The names John Wayne and Clint Eastwood can never be left out of any discussion about the Western genre. Wayne came first, starring in numerous B-movies throughout the 1930s without finding any mainstream success. His fortunes changed drastically in 1938 when John Ford (who would become his frequent collaborator) cast him in his first-rate Old West thriller, Stagecoach. Eastwood’s career also followed a similar trajectory. He appeared in many 1950s Westerns in a supporting capacity before hitting it big in Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars.
Given Hollywood’s trend of throwing two or more popular actors together in a movie, it seemed like it would only be a matter of time before they worked together. That never happened. Industry politics, jealousy, and personal beliefs would serve as wedges between the two, keeping them in a Mexican standoff until Wayne died of stomach cancer in 1979.
The Guard Was Changing… and So Were the Times
Who started the fight? Most fingers would point to John Wayne. As Eastwood’s star rose in the 1960s, Wayne’s influence slowly faded. Additionally, the genre was branching out into fresh cinematic territory, a world away from the family-friendly, by-the-book, male preserves of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Wayne enjoyed the conservative and hardscrabble tone that had been maintained in the mid and early-20th-century Westerns. He was the embodiment of the American soul, that tough-as-nails mentality in which grit, optimism, spirituality, pragmatism, and perseverance all merge to form an inimitable worldview.
But as the years progressed, the films were injected with more violence and amorality. As a newcomer, Eastwood was happy to do as the directors said, and with such an attitude, he became America’s new favorite gunslinger.
Even though Wayne clung to the head collar rope in the ‘60s, and even won an Oscar for True Grit in 1970, he couldn’t keep up with Eastwood’s versatile and prolific nature. Eastwood could not only act and direct, but he could also switch genres easily, making him a darling of studio execs.
Understandably, this, coupled with the fact Eastwood didn’t care about preserving the genre’s purity, made Wayne a little envious. The new guy wasn’t nice. So, why was he getting all the love? More than anything, jealousy was the major fault line upon which the genre quaked.
High Plains Drifter Made Wayne Angrier
High Plains Drifter was the first Western film Clint Eastwood both directed and starred in. And John Wayne didn’t like it, not one bit. Filmed on location around Mono Lake under the exact conditions it emulates, the Western has an almost dreamlike feel, amplified by Bruce Surtees’s magnificent cinematography and Dee Barton’s haunting score. It revolves around a mysterious gunslinger known as The Stranger (Eastwood). His adventure begins after he is hired by a local town’s residents to protect them against three violent outlaws who are pillaging their way through homes and businesses.
By only watching the first few minutes, one can see why the film might have frustrated Wayne. The Stranger assaults a woman in a lively stable after she insults him, and from there, he goes on to deliver a very unusual brand of justice to the outlaws.
A chat between Eastwood and film critic Kenneth Turan is documented on the pages of Mary Lea Bandy and Kevin Stoehr’s book Ride, Boldly Ride: The Evolution of the American Western. It recounts how Wayne wrote a letter to his younger rival to express disappointment about High Plains Drifter. In it, Eastwood reads a specific line, which sums up Wayne’s feelings:
“That isn’t what the West was all about. That isn’t the American people who settled this country.”
Two of the greatest stars in the genre didn’t share the same views. Interestingly, John Wayne didn’t just choose to sit down and send a letter to Clint Eastwood. He was prompted by a request Eastwood made, asking Wayne to star in a new film with him.
Larry Cohen Tried to Bring the Two Stars Together
In the early ‘70s, acclaimed writer and director Larry Cohen wrote the script for a film he believed would be perfect for both Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. Titled The Hostiles, it was rumored to revolve around a young gambler (Eastwood) who wins half the fortune of an older tycoon (John Wayne). Eastwood loved the screenplay so much that he bought it from Cohen and tried to convince John Wayne to sign the contract.
Wayne initially declined, labeling the script as a mere extension of the monotonous spaghetti Western genre. Not the kind to give up, Eastwood rewrote the script and sent it to Wayne again. This time, the elderly actor became incensed, wondering why the younger actor dared to think he would ever work with him. That’s when he wrote the infamous letter, chastising Eastwood for getting too big for his britches.
Rumor has it that Eastwood believed the third time was a charm, so he sent another script, hand-delivered by Wayne’s son, Mike. The script was handed to him when father and son were out sailing. A change of mind? No. “This piece of sh*t again,” Wayne said, before throwing the script into the ocean. After getting news of his words floating in the sea, Eastwood gave up.
The two actors would eventually meet again when John Wayne teamed up with Clint Eastwood’s frequent collaborator, Don Siegel, for his final movie, The Shootist. Eastwood is reported to have visited the set one day, and Wayne agreed to shake his hand after learning that he was a rock-ribbed Republican like him.
Who Was Right?
John Wayne might have had a point. Perhaps he was right when he was reluctant to get behind Eastwood’s strivings, even when the numbers were good. Today, the Western is treated as a second-class genre, and though there are some exceptions, modern releases are rarely rewarded with box office glory, much less shiny statuettes. The genre is no longer as robust as it used to be, and the change in tone could be part of the reason why.
Apart from ‘90s flicks like Unforgiven and Tombstone, there are few other legendary Westerns worth talking about. Perhaps the majority of movie-going audiences wanted to keep consuming stories where heroes saved the day, not those that made them question their morality. It’s no surprise that most action movies that follow the good guy-bad guy narrative tend to perform so well.
However, Wayne himself was no angel, hence he wasn’t exactly right to criticize Eastwood from a moral perspective. His Genghis Khan film, The Conqueror, was criticized for being racist, and so was The Searchers. Additionally, Wayne had a reputation for having a problem with everything.
He turned down the lead role in the 1949 film All the King’s Men, claiming the screenplay was un-American, and, in a 1971 interview with Playboy, he described High Noon as “the most un-American thing I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” mostly because the protagonist feared the outlaws and eventually relied on his wife to save him.
John Wayne’s feud with Clint Eastwood is, therefore, nothing more than the collision of conflicting generational perspectives. Every field is undergirded by the old timers to preserve the culture and rid the air of modern impurities. What is true of the musician is also true of the actor.