10 Most Thrilling John Wayne Motion pictures, Ranked

For followers of the legendary icon, John Wayne, there was nothing extra thrilling than settling right into a theater seat, popcorn and drink in hand to observe the Duke journey throughout the display, weapons drawn and firing on the dangerous guys. The long-lasting cowboy led audiences on cinematic joyrides for over 50 years. Wayne’s most thrilling motion pictures included brawls, shootouts, chases, and stampedes. What additionally made these tales riveting had been the epic scores, breathtaking surroundings, consideration to cinematography, and award-winning performances.

Motion pictures like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Alamo, and The Shootist remain legacy films for Wayne for his or her cinematic prowess versus straight thrills. From Westerns to battle movies, Wayne delivered action-packed options that not solely entertained audiences but additionally influenced and revolutionized the style. Every tension-building function is equally rewatchable, with a number of solidifying Wayne’s place as one of the crucial acclaimed actors of all-time.

10 ‘Hellfighters’ (1968)

Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen

This film might have sparked favor with audiences, but it surely actually fizzled out with critics. Hellfighters is a fiery motion movie starring Wayne as Probability Buckman, an oil rig firefighter whose marriage is declining as his spouse, Madelyn (Vera Miles) has grown weary of worrying about Probability each time he leaves for a fireplace. When Probability leaves motion behind to his companion Greg Parker (Jim Hutton), a devastating blaze in Venezuela calls Probability again for one final job.

Hellfighters is way from the guns-a-blazing model of Wayne’s Western persona, however the Duke nonetheless packs the thrills by placing out fires so scorching audiences can really feel the warmth via the display.Critics scolded the film for the usual tropes of Wayne’s motion pictures (aesthetics seemingly acceptable in his cowboy castings) whereas audiences sat on the fringe of their seats ready for the blaze to be extinguished. Hellfighters is an exhilarating motion film deserving an area amongst Wayne’s different movies on this class.

Hellfighters just isn’t presently out there for streaming within the U.S.

9 ‘Cahill, U.S. Marshal’ (1973)

Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen

Whereas audiences aren’t fast to call this movie amongst Wayne’s most iconic Westerns, Cahill, U.S. Marshal stands out amongst his thrilling portrayals of lawmen. Wayne stars because the titular character who returns house to find against the law scene with the native financial institution robbed, the sheriff and deputy lifeless, with 4 robbers sitting in jail. Cahill’s world turns the wrong way up when he learns his sons have been recruited right into a legal gang by the gang’s brutal chief, Abe Fraser (George Kennedy).

Whereas the plot is not something creatively totally different from Wayne’s movie tropes, Cahill, U.S. Marshal pits father towards son as his impressionable youngsters flip to crime in his absence. The thrills come from Cahill’s hunt to trace down his sons and Abe, saving his oldest from turning into the very factor Cahill stands towards. A late-stage movie in Wayne’s profession, Cahill, U.S. Marshal is well worth the nostalgic thrill of watching the Duke journey throughout the display even when the style’s golden period had handed.

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8 ‘Flying Leathernecks’ (1951)

Directed by Nicholas Ray

Whereas his signature model included racing throughout the Western panorama, Wayne was equally able to offering motion thrills in battle movies. Flying Leathernecks stars the Duke as Main Daniel Kirby, the commanding officer tasked with making ready a squadron of Marine pilots, The Wildcats, for the historic Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II. Kirby resists the lax setting Captain Carl Griffin (Robert Ryan) created, as he transforms their lack of self-discipline into critical conflict-ready troopers.

As an alternative of a formulaic cowboy character, Wayne portrays his formulaic army commander as audiences witnessed in his different motion pictures. Flying Leathernecks is a battle of wills film that gives emotional thrills with inside battle that should be resolved to outlive the very actual exterior battle of battle. It might be one in every of Wayne’s many underrated movies, however one which delivers the thrills.

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7 ‘The Comancheros’ (1961)

Directed by Michael Curtiz

The Comancheros is usually a movie that will get misplaced within the shuffle of Wayne’s huge filmography. In a traditional Western of good guys vs. bad guys and enemies-to-allies, Wayne stars as an ageing Texas ranger, Jake Cutter, monitoring down a condemned legal, Paul Remorse (Stuart Whitman). As soon as Remorse is captured, the pair encounter the titular band of outlaws offering weapons to the Comanches, forcing Cutter to reassess Remorse’s custody and which crime is price stopping.

The film consists of all of the thrilling style requirements, like shoot-outs and the battle of proper and unsuitable, whereas together with an advanced relationship between Cutter and Remorse for the sake of the better good. The Comancheros withholds from any deep-rooted emotion however serves as an underrated installment for Wayne. Director Michael Curtiz was terminally sick throughout the movie’s manufacturing that Wayne took over directing, the Duke unwilling to have his identify listed as co-director.

6 ‘The Struggle Wagon’ (1967)

Directed by Burt Kennedy

This action-packed heist Western featured multiple legendary Hollywood star. Kirk Douglas stars alongside Wayne in The Struggle Wagon, a movie about an ex-convict, Taw Jackson (Wayne), framed for against the law he did not commit. As soon as paroled, Taw enlists the assistance of Lomax (Douglas), a gunman, alongside a crew of misfits to hijack an armor-plated battle wagon and steal half one million {dollars} in gold from the person who framed him.

