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. I agree to disagree on some of their rankings. But pretty damn good job Duke ! The Green Berets suffered from the public opinion of the Vietnam War I am sure.

    1. Hey Glen….this is our 3rd most popular page on our website. The power of Duke. Lists are made to be argued with…so I am glad you do not agree with all of our rankings. I have spent years putting this page together…including traveling across the country a few times when I was granted access to some sources used years ago by movie companies. Thanks for the feeback.

    1. Hey Robert….our ranking system uses box office grosses…..and finding box office grosses on his B movies has turned out to be very hard. From 1939 to 1976 we have every movie he made with the exception of A Man Betrayed and Lady From Louisiana….both 1941. A recent visit to the USC archive has helped unlock 5 of his Warner Brothers movies from the 1930s….so hopefully we keep discovery box office grosses from that time period too.

      1. You didn’t say that. I just got a magazine called “Closer”, Tribute Edition to John Wayne. All of his movies, they didn’t worry about, what each made, they just have the list.

        1. Hey Robert….well one day I hope to unlock the vault that houses Wayne’s B movie career. The search continues.

  2. Hey Lyle….thanks…I added in the worldwide box office grosses to the page….very kewl….greatly appreciate it.

  3. 90 movies and still not as big as your recent Ray Milland page, wow! Looking at your first post, Wayne had made 170 movies, 88 before Stagecoach turned him into a major star, incredible career and so many westerns!

    According to my database I have 107 John Wayne movies on various formats in my film collection, more than any other actor. I don’t think I’ve seen them all. 36 of them before he made Stagecoach.

    The top 10 critics chart has 8 of my favorite Wayne movies. I’m not so keen on True Grit and The Shootist.

    Looking at the adjusted worldwide grosses – How the West Was Won has grossed nearly a bilion dollars, that is impressive. Is it the most popular western of them all? I’m assuming The Longest Day has similar worldwide grosses.

    Excellent work Bruce, Wayne was arguably the most popular actor in movie history and this is a fine tribute to the Duke. Vote Up!

    1. Hey Steve…yep…Ray holds off the Duke. There are still two movies from the early 1940s that I want to include…but even my most recently found sources do not help out.

      107 Wayne movies owned has to be the most of any performer in your collection. I recently added Chisum to my collection….but I am still in the single digits.

      I love The Shootist….so I have no problem with it being in the Top 10…..True Grit is fun to watch…but not nearly as good as so many other westerns he made.

      Thanks for checking out this updated page. I have since (Thanks Lyle) added the worldwide grosses for 11 more of his movies. Still nothing to report on The Longest Day…but I imagine it has an impressive worldwide total. 🙂

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