Tombstone might be Sam Elliott's best-known Western, but gave the veteran star one of his best characters. There have been many iconic Sam Elliott movies and TV shows over the years, spanning from Mask to The Big Lebowski or 1883; there's also Roadhouse, of course. Maybe more than any other actor, . While he's done plenty of great roles outside the genre, few performers are as convincing playing a cowboy.

Elliott's Western movie CV is an embarrassment of riches too. This began with cameos in the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid before Ellitott fronted films like The Shadow Riders, The Quick and the Dead and Tombstone. The latter cast him as Virgil Earp, older brother of Wyatt (Kurt Russell), with the story chronicling their violent clash with the outlaw gang, the Cowboys. The movie was a hit back in 1993 but has come to be regarded as one of the best Westerns ever made. Sadly, Elliott doesn't get much to do as Virgil, especially compared to his role in 1991's Conagher.

Based on the Louis L'Amour novel of the same name,Conaghercast Elliott in the title role. Conn Conagher is a tough old cowboy who faces danger when he takes a job helping out an old rancher defend against a gang; Conn also romances a lonely widow named Evie (Katherine Ross) while she tries to make good of an isolated homestead with her children.in the 1950s.

Outside of a couple of bloody gunshots and punch-ups, the movie is tame in the violence department. Conaugher is an episodic story too, with the first act largely focused on Evie and the tough times she faces at her new home. From the second act on, . The story makes it clear that violence and killing are last resorts for Conagher - even if he's good at them.

Conn takes no pleasure in killing either and even comforts an outlaw after mortally wounding him. Outside the subplots dealing with the ranch or his conflict with an outlaw gang, to each other. Given that Elliott and Ross are married in real life, they share great chemistry, and they give their scenes together a genuine tenderness.

Conaugher has well-staged shootouts, but it's more of a drama about a decent man in a harsh landscape than a shoot-em-up. Its star got some deserved critical kudos too, and . Conaugher is one of Elliott's lesser-talked about Westerns nowadays, but fans of the actor owe it to themselves to check it out.

Some actors or filmmakers get real hot streaks in their careers, where they rip through a run of quality projects. This happened to Sam Elliott around the mid-80s, where between big movies like Fatal Beauty with Whoopi Goldberg, . There's also the Civil War epic Gettysburg, which may have been a box office bomb but received great reviews back in 1993.

came about the midway point of Elliott's wild Western run and is one of the best. Even when not fronting traditional Westerns, . 1883 is one of his most recent outings in the saddle, with some critics regarding his performance as possibly his best.