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John Wayne’s Highest-Rated Westerns, Ranked According to IMDb – My Blog

John Wayne was one of biggest stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood and is considered to be one of the greatest actors of all time. Wayne ended up getting his first break in the 1920s after Hollywood’s first Western star, Tom Mix hired him to work as an extra on a John Ford production.The Duke starred in countless classic films, but is best known for his iconic Westerns including The Searchersand Rio Bravo. Out of the eighty Westerns made by Wayne, these are the actor’s 10 highest-rated movies ranked according to IMDb.10/10‘Fort Apache’ (1948) – 7.4

John Wayne standing alone looking to the side in Fort Apache

When an arrogant Civil War hero, Lt. Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) arrives to take command of the Fort Apache outpost in Arizona, he butts heads with Captain Kirby York who isn’t impressed by the hero. Thursday has an ignorant view about American Indians and despite York’s warning, he attempts to bait them into fighting for his personal glory and puts the entire outpost in danger.Fort Apache is directed by legendary filmmaker, John Ford who made a total of 12 movies with Wayne and worked together up until Ford’s death in 1973. At the time, the movie was the first films to portray a realistic as well as sympathetic view towards American Indians and is considered to be one of the greatest achievements in classic American cinema.9/10‘True Grit’ (1969) – 7.4
Kim Darby and John Wayne with a shotgun crouching down behind rocks looking out at something inTrue Grit

Kim Darby and John Wayne with a shotgun crouching down behind rocks looking out at something inTrue Grit

True Grit is the story of Mattie, a 14-year-old girl who hires hard-headed U.S. marshal, Rooster Cogburn, to help her track down the man who murdered her father. As they begin their journey, they meet a Texas Ranger who is trying to hunt down the same man and turn him in for the murder of a senator in exchange for a reward.Wayne’s performance as Rooster Cogburn earned him his first and only Academy Award and went on to reprise the character in the 1975 sequel, Rooster Cogburn. Some historians believe that Cogburn was inspired by real-life Deputy U.S. marshal, Henry Thomas who was known to bring in some of the toughest outlaws.8/10‘The Cowboys’ (1972) – 7.4
Boys sitting on a wooden fence behind John Wayne who is speaking to a boy in The Cowboys
Wil Andersen is a rough-edged rancher who is about to set out on a large cattle drive when his crew quits on him to join the Gold Rush. With no other options, he decides to hire a group of boys and train them to become cowboys. Andersen is able to pull the boys together but just as they are about to start making moves, a bandit spots them and hatches a plan to steal the herd.The Cowboys co-starsfuture Oscar nominee, Bruce Dernand a young Robert Carradine, son of actor John Carradine and brother of David Carradine. While the movie is a decent Wayne Western, it is known more for the off-screen bond between Wayne and co-star, Roscoe Lee Browne. The actors shared different opinions and views but ended up forming a friendship over their shared love of poetry.7/10‘El Dorado’ (1966) – 7.5
James Caan standing next to John Wayne in El Dorado
A ruthless tycoon hires a group of men to force a family off their property in order to purchase it for himself. The town’s sheriff, J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) has developed an excessive drinking habit and struggles to protect the family from the thugs. When his friend, Cole Thornton, hears about the problem, he travels to the town to help dry Harrah up in time for a shootout against Johnson’s boys.Directed by Howard Hawks,El Dorado is one of five movies that Wayne and the genre-hopping director made together. They made several Westerns together including ‘Rio Bravo’ and ‘Red River.’ Even though Wayne and Mitchum had both been in The Longest Day, the actors never shared any scenes together making ‘El Dorado’ the only movie where the actors appear together.6/10‘The Shootist’ (1976) – 7.6
Ron Howard looking down and standing next to John Wayne in The Shootist
Wayne plays J.B. Books, a veteran gunfighter who goes to visit an old friend and physician in Nevada after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Books stays in town where he rents a room under a different name from a widow (Lauren Bacall) and her son (Ron Howard) who discovers Books’ true identity. The gunslinger soon learns of the impact that his actions have had on others and decides to leave the world on his own terms.The Shootist was Wayne’s final film performance before he died three years later of stomach cancer. In the opening montage, the movie uses various scenes from Wayne’s earlier films to depicthis character’s backstory including ‘El Dorado’ and ‘Red River.’ His character was also inspired by The Gunfighter, a role Wayne had wanted but turned down earlier in his career.5/10‘Stagecoach’ (1939) – 7.8
John Wayne and John Carradine standing next to each other looking at someone in Stagecoach
Stagecoach follows a group of strangers traveling from Arizona to New Mexico in a stagecoach and are joined by a U.S. marshal who is searching for Ringo the Kid, an outlaw who escaped from prison. The marshal apprehends Ringo but on the course of their journey, he learns that there’s more to the young outlaw than what meets the eye.Wayne’s performance as Ringo the Kid was his breakthrough role and launched him into stardom. The movie has also been considered to be one of the most influential films and even inspired Orson Welles while developing, Citizen Kane claiming to have watched the film several times.
4/10‘Red River’ (1948) – 7.8
John Wayne and Montgomery Clift sitting next to each other on the ground looking forward in Red River
Shortly after the end of the Civil War, a broke cattle rancher and his adopted son decide to move their herd from Texas to Missouri in order to escape the poverty-stricken south. As they make their way north, tensions grow between the father and son and the two struggle to put aside their differences as they venture further into the dangers of the wilderness.Red River is another Western directed by Howard Hawks and also pairs Wayne with frequent co-stars, Harry Carey and Walter Brennan. While Technicolor technology was available, Hawks decided to film the movie in traditional black and white in order to convey a realistic tone and style.3/10‘The Searchers’ (1956) – 7.9
Jeffrey Hunter and John Wayne in the desert on horses in The Searchers
At the end of the Civil War, Ethan Edwards returns home to Texas and discovers that his brother’s family has been murdered and kidnaped by American Indians. Edwards sets off into dangerous territory in search of his surviving relatives vowing to bring them home and avenge his familyDirected by John Ford, The Searchers is one of Wayne’s most iconic performances in any movie. The movie has had a profound influence on filmmakers including Steven Spielberg and George Lucasas well as characters such asTravis Bickle from Taxi Driver.Roger Ebert, wrote that Ethan Edwards was one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne had ever created together.2/10‘Rio Bravo’ (1959) – 8
John Wayne sitting and Walter Brennan standing next to him in Rio Bravo
Wayne plays Sheriff John Chance who locks up the brother of a rancher after he shoots and kills a man. The rancher hears about what happened and threatens to break his brother out if the sheriff doesn’t release him. Chance stands his ground and with the help of some unlikely heroes, fights to defend the jail against the rancher and his men.‘Rio Bravo’ is considered to be Hawks’ best Western and has an all-star cast of Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson,Ward Bond and Ricky Nelson. Unlike other Westerns, ‘Rio Bravo’ takes advantage of singers, Martin and Nelson who perform a duet of an altered version of ‘My Rifle, My Pony and Me,’ which was originally featured in ‘Red River.’1/10‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ (1962) – 8.1
Lee Marvin and John Wayne talking while Jimmy Stewart stands behind them in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ takes place in a small Western town where an outlaw named Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) and his gang terrorize and harass the defenseless residents. As Valance and his men invade, they encounter a local man and a young attorney who are the only ones brave enough to take a stand against them.While co-star Jimmy Stewart has the most scenes with dialogue in this Ford Western, Wayne actually plays the central character. Wayne teamed up again with Marvin and Ford only a year later starring in, ‘Donovan’s Reef.’ The movie ended up being Wayne’s final Ford film as the lead.

