Summary

• Spaghetti Western classics like "A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof" and "The Great Silence" have cold, intense opening scenes.
• "Django Unchained" and "A Fistful of Dollars" feature dramatic desert action sequences setting the tone for the films.
• Films like "Unforgiven" and "Rio Bravo" showcase how opening scenes can foreshadow the intensity and grit of Western movies.

Some Western films are renowned for having excellent opening sequences that lead into a great movie, but a few movies are considered the best right from the first moments. From a musical number featuring singer Tex Ritter to a epic shootout on a stagecoach, there is no shortage of action in the opening sequence of a Western. Many of these films also featured classic Western stars such as John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, adding to the mythos of the genre.

Every Western is different, and no two opening sequences are alike, which can set up the rest of the film to be an incredible masterpiece. This ranges from the leading man losing his family to a classic Western stagecoach heist, and a host of of other setups. With that said, here are the 10 Western movies that have incredible opening scenes.

10 A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof (1968)

Starring: Giuliano Gemma (Billy Boy), Mario Adorf (Harry), Magda Konopka (Widow Dorothy McDonald), Julie Menard (Sirene/Donna)

This 1968 Italian Spaghetti Western classic starts out with a shootout on a traveling stagecoach. As Federico Boido's Roger Pratt is looking for Giuliano Gemma's Billy, he stops a stagecoach that is traveling. Without any hesitation, Roger and his gang murder the engers and the driver. Roger also shoots the informant as well. It is a cold, merciless opening scene, showing just how dangerous living in the West can be and showing how no one messes with Roger and his gang.

9 The Great Silence (1968)

Starring: Jean-Louis Trinitgnant (Gordon), Klaus Kinski (Loco), Vonetta McGee (Pauline Middleton), Frank Wolff (Sheriff Gideon Burnett), Luigi Pistilli (Henry Pollicut), Mario Brega (Martin), Marisa Merlini (Regina)

The opening scene for The Great Silence starts out in a unique setting from the other Westerns on this list because it takes place in a blizzard. When the movie opens, a rider wearing a dark cloak rides through the snow on horseback as the mood quickly shifts. Bounty hunters soon converge onto the rider, who is revealed to be a gunslinger named Silence. The scene ends with the bounty hunters dead, setting the movie up for its equally bleak setting.

8 Django Unchained (2012)

Starring: Jamie Foxx (Django Freeman), Christoph Waltz (Dr. King Schultz), Leonardo DiCaptrio ("Monsieur" Calvin J. Candie), Kerry Washington (Broomhilda von Shaft")

2012's Django Unchained has one of the best action sequences in its opening scene. As the film opens, Jamie Foxx's Django is going through a desert locked up in chains while white slave masters are on horseback. During the night, Dr. King Schultz arrives, killing one of the slavemasters and freeing Django. This sets the film up for the violence that awaits audiences in Django Unchained. While the movie may not take place in the South, it features plenty of Western imagery and has plenty of gore involved, which is what most spaghetti Westerns thrive on.

7 A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Starring: Clint Eastwood (Joe), Marianne Koch (Marisol), Josef Egger (Ramón Rojo), Wolfgang Lukschy (Sheriff John Baxter)

Standard for every Spaghetti Western, Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars opens with a gunslinger walking into town, clearly deep in thought as the townspeople watch his every move. Audiences are left wondering who this man is and whether or not he means to hurt anyone. When the stranger doesn't move to help a child being bullied by other men, it is obvious that this Western is a different, more violent take on the genre. A Fistful of Dollars was a success when it came out in 1964 and is known for being Clint Eastwood's big break into the Western genre.

6 Unforgiven (1992)

Starring: Clint Eastwood (William Munny), Gene Hackman (Sheriff "Little" Bill Daggett"), Morgan Freeman (Ned Logan), Richard Harris (English Bob)

As Clint Eastwood's final Western, the opening sequence of this film is a reminder of how much Westerns have changed over the years; the the opening sequence of Unforgiven shows cowboy Quick Mike slashing prostitute Delilah's face with a knife as revenge for her laughing at his genitalia. Wanting to get revenge, the other prostitutes offer a high bounty for the cowboys' capture. This starts the movie off strong as it leads to Clint Eastwood's character, Will Munny as he helps look for the cowboys to help his children.

