 Altman referred to it as an "anti-Western film" because the film ignores or subverts a number of Western conventions.The film has received critical acclaim in the years since its release and earned an Oscar nomination for Christie in the Best Actress category.The film was deemed the 8th greatest Western of all time by the American Film Institute in its AFI's 10 Top 10 list in 2008 and, in 2010, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".