The cowboy is a monolith of American identity, a symbol of masculinity, an emblem of order, and of course a flaming gay icon. From assless chaps to double denim, cowboy iconography has long straddled the thin, perhaps nonexistent, line between masculine bravado and homoeroticism. Simply put, the mythologized cowboy has a storied history as a fruity figure on the ranch.
The gay cowboy trope may have been thrust into the spotlight with Brokeback Mountain in 2005 but queer cowboys were yeeing their haws on screen for decades before that. The 1948 western Red River is just one example of early queer-coding, featuring two new recruits to life on the range bucking against each other with pent-up frustration. And there’s a reason the trope has endured for so long: the queer cowboy is an ideal vessel for interrogating various facets of masculinity and the intimacy between men that often goes unspoken. There is also plenty of room for the genre to expand: as Smithsonian magazine noted, one in four cowboys were Black according to historical estimates and yet popular depictions of ranchers and cattlemen are almost uniformly white.
Some refreshing twists on the formula would be welcome. As it stands, the gay cowboy trope has become the object of parody. One can only visit the same well so many times before tired patterns begin to emerge. Billy Eichner’s Bros memorably poked fun at the trend with a fictional queer cowboy movie playing in theaters “about two straight actors trying to win an Oscar.” But there are still new and moving ways to tell queer cowboy stories, as Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog recently proved, unraveling threads of masculinity and queerness with a nuanced touch. The gay cowboy canon continues in earnest this year with Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life, a heated short film packed with sizzling tension as two cowboys (Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke) reunite decades after an illicit affair.
Now that queer cinematic cowboys are as commonplace as tumbleweeds, we can participate in the time-honored internet tradition of playfully ranking them. Below, I present my favorite queer cinematic cowboys in order from “most cliché” to “least cliché,” hopefully introducing you to some films you might not have seen along the way. And always remember: as Big & Rich famously said, “Save a horse, ride a cowboy!”
I’m sorry to put one of the best-known gay cowboys at the bottom of this ranking — especially because he was portrayed by no less beloved a performer than Heath Ledger — but Ennis is arguably the origin of the most parodied aspects of the trope. A repressed, self-loathing cowboy who learns about love too late in life, Ennis is the most harrowing character of the bunch. He’s a queer cliché with a closet full of plaid shirts and major intimacy issues. He needs therapy, but in his defense, don’t we all?
Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift) doesn’t have as iconic a name as Cherry Valance, so he’s falling beneath his fellow Red River cowboy on this list. In Howard Hawks’ 1948 classic, a cattle drive from Texas to Kansas dissolves into a mutiny led by the ranch boss’ adopted son. At one point, Matt bathes in homoerotic attention as Cherry chides him, “Your heart's soft. Too soft.” His implicit queerness appears throughout Red River but during his time on the ranch, he never steps over the proverbial gay line in the sand, which is why I’m placing him in the lower tier. In this (fairly arbitrary) ranking system, I’m primarily looking for cowboys who aren’t cliché but who do actually knock boots, pun intended, with some exceptions.
In Pedro Almodóvar’s “answer to Brokeback Mountain,” it’s unclear if Sheriff Jake (Ethan Hawke) has a gun in his holster or if he’s just happy to see his former lover return to him after decades. Jake is the more cliché of Almodóvar’s two repressed protagonists but give him a few glasses of red and he’s openly ogling at Silva’s (Pedro Pascal) ass. Who wouldn’t do the same?
OK, first off, there’s the name: Cherry Valance. It’s a gorgeous sequence of syllables that drips off the tongue. Second, Cherry shoots off plenty of homoerotic sparks during the film’s dangerous cattle drive. One scene in particular finds Cherry (John Ireland) comparing the size of his gun with Matt Garth’s. The phallic imagery is undeniable as they fondle each other’s weapons, complimenting each other on how they shoot. It’s not subtle!
