John Wayne played in a bizarre west with sci-fi elements

From “The Searchers” to “Rio Bravo”, John Wayne is known to see in some of the greatest western of all time. Together with Clint Eastwood, he is probably the actor who is most synonymous for the genre, and his filmography is littered with gemstones that have passed the test of time. Nevertheless, the Duke played in many films during his long career, so it is only natural that some of them flew under the radar. This brings us to “Thunder Riders of the Golden West”, a neo-western with science fiction elements.

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“Thunder Riders of the Golden West”, which was staged by Wayne’s long-time friend Dave Burleson, was published in the 1980s after the Duke’s death in 1979. It tells the story of a group of truckers that take place in a place where some atomic bomb tests take place, with the explosions that are probably exhausted, according to one of the Shenanigania in the mountains of Sci. It is an understatement to name “Thunder Riders of the Golden West” one of Wayne’s most underestimated films, as it is so difficult to track down that it is impossible to evaluate. According to his director, it was the last role of the duke on the screen, although it was not the last film he made. Therefore, the shooting must have taken place in 1976 in “The Shootist” in 1976.

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At the moment, Burleson’s film does not even have its own IMDB or Wikipedia page, let alone a Home Media publication (although it should come out of DVD in 2009). In this sense, there is a chance that “Thunder Riders of the Golden West” will ever see the light of the day?

“Thunder Riders of the Golden West” has not yet received the Heimatmedien publication, which was first reported in 2009. According to an article published by Gizmodo in the same year, Dave Burleson had to distribute the DVD of itself at the time of its announcement. However, no details of where you could buy it were ever made available.

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If there are copies of “Thunder Riders of the Golden West” that float around, they are very well hidden. The science fiction western seems to have been lost in the sand of the time, which was intended to remain a cult new until it was uncovered and an official release was provided.

Wayne was during his famous career (even though he was part of an early horror wester called “Phantom Gold”), which makes this apparently lost project even more interesting. If nothing else, “Thunder Riders of the Golden West” would be fascinating just to see Wayne outside of his usual tax house – even his role was nothing more than a cameo, which was probably due to the independent nature of the project. Hopefully the film will see the light of the day at some point, but at the moment we only have to be patient.

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