The 5 Best John Wayne Western Movies, Ranked

John Wayne is synonymous with the American Western. From his early days in low-budget cowboy and outlaw pictures to his decades-long collaboration with director John Ford, Wayne became an icon of Western cinema, making dozens of films that fall into the genre.

Every longtime Wayne fan, or Western fan, has their favorite John Wayne Western. They're embedded in American culture, reaching out across decades through Wayne's distinctive voice, hard-set eyes, and strong jaw, so they all mean something to someone. But which of Wayne's many Westerns are the absolute best?

There are many worthy films to consider that didn't make this list. Wayne's final film, "The Shootist," is brilliant, as is his collaboration with Robert Mitchum on "El Dorado," his Howard Hawks collaboration "Red River," and many of the films he did with Ford, like "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," "Fort Apache," and others. He made nearly 170 movies in his lifetime, many of those Westerns, but for us, these are the five best Western movies in the John Wayne filmography, based on the writer's preference and a consensus among critics, film historians, awards bodies, and more.

John Wayne had been lurking around the filmography of director John Ford in bit parts, often uncredited, for years before the filmmaker finally gave him a starring role, but the wait was worth it. Still considered one of the greatest Westerns of all time, "Stagecoach" is Wayne's cinematic breakthrough as a major star, the launchpad for the next four decades of his career. As an escaped outlaw on a quest for revenge, Wayne almost steals the movie from a terrific ensemble of actors trying to survive a perilous stagecoach ride, and a Western legend was born.

Released in 1939, "Stagecoach" was a huge hit for United Artists, and earned seven Academy Award nominations, with two wins, the following year. Wayne himself didn't get an Oscar nomination (that would come later), but his presence helped propel the film to a place of major cinematic influence. "Stagecoach" entered the National Film Registry as a historically and culturally significant movie in 1995, and the American Film Institute has named it one of the 10 greatest American Westerns ever made. We ranked it fifth because, as great as it is, we're talking about John Wayne Westerns here, and Wayne's evolution as a star of the genre would create even better roles and showcases later on.

Though John Wayne was one of America's favorite movie stars for most of his life, awards did not necessarily follow his rise as a star of Western and even non-Western movies. Despite dozens of acclaimed films, he was nominated for an acting Oscar only twice. The first came in 1950 for his war film "The Sands of Iwo Jima," and the second produced his only Oscar win 20 years later: "True Grit."

Adapted from Charles Portis' novel of the same name, "True Grit" follows Mattie (Kim Darby), a teenager trying to find a gunfighter to avenge the death of her father. She seeks out Rooster Cogburn (Wayne), an aging, cranky, hard-drinking old U.S. Marshal, who reluctantly agrees to take the job. What follows is a showcase for Wayne as a more elderly Western hero, battling age, illness, and the passing of eras just like his character.

Though "True Grit" is the only film on this list that doesn't involve either Howard Hawks or John Ford as director (Henry Hathaway, an experienced Western filmmaker, helmed this one), it matters today because it was a statement for Wayne as an actor and an American icon. He won his only Academy Award for the performance, not just a testament to his larger career, but as acknowledgement that Wayne truly shined as Cogburn. It's a brilliant performance, even the film around him occasionally struggles to keep up.

The last feature-length Western directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne (although they worked on a segment in "How the West Was Won" together), 1962's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" also features the first collaboration between Wayne and fellow Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart. Throughout his career, Wayne's acting style was built around not just action but reaction, which meant having an actor he could bounce off and act as a foil to was a gift. Stewart is among the best, and together they make this film a masterpiece.

Stewart is Ranse, a lawyer hoping to do good work and become a leader in a U.S. territory in the waning years of the Old West. Wayne is Tom Doniphon, a local rancher who's a bit more cynical about the way things work, but nevertheless takes a liking to Ranse. When the local outlaw Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) pushes back against Ranse's ambitions, Tom helps him to fight back, forging a bond that carries on for decades.

Why does this one rank so high? Well, Stewart and Wayne are simply fantastic together, bringing out the best in each other and bringing everything they've learned separately about Western films to bear on this story. It's also in many ways Ford's final, grandest statement on the way our nostalgia for the Old West works, which has helped it endure through the decades. The film entered the National Film Registry in 2007.

Director and producer Howard Hawks made several films with Wayne, including another Western classic, "Red River," but it's 1959's "Rio Bravo" that ranks as their most entertaining and rewatchable achievement in the Western genre. It's one of those films that's quietly influenced underdog battles onscreen for decades, not to mention just an incredible ensemble Western.

Wayne runs the show as John Chance, a sheriff who's just arrested the cruel brother of the local land baron. That means he's got a veritable army of hired guns staring him down, waiting to storm the jailhouse, and he's only got his recovering alcoholic former deputy (Dean Martin), an old man (Walter Brennan) and an upstart young gunslinger (Ricky Nelson) to help him.

The plot is formulaic, but it's a formula that works very well — so well that Hawks and Wayne basically remade it twice with "El Dorado" in 1966 and "Rio Lobo" in 1970. It influenced dozens of Westerns (and non-Westerns) that came after it, and tonally it shifts between a siege picture and a fun Western hangout movie, complete with songs by Martin and Nelson. "Rio Bravo" entered the National Film Registry as one of the most important American Westerns in 2014.

Was there ever any doubt which film would come out on top of this list? "The Searchers" is not just the finest film ever directed by John Ford, or the one movie in John Wayne's acting career that stands above the rest. It's one of the greatest American movies of all time, in no small part because it features Wayne picking apart his own signature character type.

Wayne's archetypal status as the steadfast hero on the side of right meets its match in the character of Ethan Edwards, a former Confederate soldier who returns home to his family in Texas. When his niece (Natalie Wood) is taken in a Comanche raid, Ethan sets out to find her, and in the process launches a five-year quest of obsession, violence, and human darkness. At the beginning of the film, Ethan's quest is justified, but by the end he is monstrous — more villain than hero — giving Wayne one of the most complex arcs of his career.

"The Searchers" remains an essential American Western, if not the essential American Western. While it did not take home any major awards upon its release in 1956, the film has aged quite well, regularly topping lists of the best Westerns ever made. In 1989 it entered the National Film Registry, and the American Film Institute has named it both the greatest American Western and the 12th greatest American movie ever made.