The best Western movies on Hulu that deliver epic showdowns

Jordan HoffmanTue, March 17, 2026 at 11:00 PM UTC

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Jamie Foxx in 'Django Unchained,' Kurt Russell in 'Bone Tomahawk.' Both with super cool hatsCredit: Andrew Cooper/Weinstein Company; Scott Everett White

Okay all you Hulu subscribers, it’s time to saddle up!

There are times when each of us — country folk and city slickers alike — crave the dusty red earth beneath our boots and the stank of horse manure in our nostrils.

Okay, maybe not that second part. Point is, the Western genre is one of the key foundations of the cinematic form. From the 1903 Great Train Robbery made for Thomas Edison’s studio to the expanding Taylor Sheridan universe, examining the Western is, in a way, examining America itself.

All streaming services offer an opportunity to don the white hat, and Hulu is no exception. With that, here are a handful of great Westerns you can stream on Hulu right now.

01 of 04

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Richard Jenkins and Kurt Russell in 'Bone Tomahawk'Credit: Scott Everett White

Is S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk a Western that adds horror elements or a horror film set in the West? The answer: Who cares? This unpredictable film, in which Kurt Russell leads a posse including Richard Jenkins, Matthew Fox, and Patrick Wilson on a rescue mission against cave-dwelling cannibals, is as shocking now as it was a decade ago.

With its slow burn pacing and 132-minute length, there’s plenty of time to dig your spurs in feel the film shifting beneath your feet. You’ll observe these characters and get to know their unique philosophical outlooks… but when the wishbones start flying, look out. The campfire conversations are enjoyable for all, but the violence is a little hardcore.

Where to watch Bone Tomahawk: Hulu

02 of 04

Butcher’s Crossing (2022)

Nicolas Cage and Fred Hechinger in 'Butcher's Crossing'Credit: Saban Films

Nicolas Cage is a prolific actor whose better work occasionally slips through the cracks. This existential Western, based on John Edward Williams’s 1960 novel and directed by documentarian Gabe Polsky, is a good example. Fred Hechinger plays an East Coast college dropout who heads to the frontier with wide-eyed dreams of adventure.

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He hooks up with Cage’s grizzled buffalo hunter who convinces the kid to join him on a search for one of the last untouched herds. Nature in all its brutality challenges their stubbornness. The stunning location photography in Montana is balanced by the violence of the campaign’s animal butchery, leading to some philosophical complexities.

Where to watch Butcher’s Crossing: Hulu

03 of 04

Django Unchained (2012)

Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx in 'Django Unchained'Credit: Andrew Cooper/Weinstein Company

This is technically not a Western; it’s more of a Southern. But it’s got men on horses, shoot-outs, and staggering performances from Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Indeed, much of the imagery has been remixed by internet culture so regularly it’s worth revisiting this movie just to see those GIFs in their original context.

Writer-director Quentin Tarantino may have bent the truth of Antebellum South to meet his story needs, but if anyone is going to examine the horrors of slavery through the lens of mid-century exploitation pictures and actually pull it off, it’s going to be him.

Where to watch Django Unchained: Hulu

04 of 04

The Revenant (2015)

Leonardo DiCaprio in 'The Revenant'Credit: Kimberley French/20th Century Studios

Leonardo DiCaprio spent weeks crawling face-down in the icy mud for for our enjoyment, so the least we can do is rewatch his Oscar-winning film! Thanks to Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Hulu subscribers can watch in wonderment as Leo dodges arrows, gets flung around like a rag doll by a bear, eats raw bison liver, falls into a river, and beats the tar out of Tom Hardy.

Grab the popcorn? Well, not exactly. This isn’t what anyone would call a fun movie, but it’s certainly an amazing production.

Where to watch The Revenant: Hulu

on Entertainment Weekly

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”