SUMMARY

 John Wayne defined the classic Western hero, appearing in 83 Westerns, including timeless classics like “Stagecoach” and “True Grit.”
 Clint Eastwood subverted the traditional Western genre with morally ambiguous characters, setting a precedent for Spaghetti and Revisionist Westerns.
 James Stewart brought his relatable everyman persona to Westerns, portraying both protagonist and antagonist characters, showcasing his versatility.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Western genre was an enormous entity in 20th-century filmmaking, and many actors were known primarily for appearing in them. Several actors left a distinct mark on the genre by starring in at least five great Western films. Many qualities constitute a great Western, be it that they were massively influential for their era, like Stagecoach, stood the test of time as masterpiece films, like Once Upon a Time in the West, or were commercially successful, like How the West Was Won.
When considering the great Western actors, names like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood immediately ring a bell. However, many other movie stars made fantastic contributions to the genre, bringing the mythos of Wild West gunslingers, bounty hunters, and lawmen to life. The 1940s-1960s saw many of the best Westerns ever made in a Golden Age for the genre. In the mass production of films in America and Spaghetti Westerns in Italy, certain stars clung to them, like Wayne, who appeared in eighty-three Westerns in his career.

10. John Wayne
John Wayne appeared in 83 Westerns in his career, including all-time classics.

John Wayne’s Western Movies
Release Year

Stagecoach
1939

The Searchers
1956

Rio Bravo
1959

True Grit
1969

El Dorado
1966

No actor is more synonymous with the classic Western than John Wayne. His extensive filmography of enduring and popular movies cemented Wayne’s legacy as an iconic screen legend. John Wayne helped define the archetypal Western hero, with tough, rugged characters like John T. Chance in Rio Bravo and Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, which earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. Known primarily for his collaborations with director John Ford, Wayne’s impact on the Western genre is immeasurable.

9. Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood starred in iconic Spaghetti and Revisionist Westerns.

Clint Eastwood’s Western Movies
Release Year

A Fistful of Dollars
1964

For a Few Dollars More
1965

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
1966

The Outlaw Josey Wales
1976

Unforgiven
1992

While he’s still making films at the age of 93, many of Clint Eastwood’s best movies are his classic Westerns. While John Wayne represented a hero of traditional American values, Eastwood represented a subversion of the classical Western genre, known for his morally ambiguous characters. Eastwood’s “Man with No Name” in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy” set a precedence for Spaghetti Westerns, and movies like Unforgiven set a gold standard for the revisionist Western genre. Though for reasons different from John Wayne’s, Clint Eastwood’s impact on the Western genre is absolutely vital.

8. James Stewart
James Stewart brought his everyman persona to the Wild West.

James Stewart’s Western Movies
Release Year

Destry Rides Again
1939

Winchester ’73
1950

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962

How the West Was Won
1962

The Shootist
1976

While known primarily for It’s a Wonderful Life and the works of Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart also had quite a career in Westerns. Like his other films, Stewart brought a relatable, everyman persona to many of his Western characters. In some of James Stewart’s best Westerns, he even portrayed some antagonist characters, which were rare in his filmography. Despite them not being his forte, James Stewart was one of the iconic actors of his era who could do it all, from Westerns like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and How the West Was Won to classic thrillers like Rope and Vertigo.

7. Franco Nero
Franco Nero was one of the most iconic Spaghetti Western stars.

Franco Nero’s Western Movies
Release Year

Django
1966

Massacre Time
1966

The Mercenary
1968

Compañeros
1970

Keoma
1976

After Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone set the tone for Spaghetti Westerns, Italian actor Franco Nero found stardom in the genre. Known primarily for his role as the titular character in Django, Nero was a recognizable face in the violent Italian Western films of Sergio Corbucci, like Compañeros and The Mercenary. Franco Nero was a star during the 1960s and 1970s who made several significant contributions to the Western genre. In Quentin Tarantino’s loose remake, Django Unchained, Nero even made a cameo appearance.

6. Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda delivered one of the best Western villain performances.

Henry Fonda’s Western Movies
Release Year

The Ox-Bow Incident
1943

My Darling Clementine
1946

Fort Apache
1948

How the West Was Won
1962

Once Upon a Time in the West
1968

Like James Stewart, Henry Fonda’s iconic Hollywood career came from his everyman persona, best known for films like 12 Angry Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Fonda’s most outstanding contribution to the Western genre is enriched by its deviation from his usual character types. In Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, Henry Fonda is unbelievable as the despicable villain, Frank. Aside from playing one of the great Western villains, Fonda starred in Westerns like How the West Was Won and My Name Is Nobody.

5. Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper played classic Western heroes.