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John Wayne doesn’t want to be an actor and likes a director . – My Blog

He became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but John Wayne once saw acting as just ‘a brief detour’. His real dream was to become a film director.Cinema’s most iconic cowboy could have spent his days behind the camera had he not inadvertently stepped in front of one on a John Ford set, allow the director to see his potential.

The disclosure is in a memoir he was working on that lay undiscovered among family papers. It said Wayne, who ԁıеԁ in 1979, was working at 20th Century Fox in the 1920s simply to pay the bills.It added: ‘I had no thoughts of becoming an actor. Acting was a kind of apprenticeship toward becoming a director. It was also a source of petty cash…

‘I was ԁеаԁ-set on becoming a director.Elsewhere, he adds: ‘If need be, I would take a brief detour into acting or whatever else was necessary to accomplish my goal.’The memoir was found by Michael Goldman in inquire his book, John Wayne: The Genuine Article, published this month. Even Wayne’s family did not know of its existence in their archives.

Its 72 typed pages paint a portrait of an ordinary man who became the Oscar-winning star of True Grit and The Searchers, a larger-than-life icon nicknamed the Duke.Wayne was working on it shortly before his ԁеаtһ in 1979, having repeatedly rejected requests for an autobiography.He wrote about the 1920s, when he headed for Twentieth Century Fox’s studio and found menial jobs in props and stunt-work, learning his for horse-riding, roping, ɡսոѕ and fighting.

he memory of being desperate for money never left him and in the memoir he writes: ‘The big Depression was still two years away, but my one personal depression was staring at me from the bottom of my empty soup bowl.’I needed a job .’He describes working as an extra – kicked off John Ford’s set for inadvertently stepping in front of a camera – and, like some star-struck teenager, was overwhelmed by the excitement of seeing his own movie heroes.On encountering Tom Mix, a silent Western star, Wayne writes of trying ‘to figure out how to make the best impression possible on the greatest cowboy star in the world’.
He records Mix ignoring him on his attempt to ingratiate himself.Mr Goldman notes the irony of Wayne idolising Mix: ‘The man who would become “the most iconic cinematic cowboy in history” was racking himself over how to make an impression on “the most Cinematic cowboy in history”.’The biographer says of Wayne’s ‘brief detour’ in front of the camera: ‘It was a detour that lasted until his ԁеаtһ.’Wayne would ultimately direct just four films, including The Alamo and The Green Berets , “passion projects” for him. But directing was not what he became known for.Wayne does not elaborate in the manuscript on why he never made directing a priority in subsequent years.

