TOP 5
Early Days Productions: Films of John Wayne Last updated 08/22/2010
Stagecoach (1939) directed by John Ford, starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne in his breakthrough role. The screenplay, written by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht, is an adaptation of "The Stage to Lordsburg", a 1937 short story by Ernest Haycox. The film follows a group of strangers riding on a stagecoach through dangerous Apache territory. Although Ford had made many westerns in the silent film era, he had never directed a sound western. Between 1929–1939, he directed films of almost every other genre, including Wee Willie Winkie (1937) starring Shirley Temple. Stagecoach was to be his first sound western and the first of many that Ford made on location in Monument Valley, in the American southwest on the Arizona-Utah border, many of which also starred John Wayne. Edited from Wikipedia.
"Angel and the Badman" (1947) is a black and white Western film, starring John Wayne and Gail Russell, which examines the ability of a shootist to renounce violence. This film, which was the first one Wayne produced as well as starred in, was a radical departure for this genre at the time it was released. The film was directed by Wayne's frequent screenwriter James Edward Grant.Edited from Wikipedia.
"The Quiet Man" (1952) is a American Technicolor romantic comedy-drama film. It was directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen and Barry Fitzgerald. It was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story by Maurice Walsh. The film is notable for its lush photography of the Irish countryside and the long, climactic, semi-comic fist fight between Wayne and McLaglen. It was a departure for Republic Pictures, which backed Ford in what was considered a risky venture at the time. It was the first time the studio, known for low budget B-movies, released a film receiving an Oscar nomination, the only Best Picture nomination the studio would ever garner. Edited from Wikipedia.
"The Searchers" (1956) is a American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is the story of Ethan Edwards, a middle-aged Civil War veteran portrayed by John Wayne, who spends years looking for his abducted niece with Martin Pawley, his adoptive nephew, portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter. While a commercial success upon its 1956 release, The Searchers received no Academy Award nominations. It was named the Greatest American Western of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008. It also placed 12th on the American Film Institute's 2007 list of the Top 100 greatest movies of all time. Edited from Wikipedia.
"Rio Bravo" (1959) is a American Western film, directed by Howard Hawks. The script was written by Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett, based on a short story by B.H. McCampbell. It stars John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Ricky Nelson, with Angie Dickinson, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, Ward Bond, and Walter Brennan. The film was made as a response to High Noon, which is sometimes thought to be an allegory for blacklisting in Hollywood, as well as a critique of McCarthyism, according to Graham. Wayne teamed up with director Howard Hawks to tell the story his way. A brief clip from Rio Bravo was among the archive footage later incorporated into the opening sequence of Wayne's last film, to illustrate the backstory of Wayne's character. Edited from Wikipedia.
