Sam Elliott's Most Iconic Roles, Ranked By Reviews (& The One He Loved The Most)

Any fan of American cinema is very likely to be familiar with Sam Elliott. Armed with a great head of hair and a distinctive voice, Elliott arrived in Hollywood in the late '60s and immediately started working with legends, racking up credits alongside actors such as Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Kirk Douglas within the first few years of his career. Of course, Elliott's roles in those early projects weren't big, but they did portend the caliber of actors Elliott would continue working with — and become — throughout his career.

After starting his movie career, Elliott became known as a Western star, lending his talents to some of the genre's defining modern pieces, before a key role in the late '90s allowed him to transition into more diverse parts. Eventually, Elliott came to accept and embrace his stereotype in Hollywood, grateful for the work it brought him. Now, Elliott is a film legend with a filmography that rivals anyone's in Hollywood — just ask the dozens of awards he's been nominated for and won. Here are Sam Elliott's most iconic roles, ranked by reviews.

Not all movies can be winners! At least not in the eyes of critics. The 1989 action film "Road House," which Sam Elliott starred in alongside Patrick Swayze and Kelly Lynch, didn't fare so well among reviewers. The modern Western, which follows a bouncer in his conflict with the town crime lord, only garnered 44% favorable reviews, per Rotten Tomatoes, which is few enough to deter plenty of audiences. But while critics found the movie cheesy and predictable, audiences were mostly happy with it. The audience score is at a much higher 67%, and the love for the film translated to a 2006 sequel and a 2024 remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal (the latter of which fared better with critics but worse with audiences).

Elliott's got far too many projects in his filmography to reminisce on each of them, and he doesn't appear to talk publicly about "Road House" much. However, there is someone else who's recently talked about his performance in the film — Patrick's widow, Lisa Niemi Swayze. In a 2024 interview with People, Lisa said that she watches Patrick's movies every once in a while if they're on TV. One that made an impact on her was "Road House." "[A] few years ago, I watched 'Road House,' and I was like, 'Wait a second. This is really great. This is so campy' ... When Sam [Elliott] says, 'Mijo, you're really f***ed up,' I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, you really are,'" she said of the film.

Sometimes, things don't go as expected. Sam Elliott thought that the 1976 movie "Lifeguard" was going to launch his career. And while, ultimately, it was a career breakthrough for Elliott, it didn't come about in the way the actor expected. The film, which earned just 53% favorable reviews, per Rotten Tomatoes, and told the story of a young man following his own path rather than doing what others believed was best, wasn't marketed the way Elliott thought best fit the film. "[I]t was the way Paramount chose to market that film. ... I was on the road for a long time and every time we'd go into a city and start an interview, people would start the interview by saying, 'This movie is nothing like I expected it to be,' based on the marketing, and we would go into this long discussion about the f***ing marketing," Elliott said in an interview with Business Insider, noting that he stopped working with Paramount after the ordeal.

The movie was detrimental to Elliott's career at the time, keeping him from making another movie for a while. Starring in the aforementioned "Mask" got Elliott's career back on track, and in retrospect, "Lifeguard" became one of Elliott's career-defining roles. As for the rejection Elliott faced post-"Lifeguard" — he sees it as a positive now. "That's just the reality of [acting] ... the truth of it is I'm glad it's come now," Elliott said.

In order for Sam Elliott to get his cowboy actor reputation, he had to appear in a number of Westerns. One such film was "Tombstone," a 1993 movie that starred Elliott as Virgil Earp alongside Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday. The trio led "Tombstone" to 76% favorable ratings from critics, per Rotten Tomatoes, and it loosely followed some real-life events, including the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the Earp Vendetta Ride, which happened in the lives of the famous lawmen. Although critics found several flaws in the production, Elliott, Russell, and Kilmer were praised for their performances as an ensemble, and "Tombstone" is still considered an important film in the Western genre.

