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.
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.
Jump To John Wayne Links: 1. Box Office 2. Oscar Movies 3. Reviews 4. Trailers 5. Trivia 6. UMR Table
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The film is sometimes called “An RKO Radioactive Picture.” It was filmed near a nuclear test site, and the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout. Photographs exist of John Wayne holding a Geiger counter. After location shooting, contaminated soil was transported back to Hollywood in order to match interior shooting done there. Over the next 20 years, many actors and crew members developed cancer. People Magazine researched the cast and crew’s health for an article. By the time it was published, in November 1980, 91 of the 220 cast and crew members had developed cancer. Forty-six had died, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armend�riz (who shot himself soon after learning he had terminal cancer), Agnes Moorehead, John Hoyt and director Dick Powell. The count did not include several hundred local Native Americans who played extras, or relatives of the cast and crew who visited the set, including John Wayne’s son Michael Wayne. The article quoted the reaction of a scientist from the Pentagon’s Defense Nuclear Agency to the news, “Please, God, don’t let us have killed John Wayne”. As of June 2011, the People article is available in their archive online
@Genoyce…..great points. I am sure Wayne was not the only one that shuddered when The Conqueror was mentioned. An RKO Radioactive Picture is a good name for it. They actually brought tons of the radioactive dirt back to Hollywood so the interior scenes would match the exterior scenes….just tragic!
According to “The Hollywood Hall of Shame,” the screenplay was written with Marlon Brando in mind for the lead. John Wayne was about to make the last film of a three-picture deal for RKO Radio, and Dick Powell had been assigned to direct. They were going over various scripts in Powell’s office when Powell was called away for a few minutes. When he returned, he found Wayne enthusiastically looking over the screenplay for “The Conqueror”, which Powell had intended to throw away. Powell tried to talk him out of it, but Wayne insisted that it was the film he wanted to make. As Powell later said, “Who am I to turn down John Wayne?”
Very cool information Genoyce H. thanks for sharing and thanks for commenting…both are greatly appreciated.
I’m guessing she likes the cast enough to overlook the plot, script, costumes and horrible dialog. Wayne must have really needed the paycheck to make that dawg!!
@Janis….she is a huge Susan Hayward fan….Hayward probably escapes the best out of the movie….I am sure that is why she likes the movie. I have the same issue with Bruce Willis….I still say Bonfire of the Vanities is actually a decent movie…lol.
the conqueror has to be his worst! How they got John Wayne to wear that costume is a mystery to me!
@Janis….statistically speaking it is his worst movie based on critic reviews and audience voting….but the power of Wayne still turned The Conqueror into a hit. My mom is actually fan of this movie…and I thought she had good taste….lol.
I love jw and walters magic plus jw and montgomery magic on screen it cant be beat
I agree Allen M.