Movie Poll: Which John Ford/John Wayne Film Is Your Favorite?

The Quiet Man although all were great movies. On an interesting note, John Ford paid $10 for the movie rights to Maurice Walsh in 1936. Later paid him another $2500 when Republic finally bought the movie and finally $3750 when production was complete. Quite a pultry sum to pay for such a great story. Repulic also didn't believe in Quiet Man so they made John Ford and John Wayne make Rio Grande for them before they would take a chance on Quiet Man.

What a line-up! All John Wayne films are favorites of mine. The John Ford / John Wayne combo just can't be beat. Every aspect of "The Quiet Man" is pure perfection! You can't top that scenery, either. This was a tough list from which to choose. All great films!

was fortunate enough to take SJC college course-"America & the Film World of John Ford.(he was from Portland, Maine)His movies have impacted the culture of America throughout the 20th Century. We shall never see this kind of influence for good again.Great book was "In Search of John Ford"--Love all his movies."The Quiet Man" is my favorite!

I have heard that Ford, on the completion of filming for the "Quiet Man" told Wayne, "Now, you are an actor." (Instead of just a matinee idol.) The supreme compliment from a certified genius. While I love "The Searchers," I'll have to bow the director's assessment of his star and choose "The Quiet Man."

How did John Wayne not get the Oscar for "The Searchers." I can't believe anyone gave a better performance that year.

I picked They were expedable,maybe, because it was based on a true WWII event. As an aside, the co-star Robert Montgomery's person portrayed in the movie Lt. William Bulkely (later Adm. Bulkely)became somewhat famous when,as commandant at Guantanamo, told Castro he best not try anything against our forces under his command at Gitmo, There is a destroyer bearing his name which caught some Somali pirayes this past week.

A REAL MAN knows how to tame a uncontrollable REDHEAD!!!!

Have commented on 'Liberty Valance' being my favorite before, just wish someone would go into that 'vault' and pull out the original long-version instead of the edited one that is shown to this day! Three Godfathers and Stagecoach are my other choices. Love all the others, too.

As some many have already said, this was a very difficult survey. I had to choose one, but there are many others on that list that stand right up there with my choice, "The Searchers."

...Liberty Valance, They Were Expendable, The Quiet Man, ...Yellow Ribbon, etc., etc. are all great movies. They all offer a great story, strong character emotion, unusual settings and they all simply entertain, which is why we watch movies.

Suffice to say, they don't make them like they used to (John Ford, John Wayne and their movies).

I have seen the quiet man at least 100 times never gets old.With st.pat's around the corner i'll watch it again.Friends think I'm crazy 'can receit by heart

Choosing between "The Quiet Man" and "The Searchers"... fortunately - most choices in life aren't that difficult!

As to the "pulling ..... by the hair" comment - please take the opportunity to re-watch this movie. And you'll notice he drags her a short way by the collar of her sweater when she is trying to put her shoe back on. He does give her a boot in the bum after she takes a swing at him though.

Quiet Man is my all time favorite movie. I watch it every year during the High Holy Daze of St. Patrick's. Always pick up something new that i previously missed. Sean Thorton, what a man. Love him slamming the doors on that beautiful train, while Mary Kate cowered.

Hands down, my favorite John Ford/John Wayne flick is "The Quiet Man." Second would be "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."
"The Quiet Man" is John Wayne in his most "romantic" role, I would say. His character is so likeable. And what about Maureen O'Hara's feistiness? Her dowry or forget it! The rest of the cast only help to make the film what it is – a subtle British classic with everything it needs – comedy, drama, romance, and adventure. Ireland never looked so beautiful and so inviting.

