The 10 Most Thrilling John Wayne Movies, Ranked (2024)

For fans of the legendary icon, John Wayne, there was nothing more thrilling than settling into a theater seat, popcorn and drink in hand to watch the Duke ride across the screen, guns drawn and firing at the bad guys. The iconic cowboy led audiences on cinematic joyrides for over 50 years. Wayne's most thrilling movies included brawls, shootouts, chases, and stampedes. What also made these stories riveting were the epic scores, breathtaking scenery, attention to cinematography, and award-winning performances.

Movies like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Alamo, and The Shootist remain legacy films for Wayne for their cinematic prowess versus straight thrills. From Westerns to war films, Wayne delivered action-packed features that not only entertained audiences but also influenced and revolutionized the genre. Each tension-building feature is equally rewatchable, with multiple solidifying Wayne's place as one of the most acclaimed actors of all-time.

10 'Hellfighters' (1968)

Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen

This movie may have sparked favor with audiences, but it certainly fizzled out with critics. Hellfighters is a fiery action film starring Wayne as Chance Buckman, an oil rig firefighter whose marriage is declining as his wife, Madelyn (Vera Miles) has grown weary of worrying about Chance every time he leaves for a fire. When Chance leaves action behind to his partner Greg Parker (Jim Hutton), a devastating blaze in Venezuela calls Chance back for one last job.

Hellfighters is far from the guns-a-blazing style of Wayne's Western persona, but the Duke still packs the thrills by putting out fires so hot audiences can feel the heat through the screen.Critics scolded the film for the standard tropes of Wayne's movies (aesthetics seemingly acceptable in his cowboy castings) while audiences sat at the edge of their seats waiting for the blaze to be extinguished. Hellfighters is a thrilling action movie deserving a space among Wayne's other films in this category.

Hellfighters

G

Action

Adventure

Romance

Release Date

November 27, 1968

Director

Andrew V. McLaglen

Cast

John Wayne , Katharine Ross , Jim Hutton , Vera Miles , Jay C. Flippen , Bruce Cabot , Edward Faulkner , Edmund Hashim , Barbara Stuart , Valentin de Vargas , Frances Fong , Alberto Morin , Alan Caillou , Laraine Stephens , John Alderson , Lal Chand Mehra , Rudy Diaz , Bebe Louie , William Hardy , Howard Finch , Big John Hamilton , Chuck Roberson , John Stephenson , Edward Colmans , Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez

Hellfighters is not currently available for streaming in the U.S.

9 'Cahill, U.S. Marshal' (1973)

Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen

While audiences aren't quick to name this film among Wayne's most iconic Westerns, Cahill, U.S. Marshal stands out among his thrilling portrayals of lawmen. Wayne stars as the titular character who returns home to discover a crime scene with the local bank robbed, the sheriff and deputy dead, with four robbers sitting in jail. Cahill's world turns upside down when he learns his sons have been recruited into a criminal gang by the gang's brutal leader, Abe Fraser (George Kennedy).

While the plot isn't anything creatively different from Wayne's film tropes, Cahill, U.S. Marshal pits father against son as his impressionable children turn to crime in his absence. The thrills come from Cahill's hunt to track down his sons and Abe, saving his oldest from becoming the very thing Cahill stands against. A late-stage film in Wayne's career, Cahill, U.S. Marshal is worth the nostalgic thrill of watching the Duke ride across the screen even if the genre's golden era had passed.

Cahill U.S. Marshal

PG

Western

Drama

Release Date

July 11, 1973

Director

Andrew V. McLaglen

Cast

John Wayne , George Kennedy , Gary Grimes , Neville Brand , Clay O'Brien , Marie Windsor , Morgan Paull , Dan Vadis

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8 'Flying Leathernecks' (1951)

Directed by Nicholas Ray

While his signature style included racing across the Western landscape, Wayne was equally capable of providing action thrills in war films. Flying Leathernecks stars the Duke as Major Daniel Kirby, the commanding officer tasked with preparing a squadron of Marine pilots, The Wildcats, for the historic Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II. Kirby resists the lax environment Captain Carl Griffin (Robert Ryan) created, as he transforms their lack of discipline into serious conflict-ready soldiers.

Instead of a formulaic cowboy character, Wayne portrays his formulaic military commander as audiences witnessed in his other movies. Flying Leathernecks is a battle of wills movie that provides emotional thrills with internal conflict that must be resolved to survive the very real external conflict of war. It may be one of Wayne's many underrated movies, but one that delivers the thrills.

