The actor John Wayne was known for his appearances in films such as The Black Falcon or Rio Bravo in the 1950s and was long considered the most successful actor in the Western genre. In the 1960s, however, with Clint Eastwood another actor appears on the screen, who great competition.
John Wayne lost Dirty Harry to his great rival Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood was known for the series A Thousand Miles of Dust became known and played in Sergio Leone’s famous spaghetti western trilogy, consisting of A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. John Wayne, who would later criticise Eastwood heavily for his film A Stranger Without a Name,
initially spoke positively about the work of his acting colleague.
As the site Far out reports, this changed when Client Eastwood took on the role of Harry Callahan in Don Siegel’s film Dirty Harry. As it turned out, The same role was initially offered to John WayneHowever, he reacted insulted because the role had already been offered to Frank Sinatra and had also been turned down.
John Wayne wanted not the second choice which is why he himself declined. Furthermore, alternative film projects that would have interested him more at that time are said to have also played a role.
A decision he says was made in light of the subsequent success of the Dirty Harry film series openly regretted:
“How could I have missed this?”
John Wayne is said to have yet to make his decision regarding Don Siegel’s offer. many more years of his life have been busyLooking back, he would consider his rejection of Don Siegel’s offer to be a Mistake.
After all, the leading role in Dirty Harry helped Clint Eastwood to great success in his further career and would probably have also been a additional breakthrough in the film industry. Ultimately, the question of what effects a possible appearance of John Wayne in the Dirty Harry films remains open, of course.