ChristiansUnite Forums

I just watched The Searchers on DVD last night (got it at the library).  I had seen this movie when I was very young and had forgotten most of it.  It is really an excellent movie....directed by John Ford....beautiful scenery, too, of Monument Valley, Arizona.

I know "Stagecoach" is a good John Wayne movie.  But do any of you have any other suggestions of good John Wayne Westerns?

I love the movie 'Quiet man"...My Husband has the John Wayne collection and the most watched one is McClintock...The "Hell Fighters" is really good and based on the true story of Red Adair...a couple of nights ago, we watched "Big Jake"..I love the line..."I thought you were dead"...Even though I love to watch John Wayne..My favorite western movie is "Tombstone"...just when I thought westerns were going to the dogs...Tombstone came out...Have you ever noticed that Sam Elliot fit in that era of time?...
Maryjane

These are in the order I like them.............. ;D ;D ;D

The Quiet Man - One of the best, Wayne ever did.
Donovan's Reef
The Longest Day
Flying Leathernecks
Big Jake
Hell fighters
True Grit
The Alamo
Sands of Iwo Jima
Back to Bataan
Flying Tigers
The Fighting Kentuckian
The High and the Mighty
The Green Berets
Rooster Cogburn
The Shootist - The last movie he made, before his death.
In Harm's Way
The Greatest Story Ever Told

The Shootist is about himself...
I like them in this order..
Quiet Man
Donovan's Reef
Three Godfathers
Sons of Katie Elder
McClintock
Hell Fighters
Brannigan
Green Berets
True Grit
Big Jake
Searchers
El Dorado
The Shootist

Hey Maryjane, I see we both agree on the first two.

Yeppers..

Thanks to both of you for the good suggestions.  I'll see if the library has some of those....the librarian can see if they are at  any branches all over Los Angeles and have them sent to our branch.

Is McClintock a Western?  I now remember the movie (title) Donovan's Reef but can't remember anything about the movie as I was so young then....just that it's about deep sea divers.  John Wayne was my favorite actor when I was a kid.

I did see The Shootist some years ago, remember the end only.  :)

McClintock is a John Wayne classic...if you have not seen it...please do..you will like it...I think it is great that the lbrary has a good selection of dvd's to check out...Don't you?

The film is gentle, deliberate in pace and pits two screwball comedy types,  ;D  the seemingly over-macho but lovable brute and the seemingly stuck-up by basically-goodhearted girl against one another; and from the beginning as his steely spirit and her iron resolve meet sharply , sparks fly. In the film's focused storyline, a youthful, would-be heiress from Boston, Ameiia (Elizabeth Allen), travels from her cold, snowy and overly-formal zone of existence to locate her father, missing since WWII. She had been born near the beginning of that Pacific conflict; but he stayed in French Polynesia and has never seen her. He stands to inherit millions, that is the prospect; she needs to prove that he is "morally unfit" in order to overturn that provision of a will. The assumption is he must be living in sin, he's in paradise--not Boston.

She is met not by her errant papa but by his friend, "Guns" Donovan (John Wayne), an ex-sailor, and a man who who owns the local saloon, 'Donovan's Reef'. What she does not know is the father (Jack Warden) has had three children since, by a Polynesian mother. It takes time, a brawl over a shared birthday, meeting and growing to love the people, some tense scenes with her father, ceremonies, arguments, a water-skiing contretemps involving two sorts of bathing suit representing Boston and Polynesia and an opportunistic play for her by the governor that the girl finally melts--in so far as iron can. She decides it is more logical to stay with Donovan than to deny her feelings, and her love for the island. Donovan spanks her, the Amelia that was; but the action is symbolic, for from this point on they will be equals,; his brawling partner (Lee Marvin) will own 'Gilhooley's Reef' and and they will make a life together where people get along and respect one another's differences.

John Ford is never far from cavalry-post humor, and the build of the romance from a hotly-denied spark through incidents, misassumptions, mutual interactions and learnings prepares us not for surrender but for a warlike alliance at the end; and for a procession of priests, friends, children, Gilhooley, her father, and a huge French policeman bearing her worldly goods to Donovan's house in train behind the happy couple.

