Clint & Wayne in The Hostiles

Clint & Wayne in The Hostiles

Here on the Archive we’ve never really dipped into the rumbles and rumours associated with the relationship between Clint and John Wayne. There was of course chat associated with a possible teaming of the stars back in the early 70’s - but the project never came to be. So I thought it was about time to put a little piece together. 

So the story all began with B movie director Larry Cohen. Cohen was responsible for such low budget classics as The Stuff, Q: The Winged Serpent, It’s Alive, and God Told Me. According to Scott Etman’s book, John Wayne: The Life and Legend, Cohen had written a script called The Hostiles shortly after Eastwood released his classic western, High Plains Drifter.

The Hostiles told the story of a gambler who wins half of an estate of an older man. The gambler and the older man have to work together despite their obvious dislike for each other. Eastwood was apparently impressed by the story and optioned the screenplay with the intent of playing the gambler alongside John Wayne as the older man. 

Wayne with son Michael

So Eastwood forwarded a copy of The Hostiles to Wayne. Whilst Eastwood felt the script needed improvement he could still see it had potential. But sadly, Wayne appeared not to be interested. Eastwood pitched the film to Wayne for a second time and this time Wayne responded with a letter. Wayne’s letter complained about High Plains Drifter. Wayne was offended by Eastwood's film and its portrayal of the Old West as a cruel, violent place.

In Mary Lea Bandy and Kevin Stoehr’s book, Ride, boldly ride: The Evolution of the American Western, it cited that ‘It’s very easy to see High Plains Drifter as a critique of the American West’ - a sentiment apparently shared by Wayne. Furthermore, Wayne also criticised it as inaccurate.

Eastwood told Kenneth Turan “John Wayne once wrote me a letter saying he didn’t like High Plains Drifter. He said it wasn’t really about the people who pioneered the West. I realised that there’s two different generations, and he wouldn’t understand what I was doing. High Plains Drifter was meant to be a fable: it wasn’t meant to show the hours of pioneering drudgery. It wasn’t supposed to be anything about settling the West.” Apparently Clint didn’t respond to Wayne. 

Later, Wayne’s son Michael (as a producer) asked Cohen for a copy of the script to give to his dad. Cohen was excited about the prospect that the film might still get made with Wayne in a lead role. While on a boat, Mike gave the script to his father, who commented “This piece of shit again” and threw the script in the water. It was obvious that Wayne had a major dislike for the project., He was alleged to have said, “This kind of stuff is all they know how to write these days. The sheriff is the heavy; the townspeople are a bunch of jerks. Someone like me and Eastwood ride into town, know everything, act the big guys, and everyone else is a bunch of idiots.”

According to Michael Doyle’s book, Larry Cohen: The Stuff of Gods and Monsters, The Hostiles was eventually made into the television movie The Gambler, the Girl, and the Gunslinger in 2009. That film flew under the radar whereas a Wayne and Eastwood team up probably would have been a hit. Cohen said the film’s cast was terrible and the film’s director, Anne Wheeler, was inept. Wayne and Eastwood never worked together, however, they remain the two actors most associated with the Western genre.

It seems that Cohen always regretted that the project never took off, especially with Eastwood and Wayne. “It was one of the greatest disappointments of my career, The Hostiles falling apart with Eastwood and Wayne playing the leads. I mean, we already had Clint and, okay, suppose he didn’t do the picture with John Wayne: what if he did it with George C. Scott or Burt Lancaster or some other big actor? It could have still been great. But again, Clint did not want to do The Hostiles with anyone else except John Wayne.”

Ironically, John Wayne would make his final film in 1976, the western The Shootist - a film directed by Clint’s mentor Don Siegel and shot by his Cinematographer Bruce Surtees.

Below: John Wayne, Clint and Don Siegel on the set of The Shootist in 1976

Below: A rare 1974 Warner Bros press still promoting both John Wayne in McQ and Clint in Magnum Force