The Silver Screen Oasis

Red River Directed by Howard Hawks. El Dorado by Hawks, and The Dark Command by Raoul Walsh get my votes. True Grit Directed by Henry Hathaway is fairly low on my list. Tall in the Saddle, with Ella Raines, is a more entertaing film than Grit.

If it's "best" and not "favorite" you're asking for, I'd agree on Red River. However my favorite definitely is Angel and The Bad Man, followed by Hondo. I can watch those over and over.

Miss G

I'll go with Rio Bravo. Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think that it is the Duke's "best" non-Ford western, but I enjoy it. I've seen it probably 20 times over the years and it is just as much fun as the first time, every visit. With a supporting cast like Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, Angie Dickinson and the Ford-favorite Ward Bond it is a winner all the way through.

El Doralo I believe is a better film than Rio Bravo IMHO. Maybe it's because I don't care for Ricky Nelson in a Western.

Earlier I stated that Rio Bravo was my fave non-Ford Wayne western but I just watched The Comancheros and it gives Rio Bravo a good run for its money. I don't know how many years it had been since I'd last seen The Comancheros but it was a LOT of fun. The supporting cast of Stuart Whitman (really good chemistry with the Duke), Lee Marvin, Jack Elam and even Patrick Wayne make this first class entertainment. It was also director Michael Curtiz's last film. A good watch, especially if you haven't seen it in awhile as was the case with me.
P.S. I love El Dorado too, Mitchum and a young Caan make for excellent support.

I really like " THE COMANCHEROS " if for no other reason than the gorgeous Ina Balin was the female lead as Pilar, bad guy Nehemiah Persoff's daughter. The film is also loaded with alot of good natured humor.

I love The Commancheros---and it has just about one of the coolest musical scores by Elmer Bernstein, ever!

"Monsoooer, you are a lu-lu!"

MissGoddess wrote:I love The Commancheros---and it has just about one of the coolest musical scores by Elmer Bernstein, ever!

"Monsoooer, you are a lu-lu!"

How could I have forgotton that great score ? Old age is overcoming me very quickly.

Not at-tall, Kenneth, not-at-tall----the Irish only get sharper with age, remember that!

Favorite and best are two different things. "Red River" may be the best, which reminds me of a Ford film. "Angel and The Badman" and maybe "The Shootist" rank among my favorites.

Hatari, for the score, the locale, the humor, and the camaraderie.
Plus, all my best friends went to see it with me on my 7th birthday!

OOPS! But that won't qualify as a true western, so I'll go with
HONDO!

"Well, I could find you in the dark, Mrs. Lowe...."

It has to be "North to Alaska" (1960). If you like your comedy broad and unsophisticated "North to Alaska" is your kind of film. The Duke has some of his funniest screen moments in this film. There's a whole routine with Stewart Granger and Capucine trying to make Wayne jealous and with Fabian serving as a straight man to Wayne, it's a pretty funny bit of business. Wayne's facial expressions are alone worth seeing the movie.

I enjoy both Hatari! and North to Alaska. I have the latter on dvd but am thinking about replacing my vhs tapes of Hatari! with the dvd version.

Favorite non-Ford Duke Western = RIO BRAVO, closely followed by EL DORADO (sorry, Anne!).

Favorite Duke moment, in any Western = the final confrontation between aging but never over-the-hill Duke & Robert Duvall & co. in TRUE GRIT.