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 look at the Duke journey throughout the display, weapons drawn and firing on the unhealthy guys. The long-lasting cowboy led audiences on cinematic joyrides for over 50 years. Wayne’s most thrilling films 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.

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

10 ‘Hellfighters’ (1968)

Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen

This film could have sparked favor with audiences, but it surely definitely 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 hearth. When Probability leaves motion behind to his accomplice 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 sizzling audiences can really feel the warmth by means of the display.Critics scolded the movie for the usual tropes of Wayne’s films (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 exciting motion film deserving an area amongst Wayne’s different movies on this class.

Hellfighters shouldn’t be at present 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 a criminal offense scene with the native financial institution robbed, the sheriff and deputy lifeless, with 4 robbers sitting in jail. Cahill’s world turns the other way up when he learns his sons have been recruited right into a prison gang by the gang’s brutal chief, Abe Fraser (George Kennedy).

Whereas the plot is not something creatively completely different from Wayne’s movie tropes, Cahill, U.S. Marshal pits father towards son as his impressionable kids flip to crime in his absence. The thrills come from Cahill’s hunt to trace down his sons and Abe, saving his oldest from changing into the very factor Cahill stands towards. A late-stage movie in Wayne’s profession, Cahill, U.S. Marshal is definitely 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 conflict movies. Flying Leathernecks stars the Duke as Main Daniel Kirby, the commanding officer tasked with getting ready a squadron of Marine pilots, The Wildcats, for the historic Battle of Guadalcanal throughout World Battle II. Kirby resists the lax setting Captain Carl Griffin (Robert Ryan) created, as he transforms their lack of self-discipline into severe conflict-ready troopers.

As an alternative of a formulaic cowboy character, Wayne portrays his formulaic navy commander as audiences witnessed in his different films. Flying Leathernecks is a battle of wills film that gives emotional thrills with inner battle that should be resolved to outlive the very actual exterior battle of conflict. It could be one among Wayne’s many underrated films, however one which delivers the thrills.

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7 ‘The Comancheros’ (1961)

Directed by Michael Curtiz

The Comancheros is commonly a movie that will get misplaced within the shuffle of Wayne’s huge filmography. In a traditional Western of fine guys vs. unhealthy guys and enemies-to-allies, Wayne stars as an growing older Texas ranger, Jake Cutter, monitoring down a condemned prison, 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 incorrect, whereas together with an advanced relationship between Cutter and Remorse for the sake of the higher good. The Comancheros withholds from any deep-rooted emotion however serves as an underrated installment for Wayne. Director Michael Curtiz was terminally unwell in the course of the movie’s manufacturing that Wayne took over directing, the Duke unwilling to have his identify listed as co-director.

6 ‘The Battle Wagon’ (1967)

Directed by Burt Kennedy

This action-packed heist Western featured multiple legendary Hollywood star. Kirk Douglas stars alongside Wayne in The Battle Wagon, a movie about an ex-convict, Taw Jackson (Wayne), framed for a criminal offense 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 conflict wagon and steal half 1,000,000 {dollars} in gold from the person who framed him.

A light-weight-hearted popcorn film, The Battle Wagon is a regular steal-the-gold film with explosions, bar brawls, shootouts, grasp planning, and the Duke and Douglas at comedic finest. The thrilling motion is made higher by the onscreen chemistry of its leads as their banter carries the movie. It is yet one more neglected Wayne film 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 primary movie within the Ford Wayne canon, incomes seven Oscar nominations, together with Finest Image.

With the potential 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 in the end 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 show his dynamic vary onscreen twenty years earlier than he’d win an Oscar for it. He stars as Calvary Captain Nathan Brittles on the cusp of retirement, trying to climate excessive tensions between the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes following Custer’s Final Stand. As he tries to keep away from an impending conflict, Brittles should manage 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 cross for a a lot older, wiser character.

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3 ‘True Grit’ (1969)

Directed by Henry Hathaway

Whereas Rooster Cogburn is one among Wayne’s most badass characters, True Grit is one among his most thrilling films. Within the function that earned him his solely Finest Actor Academy Award, Wayne is a drunken U. S. Marshall employed by a younger girl, Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), to search out the person liable for murdering her father. Rooster companions with a Texas ranger named La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) who can also 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. Essentially 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 shouldn’t be solely one among Wayne’s most thrilling films however one of the 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 truth of the Gold Rush deteriorating the provision of ranch arms, Wil Andersen (Wayne) reluctantly hires a bunch 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 bunch of rustlers out for revenge, led by the chilling Lengthy Hair (Bruce Dern).

In a third-act loss of life 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 loss of life 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 precise revenge is executed brilliantly from a story and cinematic stage, together with the chilling ultimate, silent cutaways throughout Lengthy Hair’s loss of life.

1 ‘The Searchers’ (1956)

Directed by John Ford

Among the finest collaborations between John Ford and Wayne, The Searchers is a darkish, iconic departure from the everyday Wayne Western. Hardened Civil Battle 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 willpower towards grotesque 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 need to come house? The movie’s narrative and Wayne’s efficiency are elevated by thrilling cinematography, making it an ominous, edgy look ahead to style followers.

NEXT: 10 Most Rewatchable John Wayne Films, Ranked