Badmovies.org Forum

John Wayne did a lot of Westerns. Which are your favorite 5? Do you think THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN should be added or maybe some of his earlier Westerns? If you know which of his early Westerns are good leave a response and I'll add it to the list. The only one I haven't seen on the list is THE TRAIN ROBBERS.

I'm not that familiar with his earlier Westerns that aren't on the list. I own most of early Westerns, but haven't watched them yet. Are any of them exceptional?

(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/ap/can16105261549.hmedium.jpg)

It's been so long since I've seen these (used to watch them with my Dad when I was quite young), so I really can not meaningfully vote.  The only two that stand out in my memory are TRUE GRIT and ROOSTER COGBURN.  I know I've technically seen some of the others, though.

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALENCE is currently on my Netflix queue; I may have to add some of the others.

THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE is supposedly one of his best films, but I really don't think so. In fact it's one of my least favorite Westerns. Not sure why everyone likes it beside John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Woody Stode, and Jimmy Stewart being in it.

(http://www.fanboyx.com/images/me/013/257liberty.jpg)
This scene at the end was pretty good.

Everyone know The Duke's best film wasn't a western ... it was "The Conqueror" where he played Genghis Khan. Even the powers above hated that film so much that nearly everyone in died from cancer. (Filmed near nuclear testing grounds)

(http://perso.orange.fr/diego.vega/john%20wayne%20kahn.jpg)
John Wayne as Genghis Khan

Sorry Scott but John Wayne is not in "How the West was Won".

There were many stars who all took small roles except for the main family traveling West. John Wayne played a character named Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. To be honest I don't remember him being in the film either, but it's listed on many filmographies of his.

Quote from: trekgeezer on February 14, 2007, 01:25:57 PM
Sorry Scott but John Wayne is not in "How the West was Won".

Yes he was he played Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman


DOH! Scott beat me to it.

(http://members.cox.net/icastones/HTWWW/pics/publicity/John_Wayne-pub1.jpg)
John Wayne in "How The West Was Won"

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/21/images/hh21c4.jpg) Actual photo of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

Yeah, I remember it now, but this movie shouldn't be listed in your poll as a John Wayne movie. Neither should Chisum, he was barely in it and it was a lot more about Billy the Kid than it was Wayne's character.


I mainly remember Jimmy Stewart and George Peppard from How the West was Won.

My favorite is the SONS of KATIE ELDER....mostly cuz I think him and Dean Martin make a cool team. I would love to see the Duke beat the sh!t out of Jerry Lewis.,with Dino appaulding.Actually,I would love to see ANYONE beat the sh!t outta Jerry Lewis.

TREKGEEZER:

I wouldn't say that John Wayne is "barely in" CHISUM.  He's the star!  Sure, Billy the Kid is a major character, but Wayne is in that movie from start to finish.  I just watched it a couple of months ago.

An early B&W John Wayne flick that is fairly cheesy, yet worth watching is ANGEL AND THE BADMAN.  Harrison Ford's WITNESS is basically a remake of it.

Quote from: The Burgomaster on February 14, 2007, 10:10:41 PM
TREKGEEZER:

I wouldn't say that John Wayne is "barely in" CHISUM. 

I just really never cared for Chisum, just never seemed like it was the Duke's movie to me.

I love the John Ford Calvary trilogy and thank goodness that TCM plays them on a pretty regular basis. I would say his work with John Ford and Howard Hawks was the best he did in his career. True Grit and the Shootist were his best efforts toward the end (both were great).

He made a lot of those cheesy Saturday westerns in the 30's. According to IMDB he appeared in 172 movies in all.  In fact, before Stagecoach in 1939 (the role that made him a star)  he'd already been in 79 movies.  Man did he have a run or what?

I remember that early on Saturday mornings back in the 50's the local stations would show old John Wayne westerns, I remember them as being pretty cheesy but also they were pretty exciting action films for a little guy like I was back then. In some of these cheapies he wasn't even the star. As I got older he became a bigger and bigger star, really liked him in The Shootist, True Grit, and Big Jake.

TREKGEEZER  - I'm not a big fan of CHISUM either.  I don't really like Wayne's character in that movie.  I can't quite explain why.  He just seems sort of dry and distant.

Chisum always felt like a Billy the Kid film with Wayne shoehorned in, to me anyway.

Those John Wayne 30s B-movie westerns were staple of weekend television on our local CBS station in the late 80s/early 90s. I didn't care for them, but I used them as an indicator that when they were on that cooler movies or M*A*S*H reruns came on when they went off.