In this 1969 X-rated Oscar winner, Joe Buck (Jon Voight) arrives in New York City in full cowboy attire with dreams of becoming a hustler. He’s halfway there when he gets a blowjob in a theater from a younger man, but his trick refuses to pay, so Joe pairs up with Rico “Ratso” Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) to try to double his chances at making a life for himself, two outcasts seeking personal fortune on society’s margins. Sounds pretty gay. But the only time Joe makes money in the film is from sleeping with a woman. And yet his customer base remains gay men, presumably? Someone connect the dots here.
Brokeback Mountain may be the quintessential gay cowboy film but poor Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) can’t escape the jaws of the “bury your gays” trope. However, out of the two cowboys, he is the one who pursues Ennis, leading the two to become one, so to speak, among the mountains. Jack also gets to deliver the iconic and oft-quoted “I wish I knew how to quit you” line, which lifts him a few spots in this ranking.
Most queer folks know what it’s like to be the odd one out in their family — the rainbow-colored sheep, as it were — which immediately makes Keanu Reeves’ Scott relatable. My Own Private Idaho finds Scott, the rebellious mayor’s son, joining gay hustler Mikey (River Phoenix) in the search for Mikey’s estranged mother. Scott is that gay best friend who is willing to take a spontaneous trip to Italy on a whim. On a deeper level, his journey of trying to repress the brewing emotions he has for his friend is a real rite-of-passage experience for so many queer people.
As Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) grows closer to Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) in Jane Campion’s neo-Western melodrama, the veneer of his stoic masculinity begins to crack and peel. His crush on his late friend and mentor Bronco Henry has left him reeling, his toxic masculinity levels shooting through the roof. He cruelly targets Peter’s effeminate nature, not out of closeted fury so much as a place of painful self-recognition. Phil makes it onto the higher half of this list for embodying the complex dichotomy of a hardened rancher who can’t help but follow his deepest feelings.
A con man with sass levels off the charts, Ratso (Dustin Hoffman) is a short king with a penchant for schemes. Embedded in the city’s gay underworld, he owns the streets of New York City and struts the sidewalk like the cat who’s got the cream. He also gets bonus points for delivering the improvised, ever-iconic line: “Hey! I’m walking here!” Ratso may be the deuteragonist but in my mind, he’s the heart of Midnight Cowboy.
Pedro Pascal’s Silva is undeniably fruity with his fashion-forward neck scarf. He’ll flirt while being held at gunpoint and push his luck in a standoff, whether it takes place on a dusty ranch or a mattress. He’s also a proud bottom who makes a whole scene over the fact that a night of being bent over has somehow healed his spinal ailments. Almodóvar has created a legendary gay cowboy on his first attempt.
Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is the bane of Phil’s existence and for that I adore him. The young man, Phil’s sister-in-law’s son, is a scene stealer with a timid presence and a guileful aura, but he has a dark side: Without spoiling things, Peter has sinister intentions that flout the traditional cowboy’s desire for law and order. He also strays from the usual ranch hand archetype with his delicate crafting of colorful origami flower arrangements. Extra points to Peter for creativity.
A young trans boy named Joe (Sasha Knight) is at the heart of Cowboys, a contemporary Western from writer-director Anna Kerrigan. When Joe’s mother refuses to accept him for his true self, his father (Steve Zahn) runs off with his son into the Montana mountains for lots of open-hearted fireside chats and horseback treks through the wilderness. As a trans cowboy, Joe is an unconventional outlaw, running from both civilization and from an unaccepting family environment. His coming-of-age story is a refreshing change of pace for the genre, and proof that there’s still more meaning to be mined from cowboy tales.
He may be the most tender of this bunch but don’t discount Mikey Waters (a mesmerizing River Phoenix). The narcoleptic vagabond lives on the edge of society but remains a romantic. Even in his darkest moments, he’s still giving major baby girl energy. Mikey has climbed to the top of the list because the incomparable character marked a new type of filmic cowboy, one who has no qualms about showing his softer side. Guns don’t need to be drawn as a metaphor for homoerotic tension in My Own Private Idaho; instead, we get to see Mikey confessing his yearning to Scott with beautiful vulnerability. Between his drug-dazed smile, his shaggy hair, and his sensitive personality, Mikey undeniably belongs in the top spot.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.