10 Best Western Comedy Movies of All Time (2024)

Infusing the Western genre with comedic elements can find its origins as far back as the 1910s. Famed silent-era comedians such as Harold Lloyd and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle starred in Western comedy shorts like Two-Gun Gussie, Billy Blazes, Esq., and Out West. During the 1920s, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton made some of the first feature-length Western comedies with movies such as The Gold Rush and Go West. In 1939, the iconic Western comedy Destry Rides Again was among several high-profile Westerns that turned the Western into a blockbuster genre.

Over the years, some of cinema's greatest comedic actors, such as Laurel and Hardy, Gene Wilder, and Billy Crystal have all taken a stab at Western comedies in films like Way Out West, Blazing Saddles, and City Slickers. Cinema's best Western comedies rank among the funniest movies of all time.

10 McLintok! Is a Rare Western Comedy Starring John Wayne (1963)

• IMDb Rating: 7.1

John Wayne starred in 90 Westerns throughout his illustrious career, however, only a handful of those movies were Western comedies. Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, McLintok! is Wayne's most famous Western comedy. In McLintok!, Wayne stars as G. W. McLintok, a wealthy rancher who uses his power and influence to keep the peace between farmers, ranchers, land-grabbers, Indians, and corrupt government officials.

McLintok! earned positive reviews from critics and was a box office success. The film won two Laurel Awards for Top Action Drama and Top Action Performance. Today, McLintok! is best remembered for Maureen O'Hara's performance. O'Hara, nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor," was one of the rare Golden Era Hollywood actresses who performed her own stunts. McLintok! features O'Hara falling backward off a ladder into a trough and participating in a madcap mud slide fight. The Los Angeles Times' Susan King wrote of McLintok!, "There are plenty of brawls -- the stars end up in a mud pit and O'Hara runs through the town in her undergarments with Wayne on the case -- along with romance and fun. McLintock! certainly isn't subtle, but it was and is one of Wayne's most popular vehicles."

9 City Slickers Is an Oscar Winning Western Comedy (1991)

City Slickers

PG-13

Comedy

Western

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On the verge of turning 40, an unhappy Manhattan yuppie is roped into joining his two friends on a cattle drive in the southwest.

Director

Ron Underwood

Release Date

June 7, 1991

Cast

Billy Crystal , Jack Palance , Daniel Stern , Bruno Kirby

Writers

Lowell Ganz , Babaloo Mandel

Runtime

113 minutes

Main Genre

Comedy

• IMDb Rating: 6.8

Fresh off the success of When Harry Met Sally..., Billy Crystal was one of Hollywood's most prominent comedic movie stars. Crystal followed When Harry Met Sally... with City Slickers, a Western comedy that features Crystal alongside Jack Palance, Daniel Stern, and Bruno Kirby. City Slickers stars Crystal as Mitch Robbins, an unhappy Manhattan yuppie who, on the verge of turning 40, takes a trip with his two friends to partake in a cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado.

City Slickers was a massive box office success, grossing $179 million worldwide against a $26 million budget. For his performance, Palance won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. Palance famously demonstrated his ability to perform one-armed pushups during his Oscar acceptance speech. City Slickers also earned two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical. Both the American Film Institute and Bravo voted City Slickers one of the top 100 funniest movies ever made.

8 Cat Ballou Features One of Lee Marvin's Greatest Performances (1965)

Cat Ballou

A young schoolteacher turns into an outlaw to avenge her murdered father.

• IMDb Rating: 6.7

Directed by Elliot Silverstein, Cat Ballou is one of cinema's most unique Westerns. Cat Ballou is a Western comedy that stars Jane Fonda as the titular Cat Ballou, a young schoolteacher who becomes an outlaw to avenge her father's murder. Lee Marvin co-stars in a dual role, playing both drunken gunfighter Kid Shelleen and antagonist Tim Strawn. Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye sing the film's theme song and narrate the story in a Greek chorus style.

Cat Ballou was a box office hit that finished 1965 as the seventh highest-grossing North American release. Marvin's performance earned him the best reviews of his career. He won Best Actor awards from the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards, Berlin International Film Festival, Laurel Awards, and the National Board of Review. Cat Ballou also received Academy Award nominations for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Film Editing, Best Music, Original Song, and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment. The American Film Institute named Cat Ballou the tenth-greatest American Western and the 50th-best Hollywood comedy. The organization also nominated Cat Ballou for their lists 100 Years...100 Movies, 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains, 100 Years...100 Songs, and 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition).

7 The Good, the Bad, the Weird Is a Genre-Bending South Korean Western (2008)

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

R

Comedy

Adventure

The story of two outlaws and a bounty hunter in 1940s Manchuria and their rivalry to possess a treasure map while being pursued by the Japanese army and Chinese bandits.

