John Wayne appeared in five memorable classic movies for director Howard Hawks. The Duke spent most of his career working in two genres, Westerns and war movies, and he worked on 14 of those movies with director John Ford. While his work with Hawks wasn’t as prolific, it didn’t mean that the films were not all great.

Howard Hawks worked as a director for over four decades and made 40 movies in a variety of genres. Hawks’ films remain masterpieces, including Scarface, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, and The Big Sleep. However, he only received one Oscar nomination for his work. Despite his numerous films, John Wayne only won one Oscar, for True Grit.

John Wayne and Howard Hawks collaborated on a trilogy, all based on the same ideals of the Western genre. He also starred in one of the best critically acclaimed Westerns ever made, and a rare romantic comedy for The Duke. These films remain critically acclaimed, and while they didn’t add to their Oscar honors, they remain masterpieces.

Rio Lobo (1970)

Rio Lobo was the third part of the Rio Bravo trilogy by John Wayne and Howard Hawks. This was the last movie of Hawks’ directing career, and many people point to it as one of his worst films. John Wayne stars as Colonel Cord McNally, a Union cavalry officer heading to a lawless town to find two traitors.

By 1970, Wayne was 63 and was starting to falter somewhat as a gunfighter and Western hero. The previous two movies in the trilogy had a better supporting cast, which helped the dialogue and action flow more effectively. When Rio Lobo flopped, Howard Hawks blamed John Wayne, saying his age was what doomed the movie.

While Rio Lobo has a 70% Rotten Tomatoes score, most critics’ reviews complained about the pacing, including one by Roger Ebert, who gave it a positive score, but said it was “a shade tired.” It also lacks the same reputation as the previous two films, with many fans consistently ranking it at the bottom.

Even Quentin Tarantino said he is not a fan of Rio Lobo, and this John Wayne and Howard Hawks movie is why he said he will retire before he gets too old. While Tarantino is a huge fan of Rio Bravo, he said he will retire early because, “I don’t want to make Rio Lobo.”

Hatari! (1962)

Released in 1962, Hatari! was a rare John Wayne movie. While he was mostly known for his Westerns and war movies, with an occasional drama, Hatari! was a straight adventure romantic comedy movie. Wayne stars as Sean Mercer, the leader of professional game catchers in Africa.

While Hatari! is the least-known of his collaborations with Howard Hawks, it was still the seventh highest-grossing movie of John Wayne’s career. The movie made $12.9 million at the box office, which equals $208.8 million when adjusted for inflation.

Hatari! was sH๏τ on location in Africa. The backdrop of the volcano, Mount Meru, provides a strikingly different backdrop to his Westerns sH๏τ in places like Monument Valley. However, the main movie works thanks to its cast, with Elsa Martinelli playing the love interest for Wayne’s professional game catcher.

Between the incredible Henry Mancini musical score and its stunning visuals, this remains an obscure but great Howard Hawks film for people to rediscover. There is also no better time to discover this movie, as a 4K Blu-ray was released in 2024. Jean-Luc Godard called Hatari! one of his favorite movies in his review for Cahiers du Cinema.

El Dorado (1966)

El Dorado was the second in the Rio Bravo Trilogy. In this movie, John Wayne plays Cole Thornton, a gun-for-hire who learns his recent job offer was to muscle the MacDonald family off their land for a ruthless landowner. Cole turns down the offer, but the MacDonald family starts a gunfight with him, not knowing better, and makes things worse.

However, after Thornton leaves, things get worse in El Dorado, and the ruthless landowner gains more power, while Thornton’s sheriff friend succumbs to alcoholism, and the town gets violent. Thornton returns, is deputized, and starts to try to keep the peace.

This movie has some interesting plot devices, including Thornton being sH๏τ at the beginning, and the bullet can’t be removed, causing bouts of paralysis at times, which always come up when he needs to be at his best. It was a nice way to make John Wayne seem a little less of a savior hero and a lot more vulnerable.

Robert Mitchum also delivered a great performance as Sheriff J.P. Harrah, a man who opens the movie as a strong lawman and soon devolves into a town drunk who needs to find himself again to help Thornton fight off the outlaws. Ed Asner is also in the cast as the evil landowner, Bart Jason.

Critics mostly praised the film, and it has a very high 96% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score. The main praise went to Howard Hawks’ ability to combine humor and action, while both John Wayne and Robert Mitchum also received praise for their performances.

Rio Bravo (1959)

Rio Bravo was the first movie in the trilogy John Wayne and Howard Hawks made together. Interestingly, John Wayne starred in Rio Bravo in response to a film that he refused to star in. Wayne was offered a role in High Noon, but The Duke felt it was a Western with Communist ideals and refused even to consider the offer.

Seven years later, Wayne took the role in Rio Bravo because he felt this movie was more of an actual American Western than High Noon. He based this on how the townspeople turned their backs on the sheriff, who decided to leave the town in response when they needed him.

It makes sense in High Noon, but in Rio Bravo, John Wayne played someone who did the opposite. When Howard Hawks designed the movie with Wayne, it was to show an idealized version of the Wild West, and not the more realistic version of High Noon. This means that when Wayne needs help, the town is there for him.

Rio Bravo stars Wayne as John T. Chance, the sheriff of a small Western town who arrests the younger brother of a wealthy land baron for murder. When the baron sends his outlaws to break his brother out of jail, John and a select number of allies have to defend the jail until help arrives.

The cast was incredible, with Dean Martin, Angie Dickerson, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, and Claude Akins all part of the cast. While the Oscars ignored it, the Library of Congress added Rio Bravo to the National Film Registry in 2014. Rio Bravo later inspired films like ᴀssault on Precinct 13.

Red River (1946)

The best movie that John Wayne and Howard Hawks ever made together was their first outing. In 1946, Hawks cast Wayne in his Western film Red River. This movie was so impressive that even John Ford, who had worked with Wayne countless times, said, “I never knew he could act” after watching the film.

John Wayne plays Thomas Dunson, a rancher who helps lead a cattle train toward Missouri with his adopted son and a group of other ranchers. Along the way, the group begins to have disagreements, and this causes the film to do something that John Ford had never attempted with John Wayne up to that point.

Howard Hawks had John Wayne portray Thomas as a dark character, someone who would turn evil if pushed in the right direction. Thomas, while a sympathetic character at times, would also lynch or shoot anyone who disagreed with his methods. When his adopted son, Matt (Montgomery Clift), left him, he set out to kill him.

This is a John Wayne movie, so it never got that far. Naturally, the two made up in the end. However, this was a chance to play a role different from his past, and that is a big reason Wayne was able to deliver a great performance in The Searchers, where he had a chance to go dark again.

On top of Wayne and Clift, Howard Hawks also cast Walter Brennan, Harry Carey, Shelley Winters, Joanne Dru, and Harry Carey Jr. in main roles, and everyone delivered with their performances. From top to bottom, this cast delivered a masterpiece.

Red River has a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, with the cast performances and Hawks’ direction all equally praised. There were some minor issues, particularly with the wagon train’s encounters with Native Americans, but they didn’t detract from the movie’s overall enjoyment.

Unlike many Howard Hawks and John Wayne collaborations, Red River was more recognized at the time it came out, earning two Oscar nominations, one for Best Story and the second for Best Film Editing. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1990, and the American Film Insтιтute named it the fifth-best Western of all time.

Sources: Roger Ebert, Cahiers du Cinema, Rotten Tomatoes, American Film Insтιтute