Flying Leathernecks

NR

War

Action

Drama

Release Date

August 28, 1951

Director

Nicholas Ray

Cast

John Wayne , Robert Ryan , Don Taylor , Janis Carter , Jay C. Flippen , William Harrigan , James Bell , Barry Kelley , Maurice Jara , Adam Williams , James Dobson , Carleton Young , Michael St. Angel , Brett King , Gordon Gebert , Hal Bokar , Barry Brooks , Charles Brunner , Richard Condon , James Craven , Victor Cutler , Gail Davis , Sam Edwards , Fred Graham , Chuck Hamilton

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7 'The Comancheros' (1961)

Directed by Michael Curtiz

The Comancheros is often a film that gets lost in the shuffle of Wayne's vast filmography. In a classic Western of good guys vs. bad guys and enemies-to-allies, Wayne stars as an aging Texas ranger, Jake Cutter, tracking down a condemned criminal, Paul Regret (Stuart Whitman). Once Regret is captured, the pair encounter the titular band of outlaws providing weapons to the Comanches, forcing Cutter to reassess Regret's custody and which crime is worth stopping.

The movie includes all the thrilling genre standards, like shoot-outs and the battle of right and wrong, while including a complicated relationship between Cutter and Regret for the sake of the greater good. The Comancheros withholds from any deep-rooted emotion but serves as an underrated installment for Wayne. Director Michael Curtiz was terminally ill during the film's production that Wayne took over directing, the Duke unwilling to have his name listed as co-director.

The Comancheros

PG

Romance

Western

Action

Adventure

Release Date

December 22, 1961

Director

Michael Curtiz

Cast

John Wayne , Stuart Whitman , Ina Balin , Nehemiah Persoff , Lee Marvin , Michael Ansara , Patrick Wayne , Bruce Cabot , Joan O'Brien , Jack Elam , Edgar Buchanan , Henry Daniell , Richard Devon , Guinn "Big Boy" Williams , Phil Arnold , Anne Barton , Steve Baylor , Danny Borzage , Don Brodie , Alan Carney , Iphigenie Castiglioni , Dennis Cole , Booth Colman , Jackie Cubat , Gabriel Curtiz

6 'The War Wagon' (1967)

Directed by Burt Kennedy

This action-packed heist Western featured more than one legendary Hollywood star. Kirk Douglas stars alongside Wayne in The War Wagon, a film about an ex-convict, Taw Jackson (Wayne), framed for a crime he didn't commit. Once paroled, Taw enlists the help of Lomax (Douglas), a gunman, alongside a crew of misfits to hijack an armor-plated war wagon and steal half a million dollars in gold from the man who framed him.

A light-hearted popcorn movie, The War Wagon is a standard steal-the-gold movie with explosions, bar brawls, shootouts, master planning, and the Duke and Douglas at comedic best. The exciting action is made better by the onscreen chemistry of its leads as their banter carries the film. It's yet another overlooked Wayne movie that packs just as many thrills as other films throughout his career.

The War Wagon

Unrated

Release Date

May 27, 1967

Cast

John Wayne , Kirk Douglas , Howard Keel , Keenan Wynn , Bruce Cabot

Main Genre

Western

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5 'Stagecoach' (1939)

Directed by John Ford

In addition to the narrative and action 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 Kid, an escaped outlaw among an array of strangers aboard the Overland stagecoach traveling across Apache country to Lordsburg, New Mexico. Stagecoach is the first film in the Ford Wayne canon, earning seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

With the possibility of Geronimo's attack, Stagecoach puts audiences (and the characters) on a precipice of anticipation. The confined quarters of the stagecoach add to the tension. With the film being their first collaboration, Ford and Wayne previewed to audiences the thrilling potential the pair would ultimately live up to together and independently.

Stagecoach

Not Rated

Where to Watch

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*Availability in US

Release Date

March 3, 1939

Director

John Ford

Cast

Claire Trevor , John Wayne , George Bancroft , Andy Devine , Thomas Mitchell , John Carradine , Donald Meek , Berton Churchill , Louise Platt , Tim Holt , Tom Tyler , Chief John Big Tree , Yakima Canutt , Francis Ford , William Hopper , Chris-Pin Martin , Paul McVey , Jack Pennick , Harry Tenbrook , Whitehorse

Main Genre

Western

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 two decades before he'd win an Oscar for it. He stars as Calvary Captain Nathan Brittles at the cusp of retirement, attempting to weather high tensions between the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes following Custer's Last Stand. As he tries to avoid an impending war, Brittles must organize the safe transport of his superior officer's wife and niece.

