Two of the biggest Western movie stars in the history of cinema are undeniably Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. John Wayne brought close to 200 movies and TV shows to life in his time. Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood has over 70 acting credits to his name and is still making movie magic to this day, at almost 92 years old. Sadly, however, the two never hit the big screen together. And there’s a reason for that.

With almost 300 projects between them, you’ve probably already guessed that it wasn’t fate that kept them apart. No; in fact, in the early 1970s, a director named Larry Cohen once asked both actors to star in a movie called The Hostiles. John Wayne, however, said no to the film.

And because The Duke never hesitated to speak his mind, we know exactly why he turned it down. John Wayne not only hated the script of The Hostiles but he also hated the way the director wanted to depict the Old West. Oh, and he wasn’t necessarily a huge fan of Clint Eastwood. Specifically, Clint Eastwood as an actor/director, as far as we know, not as a person.

In true Duke fashion, John Wayne wrote Clint Eastwood a letter telling him so. In the book Ride, Boldly Ride: The Evolution of the American Western, Eastwood recounted the incident.

“John Wayne once wrote me a letter saying he didn’t like High Plains Drifter,” Eastwood said. “He said it wasn’t really about the people who pioneered the West. I realized that there’s two different generations, and he wouldn’t understand what I was doing. High Plains Drifter was meant to be a fable. It wasn’t meant to show the hours of pioneering drudgery. It wasn’t supposed to be anything about settling the West.”

How John Wayne and Clint Eastwood’s Western Styles Differ

The Western genre dates all the way back to 1903, when Edwin S. Porter made the first film of its kind, The Great Train Robbery. It was a silent film with cinematographic narration describing the events rather than dialogue between characters.

In the more than a century that followed, the Western genre grew and changed. Traditions were set and then broken, over and over again until today, and that will probably continue for the rest of time. Because, after all, what is film if not art? Directors and actors make small tweaks to every film they help create to suit their own vision of the final product.

Back in the 70s, John Wayne didn’t appreciate the changes that he saw in the Western genre. To Wayne, the new movies were too dark; he preferred the classic, heroic tales of the 40s and 50s. So when John Wayne received an invitation to work with Clint Eastwood on the new, grittier version of Western, it’s not surprising he turned it down.

It all comes down to personal preference. John Wayne might not have liked his style, but Clint Eastwood went on to become a world-renowned director. Clint Eastwood never responded to the letter in which John Wayne so frankly described his feelings.

He has over 180 film and TV roles credited under his name, but there was only one film that American western movie icon John Wayne would return to for a sequel. 

Out of all the films he’s known for, John Wayne returned to play his “True Grit” character, the less charismatic Marshal Rooster Cogburn, in the character-titled sequel. According to IMDb, the sequel follows Cogburn as he unwilling teams up with Eula Goodnight (Katharine Hepburn) to track down her father’s murderers. However, Upon returning for the sequel, Wayne’s character was stripped of his badge because of drunkenness and questionable use of his firearms. So it was a film mainly about redeeming his character.

The sequel made its debut six years after “True Grit” and it grossed more than $17 million at the box office, per Way Back Machine. It was also considered the 25th highest-grossing film of 1975. Along with Hepburn, others starring in the sequel were Anthony Zerbe, Richard Jordan, John McIntire, Paul Koslo, and Jack Colvin. 

John Wayne Called His ‘True Grit’ Role His First Decent Role in 20 Years 

During a 1969 interview with Roger Ebert, John Wayne spoke about his performance as Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit.”

“It’s sure as hell my first decent role in 20 years,” John Wayne declared. “And my first chance to play a character role instead of John Wayne. Ordinarily, they just stand me there and run everybody up against me.”

Also speaking about western films, John Wayne declared the westerns he has done were an American art form. “It represents what this country is about. In ‘True Grit,’ for example, that scene where Rooster shoots the rate. That was a kind of reference to today’s problems. Oh, not that ‘True Grit’ has a message of anything. But that scene was about less accommodation and more justice.”

John Wayne also pointed out that he loved the “True Grit” novel as well. “I loved that book. Charles Portis got a real Mark Twain feeling, the cynicism and the humor. I tried to buy the book myself. I went up to $300,000, and that’s pretty good going for an unpublished galley of a Western story. But Hat Wallis knew about this other book by Portis, ‘Norwood,’ and he made an offer for both and outbid me. Then he came back to me to play Rooster.”

John Wayne goes on to declare that he liked so many things about the film as well. “The dialogue, for one. It’s the authentic stuff. The way people talked. The last time I had dialogue of that style was in ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,’ when John Ford had the integrity to use dialogue that fit the period. Mostly, nobody gives a damn.”

Wayne had won his first and only Oscar for playing the Marshal in “True Grit.”

Nearly 60 years after John Wayne purchased the Wild Goose, we’re taking a look at all the details about the Duke’s 136-foot Navy minesweeper converted yacht.

According to a Vanity Fair article about the Wild Goose in 2017, John Wayne would travel to sea with various celebrities on the yacht. This includes Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. While speaking to the media outlet about his adventures on the yacht, Ethan Wayne discussed his father’s interest in being on the water with some rare snapshots. “Where he really lived his life was on boats. Or on the beach.”

John Wayne’s son also observed that while his movie icon father was on the boat, he would take a break from the “unique pressures” he expected as a working actor. “When he got on the boat, he could let all that go.”

When asked who would be a guest on the Wild Goose, the son of John Wayne recalled “Frank Sinatra would come around. Sammy Davis Jr. would charter the boat. Tom Jones would charter the boat, America the band. Or Dennis Wilson [from The Beach Boys]. He was around everyone. He was a huge, huge star. My dad went to the beach with the father of surfing. It doesn’t get any more legitimate than that.”

John Wayne’s Son Shares More Details About His Family’s Adventures on the Wild Goose 

As he continued to recall the adventures he and his other family members experienced on the Wild Goose, Wayne’s son Ethan said, He took me with him because he knew once I become a teenager, I’d kind of leave him for a while. He said, ‘Boys leave when they’re teenagers. They don’t come back until they’re in their 30s. And I won’t be there for Ethan when he comes back. So I’m gonna take him with me now.”

According to the Orange Country Register, Wayne purchased The Wild Goose in 1965 and sold the yacht before his death in 1979 to a Los Angeles attorney. Decades later, the boat, which anchored in Newport Beach, was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 2011. The boat has had more than $3 million in renovations done to it since John Wayne’s ownership. Hornblower Cruises, an owner of the boat, purchased it in 1997. The company says it has since tried to maintain its “historic integrity.” 

Chandler Bell, Director of Marine Operations at Hornblower said, “We wanted to preserve the history of the vessel. We felt the boat deserved it.”

Bert Minshall, who was a deckhand for the ship in 1963 and became the ship’s captain in the 70s, spoke about the ship’s changes and renovations. This includes the decor. “Mr. Wayne would never have had that stuff on board.”