Let's be real for a second. If you’re searching for "the last posse movie," you’re probably either thinking of the 1993 Mario Van Peebles classic Posse or you’re hunting for that gritty Kirk Douglas flick from the seventies. Or maybe you've heard rumors about a modern sequel that’s been stuck in development hell for decades. Movies about posses—those ragtag groups of outlaws or lawmen riding for justice—are a staple of the American Western, but the "last" one is a bit of a moving target.
The truth? The genre didn't just die; it evolved into something weirder and more niche.
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The 1993 Cultural Reset: Mario Van Peebles’ Posse
When people talk about Posse, they’re usually referring to the 1993 film directed by and starring Mario Van Peebles. It was a massive deal at the time. It wasn't just another Western. It was a loud, stylistic reclamation of the Black cowboy’s place in frontier history.
You had a cast that felt like a 90s fever dream: Stephen Baldwin, Billy Zane, Tone Lōc, Big Daddy Kane, and even Isaac Hayes. It was flashy. It used quick cuts and Dutch angles that felt more like a music video than a John Ford film.
But here’s the thing—it was supposed to spark a revolution in the genre. It didn't.
Instead of a wave of "new posse" movies, the industry retreated. We got a few gems, sure, but the specific vibe of a diverse, high-energy group of outlaws fighting the "man" became a rarity. If you look at the box office numbers from that era, Posse did okay—about $18 million on an $8 million budget—but it didn't convince Hollywood that the Western was back in a big way.
Is There a "Last" Movie in a Trilogy?
Actually, there isn't a trilogy. That’s a common misconception.
Because Posse featured such a distinct cast and a very specific 1890s Spanish-American War backdrop, people often mistake other 90s Westerns like Bad Girls (1994) or The Quick and the Dead (1995) as spiritual sequels. They aren't.
There was talk, years ago, about Van Peebles returning to the well. He eventually directed Outlaw Posse (released in 2024), which serves as the spiritual successor many fans waited thirty years for.
It’s got that same DNA.
The 2024 film features Mario Van Peebles again, alongside his son Mandela Van Peebles, and stars like Whoopi Goldberg and Cedric the Entertainer. It deals with a hidden stash of gold and the search for a safe haven for displaced people. It’s gritty, it’s independent, and it’s arguably the "last posse movie" in terms of a direct lineage from the 93 original.
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Kirk Douglas and the 1975 "Posse"
We can't ignore the other big one. In 1975, Kirk Douglas directed and starred in a movie simply titled Posse.
It’s a cynical, politically charged film. Douglas plays a U.S. Marshal with his own private, highly trained posse. He’s using them as a PR tool to run for the United States Senate. It’s basically a movie about how "justice" is often just a marketing campaign.
Bruce Dern plays the outlaw he’s hunting, and—spoiler alert—the movie ends with the "hero" losing his posse to the "villain" because the villain offers them a better deal. It was a total deconstruction of the myth.
If you’re looking for the "last" movie from the Golden or Silver age of Westerns that focused on the posse dynamic, this is usually where the trail ends. After 1975, the Western went into a deep slumber until Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven woke it up in the 90s.
Why the Posse Sub-Genre Faded Out
Westerns are expensive. Horses are a nightmare to coordinate. Period-accurate firearms cost a fortune to rent.
But the real reason we don't see many "posse" movies anymore is that the narrative shifted to the "Lone Ranger" or "Lone Survivor" trope. It’s easier to market one big star—a Kevin Costner or a Taylor Sheridan lead—than it is to manage an ensemble of seven or eight distinct characters.
The "posse" requires chemistry.
Think about The Magnificent Seven. Whether you mean the 1960 version or the 2016 remake, that’s a posse movie. The 2016 remake by Antoine Fuqua is technically one of the most recent big-budget examples of the trope. It had Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke. It made money ($162 million), but it didn't exactly set the world on fire with critics.
Realities of the Modern Western
Nowadays, if you want a posse, you go to television.
Shows like Yellowstone or 1883 have taken the place of the two-hour theatrical Western. They have the "bunkhouse boys," which is essentially a modern-day posse. They live together, fight together, and die for the brand.
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This shift to streaming has changed how stories are told. You get ten hours to know the posse instead of trying to cram eight backstories into 110 minutes.
What Most People Get Wrong About These Films
People often think these movies are just about shooting guns.
They’re actually about sociology.
A posse is a micro-society. In the 1993 Posse, it was about Black soldiers realizing the country they fought for didn't want them back. In the 1975 Posse, it was about the corruption of the American dream.
If you watch these movies expecting a simple "good guys vs. bad guys" story, you’re going to miss the point. Most of them are actually quite depressing. They usually end with most of the posse dead or betrayed.
Tracking Down the Classics
If you're trying to watch the "last" great ones, you have to look at the fringe.
- Outlaw Posse (2024): The most recent entry. It’s a love letter to the 90s era but with more modern sensibilities.
- The Harder They Fall (2021): On Netflix. While not titled "Posse," it is the ultimate modern posse movie. It features Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, and Regina King. It’s hyper-stylized and arguably better than the movies that inspired it.
- The Revenant (2015): Wait, is this a posse movie? Sort of. It’s a hunting party that falls apart. It shows the brutal reality of what happens when a group of men in the wilderness stops trusting each other.
How to Watch the "Posse" Legacy Today
The genre isn't gone; it’s just fragmented.
If you want the raw, unfiltered experience of the 1993 Posse, you can usually find it on Pluto TV or Tubi—it pops up on free streaming services constantly. The 1975 Kirk Douglas film is a bit harder to find, usually requiring a digital rental on Amazon or Apple.
Honestly, the best way to appreciate these films is to watch them back-to-back. See how the 1975 version deconstructs the law, and then see how the 1993 version reconstructs history.
Actionable Steps for Western Fans
If you’re a fan of the "group of outlaws" dynamic and feel like you've run out of movies to watch, here is how you should navigate the current landscape:
- Check out the "New Frontier" directors: Look for films by S. Craig Zahler (like Bone Tomahawk). They aren't traditional, but they capture that group-dynamic dread perfectly.
- Don't ignore the "weird" Westerns: Films like Damsel or The Sisters Brothers offer a different take on the traveling group trope.
- Follow the Taylor Sheridan universe: While Yellowstone is the big name, his writing in Hell or High Water captures the spirit of the outlaw better than almost anything in the last twenty years.
- Search for "Euro-Westerns": Often, the best posse stories in the last decade have come from international filmmakers who aren't beholden to Hollywood's "Lone Hero" obsession.
The "last" posse movie hasn't been made yet because the idea of a group of people banding together against an unjust system is a story that never actually gets old. We just change the hats they wear.
The best way to dive deeper is to revisit the 1993 Posse with a fresh set of eyes. Look past the 90s editing and focus on the historical footnotes Van Peebles included. It changes the entire experience. After that, move directly to The Harder They Fall to see how that legacy has been updated for the 2020s.
The genre is alive; it's just riding a different trail.