John Wayne Movies

Jump To John Wayne Links: 1. Box Office 2. Oscar Movies 3. Reviews 4. Trailers 5. Trivia 6. UMR Table

John Wayne made 88 movies before becoming a star in 1939’s Stagecoach. From Stagecoach to 1976’s The Shootist, Wayne made another 82 movies. That is a grand total of 170 movies in his career. John Wayne was the first movie star that I became aware of as a child. I still remember the shock of watching him die in The Alamo (my older brother had told me he was going to survive…he obviously lied to me). For nearly forty years, Wayne was one of the most popular stars making movies.

John Wayne’s IMDb page shows 180 acting credits from 1926-1976.  The following table only lists about half of John Wayne’s movies.  Cameos, television appearances, and almost all of his B westerns from the 1930s were not included in the rankings.  His remaining 94 movies are ranked by 6 different columns of sortable information.

Dean Martin, Walter Brennan & John Wayne in 1959's Rio Bravo
Dean Martin, Walter Brennan & John Wayne in 1959’s Rio Bravo

John Wayne Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

John Wayne Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • If movie title is a blue, then there is a John Wayne movie trailer attached to the page link
  • Sort John Wayne movies by co-stars or in some cases directors
  • Sort John Wayne movies by adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
  • Sort John Wayne movies by box office rank in the year of release
  • Sort John Wayne movies by how the movie was received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each John Wayne movie received.
  • Sort John Wayne movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
  • Use the search and sort buttons to make this table very interactive.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above John Wayne Table

1.  51 John Wayne movies crossed the magical $100 million mark.  That is a percentage of 54.26% of his movies listed.  His top domestic box office hit was The Longest Day (1963).

2.  An average John Wayne movie grosses $124.30 million in adjusted box office gross.

3.  Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  55 John Wayne movies are rated as good movies…or 65.47% of his movies.  His highest rated movie is 1959’s Rio Bravo.  His lowest rated movie is The Conqueror (1956).

4.  24 John Wayne movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 28.23% of his movies.

5.  9 John Wayne movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 10.71% of his movies.

6.  A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00 or higher.  61 John Wayne movies scored higher that average….or 71.76% of his movies.  True Grit (1969) got the highest UMR Score.  Brannigan (1975) got the lowest UMR Score.

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Jump To John Wayne Links: 1. Box Office 2. Oscar Movies 3. Reviews 4. Trailers 5. Trivia 6. UMR Table

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284 thoughts on “John Wayne Movies”

  1. Hello Bruce.
    Here are some more worldwide rental figures I got from the same source.
    Chisum (1970), $9.6m.
    The Train Robbers (1973), $6.4m.
    Cahill, U.S. Marshal (1973), $6.2m.
    McQ (1974), $6.6m.

    Reply

    1. Hey Lyle…thanks for these stats…I will add them to the database when I get home. That should get his worldwide grosses to almost 50% of the movies I have listed

      Scott Eyman is by far the best biographer when it comes to mentioning box office numbers….and even responds back if you ask him a question on Twitter.

      Thanks again for this information.

      Reply

  2. Hello Bruce.
    Here are some worldwide rental figures I got from “JOHN WAYNE, THE LIFE AND THE LEGEND” by Scott Eyman.
    Flying Leathernecks (1951) , $3.95m.
    The Quiet Man (1952), $5.8m.
    Legend of the Lost (1957), $3.6m.
    The Alamo (1960), $15,870,000.
    The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), $7.0m
    Donovan’s Reef (1963), $5.7m.
    The War Wagon (1967), $10.7m.
    The Green Berets (1968), $17,750,000.

    Reply

  3. John Wayne appeared in 46 color movies, 19 through 1959. His first color movie was The Shepherd of the Hills in 1941.

    Wayne did a cameo in the color Cancel My Reservation in 1973.

    His best color movies–I would say The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and Rio Bravo.

    Reply

    1. Hey John….so a quick count shows John Wayne made 53 movies from 1940 through 1959…..so his percentage of color movies was 35.85%….so even the great Duke was barely over 33%…..I like trivia like that. I have seen The Shepherd of the Hills…..but I did not realize at the time that it was his first color movie. As for your “best Wayne color movies”…I agree with you 100%. Thanks for sharing this information.

      Reply

    2. 46 color films is impressive, though that still leaves over a hundred B/W films for John Wayne, he was a busy actor. 19 though 1959, I think that ties him with Flynn?

      Reply

  5. Just on the Duke being the first to utter “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse”

    I can’t say if he was the first, but George Brent, of all people, has to be close with another famous quote and cliché. In the 1931 serial The Lightning Warrior (starring a top-billed Rin-Tin-Tin) Brent actually says at one point “We’ll head them off at the pass.”

    George was a long way from his Bette Davis days in that one. I wonder how many know he starred first as a cowboy hero.

    Reply

    1. Hey John….good information. Duke fans love to remind Godfather fans that Wayne said it almost 40 years before Brando did. That is funny about George Brent….seems all the movies I have seen with him are pretty far away from westerns. Thanks for adding another piece of trivia in my head. There is always room for more movie trivia….lol.

      Reply

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