John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison) (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed Duke, was an American actor and filmmaker. An Academy Award-winner for True Grit (1969), Wayne was among the top box office draws for three... Read full bio →
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
I Am Not Your Negro
Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in America.
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar. But the first time he clasped the famous statuette in his hand was a half-century earlier when his Technicolor camerawork was awarded for Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. Beyond John Huston's The Afric...
La classe américaine
Following the death of the world classiest man, George Abitbol, three journalists investigate to try to understand his last words: "Monde de merde!" La Classe Américaine is a montage of scenes taken from the Warner Bros. catalog and dubbed to fit the narration.
Star Wars
When Princess Leia is taken prisoner by Darth Vader, she sends her two droids on a mission to find an old Jedi Knight. Their paths cross that of Luke Skywalker who, along with Obi Wan Kenobi, Han Solo and Chewbacca, heads off to Alderaan to deliver the droids to the Rebellion.
The Shootist
Rooster Cogburn
A small village in the Indian Nation that is run by a Minister Goodnight and his daughter Eula is overrun by a band of drunken thugs. They kill and rape the people of the village. Miss Goodnight then teams up with the ruthless Marshal Rooster J. Cogburn who goes after them and bring them to justice.
Brannigan
A hard-nosed Chicago cop is sent to London to bring back an American mobster being held for extradition. Brannigan in his Irish-American way brings American law to the people of Scotland Yard but has to contend with a stuffy old London first.
McQ
Police Lieutenant Lon McQ investigates the killing of his best friend and uncovers corrupt elements of the police department dealing in confiscated drugs.
The Train Robbers
A gunhand named Lane is hired by a widow, Mrs. Lowe, to find gold stolen by her husband so that she may return it and start fresh.
The Men Who Made the Movies: Howard Hawks
A documentary filmography of Howard Hawks, including lengthy footage of Hawks himself discussing his films and many clips from his best-known pictures.
Cahill U.S. Marshal
J.D. Cahill is the toughest U.S. Marshal they've got, just the sound of his name makes bad guys stop in their tracks, so when his two young boy's want to get his attention they decide to rob a bank. They end up getting more than they bargained for.
The Cowboys
When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking...
Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still
The film's subject is a photograph of Jane Fonda visiting Hanoi during the Vietnam War. It asks what the position of the intellectual should be in the class struggle and points out the irony of Jane Fonda's participation in the photo shoot, which was staged.
Big Jake
An aging Texas cattle man who has outlived his time swings into action when outlaws kidnap his grandson.
Rio Lobo
After the Civil War, Cord McNally searches for the traitor whose perfidy caused the defeat of McNally's unit and the loss of a close friend.
Chisum
Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County land war.
True Grit
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
The Undefeated
The Civil War is over, and Colonel John Henry Thomas (John Wayne) of the Union Army is bound for Mexico to trade horses; his opponent, Confederate Colonel James Langdon (Rock Hudson), is also heading south to help build a new settlement. When a Mexican general threatens their safety, the two join forces in spite of their original alliances.
The Green Berets
Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy the second mission is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General
The War Wagon
An ex-con seeks revenge on the man who put him in prison by planning a robbery of the latter's stagecoach, which is transporting gold. He enlists the help of a partner, who could be working for his nemesis.
El Dorado
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with an old indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
Cast a Giant Shadow
An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his Jewish heritage. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.
The Sons of Katie Elder
The four sons of Katie Elder reunite in their hometown of Clearwater, Texas for her funeral and discover that the family ranch is now in the hands of Morgan Hastings, a corrupt businessman who wants to exploit the area around the town.
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Greatest Story Ever Told is a film by director George Stevens about the life of Jesus.
In Harm's Way
A naval officer reprimanded after Pearl Harbor is later promoted to rear admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.
Circus World
Circus owner Matt Masters is beset by disasters as he attempts a European tour of his circus. At the same time, he is caught in an emotional bind between his adopted daughter and her mother.
McLintock!
McLintock! is a 1963 comedy Western starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The film is famous (or infamous) for its two spanking scenes, in which mother and daughter are each paddled with coal shovels: the daughter by her suitor, the mother by her estranged husband.
Donovan's Reef
'Guns' Donovan prefers carousing with his pals Doc Dedham and 'Boats' Gilhooley, until Dedham's high-society daughter Amelia shows up in their South Seas paradise.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Coming home for a friend funeral, a senator tells his story.
The Longest Day
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, ...
How the West Was Won
Hollywood's most celebrated luminaries - behind the camera as well as in front of it - combine talents to present this epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the end of the century, as seen through the eyes of one pioneer family.
Hatari!
A group of men trap wild animals in Africa and sell them to zoos. Will the arrival of a female wildlife photographer change their ways?
The Comancheros
Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves known as Comancheros.
The Alamo
The legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.