Director

Jee-woon Kim

Release Date

July 17, 2008

Cast

Song Kang-ho , Lee Byung-hun , Jung Woo-sung , Oh Dal-su

Writers

Jee-woon Kim , Min-suk Kim

Runtime

130 minutes

Main Genre

Action

Producer

Jae-Won Choi, Jee-woon Kim

Production Company

Barunson Co. Ltd., Grimm Pictures

• IMDb Rating: 7.2

New Korean Cinema is known for its genre-bending prowess. Kim Jee-woon's The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a prime example of South Korean cinema's ability to mix genres smoothly. The Good, the Bad, the Weird is an action-adventure Western comedy about two outlaws and a bounty hunter who compete for possession of a treasure map in 1940s Manchuria. The trio not only fight against each other but against the Japanese army and Chinese bandits.

The Good, the Bad, the Weird was a box office success in South Korea, placing as 2008's second highest-grossing domestic release. The film received positive reviews for its direction, action sequences, ensemble acting performances, and cinematography. Overall, The Good, the Bad, the Weird won 12 awards out of 39 total nominations. Variety's Derek Elley wrote of the film, "East meets West meets East again, with palate-tingling results, in The Good the Bad the Weird, a kimchi Western that draws shamelessly on its spaghetti forebears but remains utterly, bracingly Korean."

6 Way Out West Is One of Laurel and Hardy's Best Feature Films (1937)

Way Out West

Not Rated

Western

Action

Comedy

Stan and Ollie try to deliver the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Unfortunately, the daughter's evil guardian is determined to have the gold mine for himself and his saloon-singer wife.

Director

James W. Horne

Release Date

April 16, 1937

Cast

Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Rosina Lawrence , James Finlayson , Sharon Lynn , Chill Wills , Stanley Fields , Vivien Oakland

Writers

James W. Horne , James Parrott , Charley Rogers , Felix Adler , Arthur V. Jones , Oliver Hardy , Stan Laurel

Runtime

64 Minutes

Main Genre

Comedy

• IMDb Rating: 7.6

Both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made several Westerns as solo performers. Together, they only made one Western comedy, Way Out West. One of the duo's best feature films, Way Out West sees Laurel and Hardy tasked with delivering the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Complicating matters is the daughter's evil guardian, who desires to have the gold mine for himself.

Along with Sons of the Desert and Babes in Toyland, Way Out West remains one of Laurel and Hardy's most beloved comedies. Way Out West's most enduring moment is a dance sequence in which Laurel and Hardy dance to the Avalon Boys' "At the Ball, That's All." Time Out wrote of Way Out West, "Arguably the most assured of Stan and Ollie's features, with the sparkling duo sent to Brushwood Gulch to deliver the deed for a gold mine to the daughter (Lawrence) of a deceased prospector. Looking for a quick buck, saloon keeper Finlayson directs them to his own brassy girlfriend (Lynn). Some classic moments, such as the pair's soft-shoe shuffle outside the saloon, and their vocal duet at the bar on 'The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia', as well as a razor-sharp satire of B Western conventions." The American Film Institute nominated Way Out West for their list of American cinema's greatest comedies.

5 Django Unchained Contains Quentin Tarantino's Trademark Dark Humor (2012)

Django Unchained

R

Drama

Western

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A bounty hunting scam joins two men in an uneasy alliance against a third in a race to find a fortune in gold buried in a remote cemetery.

Director

Quentin Tarantino

Release Date

December 25, 2012

Cast

Jamie Foxx , Christoph Waltz , Leonardo DiCaprio

Writers

Quentin Tarantino

Runtime

2 hours 45 minutes

Main Genre

Western

Production Company

The Weinstein Company, Columbia Pictures

• IMDb Rating: 8.5

Quentin Tarantino has never directed a true comedy, however, every single one of his films contains his trademark sense of dark humor. This is true of Django Unchained, a revisionist Western that combines elements of spaghetti Westerns with blaxploitation cinema. Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as a freed slave who teams up with a German bounty hunter to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation in Mississippi. In addition to Foxx, the all-star cast includes Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson.

An unprecedented financial success, Django Unchained surpassed Dances with Wolves as the highest-grossing Western in film history with a total worldwide gross of $426 million. It also became Tarantino's highest-grossing movie. At the 85th Academy Awards, Django Unchained won the Oscars for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. The film also earned nominations for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Cinematography, and Best Achievement in Sound Editing. In total, Django Unchained won 58 awards out of 216 nominations. Django Unchained played a central role in the revival of the Western genre in the 2010s.

4 Ruggles of Red Gap Is a National Film Registry Inducted Western Comedy (1935)

• IMDb Rating: 7.6

During the 1920s and 1930s, Leo McCarey was one of the world's premier comedy directors. McCarey began his career working for Hal Roach, writing and directing films for Our Gang, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy. In the 1930s, McCarey directed iconic comedy films such as Duck Soup, Ruggles of Red Gap, and The Awful Truth. Ruggles of Red Gap is a Western comedy that stars Charles Laughton as Marmaduke Ruggles, an English valet who is lost in a poker game to an American cattle baron. Ruggles must move to the American West and assimilate into American culture.

