the movies that can count itself as a Best Picture-winning epic. That’s all to say that it’s another long movie in Costner’s filmography, but it generally uses its runtime well, telling the story of a Civil War soldier who finds a new purpose and a way of life when he befriends the members of a local Sioux tribe.

Sure, Dances with Wolves is broad in the way it tackles themes surrounding prejudice and redemption, but, viewed more positively, it’s also easy to call Dances with Wolves approachable and decently empathetic. It’s sprawling and exciting at times, but also tells an interesting personal story alongside the grandeur and more epic scenes, all ensuring it earns the right to be considered a classic of the Western genre.

Dances With Wolves

Watch on Tubi

NEXT: The Best Gangster Movie Stars, Ranked

ncG1vNJzZmibn6G5qrDEq2Wcp51kuKbCyKdknKejqbumvoywnKyslae7brnOr6Ceq12XsrTAjKuYp6OVmXw%3D