North to Alaska
Sam and George strike gold in Alaska. George sends Sam to Seattle to bring George's fiancé back to Alaska. Sam finds she is already married, and returns instead with Angel. Sam, after trying to get George and Angel together, finally romances Angel, who, in the meantime, is busy fighting off the advances of George's younger brother, Billy.
The Horse Soldiers
A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail/supply centre. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence.
Rio Bravo
A classic old western film starring John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson as a defunct threesome; one wounded, another drunk, and the last one a young gunslinger. They are ask by a local sheriff to help keep a bad guy’s brother in jail. This is a western film for people who don’t even like westerns.
The Barbarian and the Geisha
Townsend Harris is sent by President Pierce to Japan to serve as the first U.S. Consul-General to that country. Harris discovers enormous hostility to foreigners, as well as the love of a young geisha.
The Wings of Eagles
The story of Frank W. "Spig" Wead - a Navy-flyer turned screenwriter.
Legend of the Lost
American ne'er-do-well Joe January is hired to take Paul Bonnard on an expedition into the desert in search of treasure.
Jet Pilot
Air Force Colonel Jim Shannon is tasked to escort a defecting Soviet pilot who is scheming to lure Shannon to the USSR.
The Searchers
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.
The Conqueror
Mongol chief Temujin battles against Tartar armies and for the love of the Tartar princess Bortai. Temujin becomes the emperor Genghis Khan.
The Sea Chase
As World War II begins, German freighter Captain Karl Ehrlich tries to get his ship back to Germany through a gauntlet of Allied warships.
Blood Alley
A merchant marine captain, rescued from the Chinese Communists by local visitors, is "shanghaied" into transporting the whole village to Hong Kong on an ancient paddle steamer.
The High and the Mighty
Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight - one that takes a terrifying suspense-building turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean at the point of no return.
Producers' Showcase
Producers' Showcase is an American anthology television series that was telecast live during the 1950s in compatible color by NBC. With top talent, the 90-minute episodes, covering a wide variety of genres, aired under the title every fourth Monday at 8 p.m. ET for three seasons, beginning October 18, 1954. The final episode, the last of 37, was...
Island in the Sky
A transport plane crash-lands in the frozen wastes of Labrador, and the plane's pilot, Dooley, must keep his men alive in deadly conditions while waiting for rescue.
Hondo
Army despatch rider Hondo Lane discovers a woman and her son living in the midst of warring Apaches, and he becomes their protector.
The Quiet Man
A disgraced American boxer retires to Ireland, where he finds love.
Operation Pacific
During WWII, Duke E. Gifford is second in command of the USS Thunderfish, a submarine which is firing off torpedoes that either explode too early or never explode at all. It's a dilemma that he'll eventually take up personally. Even more personal is his quest to win back his ex-wife, a nurse; but he'll have to win her back from a navy flier who ...
Flying Leathernecks
Major Daniel Kirby takes command of a squadron of Marine fliers just before they are about to go into combat. While the men are well meaning, he finds them undisciplined and prone to always finding excuses to do what is easy rather than what is necessary. The root of the problem is the second in command, Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin. Griff is the ...
Rio Grande
Lt. Col. Kirby Yorke is posted on the Texas frontier to defend settlers against depredations of marauding Apaches. Col. Yorke is under considerable stress by a serious shortage of troops of his command. Tension is added when Yorke's son (whom he hasn't seen in fifteen years), Trooper Jeff Yorke, is one of 18 recruits sent to the regiment.
The Fighting Kentuckian
John Breen (John Wayne), a Kentucky militiaman falls in love with French exile Fleurette De Marchand (Vera Ralston). He discovers a plot to steal the land that Fleurette's exiles plan to settle on and aims to foil it.
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
After Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn, a US Cavalry Captain takes his troop out on a final patrol to handle a breakout from a nearby Indian reservation. His mission is further complicated by the commanding officer's wife and niece who accompany the patrol.
Sands of Iwo Jima
The relationship between Sergeant Stryker and a group of rebellious recruits is made difficult by the Sergeant's tough training tactics. At Tarawa, the leathernecks have a chance to see Stryker in action, and begin to appreciate him.
Wake of the Red Witch
Captain Ralls fights Dutch shipping magnate Mayrant Sidneye for the woman he loves, Angelique Desaix, and for a fortune in gold aboard the Red Witch.
Red River
Dunson is driving his cattle to Red River when his adopted son, Matthew, turns against him.
Fort Apache
Lieutenant Colonel Thursday takes the command of Fort Apache. Arrogant and ambitious, he elaborates a risky scheme to lure and vanquish the Apache chief Cochise and his warriors.
3 Godfathers
Three outlaws on the run discover a dying woman and her baby. They swear to bring the infant to safety across the desert, even at the risk of their own lives.