Gary Cooper’s Western Movies
Release Year

The Westerner
1940

Vera Cruz
1954

High Noon
1952

Man of the West
1958

The Hanging Tree
1959

With iconic classics like High Noon and The Westerner, Gary Cooper cemented himself as a Western movie legend. His characters were typically strong, stoic, principled heroes, much like the characters John Wayne portrayed. Cooper was capable of conveying Western heroes through quiet, often understated performances that distinguished him. Though he didn’t have as many classics as many of the great Western stars, Cooper’s characters were often more relatable and authentic.

4. Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef played iconic Western villains in Sergio Leone’s films.

Lee Van Cleef’s Western Movies
Release Year

High Noon
1952

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962

How the West Was Won
1962

For a Few Dollars More
1965

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
1966

While many great Western actors defined different aspects of the mythological hero, Lee Van Cleef was known for iconic antagonist characters. He’s best known for his roles in Sergio Leone’s films like For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, playing cunning, morally ambiguous characters. There are several great Westerns where the villain stole the show, including Death Rides a Horse and For a Few Dollars More, where Van Cleef’s versatility allowed him to overshadow the likes of Clint Eastwood.

3. Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson starred in the ensemble Western, The Magnificent Seven.

Charles Bronson’s Western Movies
Release Year

Vera Cruz
1954

The Magnificent Seven
1960

Once Upon a Time in the West
1968

Red Sun
1971

The White Buffalo
1977

Charles Bronson established himself as a Hollywood superstar as one of the seven gunfighters in the 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven. Later in the ’60s, Bronson starred in Once Upon a Time in the West opposite Henry Fonda. While he was the film’s protagonist, his work bore more similarity to the antihero characters of Clint Eastwood. He was known for his stoic demeanor and powerful physical presence on screen, playing roles in other films like Death Wish and The Great Escape.

2. Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott played classic Western heroes in the 1940s and 1950s.

Randolph Scott’s Western Movies
Release Year

7 Men From Now
1956

The Tall T
1957

Ride Lonesome
1959

Comanche Station
1960

Ride the High Country
1962

During the 1940s and 1950s, Randolph Scott was one of the most prolific Western genre actors. Like many of the other early Western stars, Scott’s characters were known as honorable, principled men in the idealized version of the hero archetype. Movies like Seven Men from Now, Ride the High Country, and Comanche Station represent the best of his work, helping shape the genre in its earliest stages.

1. Robert Mitchum
Aside from starring in other famous films, Robert Mitchum had a great career in Westerns.

Robert Mitchum’s Western Movies
Release Year

Blood on the Moon
1948

The Lusty Men
1952

River of No Return
1954

El Dorado
1966

The Way West
1967

A movie star whose career included far more than just Westerns, Robert Mitchum appeared in classic noir films like The Night of the Hunter and the 1962 version of Out of the Past. As for his contributions to Westerns, he starred alongside John Wayne in El Dorado, playing the drunken Sheriff J.P. Harrah. In Blood on the Moon, Mitchum played one of his era’s more complex cowboy characters. With so many Western movies under his belt, Robert Mitchum was the perfect choice to narrate the movie Tombstone late in his career.

What Eastwood proved, though, was that he was far more than just ‘The Man With No Name’ as he possessed a versatility that extended beyond the mere realm of the western.
Portraying ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan in five Dirty Harry movies, as well as appearing in projects as varied as Escape from Alcatraz, Heartbreak Ridge and The Bridges of Madison County, Eastwood showed himself to be an actor of genuine nuance, which is perhaps something that Wayne was not able to muster.
We also mustn’t forget that Eastwood announced himself as an excellent director, too, with the likes of Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby and Letters from Iwo Jima all top-quality considerations. In that light, Eastwood is well placed to evaluate the quality of his fellow actors and once spoke highly of one of the icons of classic Hollywood.
“Cary Grant, I was a tremendous fan of, and he was another one of those guys that had a very distinctive personality on the screen,” Eastwood once told AFI of his impressions of Grant. “He probably never got as much credit as he deserved, but he was one of the kings of doing that sort of thing, that romantic comedy.”
Grant was indeed known for his lighter kind of acting and his impeccable comic timing, and he quickly became one of Hollywood’s leading men, gaining notoriety, as Eastwood notes, for his appearances in romantic screwball comedies, including The Awful Truth and The Philadelphia Story. The Bristol-born actor went on to collaborate with Alfred Hitchcock on several occasions and had been nominated for an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ for his prior efforts in Penny Serenade and None but the Lonely Heart.
Eastwood continued, explaining how Grant possessed a versatility unlike his rivals or contemporaries, “But he could do serious things, a Mr. Lucky noir-esque kind of thing, but he could also do the romantic comedies because he had such brilliant timing and His Girl Friday remains one of my all-time absolute favourite films.”
His Girl Friday is Howard Hawks’ 1940 screwball comedy in which Grant stars as Ralph Bellamy, a newspaper editor on the verge of losing his best reporter and ex-wife (played by Rosalind Russell) to another man. In desperation, he suggests they write one more story together and become embroiled in a murder case.
Mr. Lucky arrived three years later as a romance film directed by H.C. Potter, with Laraine Day starring alongside Grant. It tells of the relationship between a shady gambler and an affluent socialise on the eve of the United States entering World War II, and though it is indeed a romance drama, it proves Grant’s versatility as an actor in a slightly darker role.
Check out the trailers for Clint Eastwood’s favourite Cary Grant movie below.

