John Wayne only played a real villain once, and it was his best role

For many spectators, the roles embodied by John Wayne refer to the image of the hard hero to cook, intractable with injustice, gruff and grumpy. And if in some films, he dared to go to other playgrounds, none was more risky than his role as Ethan Edwards in the prisoner of the desert.

This western marks the ninth collaboration of director John Ford with John Wayne, whom he had revealed in the fantastic ride (except the actor's cameos in the silent cinema of Ford and the fact that Ford has shot Hondo sequences). This time, “Papy Ford” as Wayne called him, confides a character who will change everything for Wayne.

A detestable character

Warner Bros.

This role is by far the most ambiguous of all those embodied by the actor of Rio Bravo. Having been part of the camp of the vanquished during the Civil War, stolen from cattle, flees his family because he was the lover of his sister-in-law (a scene clearly implies him), Ethan Edwards is a disillusioned character and the broken heart, who no longer believes in much, far from the idealists usually interpreted by John Wayne.

Openly racist – he is ready to shoot his niece played by Natalie Wood because she has become a squaw – Ethan Edwards openly attacks the Amerindians and their lifestyle throughout the film, sometimes for free. He lives only for violence, since he has only that in his life.

Warner Bros.

Until the last moment, it is unknown what choice will be his concerning this niece kidnapped by the Indians and become Indian herself. Ford pays this in the best way, with a simple replica.

Wayne's best role

The character will mark him so much that Wayne will baptize one of her children, six years after the film's release, John Ethan Morrison. The latter, when he becomes an actor, will choose the pseudonym … from Ethan Wayne. He will appear alongside his child's father in Rio Lobo (1970), then Big Jake (1971).

Like all the legendary western characters, from Shane to Lucky Luke via Chris and Wine of the Seven Mercenaries or the nameless man of Sergio Leone, Ethan leaves in the setting sun, alone as it seems that he will remain all his life. Without question the best role of John Wayne.