All Sam Elliott Western Movies Ranked from Worst to Best

Sam Elliott has spent decades riding trails across big screens and living rooms, bringing lawmen, outlaws, and trail-weary cowboys to life. This roundup gathers his Western film work across theatrical releases and made-for-TV movies, from early appearances to lead roles that shaped his on-screen persona. It focuses on self-contained movies rather than ongoing series.

Each entry notes Elliott’s role, the story setup, and notable production details like source novels or alternate titles. You will also find clarifications where different projects share the same name, so everything here stays easy to navigate if you are digging through a filmography or hunting down a weekend watch.

‘Molly and Lawless John’ (1972)

Sam Elliott plays Johnny Lawler, an imprisoned outlaw whose escape is aided by a small-town sheriff’s wife played by Vera Miles. The story follows their flight across the frontier as changing loyalties and the realities of life on the run close in on them. The film presents Elliott in an early lead turn within the genre, pairing him with a veteran star and a character built around survival and necessity.

Directed by Gary Nelson, the production was designed as a straightforward Western with a focus on the evolving dynamic between a wanted man and the woman who helps him break free. It is frequently referenced in Elliott retrospectives because it predates his more widely known Western titles while showing the traits that would define many of his later roles.

‘The Desperate Trail’ (1994)

Elliott portrays Marshal John McCabe, a relentless lawman tracking fugitives across harsh terrain while the lines between hunter and hunted shift with every reversal. The plot centers on a prisoner transport gone wrong and a chase that winds through towns, mesas, and rail lines as competing motives emerge among the leads.

Produced for television, the film features a compact runtime and an emphasis on momentum and set pieces built around trains and desert crossings. The cast includes Craig Sheffer and Linda Fiorentino, and the story uses a tight cat-and-mouse structure that keeps the action moving from one standoff to the next.

‘The Quick and the Dead’ (1987)

Based on a Louis L’Amour novel, Elliott stars as Con Vallian, a seasoned gunfighter who steps in to protect a homesteading family being pressured off their land. The film follows their journey toward safety while Vallian counters hired guns and range conflicts that escalate around the wagon caravan.

This is a television movie and not related to the later theatrical film with the same title. The production leans on location photography, period wagons, and frontier town sets, and it keeps the spotlight on the push-pull between small farmers and powerful landholders that drives many traditional Western plots.

‘Houston: The Legend of Texas’ (1986)

Released in some regions as ‘Houston: The Legend of Texas’, the film casts Elliott as Sam Houston and traces his path from public life in the United States to leadership in the Texas Revolution. Key episodes include his time with the Cherokee, his political break from earlier posts, and the campaign that culminates at San Jacinto.

The production blends political chambers, encampments, and battlefield staging to cover the transition from territory to republic. It is often used by viewers looking for a single feature that lays out the major beats of Houston’s career, since it condenses biography and military strategy into a one-sitting story.

‘You Know My Name’ (1999)

Elliott plays legendary lawman Bill Tilghman as he accepts a late-career badge in an Oklahoma boomtown overrun by bootleggers and corrupt enforcers. The plot follows Tilghman’s attempt to bring order without turning the streets into a shooting gallery, a goal tested by organized crime and officials who prefer payoffs to peace.

Produced for television, the movie frames Tilghman’s methods against a changing era when frontier towns gave way to modern rackets. The script uses newspapers, civic meetings, and staged crime scenes to show how a figure known for taming rough places tries to restore calm through procedure as much as force.

‘The Shadow Riders’ (1982)

Adapted from Louis L’Amour, the film reunites brothers returning from opposite sides of the Civil War as they set out to rescue kidnapped family members. Elliott plays Dal Traven alongside Tom Selleck as Mac Traven, and the story sends them across border country as they track raiders who plan to sell captives into Mexico.

Shot as a television feature, the production relies on practical riding work, coastal ranchland, and mission compounds to give the rescue plot clear milestones. The script mixes reunited family dynamics with pursuit tactics, and the brothers coordinate posses and informants while closing in on the raiders’ route.

‘Conagher’ (1991)

Elliott headlines as Conn Conagher, a drifting cowhand whose path intersects with Evie Teale, a frontier mother played by Katharine Ross. The story follows seasonal cattle work, stage line danger, and a correspondence carried on through messages tied to rolling tumbleweeds, a device carried over from the Louis L’Amour source novel.

Produced for television, the film emphasizes camp chores, bunkhouse codes, and the slow logistics of ranch life. Elliott co-wrote the teleplay, and the production gives space to day-to-day tasks like fencing and line riding, which ground the plot’s threats in the demands of work rather than constant gunplay.

‘Tombstone’ (1993)

Elliott appears as Virgil Earp alongside Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday. The film covers the Earp family’s arrival in Arizona, rising tensions with the Cowboys, and the chain of events that includes the gunfight near the O.K. Corral and the subsequent vendetta ride.

The production is known for detailed costuming, set-built commercial streets, and a rotation of saloons and gambling halls that frame the shifting alliances in town. It uses courtrooms, marshals’ offices, and railroad depots to track legal authority as much as firepower, and Elliott’s Virgil anchors the family’s official response to ongoing intimidation.

‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ (1969)

Sam Elliott appears in a brief role during the early card game sequence while the main story follows the Hole-in-the-Wall gang’s train robberies and the pair’s flight south. The core narrative covers the pressure brought by a skilled posse and the decision to relocate to Bolivia when the usual hideouts no longer offer safety.

Directed by George Roy Hill and starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, the film combines location shooting with period trains and frontier banks to map the outlaws’ moves. Elliott’s small appearance is notable in career overviews because the production also starred Katharine Ross, whom he later married, making this credit an early intersection of two careers that would converge again in ‘Conagher’.

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