For years, I’ve staunchly been against John Wayne. He simply didn’t do it for me. However, recently, I’ve been watching his movies and really enjoying them. So far, I really like TRUE GRIT, THE SEARCHERS, and THE SHOOTIST. Now I’m willing to give more of his catalogue a chance.
If you could, please, list your five favorite John Wayne oaters. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you think and giving your choices a day in court!
Can’t stand the man, it really annoys me when people go on about “The Duke” being the best western actor ever… he’s shit!
Eastwood is the main man.
[quote=“Yodlaf Peterson, post:3, topic:3351”]Can’t stand the man, it really annoys me when people go on about “The Duke” being the best western actor ever… he’s shit!
Eastwood is the main man.[/quote]
I CONCUR! ;D
I liked True Grit though, for full disclosure. But it wasn’t an Oscar-worthy performance from Wayne by any stretch IMO, in fact along with Glen Campbell he was one of the weaker elements of a bloody decent movie. It was “The Dude” rather than “The Duck” who, many years later, finally showed us what Rooster Cogburn was all about. I couldn’t get on with The Searchers or Rio Bravo, both considered of course to be among the very best movies in the genre, almost entirely because of Wayne’s “Look at ME!” stage-front, triple-ham-egg-and-cheese performances. I’ve got El Dorado, Stagecoach and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance all cued up somewhere in my pc having been recommended to me by well-meaning fellows who know I like a bit of yee-haa action but I’ve no enthusiasm for trying them at all. Because of “The Duck”.
And in the interests of fairness, I will sooner or later give those three Wayne films their head, as well as giving all-important second looks to The Searchers and Rio Bravo.
Do not mind Wayne, but stars of the Spaghetti West are more to my liking 
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As Stanton mentioned there is an old thread about Wayne but to save time here is what I said about him there a while ago. I still feel pretty much the same way:
[i]Well, I think you will find a variety of opinions on the Duke here and not all of them very positive. For my part though I have a genuine fondness for him. As an actor anyway. I suspect we wouldn’t have seen eye to eye much politically.
The thing to remember about Wayne I feel is that his career as a lead actor spanned 5 decades and included a ton of material. Consequently, the style and quality of his films vary. As do his performances in them. But amongst the 100 odd films that he made were some indisputable classics in which he proved that he could genuinely act if given the right material and the right direction. His work with John Ford is the obvious example of this. In films like Stagecoach, The 3 Godfathers, Fort Apache, Rio Grande, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Wayne showed a genuine range as an actor, from sentimental comedy to pyschological drama. Films like these counter any criticism directed at him as a ‘one dimensional’ ham in my opinion. But he didn’t just shine when working with Ford. Other stand out films with different directors would include Red River, Hondo, Rio Bravo and True Grit. Again, all stand out films which demanded variety from Wayne as an actor.
He made some duds too of course and later on in his career (1960s and 70s) probably became somewhat of a charicature of himself. But any actor who could boast a filmography which included the above titles deserves respect in my book and has to be included in the pantheon of genuine stars of the western genre.
Like I said at the start though, you will almost certainly find differing views here. Wayne is a figure who falls into the ‘love him or hate him’ category for many and his style was often the antithesis of that which we all enjoy in spaghettis. If you are not a fan of the ‘classic’ style of american western he is unlikely to be your cup of tea.[/i]
For the record, I guess my top 5 would be something like:
Stagecoach
Red River
3 Godfathers
The Searchers
Hondo
There are plenty others that could fit on the list on another day though. Liberty Valance for one. Any of Ford’s cavalry trilogy too. I know a lot of people don’t like him and he isn’t my favourite western actor either by a long chalk but he was in some good films over the years.
I like the guy in Alex Cox’s Searchers 2.0 who hates Wayne
I had a similar experience with Wayne, Marvin. Initially he didn’t do anything for me, but after many years and watching many films in which he happened to be one of the actors (or mostly the lead actor) I’ve come to really (re)appreciate him. I’d more or less agree with what Phil H wrote, so I’ll just list the films I love which happen to have John Wayne in them in chronological order. But my experience so far (seen 20+ Wayne films, and bought many more) is that once you get into his stuff you can enjoy almost any film in which he was one of the leads. ;D
The Big Trail [widescreen version] (1930)
Baby Face (1933)
3 Godfathers (1948)
Rio Grande (1950)
The Searchers (1956)
Rio Bravo (1959)
How the West Was Won (1962)
El Dorado (1966)
I used to not like his acting either, but now I do after seeing alot of his films…
The Searchers
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Rio Bravo
El Dorado
The Sons of Katie Elder
I only like El Dorado, in which Wayne doesn’t take himself so seriously.
For me, the guy wasn’t much of an actor. Moreover, I find his patriotic stance not too credible.
He could be effective though, but he was just one of those wooden actors that doesn’t appeal to me.
As Phil said earlier (and indeed on another thread):
[quote]
He made some duds too of course and later on in his career (1960s and 70s) probably became somewhat of a caricature of himself.
[\quote]
And I think that’s probably the problem with John Wayne. He started off a bit of a weak actor, improved as time went on, and there’s a good period in the late 40s to early 60s where he was in interesting films, and a good enough actor to carry then. Then he got to the point where he was successful enough that could pick and choose his own films and it all became raucous brawling an empty plots.
All of the below are worth a look and have a decent Wayne performance in my opinion:
[ul][li]Stagecoach[/li]
[li]Red River[/li]
[li]All three of the cavalry trilogy (but She Wore A Yellow Ribbon is best)[/li]
[li]The Searchers[/li]
[li]Rio Bravo[/li]
[li]El Dorado[/li]
[li]Man Who Shot Liberty Valance[/li]
[li]The Cowboys[/li]
[li]True Grit - I doubt it deserved an Oscar, and the Coen brother’s version is a much better film in every other aspect, but I honestly prefer Wayne’s performance[/li]
[li]The Shootist[/li]
[li]Some non-Westerns which I shan’t list[/li][/ul]
Now the really controversial part of this post: I’m not a fan of Clint as an actor. (That said, I like a lot of him films, but I’m not sure his acting helps that).
So I failed to end my quote quite where I wanted to, and don’t seem able to edit the post to fix it. Ooops!
[quote=“Stanton, post:2, topic:3351”]Why not check the John Wayne thread?
http://forum.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/topic,1510.0.html[/quote]
Hmm… I swear I looked for a thread dedicated to him and couldn’t find one! I should’ve known there was one lurking about, though. Thanks!
And I appreciate the other replies. 
I often never find a topic I am looking for. But I know they are sneaky, so when I look again…there they are. May be because I have a few beers sometimes 
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Well, but that’s a basic rule: the search function works at best with a solid blood alcohol level. Using it sober is venturesome.
Don’t forget that if you use the search box in the upper corner, it searches only the currently browsed forum section
So if you’re in The S A L O O N and you use the search box, it will only search topics located in The S A L O O N
[quote=“autephex, post:16, topic:3351”]Don’t forget that if you use the search box in the upper corner, it searches only the currently browsed forum section
So if you’re in The S A L O O N and you use the search box, it will only search topics located in The S A L O O N[/quote]
Ah, didn’t know that, THANKS!
SOmetimes I find things, sometimes not, and I was always wondering how the hell the search function worked…
Im pretty sure it also works inside topics. So you can view a topic and then search just the posts made in that thread
"John Wayne was a fag. He was, too, you boys. I installed two-way mirrors in his pad in Brentwood, and he come to the door in a dress."
…and it has a spaghetti link via Vonetta 