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Secrets John Wayne Revealed to Ron Howard About Filmmaking . – My Blog

Although they were celebrities for different reasons, Ron Howard worked with John Wayne on one of The Duke’s late-period movies. Howard said Wayne gave him some interesting advice. In addition, Howard revealed what made Wayne a little different from other actors.

As an actor, Howard is most known for his appearing in the sitcoms The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days as well as George Lucas’ American Graffiti. However, he also appeared in Wayne’s final Western, The Shootist. The film also included James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, and John Carridine. With that cast, the film was almost like a roll call of Old Hollywood actors. Howard’s appearance in the film almost feels like a passing of the torch from one generation to the next.

In an interview with Men’s Journal, Sean Woods asked Howard if working with Wayne and Stewart taught him anything about manhood. “John Wayne used a phrase, which he later attributed to [film director] John Ford, for scenes that were going to be difficult: ‘This is a job of work,’ he’d say,” Howard recalled. “If there was a common thread with these folks – Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Glenn Ford – it was the work ethic. It was still driving them. To cheat the project was an insult. To cheat the audience was damnable.”

What Ron Howard said John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Jimmy Stewart had in common : In a separate interview with the HuffPost, Howard also praised Wayne’s work ethic. “I always admired him as a movie star, but I thought of him as a total naturalist,” Howard said. “Even those pauses were probably him forgetting his line and then remembering it again, because, man, he’s The Duke.

But he’s working on this scene and he’s like, ‘Let me try this again.’ And he put the little hitch in and he’d find the Wayne rhythm, and you’d realize that it changed the performance each and every time. I’ve worked with Bette Davis, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda. Here’s the thing they all have in common: They all, even in their 70s, worked a little harder than everyone else.”

How critics and audiences responded to ‘The Shootist’ : Howard obviously admired Wayne’s methods as an actor. This raises an interesting question: Did the public embrace The Shootist? According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned over $8 million. That’s not a huge haul for a film from 1976. However, the film is widely regarded as a classic among 1970s Westerns.

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How did Paul Koslo ever have a tense encounter with star John Wayne ? – My Blog

In 1975, the Canadian actor starring The Duke in Rooster Cogburn. At the time, Koslo was only 19 and still relatively green in the industry. So working with the Hollywood legend was a bit stressful.

During an installment of World on Westerns, Paul Koslo shared his experiences with John Wayne, including a time where he nearly stepped on Wayne’s lines.As the story goes, Wayne had a short 15 line monologue. And once he was finished, Koslo was supposed to respond. And as they were filming, Wayne said his part. But when it was Koslo’s turn, he froze.“The director said ‘Paul, why didn’t you say your lines?’” the actor remembered.

“And I said, ‘well, because I didn’t wanna cut him off because he hadn’t said all of his lines yet.’” Hearing the conversation, John Wayne jumped in saying, “who’s gonna? Nobody’s gonna cut me off. I can say whatever I want, you got it, kid?”Of course, the interaction made Koslo nervous, and the only response he could muster was, “okay, sir.”However, the actor admitted that the Western icon wasn’t as intimidating as the story made him sound.

Koslo shared that as long as his co-stars worked hard, Wayne was always their biggest supporter.“My impression of him was that if you did your stuff, and you were right on top of it, he was your best buddy. But if you were like a slacker, or you weren’t prepared, he could get on your case.”During the AWOW interview, Paul Koslo also shared some details behind the age-old feud between John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn.

“I mean, Kate and him, they were always like this,” said Koslo, while punching his fists together.According to Koslo, politics were behind the fight. Hepburn was a democrat and Wayne was a republican.“It seemed like… in a fun way. I don’t know if it was for real,” he admitted. “You know, she would be sitting on the hood of a truck going like a hundred feet down to the set where they were shooting, and how Wallis was having heart attacks. She was really a daredevil, and she was full of piss and vinegar.”

The actor also noted that he didn’t get to spend much time with the actress, so he couldn’t get a proper gauge on the so-called feud. Almost all his time was spent with The Duke.The only interaction Koslo had with Hepburn was while shooting an intense scene where they were “moving this nitroglycerin to another location because we were going to rob the U.S. Treasury with it, and [John Wayne’s] about to ambush us.”And that happened right before Paul Koslo nearly stepped on John Wayne’s lines.