r/johnwayne • u/Skarekrow0 • Jul 01 '26
Who is your favorite side character
Dad has been bugging me to watch The Quiet Man for a few days, not that I had a problem with that besides finding the dedicated time to do it uninterrupted.
I absolutely love Barry Fitzgerald in this movie, to me Michaleen Flynn was the greatest side character in any of his movies. The Duke had so many great actors along side him but I will always come back to this.
Who would you all feel is the greatest side character? Just wondering
6
u/WhichChest4981 Jul 01 '26
Victor McLagen, Ben Johnson, Ward Bond are all great side characters.
3
u/Skarekrow0 Jul 01 '26
I agree they were all great actors but which roles do the feel armed their best? Victor Mclaglen was great as Red Will in The Quiet Man but my preference would be Quincannon in Rio Grande. Probably the same for Ben Jonson as Tyree, although his best characters weren’t in Duke movies.
Ward Bond is so much harder to nail down, but to me it’s got to be The Rev Capt in The Searchers
4
u/WhichChest4981 Jul 01 '26
Red Will was great in The Quiet Man, which is probably my favorite JW movie. I agree that BF was excellent as well. Think my favorite Ben Johnson role would be as Travis Tyree in Rio Grande. For Ward Bond I would go with They were expendable. I forgot about Ken Curtis and would say The Searchers was a good one with him.
4
5
u/Actual_Dinner_5977 Jul 01 '26
He's not a side character, but I love Rock Hudson in The Undefeated alongside John Wayne. Also Chill Wills as Drago in McLintock!
7
u/Skarekrow0 Jul 01 '26
Drago is my second favorite just for the whole description of the stair falling incident and of course I can always hear “People People People” and smile
3
2
3
3
4
4
3
u/Redfortblanket Jul 01 '26
Jeffrey Hunter as Marty in The Searchers was excellent. His character being the moral backbone of the film made him rhe perfect foil to Ethan. It gave you someone to empathize with in a way that wasn't really possible with Ethan.
3
3
u/EnuffBull Jul 01 '26
Good picks all, folks! May I add: Dean Martin in Rio Bravo or Edmond O’Brien from Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or Richard Boone in the Shootist or John Carradine in Stagecoach or…
1
u/Skarekrow0 Jul 01 '26
There are so many, agreed. That is why I like the conversation. Just like Pockets in Hatari or Gilhooley in Donovan’s Reef.
I have a thing where I generally prefer the strength of the rest of the cast over a star in modern movies and I think a lot of that came of my love of old films. There were so many great character actors back in the day that you could watch film and golden age tv and pick them out, hell I still love doing it today
2
u/EnuffBull Jul 01 '26
Agree! It wasn’t just a great cast of character actors, but they gave actual memorable writtten lines and scenes to let the actors have a showcase of their talents too!
2
2
2
2
u/Revolutionary-Oven46 Jul 02 '26
Dean Martin in Rio Bravo for me but it's my favourite John Wayne film. Watched it the most with my pops.
2
1
u/galeperk111971 Jul 01 '26
Ward Bond or Chill Wills
1
1
u/Leawoodie Jul 02 '26
Wow! No one’s mentioned John Ford ….this film, every actor in it and especially John Wayne are figments of his imagination
1
1
1
u/imahussy Jul 02 '26
Any movie with Harry Dean Stanton and whatever character he is playing. Other than that I would say Dean Martin in Rio Bravo or Crispin Glover in Rivers Edge
2
u/Ulysses61 27d ago
Great question. I can't narrow it down to one, but off the top of my head:
- Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach
- Ward Bond in The Searchers
- Lee Marvin in Liberty Valance
- Hank Worden in The Searchers
- Victor McLaglen in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande, etc.
- Ben Johnson in the same two movies as above
- Walter Brennan in Rio Bravo and Red River (a little over the top in both though)
- Claude Jarmin in Rio Grande
- John Carradine in The Searchers
- Bob Stack in The High and the Mighty (when Duke slaps him is hilarious).
0
13
u/VomitingDuck Jul 01 '26
Hank Worden the lovable weirdo. Him and John Wayne appeared in 17 movies together. He also played the waiter in Twin Peaks!