Key Takeaways
- The question stems from The Cowboys, where Wayne plays a rancher
- What Wayne told Dern before the scene provided an epic response
- Dern said the next few years after the movie were interesting for him
Yes, Bruce Dern really shot John Wayne in the 1972 film The Cowboys. It was a famous scene that was a huge deal at the time and shocked audiences everywhere.
In The Cowboys, Wayne plays a rancher who takes a group of boys on a cattle drive. Dern plays the villain, Asa Watts. In the pivotal scene, Dern’s character ambushes Wayne’s character and shoots him dead.
That’s why it was such a big deal. It wasn’t the actual shooting itself, it was the fact that Wayne died, which was something that almost never happened to the ultimate Western hero. Seeing him killed by a villain, in cold blood, was highly unusual.
Just before the scene was filmed, it was widely reported that Wayne warned Dern, “America will hate you for this.” Dern responded with, “Maybe, but in Berkeley, I’m a g**d*** hero.” That was in reference to the controversial Wayne interview in Playboy, which has the anti-establishment up in arms.
Dern has even said in numerous interviews that people reacted more strongly than he anticipated, and for years, he was mostly referred to as “the guy who killed John Wayne.”
It wasn’t real, of course, just a movie scene, but yes, Bruce Dern did shoot John Wayne in one of the most talked-about moments in Western film history.
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About the Author
Jay Coffin has worked in journalism, digital media, television, communications, and the media fields for the last three decades. Most of that time has been spent in the sports and golf industry, helping to raise the profile of two prominent golf websites, appearing regularly on television, creating two successful podcasts, and boosting numerous social media accounts to record engagement metrics. He lives in Orlando, Fla.