Elliott has been in a lot of screen productions, so it can't be easy to remember them all. But among his legendary projects, "Tombstone" stands out as one of his best filmmaking experiences. "You know when all the elements come together, you know when it's on the page, and you have guys like Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton and Val Kilmer ... that cast and that script, it just doesn't get any better than that," Elliott said in an interview years after making "Tombstone." And Elliott doesn't seem to mind the cowboy typecast these days. "I never thought of myself as a kid playing cowboys. That said, I don't know an actor that doesn't want to do a Western," he said.

Sam Elliott has been steadily working in Hollywood since the 1960s, and he's now got over 100 credits to his ever-growing resume. And even though he's starred in some bona fide classics (even his second feature film was a hit — Elliott had a very small role at the beginning of his career in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"), Elliott has a favorite — 2017's "The Hero." Elliott starred in the film, which told the story of a dying movie star near the end of his life, alongside Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter, and Nick Offerman (Elliott's wife, Katharine Ross, was also part of the cast, marking the first time since the early '90s that the couple had made a movie together). The film wasn't widely loved by audiences, nor did it fare particularly well at the box office, but it garnered critical acclaim with 77% favorable reviews, per Rotten Tomatoes.

In a conversation for the BUILD Series, Elliott shared why "The Hero" stands out among his other films. "[W]hat I remember most about films is the people that I've worked with rather than the film itself ... I don't think it'll ever get any better than it was on this film. It just was on all sides of the camera. It was a labor of love for a lot of people, and I think in the end that we pulled it off with a piece of really good entertainment," Elliott said.

Sam Elliott didn't have much screen time in "The Big Lebowski" either, but that further speaks to his power on-screen. In just a few scenes, Elliott became one of the most memorable characters in the Jeff Bridges- and John Goodman-led stoner comedy. Elliott played The Stranger in the Coen brothers' 1998 feature, and despite its status as a classic, it's not nearly the highest rated that Elliott's been in. "The Big Lebowski" yielded just 79% favorable critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (though the audience has it at 93%).

Despite the perhaps lower-than-expected critical ratings, Elliott is still praised for his work in the film, and he said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that the film was huge for his career. "I was at that point in my career where I was thinking I was never going to be thought of as anything else other than a laconic cowboy," Elliott told the outlet. Of course, Elliott played a cowboy in "The Big Lebowski," but his work in that film led to roles outside his Western archetype. "I went from feeling boxed in, into just realizing how thankful I was that that was the box I was in, because it just led to all this other great work," Elliott said. Just a couple of years later, Elliott starred in "The Contender," which allowed him to step away from cowboy work and start becoming the actor he's known as today.

In 1993, Sam Elliott had a role in the film "Gettysburg," a war epic following the eponymous battle of the Civil War. Elliott was hardly top billing — that honor went to Tom Berenger and Martin Sheen — but the actor's performance as Gen. John Buford still gets audiences excited today. Viewers liked the film when it premiered, too. On Rotten Tomatoes, 89% of audience members gave the film a positive review, which outscored the critical acclaim at 82%. The audience score is even more impressive considering film lovers are still presently watching and reviewing "Gettysburg."

Someone as in demand as Elliott probably gets all sorts of offers to be in films, making it difficult to choose what projects to take on. It helps if the part is good, and Elliott was excited by the chance to portray the bygone military man. "I just like John Buford. I think probably one of the things that I gleaned out of all the material that I read about this man that I particularly identified or particularly liked about him was that he was an enlisted man's officer, as he was referred to, rather than an officer's officer," Elliott said in a 1993 interview with Bobbie Wygant about what drew him to the "Gettysburg" character. "I kind of like that when these bigger-than-life characters have kind of a grounding factor about them as well," he added.

Not all of Sam Elliott's most iconic roles have been on the big screen. Some of his best work belongs to television, and at the top of that list is his work as T.L. on "Landman," a Taylor Sheridan-created series that takes place at a Texas oil rig. Elliott joined the cast of "Landman" in 2025. He was a natural fit alongside series leads Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, and Demi Moore, and many of Elliott's co-stars have said great things about him. The series already had critical praise, but it garnered even more in its second season, improving to 83% favorable reviews, per Rotten Tomatoes, coinciding with the addition of Elliott to the cast.

