John Wayne turned down a Western movie later in his career that could have been his True Grit. Instead, he appeared in some lesser-ed Westerns to wind down his career, none of which have the lasting legacy of the film he turned down. What is most impressive about the movie that The Duke rejected is that it was never made as a movie, with the director choosing to shut down the production rather than make it without the famed Western star. However, its legacy came on TV, and it became one of the biggest televised Westerns in history.

John Wayne became known for turning down several roles later in his career for personal reasons. He notoriously Wayne instead to make one of his best Westerns in response, starring in Rio Bravo. However, he turned down the role in The Streets of Laredo for a very different reason.

Why John Wayne Turned Down The Streets Of Laredo

John Wayne Disagreed With The Themes

The Streets of Laredo was written by Larry McMurtry, and up-and-coming director Peter Bogdanovich wanted to direct it. Bogdanovich already had some experience with John Wayne, as he directed a documentary for the American Film Institute about John Ford titled Directed by John Ford, which included interviews with Wayne and was narrated by Orson Welles. The director proved his brilliance with his masterpiece, The Last Picture Show, released in 1971.

However, when it came to The Streets of Laredo, he couldn't convince John Wayne to stick with the movie, which he wanted to make in a similar style to John Ford's classic Westerns. There was a huge problem with the script that turned off Wayne. It was pitched as the "Final" Western movie, and The Duke wanted nothing to do with ending the genre, saying he wasn't "ready to hang up his spurs."

The Streets Of Laredo Could Have Become One Of Wayne's Best Westerns

John Wayne Would Have Been Backed By A Great ing Cast

The cast alone made it look like The Streets of Laredo could have been an incredibly successful movie. The lineup included some of the top actors of the era: John Wayne was supposed to play Call, Jimmy Stewart as Gus, and Henry Fonda as Jake Spoon. This could easily have matched the all-star lineup of True Grit, which was headlined by Wayne and Glen Campbell, with names like Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper also in the lineup.

The last truly great Western that John Wayne starred in was True Grit, and if he had taken on the role in The Streets of Laredo, especially with the surrounding cast, it could have added one more great title to his name. If anything, the success of the story years later showed that it would have been a massive improvement over the titles he had taken in films like Rooster Cogburn in 1975.

What Happened To The Streets Of Laredo After John Wayne Turned It Down

The Streets Of Laredo Became Lonesome Dove

Interestingly, John Wayne turning down The Streets of Laredo might have been all for the best. When Wayne rejected the movie and backed out, it was canceled completely. Without The Duke, the studio didn't have faith in the story, resulting in the screenplay sitting on the shelf for 15 years. This caused Larry McMurty to pull it out and turn it into a novel instead. That novel became Lonesome Dove, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1986.

Lonesome Dove ended up as a four-book series. This series was adapted into several award-winning TV shows, with the first miniseries starring Robert Duvall as Gus and Tommy Lee Jones as Call, the role that John Wayne originally turned down. Finally, in 1995, the third miniseries was called Streets of Laredo, bringing that title to life 21 years after John Wayne killed the original movie based on the story.