John Wayne, real name Marion Morrison, made 170 movies during his incredible Hollywood career from the 1920s silent era to the mid-1970s. Duke dominated the Golden Age of cinema as a box office king for three decades. He quickly became an American icon, best known for his Westerns. Yet, which are the very best John Wayne movies? Film fan database IMDb has rated the Top 10, but you may be surprised that neither The Searchers, True Grit or Rio Bravo made it to No 1.
9. Fort Apache (1948)
In 1947, John Ford and John Wayne kicked off the first of their Calvary Trilogy movies in Fort Apache. Like She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, the movie was filmed in the director’s favoured Monument Valley where the blazing heat, high winds and desert storms proved a challenging shoot for the cast and crew. Set after the American Civil War, Wayne played Captain Kirby York, the acting commander of Fort Apache, an isolated US cavalry post in the Arizona frontier. The officer soon finds himself clashing with Henry Fonda’s stubborn Lieutenant Colonel, who arrives to take over command with his daughter, played by Shirley Temple.
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