Ruggles of Red Gap was one of three hit films Laughton made in 1935, the other two being Les Misérables and Mutiny on the Bounty. At the 8th Academy Awards, Ruggles of Red Gap received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. The National Board of Review named Ruggles of Red Gap one of 1935's Top Ten Films. Laughton won Best Actor at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. In 2014, the Library of Congress selected Ruggles of Red Gap for preservation in the National Film Registry. The American Film Institute nominated Ruggles of Red Gap for their list of the best American comedies.

3 Destry Rides Again Helped Elevate the Western Genre to Blockbuster Status (1939)

Destry Rides Again

Not Rated

Comedy

Western

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Deputy sheriff Destry tames the town of Bottle Neck, including saloon singer Frenchy.

Director

George Marshall

Release Date

December 29, 1939

Cast

Marlene Dietrich , James Stewart , Mischa Auer , Charles Winninger

Runtime

95 minutes

Main Genre

Western

• IMDb Rating: 7.6

Throughout the silent era and into the 1930s, Westerns were a B movie genre. In 1939, Westerns such as Stagecoach, Jesse James, Dodge City, Destry Rides Again, and Drums Along the Mohawk helped elevate the Western genre to blockbuster status. Directed by George Marshall, Destry Rides Again is a Western comedy starring James Stewart as Tom Destry Jr., a deputy sheriff tasked with taming the town of Bottleneck. While in Bottleneck, Destry Jr. meets Frenchy, a saloon singer famously played by Marlene Dietrich.

Destry Rides Again was a box office success and a comeback film for Dietrich, who had been labeled box office poison after a string of flops. Dietrich's performance as Frenchy served as the primary source of inspiration for Madeline Kahn's character Lili Von Shtupp in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles. In 1996, Destry Rides Again entered the National Film Registry. The American Film Institute nominated Destry Rides Again for their lists 100 Years...100 Movies, 100 Years...100 Laughs, 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), and AFI 10 Top 10 (Western).

2 Blazing Saddles Is Mel Brooks' Magnum Opus (1974)

Blazing Saddles

R

Comedy

Western

Satire

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In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.

Director

Mel Brooks

Release Date

February 7, 1974

Cast

Cleavon Little , gene wilder , Slim Pickens , Madeline Kahn

Runtime

1 Hour 33 Minutes

Main Genre

Comedy

• IMDb Rating: 7.7

In 1974, Mel Brooks directed two of the greatest comedy films of all time, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Blazing Saddles focuses on a corrupt politician who hires a Black sheriff with the hopes of ruining the town of Rock Ridge. However, Bart, the Black sheriff, becomes the politician's most formidable adversary. Blazing Saddles features a screenplay written by Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Alan Uger, and comedy legend Richard Pryor.

Both Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein were tremendous box-office hits. Blazing Saddles was the second highest-grossing North American release in 1974, while Young Frankenstein finished third. Blazing Saddles earned three Academy Award nominations, two BAFTA Award nominations, and won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen. In 2006, Blazing Saddles became a member of the National Film Registry. The American Film Institute ranked Blazing Saddles the sixth-greatest American comedy of all time. The organization also nominated Blazing Saddles for their lists 100 Years...100 Movies and 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition).

1 The Gold Rush Is the Greatest Western Comedy (1925)

The Gold Rush

Passed

Comedy

Adventure

Drama

A prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.

Director

Charlie Chaplin

Release Date

June 26, 1926

Cast

Charles Chaplin , Mack Swain , Tom Murray , Georgia Hale , Malcolm Waite

Writers

Charles Chaplin

Runtime

1 hour 35 minutes

Main Genre

Comedy

• IMDb Rating: 8.1

Harold Lloyd, "Fatty" Arbuckle, and Buster Keaton had all already gone West by the time Charlie Chaplin directed and starred in his first Western comedy, The Gold Rush. Cinema's greatest Western comedy, The Gold Rush features Chaplin's seminal Tramp character as a prospector going to the Klondike during the 1890s in the hopes of finding gold. While there, he competes against other prospectors while also falling in love.

The Gold Rush was yet another commercial success for Chaplin, with the film finishing as the fourth highest-grossing North American release in 1925. Some of The Gold Rush's most notable moments include Chaplin's famous roll dance, The Tramp cooking and eating his shoe, and the blizzard sequence. At the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, an international film poll voted The Gold Rush the second-best movie ever made. In 1992, The Gold Rush became one of the first 100 films inducted into the National Film Registry. The American Film Institute, the BBC, Sight & Sound, The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, and Cahiers du cinéma each named The Gold Rush one of cinema's all-time greatest works.