I LOVED JOHN WAYNE FOR THE GREAT FILM STAR THAT HE WAS AND A GREAT AMERICAN...I IDOLIZED DUKE...I LOVED ALL OF HIS MOVIES OF WHICH I HAVE MANY OF THEM IN MY CLASSIC MOVIE COLLECTION.....THEY WERE EXPENDABLE....SANDS OF IWO JIMA...OF COURSE ISLAND IN THE SKY....THE SEARCHERS....THE LIST GOES ON AND ON...BUT, MY ALL TIME FAVORITE IS THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY WHEN HE WAS AN AIR LINE PILOT TRYING TO GET HIS CRIPPLED PASSENGER PLANE BACK HOME SAFELY...WHAT A GREAT MOVIE...I WAS SO PROUD OF DUKE RECEIVING THE OSCAR FOR TRUE GRIT...IF EVER A GREAT MOVIE STAR IS MENTIONED...PUT THE DUKE AT THE TOP OF YOUR LIST THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER JOHN WAYNE, I ONLY REGRET THAT I NEVER GOT TO MEET HIM....I AM PROUD OF THE 8X10 AUTOGRAPHED PHOTO HE SENT TO ME AND WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT THAT WENT WITH IT WHEN HE WAS SO ILL BACK IN 1979....HIS PHOTOS HANG IN MY HOUSE AND I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER A GREAT MAN FOR ALL OF HIS GREAT MOVIES AND WHAT HE MEANT TO US ALL..30...

Stagecoach; great story and great supporting stars made for a great movie.

The toughest choice in the world...how does one choose between The Searchers and The Quiet Man???
Thanks for the reminder that this is what cinema was once capable of! So many good choices here...I guess my third favorite would have to be Ft. Apache. I have seen each of these three at least 50 times. Guess that makes me a Ford/Wayne nerd...

John Wayne and John Ford what a movie making team to pick just one movie is "a realy big job ahead of us" as Sgt. Mullcahay stated in Fort Apache.

Would anyone care to nominate "Angel and the Bad Man" Or, "Tall In The Saddle"?

I have watched all of these movies repeatedly as I have every John Wayne movie available on DVD. I love them all, but the combination of John Wayne and James Stewart is irrestistable.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

STAGECOACH WAS THE BEST I'VE SEEN IT AT LEAST 10 TIMES ANYBODY WHO DIDN'T LIKE THE DUKE IS NUTS

The Quiet Man..then Liberty Valance for me.It is irritating, however , to watch Ford continually ignore certain minutiae in his films....best example being at the end of Liberty when there's an in- train conversation about the new trains actually reaching 25 mph!!..while the backlot "speed" of the train looks like it's going 100...in the Quiet Man, Dannaher clearly misses Thornton with a punch after being pulled out of the stream but you hear the "thwok" anyway..little but glaring errors like that never seemed to bother Ford..wonder why? or were they left in purposely?

always loved john wayne and maureen o'hara together and think this was their best movie together.

My Top 3 have to be Stagecoach, Liberty Valance and Quiet Man. But when you come down to it, The Duke WAS the movie in only Quiet Man. And it is one of my all-time favorites after all these years. Easy choice, for a great poll. Thanks.

"The Searchers" is a great movie. The acting is great. But Wayne did not understand the story line. It was Ford's best message film, like Cheyenne Autumn and Sergeant Rutledge.

It's tough to pick just one,there are so many great ones!!! They were quite the team!!!

My vote was for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. It was a super story that twisted at the end when you found out the truth. Jimmy Stewart did a great job as did Lee Marvin.

James said, "BUT he was of HUGE value here at home in so many combat movies (such as "The Flying Tigers", "Back to Bataan", "The Fighting Seabees", etc., etc.")