5 Rio Bravo (1959)

Starring: John Wayne (John T. Chance), Dean Martin (Dude), Ricky Nelson (Colorado Ryan), Angie Dickinson (Feathers), Walter Brennan (Stumpy), Ward Bond (Pat Wheeler)

Rio Bravo opens with a standard Western setting in a saloon as the audience gets to see Dean Martin as town drunk Dude and Claude Akins as the wealthy Joe Burdette. Joe walks into the saloon and starts bullying Dude, tossing money into a spittoon. Audiences are then introduced to John Wayne's character John T. Chance, who is the local sheriff. Despite Chance's best efforts, he is knocked unconscious and Joe starts beating up Dude, even going as far as to kill an innocent bystander who attempts to break up the fight. This scene sets up the rest of the movie and leaves the audience wanting more.

4 The Searchers (1956)

Starring: John Wayne (Ethan Edwards), Jeffrey Hunter (Martin Pawley), Vera Miles (Laurie Jorgensen), Ward Bond (Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnson Clayton), Natalie Wood (adult Debbie Edwards)

Another John Wayne classic, 1956's The Searchers is known for one of the most iconic character introductions of all time. The sequence has been copied in multiple movies over the years, including 2009's Inglourius Basterds. The film starts out as Wayne's character Ethan Edwards walks into the doorway of his brother's home in Texas after years of being away. The reactions of the people at the homestead range from excitement to disbelief in less than a minute. It makes it a very heartwarming moment for what will be a dark movie to come.

3 High Noon (1952)

Starring: Gary Cooper (Marshal Will Kane), Thomas Mitchell (Mayor Jonas Henderson), Lloyd Bridges (Deputy Marshal Harvey Pell), Katy Jurado (Helen Ramírez), Grace Kelly (Amy Fowler Kane), Otto Kruger (Judge Percy Mettrick), Lon Chaney (Martin Howe), Harry Morgan (Sam Fuller)

One of the best Westerns ever made, High Noon became an icon for the genre when it came out in 1952, starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film opens with the award-winning song "Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling", as Lee Van Cleef's Jack, Chev Woolley's Ben, and Robert Wilke's Jim arrive in a field. Together, they ride into town and wait for Ian MacDonald's Frank Miller to arrive at the train station. Despite the romantic tones of the song itself, the opening shows that the group is clearly up to no good and that bad things are soon to come in the movie.

2 Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969)

Starring: Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy), Robert Redford (Sundance Kid), Katharine Ross (Etta Place), Strother Martin (Percy Garris), Jeff Corey Sheriff Bledsoe)

This opening is a unique one as there is no sound except for the running of a projector and sepia-colored shots of Paul Newman as train robber Butch Cassidy with the starting words "Most of what follows is true." Audiences later learn that the title characters are watching a newsreel of Butch arriving at a bank, presumably thinking about robbing it. As a security guy closes every door and locks them, Cassidy storms out of the bank, clearly not happy about the changes he finds. This gives an implication that there is more action to come for audiences, leaving them on the edge of their seats.

1 Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)

Starring: Claudia Cardinale (Jill McBain), Henry Fonda (Frank), Charles Bronson (Harmonica), Jason Robards (Manuel "Cheyenne" Gutiérrez)

Considered to be one of the best Western opening sequences ever made, Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the most intense sequences ever. The film opens with the arrival of gunslingers Stony, Snaky, and Kunckles at a train station as they wait patiently for the train as sound effects and details play out through the scene. Apart from the credits, there are no words spoken, leaving a tense build-up that is shattered when Harmonica arrives and guns down the gunslingers in the Western. It jumpstarts the movie's action and startles the audience's attention enough for them to sit up and listen to the rest of the film.