Through the award-winning cinematography, Ford creates the thrilling obstacles Brittles faces to retire and avoid further bloodshed. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a signature Wayne Western as the Duke, 41 at the time, uses his masterful chops (and award-worthy makeup) to pass for a much older, wiser character.

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Passed

Release Date

October 22, 1949

Director

John Ford

Cast

John Wayne , Joanne Dru , John Agar , Ben Johnson , Harry Carey Jr. , Victor McLaglen , Mildred Natwick , George O'Brien , Arthur Shields , Michael Dugan

Main Genre

Western

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3 'True Grit' (1969)

Directed by Henry Hathaway

While Rooster Cogburn is one of Wayne's most badass characters, True Grit is one of his most thrilling movies. In the role that earned him his only Best Actor Academy Award, Wayne is a drunken U. S. Marshall hired by a young woman, Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), to hunt down the man responsible for murdering her father. Rooster partners with a Texas ranger named La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) who is also after the same man, with Mattie forcing herself on the trip.

From the daring horseback chases and shootouts to Rooster taking Beau's reins in his mouth so he can fire both pistols, True Grit is equal parts edge-of-your-seat action and authentic performances. The most thrilling moment of the movie is the race against time to get Mattie to a doctor after a rattlesnake bite. Paired with an epic Western score, True Grit is not only one of Wayne's most thrilling movies but one of the most thrilling Westerns.

True Grit

G

Release Date

June 11, 1969

Director

Henry Hathaway

Cast

John Wayne , Glen Campbell , Kim Darby , Jeremy Slate , Robert Duvall , Dennis Hopper

Main Genre

Western

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2 'The Cowboys' (1972)

Directed by Mark Rydell

Unforgiving and brutal, The Cowboys is a story of mentorship and coming-of-age in the vast landscape of a cattle drive. Confronting the reality of the Gold Rush deteriorating the availability of ranch hands, Wil Andersen (Wayne) reluctantly hires a group of schoolboys to drive his cattle to Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Their inexperience makes the drive all the more dangerous as the posse encounters a group of rustlers out for revenge, led by the chilling Long Hair (Bruce Dern).

In a third-act death that leaves jaws on the floor, Wayne's heroic cowboy dies after the brutal fistfight between Andersen and Long Hair. The Cowboys is an emotionally charged Western, not for the faint-hearted. From a boy's death to Andersen taking a bullet in the back as a last act of defiance, the film chronicles the boys' transition to men. Their plan to exact revenge is executed brilliantly from a narrative and cinematic level, including the chilling final, silent cutaways during Long Hair's death.

The Cowboys

GP

Where to Watch

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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

January 13, 1972

Director

Mark Rydell

Cast

John Wayne , Roscoe Lee Browne , Bruce Dern , Colleen Dewhurst , Alfred Barker Jr. , Nicolas Beauvy , Steve Benedict , Robert Carradine

Main Genre

Western

1 'The Searchers' (1956)

Directed by John Ford

One of the best collaborations between John Ford and Wayne, The Searchers is a dark, iconic departure from the typical Wayne Western. Hardened Civil War veteran, Ethan Edwards (Wayne), sets out on a multi-year trek across the treacherous Comanche territory to rescue his kidnapped niece, Debbie (Natalie Wood), after his brother's family was brutally murdered. Ethan's resolve to return Debbie, dead or alive, back to what remains of her family is the most thrilling Western in Wayne's filmography.

The Searchers is a movie of unwavering determination against gruesome disappointment. Throughout the runtime, the film poses several enigmatic questions: is Debbie alive, and will Ethan find her; will her adopted brother, Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) lose his mind if they find her dead; and will Debbie want to come home? The film's narrative and Wayne's performance are elevated by thrilling cinematography, making it an ominous, edgy watch for genre fans.

The Searchers

Where to Watch

• stream
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Not available

*Availability in US

Release Date

May 26, 1956

Director

John Ford

Cast

John Wayne , Jeffrey Hunter , Vera Miles , Ward Bond , Natalie Wood

Main Genre

Western

NEXT: 10 Most Rewatchable John Wayne Movies, Ranked