How a Lost Eastwood-Wayne Western Became a Hallmark Movie
Clint Eastwood and John Wayne nearly starred together in a western called The Hostiles, but creative differences shelved the project. Decades later, the script resurfaced in an unexpected place.
Few movie ideas have ever sounded as irresistible as a western pairing Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. In the 1970s, Eastwood was redefining the genre with a grittier, more complex style, while Wayne remained a towering figure from Hollywood ’s golden age. The prospect of these two icons sharing the screen promised a cinematic event for the ages, with studios and fans alike eager to see the old guard meet the new.
Clashing Visions and a Shelved Dream
The script for The Hostiles, written by Larry Cohen, offered a classic setup: Eastwood would play a down-on-his-luck gambler who wins half the property of Wayne’s aging character, forcing the two to work together despite their mutual dislike. Eastwood was enthusiastic about the project and sent the script to Wayne, hoping to get his blessing.
But Wayne, unimpressed by Eastwood’s darker take on westerns—especially after seeing High Plains Drifter—wasn’t interested. He dismissed the script’s approach, saying,
This kind of stuff is all they know how to write these days; the sheriff is the heavy, the townspeople 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.
Despite several attempts to change his mind, Wayne refused to budge, and the project stalled.
What Might Have Been
With Wayne out, the dream of seeing these two legends spar, clash, and ultimately team up on screen faded. Cohen called the collapse of the film “one of the greatest disappointments of my career.” Eastwood, for his part, was adamant that he wouldn’t do the movie with anyone else. As Cohen put it,
Clint did not want to do The Hostiles with anyone else except John Wayne.
Without both stars, the project was dead in the water.
A Script’s Unlikely Second Life
Decades later, Cohen’s script was dusted off and reworked by Bob Barbash. The story, with only minor changes, was retitled The Gambler, the Girl, and the Gunslinger and premiered on the Hallmark Channel in 2009. Instead of Eastwood and Wayne, the leads were played by Dean Cain and James Tupper—a far cry from the original vision. What could have been a landmark western ended up as a made-for-TV movie, a surprising twist for a script once meant to unite two of Hollywood’s biggest legends.