My votes:
The Shootist
True Grit
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
The Searchers

I voted more for "best films" from a scholarly or film critic perspective, rather than a "favorite" viewpoint. What I would recommend to others if they wanted to see his "best" westerns as opposed to my personal favorites. Some would be the same, but others would not.

INPO....
THE SHOOTIST
BIG JAKE
McCLINTOCK!
FORT APACHE
SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON

I deleted my first reply because I noticed I'd listed a couple of John Wayne movies that weren't westerns.

True Grit
Big Jake
The Searchers
The War Wagon
McClintock

My favorite is True Grit. I like a lot about that movie.

out of all the choices I've only seen The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance  which I really enjoyed

4.5/5

I voted Liberty Valance, Rio Bravo and The Searchers.

Quote from: Criswell on September 08, 2011, 03:47:07 PM
My favorite is True Grit. I like a lot about that movie.

Mine,too. In fact,it's my favorite John Wayne western. My favorite non-western is Hatari.

Of his golden era stuff, I'm particularly fond of "The man who shot Liberty Balance" and "The Horse Soldiers". I'm an avid western fan, but I only got to see John Ford's movies very recently, and while I'll admit his talent most of them feel too dated to me.

Of his later roles, I like "The shootist" (almost a blueprint of "Unforgiven", no wonder it was one of Eastwood's mentors, Don Siegel, the man who directed it) and "Cahill US Marshall". This latest one is one of the films he made with Andrew V. McLaglen as a director. They all feel too workmanlike to me, but I like this one because the plot involves Wayne's children, and it sort of reminds me of "Tom Sawyer". And George Kennedy is also a great villain.

True Grit - I haven't seen many John Wayne westerns. 

I'd definitely add Hatari.

  Here are a few of his older and more over looked movies.

Flame of Barbary Coast ( Duke plays a simple cowman who loses his shirt to master gambler in San Francisco. He learns to play cards from an old timey card sharp played by William Frawley.)

Pittsburgh ( JW plays a hard driving steel tycoon)

The Fighting Kentuckian (JW teams up with Oliver Hardy to help out some French settlers who fled their country after Naploleon's defeat.)

Tall in the Saddle (It's got Ella Raines!)

In Old California ( He plays a fightin' pharmacist!)

Pals of the Saddle ( One of the Three Mesquiteer movies in which Wayne teamed up with two friends to mete out justice and chase women. They were pretty dopey by todays standards but sometimes you'll find an interesting or unusal bit here and there. One of his partners in these movies was Max Terhune, a vaudville ventriliquist who brought his dummy with him on their adventures.)

'Neath the Arizona Skies ( Great stunts)

The Star Packer ( JW plays a sheriff after a villain named The Shadow. It's the usual naive by our standards, white hat kinda stuff he did in the 30's but it does have Gabby Hayes & Yakima Canutt)

"The Shootist" is the western that allowed Wayne to go out on top.

"True Grit" is the western that got Wayne is Oscar.

"Stagecoach" is the western that helped to make Wayne a star.

All good westerns, as are many of the others listed, but if you want to talk about Wayne's best western, the top two choices would have to be "Red River" and "The Searchers," as they allowed him to play against type. The problem I have with "Red River," like I have with "Hud" w/ Paul Newman as Hud, is that Wayne is such a miserable s.o.b. in "Red River," is that I find it a really hard film to watch and enjoy. Thus, while he is also something of a miserable s.o.b. in "The Searchers," I find him not quite the miserable s.o.b. he is in "Red River." Thus, for me, his best western has to be "The Searchers."

And I have seen all the films on the list.

Quote from: BoyScoutKevin on September 13, 2011, 05:34:05 PM
"The Shootist" is the western that allowed Wayne to go out on top.

"True Grit" is the western that got Wayne is Oscar.

"Stagecoach" is the western that helped to make Wayne a star.

All good westerns, as are many of the others listed, but if you want to talk about Wayne's best western, the top two choices would have to be "Red River" and "The Searchers," as they allowed him to play against type. The problem I have with "Red River," like I have with "Hud" w/ Paul Newman as Hud, is that Wayne is such a miserable s.o.b. in "Red River," is that I find it a really hard film to watch and enjoy. Thus, while he is also something of a miserable s.o.b. in "The Searchers," I find him not quite the miserable s.o.b. he is in "Red River." Thus, for me, his best western has to be "The Searchers."

And I have seen all the films on the list.

We got to see "The Searchers" on the big screen a couple of years ago when a small local theater showed it. That was so cool!