"It feels strange that, despite two Westerns taking home the Best Picture Oscar in the 1990s, the genre has few other entries in that decade that stand tall and proud. Perhaps the reason for this is that those two films, Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven, set such a high bar that other directors steered away so as not to seem detrimental.
Moreover, the 1990s was getting increasingly enamoured with making long historical epics, shifting the timeline away from America's 19th century and deeper into the past. To this extent, these ten Westerns, largely released in the first half of the decade, galvanised an overall appreciation in the period piece, with historical films packing out cinemas and awards ceremonies."