A lightweight-hearted popcorn film, The Struggle Wagon is a normal steal-the-gold film with explosions, bar brawls, shootouts, grasp planning, and the Duke and Douglas at comedic greatest. The thrilling motion is made higher by the onscreen chemistry of its leads as their banter carries the movie. It is but another overlooked Wayne movie that packs simply as many thrills as different movies all through his profession.

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5 ‘Stagecoach’ (1939)

Directed by John Ford

Along with the narrative and motion thrills of Stagecoach, audiences witnessed the thrills firsthand in witnessing Wayne’s onscreen shift from a B-list to an A-list actor. The landmark Western from John Ford stars Wayne as Ringo Child, an escaped outlaw amongst an array of strangers aboard the Overland stagecoach touring throughout Apache nation to Lordsburg, New Mexico. Stagecoach is the first film in the Ford Wayne canon, incomes seven Oscar nominations, together with Finest Image.

With the opportunity of Geronimo’s assault, Stagecoach places audiences (and the characters) on a precipice of anticipation. The confined quarters of the stagecoach add to the stress. With the movie being their first collaboration, Ford and Wayne previewed to audiences the thrilling potential the pair would finally dwell as much as collectively and independently.

4 ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon’ (1949)

Directed by John Ford

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon marked an Oscar-winning collaboration between Ford and Wayne that allowed the Duke to prove his dynamic range onscreen twenty years earlier than he’d win an Oscar for it. He stars as Calvary Captain Nathan Brittles on the cusp of retirement, making an attempt to climate excessive tensions between the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes following Custer’s Final Stand. As he tries to keep away from an impending battle, Brittles should arrange the protected transport of his superior officer’s spouse and niece.

Via the award-winning cinematography, Ford creates the thrilling obstacles Brittles faces to retire and keep away from additional bloodshed. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a signature Wayne Western because the Duke, 41 on the time, makes use of his masterful chops (and award-worthy make-up) to move for a a lot older, wiser character.

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3 ‘True Grit’ (1969)

Directed by Henry Hathaway

Whereas Rooster Cogburn is one in every of Wayne’s most badass characters, True Grit is one in every of his most thrilling motion pictures. Within the position that earned him his only Best Actor Academy Award, Wayne is a drunken U. S. Marshall employed by a younger lady, Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), to seek out the person accountable for murdering her father. Rooster companions with a Texas ranger named La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) who can be after the identical man, with Mattie forcing herself on the journey.

From the daring horseback chases and shootouts to Rooster taking Beau’s reins in his mouth so he can fireplace each pistols, True Grit is equal components edge-of-your-seat motion and genuine performances. Probably the most thrilling second of the film is the race towards time to get Mattie to a physician after a rattlesnake chew. Paired with an epic Western rating, True Grit just isn’t solely one of Wayne’s most thrilling movies however one of the crucial thrilling Westerns.

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2 ‘The Cowboys’ (1972)

Directed by Mark Rydell

Unforgiving and brutal, The Cowboys is a narrative of mentorship and coming-of-age within the huge panorama of a cattle drive. Confronting the fact of the Gold Rush deteriorating the supply of ranch fingers, Wil Andersen (Wayne) reluctantly hires a gaggle of schoolboys to drive his cattle to Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Their inexperience makes the drive all of the extra harmful because the posse encounters a gaggle of rustlers out for revenge, led by the chilling Lengthy Hair (Bruce Dern).

In a third-act dying that leaves jaws on the ground, Wayne’s heroic cowboy dies after the brutal fistfight between Andersen and Lengthy Hair. The Cowboys is an emotionally charged Western, not for the faint-hearted. From a boy’s dying to Andersen taking a bullet within the again as a final act of defiance, the movie chronicles the boys’ transition to males. Their plan to actual revenge is executed brilliantly from a story and cinematic degree, together with the chilling last, silent cutaways throughout Lengthy Hair’s dying.

1 ‘The Searchers’ (1956)

Directed by John Ford

Probably the greatest collaborations between John Ford and Wayne, The Searchers is a darkish, iconic departure from the standard Wayne Western. Hardened Civil Struggle veteran, Ethan Edwards (Wayne), units out on a multi-year trek throughout the treacherous Comanche territory to rescue his kidnapped niece, Debbie (Natalie Wooden), after his brother’s household was brutally murdered. Ethan’s resolve to return Debbie, lifeless or alive, again to what stays of her household is probably the most thrilling Western in Wayne’s filmography.

The Searchers is a film of unwavering dedication towards ugly disappointment. All through the runtime, the movie poses a number of enigmatic questions: is Debbie alive, and can Ethan discover her; will her adopted brother, Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) lose his thoughts in the event that they discover her lifeless; and can Debbie wish to come house? The film’s narrative and Wayne’s performance are elevated by thrilling cinematography, making it an ominous, edgy look ahead to style followers.

NEXT: 10 Most Rewatchable John Wayne Movies, Ranked