The John Wayne Filmography

Decades after his death, annual Gallop polls reveal that Marion Morrison is still firmly implanted among the top-ten favorite motion picture celebrities and American heroes. Most of us know this box office star as John Wayne. This comprehensive volume covers his expansive film career, from 1926 to 1976. Listed in alphabetical order are entries on films such as Angel and the Badman and Noah’s Ark that exemplify the more than 170 films that the actor worked on. Each entry includes the film’s date, run time, cast and crew credits, reviews, and a synopsis. Also under each entry is a special section devoted to rare information and interesting details such as where the productions were shot, budgets, costs, salaries, box-office performance, alternate casting and what competition existed for the moviegoer audience. Also included in this reference work are over 650 capsule biographies of the talent that shared the screen with the actor and worked on the productions, and over 800 contemporary reviews and commentary from such diverse sources as The New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, and Life Magazine. There is a series of five helpful Appendices: Appendix A lists films by order of their release dates; Appendix B lists Wayne’s fellow actors and colleagues and tells under which entry the relevant capsule biography may be located; Appendix C offers specific review information for the films; Appendix D provides facts on the biggest box office films; and Appendix E details the most popular films on television.

Hollywood icon John Wayne created a personal treasure trove of films during a fifty-year career, spanning 1926-1976. Today, over twenty years after his death, scarcely an hour goes by without one of them appearing somewhere in the world's TV listings. Thankfully for the fans, only a handful remain unobtainable in an era of re-mastered miracles, and out of all the movies he made post 1939, just two are retained; the last remaining prints of both apparently damaged. For whatever reason, neither one has been made available since soon after their original 1950's distribution. ISLAND IN THE SKY and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY are an unusual 'pair' of aerial films, shot and screened when Wayne's westerner and war hero image were reaching their zenith. This book looks at both films in some depth and includes many fascinating photographs and production details. Director William A Wellman, a Hollywood legend in his own right; the rich array of stars of both movies; Ernie Gann, the writer of both the novels on which the films are based, and of course John Wayne's dual roles as producer and star of both movies are all investigated thoroughly. This is McGivern's second book concentrating on John Wayne. The first, A GIANT SHADOW (0954003101), looked at the man, this one at two films that most of his fans may treasure in their memories, but certainly won't have seen for many years. Gone, but not forgotten! It attempts to uncover the murky history of the films since the 1950's and takes a hopeful peak at a prospective future as more and more 'lost' films are re-discovered in Hollywood. Early next year John Wayne's two lost films, "Island in the Sky" and "The High and the Mighty", are being released on DVD. Leonard Maltin has called these two films "The Holy Grails of Hollywood" to be seen again for the first time in over 40 years.

Pictorial tribute to the remarkable movie career of the Academy Award-winning actor provides photographs, snyposis, casts, and credits for each of his 144 films.

This revelatory biography shows how both the facts and fictions about John Wayne illuminate his singular life.

After the death of Marion Morrison, known as John Wayne, in 1979, President Jimmy Carter said that Wayne “was bigger than life. In an age of few heroes, he was the genuine article. But he was more than a hero; he was a symbol of many of the qualities that made America great.” The first section of this study concentrates on Wayne’s style of work and sphere of action as an actor: The man who works for a living and is concerned with his audience and the constraints of his immediate environment. The second section examines the artist: the man who lives in his art, who disappears into his character as an archetype of human fears and desires. Analyses of films that have made Wayne a hero are presented in the third section. A comprehensive filmography and numerous photographs are included.

Levy evaluates Wayne's film oeuvre by comparing him with other major stars of his generation and demonstrates that of all American actors, he came closest to the notion of "actor-as-auteur."

Retrospective of John Wayne's film career by Timothy Knight. Book is bundled with DVD documentary