Silver Screen Icons: John Wayne Westerns

Fort Apache (1948)

John Ford's classic frontier epic (the first of his "Cavalry Trilogy") about an isolated Cavalry outpost and the men and women who live there stars Henry Fonda as Lt. Col. Owen Thursday, Fort Apache’s stubborn new commander, whose rigorous anti-Indian stance puts him at odds with his men and leads to war with the Apache. John Wayne is his veteran second-in-command, Capt. Kirby York. With Shirley Temple, John Agar, and Ward Bond; from a short story by James Warner Bellah. 128 min. BW/Rtg: NR

The Searchers (1956)

Often cited as one of the most complex and greatest Westerns ever made, director John Ford's moody tale stars John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, a Civil War veteran who returns to his settler brother's West Texas home and finds that his family has been attacked by the Comanche. Joined by a half-breed youth (Jeffrey Hunter) raised by the family, Edwards begins an all-consuming search for his surviving niece (Natalie Wood), now living with her captors. Ward Bond, Vera Miles also star; based on Alan Le May’s 1954 novel. 119 min. C/Rtg: NR

Rio Bravo (1959)

Howard Hawks' western epic stars John Wayne as Sheriff John Chance, whose Texas town is under siege by the army of gunmen brought in by crooked cattle baron Nathan Burdette (John Russell) to free his trigger-happy brother Joe (Claude Akins) from the sheriff’s jail. Chance's only allies are his elderly sidekick (Walter Brennan), a drunken ex-deputy (Dean Martin), and fiery young gunslinger Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson). Angie Dickinson, Ward Bond also star in this film version of B.H. McCampbell’s short story. 141 min. C/Rtg: NR

The Cowboys (1972)

When his cattlemen leave him to pursue their dreams of finding gold, veteran rancher Wil Andersen (John Wayne) is left high and dry. Desperate to find new workers, Andersen takes a chance and recruits 11 schoolboys to join him on a dangerous cattle drive. Together with his young employees, Andersen experiences rambunctious laughs and thrills aplenty while they face off against some no-good thieves. With Bruce Dern, Roscoe Lee Browne, Colleen Dewhurst, Slim Pickens. 135 min. C/Rtg: PG

Standard/Widescreen; Soundtrack English.