Top 10 John Wayne World War II movies and Sands of Iwo Jima missed out on No 1.
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didn’t serve in but stayed in Hollywood to make movies about the conflict.
As a result, for the rest of his life, Duke felt it was his duty to star in patriotic pictures honouring the veterans and promoting the American military.
Now, IMDb has ranked the very best John Wayne World War II movies, and Sands of Iwo Jima isn’t even in the Top 3.
10. The Fighting Seabees (1944)
This Oscar-nominated World War II movie follows a heavily fictionalised account of the creation of the US Navy’s Seabees, aka the United States Naval Construction Battalions. During the conflict, they were the plank-holders of the Naval Combat Demolition Units and the Underwater Demolition Teams.
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9. Operation Pacific (1951)
Wayne stars as Lt Cmdr Duke E Gifford in this submarine drama about the crew of the Thunderfish who are attacked by the Japanese during a rescue mission. Back home at Pearl Harbor, his ex-wife Mary is engaged to a pilot and he’s determined to win her back.
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8. Back to Bataan (1945)
Wayne’s Army colonel is stationed in the Philippines when he rallies Filipino guerrilla fighters to attack the Japanese in a region where the Allies lack military support. Anthony Quinn co-stars as Captain Andrés Bonifacio, who struggles to live up to the reality of being the grandson of a war hero.
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7. The Wings of Eagles (1957)
Directed by regular collaborator John Ford, Wayne stars as Frank “Spin” Wead, a real-life US Navy aviator who served in World War II. In the 1930s, he became a Hollywood screenwriter and wrote the Oscar-nominated They Were Expendable, which is also on this list.
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