Sands of time: The most iconic films set in the desert

It's the first movie you think of when you think of "desert movie" and the last movie you think of when you think of "desert island movie." Lawrence of Arabia turned the desert into a deserted quicksand for men like Lawrence, who believe they can shape the landscape to their whims but are sunken by their own greed. Filmed in 70mm Panavision, the scope of the desert is awe-inspiring and the shots of camels sauntering through a mirage breathtaking, but like most desert movies, this is about a man who tries to have it all but ends up losing himself.

You've seen the narrative before: a man escapes a life of violence only to be drawn back in for one last ride. It's Liam Neeson in the desert. But Shane is a more elegiac version of that story, with heartwarming moments between the outlaw and the boy, and gorgeous cinematography that makes you want to actually visit the desert. 

It's the movie that made deserts a venerable backdrop in cinema. In Stagecoach, John Ford created the first monument in Monument Valley. Establishing the rules of the Western, which are that there are no rules, a sheriff must save the day, a bad guy must lose a shootout and the desert must become a playground for violence, Ford gave us the first modern Western and a dang good one at that. 

We're sticking on the John Ford train with his greatest film, The Searchers. The greatest Western ever made, this one sees a sheriff caught between the doorway of modern civilization and the Wild West, just before Sergio Leone rode into town.

Daniel Day Lewis drinks your milkshake and chews the entire scenery in There Will Be Blood. A movie set in the desert, it follows an oilman who strikes gold but loses his mind in the process. Along the way, there's tremendous acting, directing, deserts and as this movie promises, blood.

It's official, Ryan Gosling has hit the top of his career. With performances that are silly, funny, quotable and deep and thoughtful as well, Gosling has made Kendolls great again. His performance as a stuntman getting caught up in a conspiracy is "sublime!" 

The girls just want to have fun in Thelma and Louise. Taking a road trip that leads to cool deserts, car chases and Brad Pitt's abs, the movie takes turns that are almost always exciting.

You may not have heard of this film, but it is a doozyy! When a man wanders into a desert town, he finds no water and only beer, leading to all sorts of lunacy. Like a hangover that never ends, Wake in Fright is perpetually unsettling. 

Another movie with a crazy premise. Walkabout sees a father take his two young children to the desert where he eventually puts a bullet in his head. What follows is strangely beautiful and enigmatically haunting. A contrast between the rugged poetry of the desert and the increasing mundanity of city life, this Walkabout stays with you long after the credits roll. 

You just ain't making a list of the best desert movies without Clint Eastwood, I reckon. The actor's greatest film is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which takes place during the Civil War. Complete with stylish violence, great acting, immaculate cinematography and at least four plates of Spaghetti Western, this is the genre at its most operatic.

Heeere's Jack Nicholson, lost in a desert more terrifying than the Overlook Hotel. In The Passenger, he may not go out with an axe, but he goes out in an even scarier way: bored. As a journalist wanders through the desert, feeling a disconnect to his surroundings, The Passenger becomes a languorously lucid look at the director's thoughts on his current society.

Hayao Miyazaki gives his heroine a Luke Skywalker-like journey in a single film and somehow, it doesn't feel rushed. The movie is perfection. The tale of a girl who saves the desert from angry creatures, it breathes with lyrical images and profound insights on nature. 

There have been wars in the desert since the start of civilization and not coincidentally, wars on our screens since the start of movies. What sets Peter Weir's movie apart is how he frames it through the lens of best friends. Filmed in natural light, Gallipoli sees best friends race through the war with patriotic smiles until they reach the fatal finish line--a devastating moment frozen in my mind. 

More Peter Weir! The director could film the desert better than anyone except maybe David Lean, who kicked off our list with Lawrence of Arabia. In Picnic at Hanging Rock, he delivers a mystery about school girls gone missing that occasionally looks like a Renoir painting come to life.

Did you really think we would leave Mad Max: Fury Road off our list? The car chase in this movie makes Fast and Furious look like Driving Miss Daisy. It's insane cinema in the desert, emphasis on insane. 

A bromance set in the Wild West, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is so much fun you might forget you are watching a movie with actual stakes. It's all fun and games until that final shootout, and even then, it's all fun and games in this movie.

AARP readers, beware: this is No Country for Old Men. A savage Western about crimes in the desert, this is no place for an old sheriff, but he may be the only person who can stop the wretched assassin. In moments of bleak, hardscrabble poetry, the Coen Brothers find their cinematic mark.

An elegy for the Western, this movie is like an opera on the desert stage. When a harmonica toting hero seeks revenge on the railroad business, things go off the rails in a small Western town, but Sergio Leone always keeps things chugging smoothly along. With symphonic cinematography and harmonious storytelling, this is a Western opera that remains magnificent.

Don't these bad guys ever learn anything? Maybe don't mess with Clint Eastwood and definitely don't mess with his friends, he'll put a bullet in your head. The bad guys don't listen in Unforgiven, a Western set in the desert that ends with Eastwood doing his cinematic thing. 

This movie isn't set in the desert, per se, but there are scenes in the countryside and at the beach that can somewhat resemble the desert. It's just an excellent movie. That's why the film is on here.