Tycoon
Engineer Johnny Munroe is enlisted to build a railroad tunnel through a mountain to reach mines. His task is complicated, and his ethics are compromised, when he falls in love with his boss's daughter
Angel and the Badman
Quirt Evans, an all round bad guy, is nursed back to health and sought after by Penelope Worth, a Quaker girl. He eventually finds himself having to choose between his world and the world Penelope lives in.
They Were Expendable
A dramatized account of the role of the American PT Boats in the defense of the Philippines in World War II.
Flame of Barbary Coast
Duke Fergus falls for Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry in the Barbary Coast in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. He loses money to crooked gambler Boss Tito Morell, goes home, learns to gamble, and returns. After he makes a fortune, he opens his own place with Flaxen as the entertainer; but the 1906 quake destroys his place.
Back to Bataan
An Army colonel leads a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in the Philippines.
Tall in the Saddle
When Rocklin (John Wayne) arrives in a western town he finds that the rancher who hired him as a foreman has been murdered. He is out to solve the murder and thwart the scheming to take the ranch from its rightful owner.
The Spoilers
In Nome, Alaska, miner Roy Glennister and his partner Dextry, financed by saloon entertainer Cherry Malotte, fight to save their gold claim from crooked commissioner Alexander McNamara.
Reunion in France
Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque, an opponent of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris, hides a downed American flyer, Pat Talbot, and attempts to get him safely out of the country.
Reap the Wild Wind
Florida ship salvager Loxi falls for Jack, captain of a ship wrecked on the Key West shore. However, their romance is complicated by the arrival of another suitor.
Pittsburgh
Charles 'Pittsburgh' Markham rides roughshod over his friends, his lovers, and his ideals in his trek toward financial success in the Pittsburgh steel industry, only to find himself deserted and lonely at the top. When his crash comes, he finds that fate has dealt him a second chance.
The Shepherd of the Hills
A mysterious but pleasant stranger arrives in the Missouri hills and befriends a young backwoods girl, which doesn't sit well with her moonshiner fiancé who has vowed to find and kill his own father.
A Man Betrayed
Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is actually a crook. The price of integrity is sweet in this instance, since Wayne happens to be in love with the politician's daughter (Frances Dee).
Three Faces West
Viennese surgeon Dr. Braun and his daughter Leni come to a small town in North Dakota as refugees from Hitler. When the winds of the Dust Bowl threaten the town, John Phillips leads the townsfolk in moving to greener pastures in Oregon. He falls for Leni, but she is betrothed to the man who helped her and her father escape from the Third Reich. ...
The Long Voyage Home
The crew of the merchant ship Glencairn hope to survive a transatlantic crossing during World War II. Adapted from four Eugene O'Neill one-act plays.
Seven Sinners
Beautiful chanteuse 'Bijou' (Marlene Dietrich) cascades through Malaysia's ports of call eventually landing in a handsome lieutenant's lap. As Bijou 'drifts through the standards', the fleet's Admiral reckons the US Navy "already has enough destroyers". A Marlene classic with songs by Frederick Hollander and a young and promising John Wayne.
Wyoming Outlaw
Will Parker has been destroyed by a local politician and now must steal to feed his family. He steals a steer from the Three Mesquiteers.
Three Texas Steers
Nancy Evans, lovely circus owner, has a ranch that she's never visited, but for sentimental reasons won't sell to Mike Abbott. Her partners, secretly in league with Abbott, sabotage the circus to force Nancy to sell the ranch; instead, she goes there to live. Will her neighbors, the Three Mesquiteers, be a match for the secret swindlers? And wha...
The Night Riders
Talbot uses a phony land grant to rule thirteen million acres, taxing everyone heavily and evicting those who won't pay. The Three Mesquiteers becomes mysterious "night riders" to fight this evil.
Stagecoach
Stagecoach is a western film from director John Ford. John Wayne stars as The Ringo Kid and would become world famous from the film.
New Frontier
The Three Mesquiteers convince a group of settlers to exchange their present property for some which, unbeknownst to our goodguys, is going to be worthless. They are captured before they can warn the ranchers.
Santa Fe Stampede
The Mesquiteers capture a horse thief who escapes justice through a crooked judge. They gather signatures urging the governor to investigate but a friend with the petition is murdered. Stony is accused.
Red River Range
The Cattlemen's Association has called in the Mesquiteers to find cattle rustlers. They get Tex Riley to pose as Stony so Stony can arrive posing as a wanted outlaw. This gets Stony into the gang of rustlers and he alerts Tucson and Lullaby as to the next raid. But Hartley is on hand and unknown to anyone is the rustler's boss and he joins the p...
Pals of the Saddle
The first of eight "Three Mesquiteers" Westerns to star John Wayne.
Overland Stage Raiders
After gold shipments from a mining town have been hijacked, the three Mesquiteers buy a plane to fly the gold out. The owner of the shipping line brings in Eastern gangsters to thwart them.
