WhenJohn Waynenamed his personal favorite top five out of the movies he’d starred in, he left out the classic that finally earned him an Academy Award: 1969’sTrue Grit. Over the course of his legendary, decades-long film career,Wayne starred in some truly great movies. He starred in hits likeBig JakeandEl Doradoand appeared alongside fellow screen legends in the sprawling ensembles of classic epics likeThe Longest DayandHow the West Was Won.
So, when Wayne was asked to name the best movies he’d starred in, he had a lot of gems to choose from.Wayne co-starred with Jimmy Stewartin the character-driven western dramaThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. He madeRio Bravo, one of the greatest hangout movies ever made, as a response to the cowardice displayed by Gary Cooper inHigh Noon. But surprisingly, when Wayne named his top five, he left out the movie that won him an Oscar for Best Actor.
John Wayne’s 5 Favorite Movie Roles Didn’t Include His Oscar-Winning True Grit
Wayne Ranked Five Other Westerns Higher Than True Grit
During a 1971 interview withPlayboyafter he’d won the Oscar (viaFar Out Magazine),Wayne was asked if he thoughtTrue Gritwas his finest film and the actor bluntly replied, “No, I don’t.”Despite the fact that it earned him one of acting’s highest honors, Wayne didn’t even considerTrue Gritto be in the top five. He named his five best movies asStagecoach,Red River,The Searchers,The Quiet Man, andThe Long Voyage Home, four of which were directed by John Ford (all butRed River, which was helmed by Howard Hawks).
Stagecoachwas the early masterpiece thatnot only established Wayne’s heroic on-screen persona, but many of the familiar western movie tropes.The Searcherswas the first time Wayne stepped outside his comfort zone with a darker role — the kind of darker role that earned him an Oscar forTrue Grit.Red Riveris a hugely influential classic;The Quiet Manis a lighthearted romcom uncharacteristic of Wayne; andThe Long Voyage Home, according to Wayne, is popular among cinematography students.
Why True Grit Deserves To Be Considered One Of John Wayne’s Top 5 Movies
Rooster Cogburn Is Wayne’s Most Challenging Role
All five of the movies that Wayne named as his best are great movies that deserve a shout-out. But at the same time,True Gritis undeniably one of Wayne’s finest films.Wayne ditched his clean-cut image as the noble hero who doesn’t hesitate to spring into action to play a more reluctant antiheroinhard-drinking, washed-up lawman Rooster Cogburn. Cogburn’s begrudging father-daughter dynamic with Mattie Ross makesTrue Gritone ofJohn Wayne’s most emotional movies, too, along withThe CowboysandThe Shootist.
True Grit
Cast
True Grit, directed by Henry Hathaway and released in 1969, stars John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, a U.S. Marshal tasked with helping a determined young girl, played by Kim Darby, track down her father’s murderer. The film is based on Charles Portis' novel of the same name and features Glen Campbell in a supporting role. True Grit is a Western that explores themes of justice and moral ambiguity in the 1870s American frontier.
