All 3 Westerns by John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, ranked from worst to best

During their respective legendary careers John Wayne And James Stewart starred in three Westerns together – but which was the best and which was the worst? Wayne and Stewart are two of the biggest names in Hollywood history. The former was John Ford’s muse, the latter Alfred Hitchcock’s. Wayne and Stewart were huge stars in the Golden Age, and each represented something completely different. Wayne represented the American ideal – the gun-toting hero who doesn’t hesitate to jump into action – while Stewart was the mild-mannered everyman that audiences could identify with and recognize themselves in.

Wayne would never have been anywhere near a film like Isn’t life beautiful? and Stewart would not even be close to a film like True determination. The fact that their acting styles and screen personas were complete opposites made it a sight to behold when Wayne and Stewart appeared in a film together – especially when they were on screen together in a Western film, as each of them brought something unique and different to the Western genre, and it was fun to see those two energies collide. Wayne’s stoic severity is contrasted with Stewart’s oh-oh-oh affability in a really interesting way.

During their time as two of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Wayne and Stewart starred together in three Western films: The man who shot Liberty Valance And The conquest of the Westboth in 1962, and The Shooter in 1976. None of them are bad films, but one outshines the others. So which is the best Wayne/Stewart western?

3 How the West was conquered

1962s The conquest of the West is one of the most ambitious undertakings in Hollywood history. Essentially a cinematic miniseries shown back-to-back on the big screen, it required three filmmakers to make it happen – Henry Hathaway (who directed three of the five chapters), John Ford and George Marshall – and it was shot in true three-lens Cinerama to achieve a classic look. The action takes place between 1839 and 1889. The conquest of the West traces the westward expansion in the 19th century and includes the gold rush, the civil war and the construction of the railroad.

The entire historical epic is told from the perspective of the Rawlings family, led by Stewart’s Linus Rawlings. Wayne plays the real General William Tecumseh Sherman in the film’s third chapter. Wayne and Stewart are not the only big stars in this film. The conquest of the WestThe cast of “The 40 Years of Film” includes virtually every well-known actor from this cinematic era: Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, Lee J. Cobb, George Peppard, Walter Brennan, Robert Preston, Eli Wallach, Russ Tamblyn, Andy Devine, Raymond Massey – an impressive collection of A-list celebrities who all starred in their own films.

Wayne’s role in The conquest of the West isn’t big, but it comes at a crucial point in the story. Stewart’s Linus and his son Zeb join the Union Army to serve their country in the Civil War and gain a sense of sensual glory. But they quickly learn that war is not what they expected, especially after the bloody Battle of Shiloh, which costs Linus his life. Zeb meets Wayne’s famous Union general by chance, and his spontaneous decision to save the general’s life sets him on the path to becoming a war hero.

It is certainly an impressive spectacle, The conquest of the West doesn’t delve as deeply into the issues as it could have. Because it aims to chronicle 50 years of American history and has a limited amount of time to do so, it ends up providing only a convenient bullet-point overview without much additional insight. It’s a marvel to behold — with some truly thrilling scenes, like a herd of buffalo and a raft caught in raging rapids — but this sprawling epic is more boring than breathtaking.

2 The Shooter

Fourteen years after their previous collaboration in the West, Wayne and Stewart reunited in 1976 for another contribution to the genre. The ShooterDirected by: Don Siegel. The Shooter was Wayne’s last film appearance before his death in 1979 and became the perfect swan song for one of the most famous stars of the Western genre. Unforgiven later became Clint Eastwood’s last Western release – a worthy farewell to the genre that had made him a star – The Shooter was the perfect film for Wayne to end his western career.

As Wayne reached the end of his career and began to grapple with his own mortality, he took on one final Western role that dealt with these themes. The Shooter revolves around an aging gunslinger who realizes he doesn’t have much fighting spirit left in him and is looking for a way to die with dignity. It’s poignant to watch a dying movie star bring that pain and reflection to the screen. Wayne delivers one of the strongest dramatic performances of his career in The Shooterand brings real pathos and fear to this grim deconstruction of his stoic gunslinger archetype.

For most of his career, Wayne played the typical hero. He jumped into action to protect innocent people from the bad guys, showed no fear in the face of life-threatening danger, and always saved the day before the credits rolled. But Wayne did his most interesting work when he challenged that clear personality and played a more morally dubious anti-hero, like Rooster Cogburn in True determination or Ethan Edwards in The Wild Seekers. The ShooterJB Books belongs to this camp. He is not a straightforward hero, and that is what makes him so interesting.

There is nothing particularly original in The Shooter; the story of the gunslinger at the end of his career has already been told in other films (and in other films more effectively). But what The Shooter offers what those films don’t is Wayne, the poster boy of the Western genre, finally destroying the myth he created by portraying a sad, broken man on the brink of death, looking back on his misdeeds and wondering if it was all worth it. This performance makes The Shooter an unforgettable film; it is not perfect, but will stay with the viewer long after it ends.

1 The man who shot Liberty Valance

A few months before the release of The conquest of the West In 1962, Wayne and Stewart appeared together in the West for the first time. The man who shot Liberty Valance – and it is arguably the best film they made together. Directed by John Ford, the pioneer who established Wayne’s screen persona with his role as the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach and was also a pioneer of many film techniques of the American Western. The man who shot Liberty Valance is one of Ford’s best works and one of the best Western films of all time.

What does The man who shot Liberty Valance The best Wayne/Stewart western is that it makes the most of the unique pairing of these two actors. It capitalizes on what made each of them such great actors and such beloved stars. The film begins with Stewart’s character, U.S. Senator Ranse Stoddard, attending the funeral of Wayne’s character Tom Doniphon as a framing story. Tom saved Ranse after he was beaten and robbed by the notorious outlaw Liberty Valance and his gang. From this noble act of heroism blossomed a beautiful, lasting friendship.

In The conquest of the WestWayne plays a small supporting role in a large ensemble and only appears after Stewart’s character has already been killed. The Shooter is first and foremost a Wayne-starring film, with all of the supporting actors—including Stewart as Doc Hostetler, the doctor who treated Books’ gunshot wounds—centered around him. The man who shot Liberty Valance is the best that Wayne and Stewart have brought to a two-person Western play, where their characters’ relationship is the focus of the story and the center of the drama.

Ford’s ability to give heart and humor to his stories about the Wild West is fully evident in The man who shot Liberty Valance. At the same time, he doesn’t shy away from the violence and desolation of the setting. An ageing Wayne and Stewart are the mainstays of the film, with both convincing individual performances and a dynamic that is endlessly worth seeing. The man who shot Liberty Valance examines the irony of heroism – everyone ends up dead one way or another – through a slyly pessimistic lens that was uncharacteristic of Ford’s films.

The only disadvantage The man who shot Liberty Valance is his final act, which is predictable, too long and ultimately disappointing. Once Ranse achieves fame and success, the film becomes banal and even a little boring – especially because the framework story already anticipated the ending. If the film had ended 20 minutes earlier, it would have been perfect. But with his disappointing final role, The man who shot Liberty Valance is almost perfect, and that is more than can be said for most films (including the boring The conquest of the West and the derivation The Shooter).