If you wanted your movie to gain financial and critical success in the 20th century, the American icon John Wayne was the best person to cast. Following in the footsteps of other influential Hollywood actors such as James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, and Errol Flynn, Wayne was a formidable talent who changed western cinema for the better, thanks to collaborations with the likes of John Ford and Howard Hawks.
Starring in some of the greatest movies of the era, including The Searchers, which would go on to define the revisionist western sub-genre, as well as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, adapted from the novel of the same name by Dorothy M. Johnson, Wayne built a remarkable filmography. Yet, even for one of the industry’s greatest-ever names, this was not enough, forever regretting giving up the chance to star in one particular classic.
In the book John Wayne: A Giant Shadow, penned by Carolyn McGivern, the actor revealed some previously unheard truths regarding his career and private life, including one role he particularly regretted turning down. Wishing to diversify his filmography a little, Wayne was presented with the idea of playing the iconic cop Harry Callahan from the 1971 film Dirty Harry.
Tempted to take up the offer, Wayne eventually decided to turn Dirty Harry down in favour of several other projects, with McGivern detailing that Wayne long “regretted” the “terrible mistake” for many years to come, asking himself “How did I ever let that one slip through my fingers?”
As lovers of action cinema will know, the titular role of Dirty Harry eventually went to Clint Eastwood, helping to bolster his credentials in the industry. Helmed by Don Siegel, the film tells the story of a tough maverick cop who is tasked with tracking down the insane ‘Scorpio Killer.’
Strangely, Eastwood and Wayne shared a feud despite never sharing a movie together. In fact, Wayne was so annoyed by Eastwood’s movie High Plains Drifter that he penned him a letter, with the Dirty Harry star recalling: “He [Wayne] 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”.
In response to Wayne, Eastwood added: “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”.