John Carpenter Wrote This '90s Western Movie For John Wayne To Star In

John Carpenter is a master of frights — a reputation he earned through helming horror classics like "Halloween" and "The Thing." However, the filmmaker originally set out to make Westerns, but the genre was out of fashion when Carpenter rode onto the scene in the early '70s. Carpenter's Western influences are notable in movies, but he's yet to direct a traditional horse opera. Still, he got to pen one, "Blood River," for John Wayne — that is until plans changed.

Carpenter wrote "Blood River" in the early '70s for Wayne's company, Batjac Productions, before doing a rewrite a few years later. The original plan was for "The Duke" to portray a raft-sailing U.S. Marshal on the hunt for some criminals, but the actor never accepted the gig, presumably due to his age.

"I worked on it, and never quite found out what was going on there," Carpenter told Film Comment in 1980. "Maybe Wayne didn't want to do any more Westerns. I worked with Michael Wayne and Tom Kane, and they would do things like take out some of the harder action stuff, making it easier on him."

Carpenter wanted Howard Hawks to direct "Blood River," but the filmmaker behind "Rio Bravo" and other great Westerns everyone should see was too old at the time. Ultimately, "Blood River" remained stuck in development hell for years, but it eventually made its way to the screen.

"Blood River" originally aired as a CBS TV movie in 1991. Directed by Mel Damski, it stars Ricky Schroder as Jimmy "The Kid" Pearls, a young, on-the-lam drifter who teams up with an old gunslinger (Wilford Brimley) while trying to evade the men who want to kill him. It's a buddy movie about an old-timer imparting wisdom on a young 'un — not unlike John Wayne's "True Grit."

Unfortunately, "Blood River" failed to attract the same success and acclaim as some of John Carpenter's other projects. As of this writing, the movie boasts a 5.4 out of 10 rating on IMDb based on 250 user reviews, indicating that the flick is underseen.

"Blood River" is one of the more overlooked credits in Carpenter's oeuvre, right up there with "Black Moon Rising" –a sci-fi action movie starring Tommy Lee Jones that Carpenter penned but never watched – and "El Diablo," another '90s TV Western he wrote. However, Western aficionados might have fun tracking it down.