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Summary
Throughout their legendary several calling , John WayneandJames Stewartco - star in three western movies together – but which one was the best , and which one was the bad ? Wayne and Stewart are two of the biggest names in Hollywood story . The former was John Ford ’s muse ; the latter was Alfred Hitchcock ’s . Wayne and Stewart were massive star in the Golden Age , and they each represented something totally dissimilar . Wayne stand for the American apotheosis – the gun - toting paladin who does n’t hesitate to form into action mechanism – while Stewart was the mild - mannered everyman that audience could relate to and see themselves in .
Wayne would n’t have perish anywhere near a movie likeIt ’s a fantastic Lifeand Stewart would n’t have go anywhere near a movie likeTrue Grit . The fact that their move style and on - screen part were polar opposition made it a sight to lay eyes on whenever Wayne and Stewart co - starred in a picture together – especially when they shared the concealment in a westerly movie , since they each bring something unique and different to the westerly musical genre , and it was fun to see those two get-up-and-go collide . Wayne ’s stoical sternness is contrasted with Stewart ’s aw - tinker’s damn bonhomie in really interesting ways .
Throughout their term of office as two of Hollywood ’s biggest stars , Wayne and Stewart co - starred in three western movies : The Man Who Shot Liberty ValanceandHow the West Was Won , both in 1962 , andThe Shootistin 1976 . None of them are bad movies , but one of them outshines the others . So , which is the greatest Wayne / Stewart western ?
3How The West Was Won
1962’sHow the West Was Wonis one of the most ambitious undertakings in Hollywood history . It was basically a cinematic miniseries that was record back - to - back on the bighearted screen . It postulate three filmmakers to make it happen – Henry Hathaway ( who directed three of the five chapter ) , John Ford , and George Marshall – and it was shoot in true three - lens system Cinerama for a classical look . fix from 1839 to 1889,How the West Was Wonchronicles the westward expanding upon of the 19th 100 , cover the Gold Rush , the Civil War , and the building of the railway system .
The whole historic epos is told through the eye of the Rawlings family , led by Stewart ’s Linus Rawlings . Wayne plays the real - life General William Tecumseh Sherman in the picture show ’s third chapter . Wayne and Stewart are n’t the only vainglorious principal in this movie . How the West Was Won ’s castfeatures just about every recognizable actor from that era of cinema : Henry Fonda , Gregory Peck , Debbie Reynolds , Lee J. Cobb , George Peppard , Walter Brennan , Robert Preston , Eli Wallach , Russ Tamblyn , Andy Devine , Raymond Massey – it ’s an telling assemblage of A - Joseph Lister who have each star in their own movies .
Wayne ’s role inHow the West Was Wonisn’t vast , but he come at a pivotal point in the story . Stewart ’s Linus and his son Zeb conjoin the Union United States Army in an attempt to do their nation in the Civil War and achieve a feeling of purposeful glory . But they quickly teach that war is not what they were ask , especially after the blood - inebriate Battle of Shiloh , which costs Linus his liveliness . Zeb happen upon Wayne ’s famed Union general by chance and his snap determination to preserve the world-wide ’s spirit leads him on the path to becoming a warfare wedge .
While it ’s certainly an fear - inspiring spectacle , How the West Was Wondoesn’t digging as deeply into its themes as it could ’ve done . Since it sets out to chart 50 years of American history and there ’s only so much fourth dimension to do it , it ends up providing a ready to hand bullet train - point overview without much extra perceptiveness . It ’s a wonder to look at – with some really tense sequences , like a buffalo stampede and a raft trance in some rushing rapid – but this sprawl epic is more tedious than breathtaking .
2The Shootist
14 year after their old westerly collaborations , Wayne and Stewart reunite for another entry in the musical genre with 1976’sThe Shootist , channelize by Don Siegel . The Shootistmarked Wayne ’s final film appearance before he expire aside in 1979 , and it ended up being the perfect swansong for one of the western genre ’s most iconic stars . In the same way thatUnforgivenwould later become Clint Eastwood ’s final stamp on the western – a fitting mark of his retirement from the genre that made him a ace – The Shootistarrived as the thoroughgoing picture for Wayne to end his western career on .