SUMMARY

 Clint Eastwood’s favorite John Ford movie is How Green Was My Valley, showcasing his appreciation for Ford’s work beyond Westerns.
 How Green Was My Valley‘s influence on Eastwood as an actor can be seen in his ability to make unsentimental characters charismatic and easy to root for.
 Ford’s influence on Eastwood as a director can be seen in the themes and plot choices of his films, such as the exploration of family, community, and masculinity.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

While Clint Eastwood’s most-loved John Ford movie might not be a Western, it is still no surprise that this classic topped the list of the director’s favorites. Ford was a legend in the Western genre, and Eastwood even called the filmmaker one of his favorite directors. Eastwood became a major mainstream star shortly after Ford’s career came to a close, meaning that the pair never got to work together. However, Eastwood did praise Ford as a “pioneer” when he won the inaugural John Ford Award, admitting he grew up on the director’s work (via Irish America).

Since Eastwood and Ford are both seen as two of the greatest Western directors of all time, viewers might assume that Eastwood was referring specifically to Ford’s many great Westerns with these comments. However, that was not quite the case. Although Ford made many classic Westerns, such as The Searchers, Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, he named a non-Western as his favorite movie from the influential Ford. Even more surprisingly, the movie Eastwood referenced is not often listed as Ford’s best non-Western, like 1940’s adaptation of Grapes of Wrath or The Quiet Man.
Clint Eastwood’s Favorite John Ford Movie Is How Green Was My Valley – Is It Ford’s Best?

Eastwood named How Green Was My Valley as one of his favorite movies in an interview with AFI. This was a striking decision, as the 1941 library adaptation was not considered Ford’s best work, especially compared to the director’s more famous offerings. While Ford’s The Searchers was a massive influence on Eastwood’s revisionist Western Unforgiven, How Green Was My Valley is a very different sort of story for the filmmaker. For one thing, the valley of the title is in Wales. How Green Was My Valley is a rare Ford movie that is set entirely in the United Kingdom, but despite this, the movie won over a young Eastwood.

His love for this lesser-known Ford movie proves that Eastwood’s interests run beyond stories of gun-slinging cowboys and the Wild West.

The story of a working-class mining family in a small Welsh village, How Green Was My Valley is told from the perspective of their youngest child. Based on the novel of the same name by author Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley is a nostalgic drama that doesn’t sugarcoat the realities of blue-collar life in the Victorian era. Instead, it manages to find both humor and pathos in the difficult circumstances that its heroes face. While Eastwood’s many Western movies made him famous, his love for this lesser-known Ford movie proves that the director’s interests run beyond stories of gun-slinging cowboys and the Wild West.

How Green Was My Valley & John Ford’s Influence On Clint Eastwood’s Career

For Eastwood as an actor, How Green Was My Valley is an obvious influence. Ford’s adaptation makes characters who live in harsh, unsentimental conditions feel charismatic and easy to root for, something that Eastwood has managed countless times throughout his career. In How Green Was My Valley, Ford never frets about making the audience love his characters, and Eastwood’s infamously aloof, taciturn screen persona is borrowed from this successful approach. As a director, How Green Was My Valley’s influence on Eastwood is harder to track. However, some of the filmmaker’s work betrays a fondness for Ford’s movie in terms of plot and themes.
In Gran Turismo, Eastwood follows the story of a family who faced hard times but never lost their spirit. In Eastwood’s latest Western, Cry Macho, the director tackles the story of a flawed father figure trying to teach a kid how to be a man, only to realize he doesn’t know how to do this himself. Both are themes that one can find in How Green Was My Valley, where Ford uses the clan’s hardships and successes to illustrate broader ideas about family, community, masculinity, and what people owe each other. However, Ford’s influence on Eastwood’s career extends past his favorite movie from the director, as evidenced by his output.

Ford’s filmography is echoed throughout the work of Eastwood as both a director and actor. Ford’s tough but sensitive Western heroes provided a blueprint for the many antiheroes that Eastwood played over the decades, while the director’s masterful blending of poignant drama, tension, and comic relief is seen throughout Eastwood’s oeuvre. Meanwhile, although Eastwood’s work is often credited with blurring the lines between good and evil and upsetting the easy morality of earlier Western movies, Ford was instrumental in bringing moral ambiguity to the genre after the child-friendly era of B-westerns. Thus, Ford’s influence on Clint Eastwood extends past his many classic Westerns, as he also made his favorite movie.