Born to the West
Can Dare Rudd prove he is responsible enough to win the heart of Judy and also outwit the crooked saloon owner?
Winds of the Wasteland
The arrival of the telegraph put Pony Express riders like John Blair and his pal Smoky out of work. A race will decide whether they or stageline owner Drake get the government mail contract.
The Lonely Trail
Though he fought for the North in the Civil War, John is asked by the Governor of Texas to get rid of some troublesome carpetbaggers. He enlists the help of Holden before learning that Holden too is plundering the local folk.
The Lawless Nineties
Federal agent John Tipton heads for Wyoming to supervise the vote on whether to join the Union. One group of locals is using dynamite to terrorize the populace and a local newspaper editor is killed.
King of the Pecos
Profiteer Alexander Stiles lays claim to a million acres of range in the Pecos River country, but a rancher named Claybor stands in his way as he has already claimed the water-rich location of Sweetwater as his own.
The Dawn Rider
Just as John travels to visit his father, he witnesses his death and suffers a gun wound - a beautiful woman is kind enough to help him bring the killers to justice, but jealousy from another man may cause problems.
Rainbow Valley
John Martin is a government agent working under cover. Leading citizen Morgan calls in gunman Galt who blows Martin's cover.
Paradise Canyon
John Wyatt is a government agent sent to smash a counterfeiting operation near the Mexican border. Joining Doc Carter's medicine show they arrive in the town where Curly Joe, who once framed Carter, resides.
West of the Divide
Ted Hayden impersonates a wanted man and joins Gentry's gang only to learn later that Gentry was the one who killed his father.
The Trail Beyond
Rod Drew hunts for a missing girl and finds himself in a fight over a goldmine as well.
The Star Packer
A gang working for The Shadow is terrorizing the town. John Travers decides to take on the job of sheriff and do something about it.
The Man from Utah
The Marshal sends John Weston to a rodeo to see if he can find out who is killing the rodeo riders who are about to win the prize money. Barton has organized the rodeo and plans to leave with all the prize money put up by the townspeople. When it appears that Weston will beat Barton's rider, he has his men prepare the same fate for him that befe...
The Lawless Frontier
Tobin is after the bandit Zanti who killed his parents. He finds him just as Zanti is about to kill Dusty and kidnap Ruby. Saving the two, he goes after Zanti. He catches him but Zanti escapes the Sheriff's handcuff's and this time Tobin has to chase him into the desert.
Randy Rides Alone
Jailed for murders he didn't commit, Randy escapes only to stumble into the den of the real murderers.
Blue Steel
When Sheriff Jake sees a man at the safe and then finds the payroll gone, he trails him. Just as he is about to arrest him, the man saves his life. Still suspicious, he joins up with the man and later they learn that Melgrove, the towns leading citizen, is trying to take over the area's ranches by having his gang stop all incoming supply wagons....
Sagebrush Trail
John Brant is sent to prison but he is innocent. He successes to escape and to end up out west where he meet with an outlaw gang.
Riders of Destiny
John Wayne portrays Singin' Sandy Saunders and has a reputation as the most notorious gunman since Billy the Kid. That's somewhat ironic though, since it's later revealed that he's a special Secret Service agent sent from Washington to investigate a land swindle scheme under the direction of town boss James Kincaid (Forrest Taylor).
Baby Face
A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire.
Arizona
A West Point graduate (John Wayne) jilts his girlfriend (Laura La Plante) but runs into her later at an Army outpost.
The Big Trail
Breck leads a wagon train of pioneers through Indian attack, storms, deserts, swollen rivers, down cliffs and so on while looking for the murder of a trapper and falling in love with Ruth.
Born Reckless
In order to use the publicity to get re-elected, a judge sentences a notorious gangster to fight in the war.
Noah's Ark
The Biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood, with a parallel story of soldiers in the First World War.
Hangman's House
Forced by her mean-spirited father, Lord Chief Justice James O'Brien, to marry a man she doesn't love, Connaught O'Brien gives up hope of ever with her true love, Dermot McDermot. After her father dies and a hunted rebel leader returns to town, however, Connaught finds a renewed hope that the tides of oppression will shift and she might again fi...
Four Sons
A family saga in which three sons of a Bavarian widow go to war for Germany and the fourth goes to America, Germany's eventual opponent.
Brown of Harvard
Tom Brown shows up at Harvard, confident and a bit arrogant. He becomes a rival of Bob McAndrew, not only in football and rowing crew, but also for the affections of Mary Abbott, a professor's daughter.
Bardelys the Magnificent
Rafael Sabatini's story of the swashbuckling era and of Bardeleys, the handsome courtier who could win any woman he set his mind to...and was not above boasting about it to all who would listen.