79 Years Later, A Forgotten John Wayne Classic Officially Returns Today With A New Remake

Published Oct 9, 2026, 12:15 PM EDT

Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
 

Almost 50 years after his death in 1979, John Wayne remains the most recognizable icon of the American Western movie genre. Even now, his legend endures as the special brand of rugged frontier heroism (for the most part) that defined an entire, golden era of Hollywood.

More modern filmmakers have occasionally attempted to recapture the Duke’s magic. Despite the success of Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2010 take on True Grit, the majority of remakes were either unremarkable made-for-TV projects or inferior redos that have faded from memory. The Coens wisely chose to avoid remaking their version directly because, crucially, John Wayne just isn’t copyable.

Others have attempted a pale imitation of Wayne’s prickly, towering charisma, but he was an enigma whose on-screen brand was a remarkable, unconventional thing. It’s not a matter of just playing the same character or putting anyone in a cowboy hat, and getting them to drawl slightly and strut menacingly. His roles are carved into the bedrock of Western movie history, so any remake is starting from a bold position.

You wouldn’t touch The Searchers or Rio Bravo or The Quiet Man, because you might as well give up before you start. At best, your work will be as utterly forgotten as the unnecessary 1980s remake of the excellent Red River. Sometimes, though, there is a chance to bring a lesser known or appreciated John Wayne movie back to the screen, which feels like a smarter choice. And that’s exactly what’s happening today, as, almost 80 years after its release, a brand new remake of Angel and the Badman arrives in theaters today.

Angel & The Badman Is One Of John Wayne's Overlooked Movies

While more casual Wayne fans tend to gravitate toward Stagecoach, The Searchers, or Rio Bravo, 1947’s Angel and the Badman is great and an underrated Wayne alternative that feels very different from most of his work. It also holds major significance as the very first feature that Wayne produced himself under his newly formed production banner, giving him more creative control over his career.

That first movie being a more gentle romance says a lot more about his perception of himself than any of his more conventional, violent Westerns. It also has a genuine legacy: it not only directly inspired Johnny Cash’s 1993 song of the same title, but also inspired both Peter Weir’s Witness and Tim Daly and Naomi Watts’ 2002 TV movie The Outsider.

Angel and the Badman still stands out from Wayne’s other movies and Westerns of the period, because of its radical subversion of the genre’s familiar tropes. It’s not a gunplay movie, and it has less obviously black-and-white ideas of morality and less of the brutal frontier violence Wayne reveled in. Instead, James Edward Grant’s movie is more of a quiet, introspective character study.

Wayne plays Quirt Evans, a wounded gunfighter - and famed man of violence - who stumbles into the care of a pacifist Quaker family and falls for their daughter, Penelope (Gail Russell). That leads to a surprising portrait of non-violence, romance, and redemption, which balanced the allure of frontier violence with genuine emotional depth.

Two DC Stars Headline 2026's Angel & The Badman Remake

The new remake comes courtesy of Angel Studios' and updates Wayne’s underrated classic for modern audiences while seeking to maintain its gentle core. Directed by Julio Quintana, the new Angel and the Badman stars two DC stars - Shazam’s Zachary Levi, who bravely steps into John Wayne’s shoes as Quirt Evans, and Batman Forever veteran Tommy Lee Jones as the local lawman who is suspicious of him. They’re also joined on the cast by Lee Jones’ Captain America: The First Avenger costar Neal McDonough, who plays the villain.

The core plot remains pretty faithful to the 1947 original: Levi’s notorious gunslinger staggers onto a family ranch with a bullet in his back, close to death. Instead, he receives mercy from the rancher's smitten daughter, Penny, played by Meg Fraser. The big difference is Angel Studios tone down the religious zeal of the pious family from Quakers to Christians.

As in Wayne’s version, Quirt faces a profound choice between his bloody legacy and a new life of faith and peace. Given the modern Western genre’s heavier focus on violence and grit, having something this gentle, with more focus on romance, will be a welcome change for diehard Western fans.

Naturally, the biggest hurdle is in Levi replacing John Wayne, but his casting is a smart choice. His screen persona could not be more different from Wayne's stoic, iron-jawed bravado, and the very nature of his approach to acting avoids direct comparison. That’s useful too, because Angel’s version has some obvious limits in its production, but it’s just great to see another Wayne story celebrated.

Angel and the Badman is out now in theaters.

Angel and the Badman

Cast

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  Laredo

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  Quirt Evans

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  Meg Fraser

  Penny

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  Jean Louisa Kelly

  Irene Worth