Summary SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT John Wayne turned down one of the best Westerns of the 1950s for political reasons, and practically gifted Gary Cooper an Oscar as a result. Following his breakout role in John Ford's classic Stagecoach, Wayne became one of Hollywood's biggest names. He cycled through many genres during his decades-long career, from romantic dramas to hard-nosed cop thrillers .
Another Western favorite from the 1950s is High Noon, where Gary Cooper's Marshal is forced to defend a town from vengeful outlaws. A big part of the story involves Cooper's Will Kane trying to enlist help from the townspeople, who turn him down until he's forced to fight alone. In a break from Western protocol from this period, High Noon portrays Kane as vulnerable and stressed, instead of being a macho John Wayne-type who has no fear of death.
Why John Wayne Turned Down High Noon And Made Another Movie In Response To It Wayne and John Ford's Rio Bravo retells the same basic story with a very different tone Close Rio Bravo DramaWestern Where to Watch *Availability in USRio Bravo is a Western film directed by Howard Hawks and starring John Wayne and Dean Martin. The 1959 release sees Wayne playing a local sheriff that must hold a local criminal in jail until a U.S. Marshall can arrive to pick him up.
Rio Bravo is now a Western classic in its own right and one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite movies. The film has great characters and dialogue, with some bursts of action thrown in. Rio Bravo and High Noon are both held in high regard, though the latter is a significantly darker tale than Wayne's unofficial remake.