Cast members;
John Wayne    ...    Michael Patrick 'Guns' Donovan
Lee Marvin   ...    Thomas Aloysius 'Boats' Gilhooley
Elizabeth Allen   ...    Ameilia Sarah Dedham
Jack Warden   ...    Dr. William Dedham
Cesar Romero   ...    Marquis Andre de Lage
Dick Foran   ...    Australian Navy Officer
Dorothy Lamour   ...    Miss Lafleur

Oh, yes....the downtown library, where I sometimes go, has a gigantic room of videos and a smaller room of DVDs and music CDs.  I just got a DVD player so have been watching movies when there is nothing much on tv.

Today I got Stagecoach and The Kingdom of Heaven....I hope the latter one is alright for me.  (I usually don't watch the "R" rated ones...but it's set during "the crusades" and it got 2 "thumbs up", so thought I'd try it.

Most of the public libraries I have been to have had a number of old movies to let out. The local one here has "The Cross and the Switchblade" which is a 1969 movie starring Pat Boone. It is a true story based on the character Pat Boone played, Pastor David Wilkerson. I first read the book in 1963 and saw the movie in 1969. My wife and I watch it still. I use it extensively with a number of the neighbor kids. It is a great witnessing tool as well as a great family movie.

I don't usually watch TBN but I happened to tune in one night when they showed The Cross and the Switchblade!  Quite an oldie (Pat Boone looked so young)....but a good story.

The Cross and the Switchblade is a classic...As well as Hiding Place....I remember a song called.."Wish We'd All Been Ready"...somehow these old movies reminded me of that song...I guess the period all these came out...

Last night I watched Stagecoach....it was in black and white....somehow I thought it had been "colorized" as well.  You could tell it was an older movie....I enjoyed The Searchers much, much more....with The Searchers you could not tell it was an older movie.  Really excellent.  Maybe I would have enjoyed Stagecoach more in color.  :)

Stagecoach is in Technicolor...

Have you ever seen Cat Ballou?...I love the horse that kept leaning...

I also think the movie...Paint Your Wagon is good too...

Have you ever seen North to Alaska?  I meant to put it on my list...ever since my stroke...I have a little trouble with memory...but..getting better....Tonight I am watching a true story..."King Maker"  My husband got it free from work...

I thought I did see Stagecoach in color on tv some years ago....maybe the library got an older version or else the one on tv had been "colorized".   This one was when John Ford was first casting a young John Wayne and other people thought he shouldn't.  The lady lead (lady of the night) got top billing over John Wayne in this version....I forgot her name.  Was it Claire Trevor?

Saw Cat Ballou as a kid....maybe I'll get it again.  It's good to laugh.

I've seen North to Alaska many, many years ago.  Again, have forgotten it!  I guess that's normal, hope so.  :)

Since we have already digressed off of John Wayne westerns...what about Silverado.  I thought that was just a great flick as well.  And when Danny Glover said "I don wanna kill you, and you don't wanna be dead" I was just a hollerin in the theatre.  :)

Oh yes. Silverado is good..Okay...what about Pale Rider ..sequel to Hang Em High?...
the spaghetti westerns...My father loved Clint Eastwood movies...I watched the Gautlet last night...My favorite Clint Eastwood movie is..Bronco Billy"

I liked Lee Marvin riding that horse, he did some good acting in Cat Ballou.  Yup, Paint Your Wagon is very good, I bought the DVD.

Just saw some Clint Eastwood DVDs at the library....we can only get 3 DVDs/videos at a time, so they'll have to wait a while.  Now I remember Silverado....just the title, that is!  :)

This is definately not a western, but I would like to watch "The Great Escape" with Steve McQueen, the Cooler King...and "The Right Stuff"...I use to have these movies..but I don't have them any more...I guess I will check the library...

This is not a Western either....but have you ever seen The Naked Prey?  I think it is a true story....I saw it a couple of times when I was a kid.  It's about a man in Africa and the natives that captured him, strip him and give him a head start, and then a few natives start to chase him.  If they catch him, they will kill him.  It is quite an interesting story as I recall in his quest for survival.  I want to see if our library has it....Cornell Wilde starred in it, I believe.  I always like true stories.

Another very good movie (not a Western) I just watched was the British (BBC) version of Persuasion by Jane Austen.  Very good story, acting and lovely scenery.  It was voted Best Picture of the Year (1995, I think).  This might be more of a movie for ladies....it's PG rated.

I would love to watch the Money Pit...