Elliott was such a great addition to "Landman" that audiences wondered why he hadn't been tapped for the series in the first season, especially given his experience working with Sheridan on the hit spin-off series "1883." Fans were just happy to see Elliott join when he did. "There wasn't any turning Taylor down after my experience with him on '1883.' He's such a talented man. I just feel fortunate to be involved with him. I know for a fact that everybody on the show feels the same way," Elliott said of joining "Landman" in an interview with Variety. Elliott also touched on the great viewership the series has — the show has racked up over 1 billion minutes streamed. "It's dumbfounding that there's so many people that are watching this show. I think that it's a great escape from the s*** that's out there in the world today," Elliott said.

"A Star Is Born" is such a compelling story that it's been remade three times. The most recent remake came in 2018, and it starred Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper, and of course, Sam Elliott. The film, which follows the relationship between an older musician and an up-and-coming talent, was a huge hit, both commercially and critically, with 90% of reviews proving favorable, per Rotten Tomatoes. And its success wasn't much of a shock to those involved in making the film. "I don't know that I've ever been on a set where I've felt more positive that something incredible was happening," Elliott said in an interview with Esquire.

"A Star Is Born" won one Oscar, for best achievement in music written for motion pictures (original song), for the song "Shallow," and it was nominated for seven others, including best performance by an actor in a supporting role, which earned Elliott his first-ever Oscar nomination. To many, the nomination was long overdue. "I think the thing off the top of my head might be, 'It's about f***ing time,'" the actor joked in an interview with Deadline. "Beyond that, it's really about the work; it's just about the creative process. It's great to be recognized for that, that's really all it's about. ... I'm so grateful to be a part of it. It's meant everything to me. It's been some sort of a gift in my world on a personal level," he said.

Some actors can make a huge impact with just a little screen time. Sam Elliott is one of those actors. In 2015, the Oscar nominee had a role in "Grandma," a dramedy starring Lily Tomlin and Julia Garner, with supporting performances by Laverne Cox, John Cho, Marcia Gay Harden, and Judy Greer, among others. The film follows a teenage girl who goes to her grandmother in search of money to pay for an abortion. Elliott plays Karl, the ex-husband of the titular grandma, and his performance lent much to the film's 92% positive critical reviews rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

As noted, Elliott didn't have many scenes in the film, and that lack of screen time had reviewers wondering whether that impacted the actor's approach to his work. "In this particular instance it didn't change anything 'cause there really wasn't anything to research. It was all on the page. Paul's script was so specific, for lack of a better way to put it. And so well-drawn. It was all there," Elliott said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. Critics weren't alone in feeling positive about Elliott's performance. The actor shared that he felt confident about his work in the film, too. "I left Paul's house, which is where we shot this thing up in Topanga Canyon, and it wasn't like I felt I'd hit a home run, but I felt like I did what I went there to do and had no regrets about what I did," Elliott said.

Just over a decade into his career, Sam Elliott starred in "Mask" alongside Cher and Eric Stoltz. The 1985 film is still the highest-rated flick of Elliott's career, garnering 93% favorable reviews from critics, per Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised the emotional story and the performances, and the film took home an Oscar at the following year's ceremony for best makeup. The biopic was based on the real-life story of Roy L. "Rocky" Dennis, who lived with a genetic disease that caused disfigurement. Elliott played the character Gar, a member of Rocky's motorcycle gang and Rocky's mother's boyfriend, as the story followed Rocky's life with an extremely rare illness.

"Mask" wasn't a breakout role for Elliott, but it was a role that reminded some cinephiles why they were so excited for Elliott's career when he first came onto the scene. About a decade prior to "Mask," Elliott starred in "Lifeguard," and although the latter was critically panned, Elliott's performance was praised. Elliott's work in "Mask" felt to some like a long-awaited performance follow-up to "Lifeguard." "For the first time, I was involved with some real high-class moviemakers," Elliott said of "Mask" in a 1985 interview (via TV Crew Guy). "I feel lucky to be a part of it," he noted.