As Wayne get hold of the final stage of his road and started suppose with his own death rate , he direct on a final western role that dealt with those composition . The Shootistrevolves around an age gunfighter who recognizes he does n’t have much fight leave in him and set out looking for a means to perish with dignity . There ’s something touching about check a dying moving picture star bring that pain and reflection to the screen . Wayne gives one of the strongest dramatic functioning of his career inThe Shootist , land genuine pathos and torture to this dark deconstructionism of his stoic gunslinger pilot .
For most of his career , Wayne played the typical hero . He bound into action to protect barren people from the bad guy rope , he did n’t show an snow leopard of fear in the face of biography - threatening danger , and he always saved the day in prison term for the end cite . But Wayne did his most interesting work when he challenged that clean - cut part and played a more morally ambiguous antihero , like Rooster Cogburn inTrue GritorEthan Edwards inThe Searchers . The Shootist ’s J.B. Books belongs to this camp . He ’s not a square fighter , and that ’s what makes him so interesting .
There ’s nothing particularly original inThe Shootist ; the remnant - of - the - road gunfighter level has been told before in other movies ( and told more effectively in other movies ) . But whatThe Shootistoffers that those moving-picture show do n’t is Wayne , the placard boy of the westerly music genre , finally fracture down the myth that he helped to create with a portrayal of a sad , broken man on last ’s door , looking back on his misdeeds and wondering if it was all worth it . That functioning makesThe Shootistan unforgettable picture show ; it ’s not everlasting , but it ’ll stick with the viewer long after it ’s over .
1The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
A few months before the passing ofHow the West Was Wonin 1962 , Wayne and Stewart share the screenland in their first westerly collaboration , The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – and it ’s arguably the good film they made together . It was directed by John Ford , the trailblazer who ground Wayne ’s on - silver screen part withhis turn as the Ringo Kid inStagecoachand also initiate a lot of the filmmaking technique used in the American western . The Man Who shoot Liberty Valanceis one of Ford ’s finest whole kit and caboodle , and one of the cracking westerly movies ever made .
What makesThe Man Who Shot Liberty Valancethe skilful Wayne / Stewart western is that it make the best economic consumption of the unique conjugation of these two actors . It utilizes what made each of them such great doer and such beloved whiz . The movie commence with Stewart ’s U.S. Senator eccentric , Ranse Stoddard , serve the funeral of Wayne ’s character reference , Tom Doniphon , as a framing gimmick . Tom saved Ranse after he was beat and soak by the infamous outlaw Liberty Valance and his gang . What blossomed out of that noble act of valiancy was a beautiful , lasting friendship .
InHow the West Was Won , Wayne has a pocket-size bear out role in a sprawling ensemble and he does n’t show up until Stewart ’s character has already been kill off . The Shootistis primarily a Wayne starring vehicle , with every supporting actor – including Stewart as Doc Hostetler , the physician who used to treat Books ’ gunshot wounds – be in his cranial orbit . The valet de chambre Who shoot Liberty Valanceis the penny-pinching that Wayne and Stewart come to making a two - hander in the western genre , where their characters ’ relationship is the focal point of the story and the crux of the play .
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Ford ’s ability to bring heart and body fluid to his tales of the Old West is on full display inThe adult male Who Shot Liberty Valance . But at the same sentence , he does n’t shy away from the wildness and desolation of the stage setting . An aging Wayne and Stewart anchor the film , both with compelling individual performances and with an unendingly watchable moral force . The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceexplores the irony of heroism – everyone stop up bushed one way or another – through a slyly pessimistic lens that was uncharacteristic of Ford ’s filmmaking .
The only downside toThe humans Who Shot Liberty Valanceis its final enactment , which is predictable , overlong , and ultimately underwhelming . Once Ranse achieves fame and achiever , the movie becomes trite and even a little bit boring – especially because the framing gadget already telegraphed the finish . If the movie terminate 20 minutes before it did , it would ’ve been arrant . But with its anticlimactical final reel , The Man Who Shot Liberty Valanceis close to perfect , and that ’s more than can be said about most movies ( including the tediousHow the West Was Wonand the derivativeThe Shootist ) .