Actually years ago in connection with a college assignment, I researched the various issues that stimulated enlistments in WWII. Movies had little to do with enlistments, primarily because the favorite films during the war years were musicals and light comedy. Imagine you were working 8+ hour days, 6 days a week building tanks instead of autos, and living with gasoline rationing, meat rationing, butter rationing, scrap drives, and blackouts while up and down your street mothers and wives have little banners in their windows with stars for every family member in uniform, and too often a telegram delivers the news that one of those stars has fallen. Would you want to go see a movie of John Wayne and the Flying Tigers saving China, or would you rather see something that gave you a break from the war? Movie stars were good at selling war bonds in personal appearances and running canteens for service men. But the only person I ever heard of enlisting after seeing a movie was Tony Curtis, and his inspiration was Cary Grant in a submarine film. What had the biggest effect on US enlistments was the war news. Following a report of a major defeat of the Allies, enlistments went up; but with reports of major victories by the Allies, enlistment diminished--apparently young men figured the military didn't need them if they were winning.
I don't buy into the myth that Wayne helped the war with his B-grade movies in the 40s. What he helped was his own career by staying home rather than joining the military. Wayne got a deferment because he was a married man with children. My dad was married with kids and engaged in a vital industry, drilling and producing oil. Yet he joined the Army Air Corps in early 1942 and fought in the Pacific as a gunner on a bomber. Clark Gable, a much bigger star than Wayne at the time and years older, also enlisted and flew at least a few missions aboard bombers (He was probably the only gunner in the war who was also a commissioned officer). Glenn Miller, at the height of his popularity, married with two adopted children and older than Wayne and most other recruits, signed up and died in the war. Jimmy Stewart enlisted even before the war started and flew bomber missions in Europe when the survival rate was minimal. Wayne Morris, who was supposed to be "another John Wayne," instead became a Navy fighter pilot and ace in the Pacific. But having been out of movie-goers' sight for years, his career never revived. My favorite, however, is Sabu "the elephant boy" from India who came to this country to make films like The Jungle Book. He became a naturalized US citizen, enlisted, and fought the war as the belly gunner on a B-17.
Wayne was a good actor, but he sat out WWII when better men were enlisting or being drafted.

I wonder why they didn't include The Long Voyage Home or Donovan's Reef? Both are worthy movies, if not masterpieces like The Quiet Man (my favorite), The Searchers, or They Were Expendable.

It was hard to choose a favorite -- I've enjoyed all of these movies a great deal (although I must admit that I don't know Rio Grande as well as the others).

Thanks for offering this enjoyable poll. At least four of the selections deserve to be "First" in a dead heat, but my favorite is Stagecoach. Dynamite cast . . . Incredibly sensitive byplay between The Duke and Claire Trevor, and Ford's other stock favorites. Of course, Liberty Valance it immensely important in the Ford Canon.

A tough choice because these are all excellent choices. If possible I would have chosen ALL OF THE ABOVE !!

The Long Voyage Home is my favorite of his early films. Quite a few of the actors that would be in later films with him were in this film. Why you don't list it
, I don't know.

So how come The Long Voyage Home and Donovan's Reef weren't included in the list?

The Searchers is the best by far. Incredibly well-written story with deep characterizations, even the supporting characters had depth. It's a touching fable about love, hate, obsession, loss, vengeance and, ultimately, the triumph of compassion. If only today's movies were so substantive and intelligent. And if only we had larger than life stars like John Wayne today. I'm not talking about the real John Wayne, who was a self-righteous, bigoted man. I'm talking about the movie star John Wayne. Nobody did that better.

JOHN WAYNE Was the finest actor I ever saw.Ive got over 100 films on DVD favourites being THE QUIET MAN,McLINTOCK, THE SEARCHERS, WINGS OF EAGLES just to name a few

I was surprised that Fort Apache came in with such low numbers. That's one of the best westerns ever made.

Thank you RUFNEK !!!!" The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", is my favorite.....Good vs. Evil, what could be better then that ?

I feel so sorry for the young women "coming to age" in this time. There is absolutely NO ONE out there in Hollywood land to compare to JW in pure sex appeal. Any one of his movies could win #1 in my book but I chose The Quiet Man. When he grabbed her in the cottage and planted that kiss I nearly fainted. (I was 16 at the time) Ah, youth. Thanks Mr. Wayne for the memories. You're still missed.

Each of these are classics, and I never miss a chance to see them.but, The Quiet Man was my choice. As to sitting out the war,did anybody connect his crablike walk to the injury he got it from? I doubt he could pass the entrance physical to get in service. The snide comments sound like a bunch of Democrats! As an actor, most of his films were built around his persona as his fame grew..... But, the oscar for True Grit was well deserved since he really played a part that was not John Wayne. by the way, my dad was married with kids too, got deferred twice because his job as experimental sheet metal leadman couldn't be replaced by unskilled people. glad to see others who liked Ole in Long Voyge Home too. Don't know who directed Blood Ally, but, He stepped out of the Wayne persona there too.

There are a lot who criticise "Duke"for not taking part in WW2. The point is he couldn't, he didn't pass the medical because of a Football injury he recieved while playing Football as a teenager at University.