Films You Wish John Wayne Hadn't Made

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  • In answer to your question Kilo I would say that "The Horse Soldiers," now ranks as a firm favourite, some of the other movies on my list I have not seen for some time but at this moment in time I feel they still belong there.


    :agent:

    Regards
    Robbie

  • I could live without a lot of the B westerns in the 1930s before Stagecoach if Duke could have had 10 more productive years of movies in the 1970s and 1980s in his prime.

    Post Stagecoach (no that's not a choice) Tycoon, The Sea Chase, Jet Pilot, The Conqueor , Barbarian & the Geisha , Donovan's Reef, Circus World and The Greatest Story Ever told.


    Mike

  • I wish the Duke had not done „The Green Berets“! Not because of what the movie said about war in Vietnam. Although the Duke´s opinion about the Vietnam-War isn´t mine, it´s O.K. for me, that he wanted to express his feelings about that war in the movie, but “The Green Berets” is not a good War Movie and John Wayne had done much, much better War Movies!


    In “The Green Berets” we have two different story plots, like two episodes of a TV-Show. First there is the fight for that US-camp in the jungle and then the secret operation to capture a communist leader. The characters in the movie do not have a real good and interesting background. Compare “The Green Berets” to “In Harm´s Way”, You will find much more interesting characters there! If You compare it to “They were Expendable” You will see, that this movie has one good story arc – it is about leaving, saying good bye and loosing friends in war. If You take a look at Sergeant Stryker in “Sands of Iwo Jima”, he is a much more interesting character for John Wayne to play and to show his great talent as an actor, than Col. Kirby in “The Green Berets”. I even prefer “The fighting Seabees” to “Green Berets”.


    Some people here mentioned “The Conqueror”. I can live with that, although it´s not typical for John Wayne and sure not his best. I think, he is not the man for those history-movies, but he was a strong male actor and so they choose him for the role. I cannot imagine Marlon Brando as Temujin, he is not as tall and strong as the Duke! Maybe it would have been a good role for Charlton Heston, who played El Cid and Ben Hur… I have watched “The Conqueror” in English and German language, and believe me: this movie sounds much better with the German dialogs!


    Others here did not like “The Cowboys”. I always enjoyed that movie! “The Cowboys” had all the traditional Western elements like horse-braking, cattle-driving, rustlers trying to steel the herd, and it is about loyalty and being responsible for bringing a job to an end. It´s about boys growing up to be men, and Will Anderson shows them what it means, to be a man – who could teach them better than John Wayne? And I like the soundtrack of “The Cowboys” very much!


    I wish John Wayne had done “Lonesome Dove”! I read, that long before Larry McMurtry wrote the novel and brought it later to television, starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, he had given a script to John Wayne and the idea was, John Wayne to play Capt. Woodrow Call and James Stewart to play Capt. Gus McCrea. I think, this would have been the perfect couple for “Lonesome Dove”, but the Duke did not like the script and the rest is history…


    I liked Robert Duvall as Gus, but I never liked Tommy Lee Jones, how much better would have been John Wayne as Woodrow Call! – “Lonesome Dove” would have been a perfect John Wayne movie, I think, because is about friendship and keeping promises, it´s about how it can change Your life, whether You ride with good companions or You fall in with bad companions and we have a father-son conflict too. We all know, John Wayne could have handled that great, because we have seen it in “Red River”!

    "Never apologize. It´s a sign of weakness."

  • I only have one: the Alamo. I know he invested a lot in the film, but it just seemed to drag on. It's been several years since I've seen it. Maybe I'll dust off my old DVD and see if I like it any better.

    Worst things worst, it's still the Duke & better than most of the stuff put out nowadays!

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "Monseur, you are a LuLu!" (The Comancheros)

  • I'd wish he'd never made The Oregon Trail, not because it's a bad movie, but because the movie is at present not known to exist and therefore my collection of his films will always be missing that one (and yes probably several more).

    Roger.

  • The above are all strong candidates for the worst, but for my money the worst of them all is "Jet Pilot." This collaboration between Howard Hughes and John Wayne seemed to bring out the worst in both of them.


    The film, wrote Duke biographers Roberts and Olson, let Hughes explore "three of his obsessions, anticommunism, women's breasts and aviation."


    The plot is ludicrous, involving a female Soviet jet pilot (Janet Leigh) who also qualifies for Playmate of the Month. After some initial political sparring and some flying lessons by Duke, they of course fall in love. I've seen better screen chemistry between Duke and some of his horses.


    Then they escape to the Soviet Union. Then they come back. All ends happily.


    But what you went through to get there.

  • Ah, come on, I like Jet Pilot! It´s a real funny movie about the Americans and the Russians in Cold War. I enjoy it, whenever I watch it and the jet scenes are great.

    "Never apologize. It´s a sign of weakness."

  • You have a point. Watching Jet Pilot as a comedy makes it more bearable. And yes, I watch it too.

  • No doubt for me "The greatest story ever told" and 'The Conqueror' I understand the comments about The Cowboys but it still has a great story line even after JW went toes up. lol so to speak. hope all are well on here

  • One for me is also THE CONQUEROR. Duke was so badly miscast. The only film I can think of were the lead is worst miscast is Al Pacino as a scotsman in the american revolution. A bomb called Revolution.

    ''baby sister i was born game and intend to go out that way.''

  • OK...while I respect everyone's opinions regarding their least favorite movies, I must say that I believe they're missing the point about The Cowboys. Him dying WAS the point of the movie, as it allowed them to grow up and kill Bruce Dern's character while taking care of the herd. It showed JW's chops as an actor as well. As for the movies he made after The Big Trail, you know, the "B" movies he made during the 30's...well, without those, he would NEVER have become the star he did..end of story. He needed those roles to gain seasoning and experience. I mean, just look at his performance in The Big Trail, and then look at Stagecoach, and try to tell me those movies should NOT have been made..,


    Now...as to the posts about the nuclear testing causing his cancer: while I agree in principle that this could be possible (I grew up in Oak Ridge, TN - the birthplace of the Manhattan Project), you simply can NOT ignore the fact that JW was a chain smoker (one of the absolute heaviest in all the business), as were most of the other people who fell victim to "the curse" of The Conqueror. Again, I'm not saying the testing didn't play ANY role, but why didn't EVERYONE on the shoot die from cancer, and why did some get it sooner than others. BTW - Agnes Moorehead died in the early 70's, JW got his first round in 64...BUT, we all know this horrible disease knows no boundries of time, gender, age, nor anything else..


    Anyway...just my .02

  • i wish he d never made The Conquerer. I can t bring myself to watch it because of the repercussions of it. Agness Moorehead was also one of my favourite childhood characters in Bewitched so I find the whole thing too sad.

    "Sorry don t get it done, Dude" (Rio Bravo)


    Hooked on The Duke

  • I haven't seen the Conqueror, and I don't plan to. One still shot of Duke in ersatz Genghis Khan makeup was enough for me. So I can't really say it's Duke's worst, but I can't think of anything else. Isn't it ironic that Duke made Conqueror and the Searchers in the same year?

  • I'd have to say the cop movies. He was too old to play that type of cop. Too unrealistic for me. Can't warm up to them!