This iconic modern western is finally free to stream

When I was a youngster, I remember watching alongside my father the dusty shootouts and grizzled bravado across films like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, High Noon, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Unforgiven, among others. They were movies that firmly encapsulated the importance of personal dignity and integrity and acting accordingly in order to protect it. Western justice became a brand that later cinematic movies outside the straight-laced genre would hearken back to with revenge action thrillers such as Taken, John Wick, Man on Fire, or neo-Westerns like Normal. But Westerns themselves also evolved past the rugged desert and intense stare-downs beneath the blistering sun. They've even learned how to bury the lede and not assume any one person is a true hero or villain. Quentin Tarantino is a master at subverting expectations with regard to character profiles.