# Batjac Productions

Batjac Productions is an independent film production company co-founded by John Wayne in 1952 as a vehicle for Wayne to both produce and star in movies. The first Batjac production was Big Jim McLain released by Warner Bros. in 1952, and its final film was McQ, in 1974, also distributed by Warner Bros. After John Wayne's death in 1979, his son Michael Wayne owned and managed the company until his own death in 2003, when his wife Gretchen assumed ownership.

## About the company

Wayne and producer Robert Fellows founded Batjac in 1952 as Wayne/Fellows Productions. When Fellows left the company several years later, Wayne renamed the corporation after a fictitious trading company mentioned in the film Wake of the Red Witch (1948). The company name in Wake of the Red Witch was spelled Batjak, but Wayne's secretary misspelled it as Batjac on the corporation papers, and Wayne let it stand. Having his own company was intended to give Wayne artistic control over the films he made.
The best known of all Batjac's films is Wayne's version of The Alamo (1960), a project he had planned for several years. It was an account of the battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution of 1836. A labor of love for Wayne, The Alamo cost Wayne much of his personal fortune. Among Batjac's other productions are Hondo, Cahill U.S. Marshal, Big Jake, McLintock!, The Green Berets, Seven Men from Now, and McQ.

## The "lost" Wayne films

Because of a production/distribution deal with Warner Bros. and United Artists, Batjac was allowed to retain all rights to four Wayne films — The High and the Mighty, Hondo, Island in the Sky, distributed by Warner Bros.; and McLintock!, distributed by United Artists. It also held full copyright ownership in several non-Wayne movies, Seven Men from Now, Man in the Vault, Ring of Fear, Plunder of the Sun, Track of the Cat, China Doll, Escort West, and Gun the Man Down.
After Wayne's death in 1979, his son Michael Wayne gained full ownership and managed the company until he died in 2003. He meticulously managed the release pattern of his father's films and restored Hondo and McLintock! in the early 1990s for release on VHS and television. His passion was to restore the other two films, but water damage to the original elements made it impossible during his lifetime. Taking advantage of the new digital restoration processes, Michael's widow Gretchen restored these films in 2004 and released them through a distribution deal with Paramount Pictures in 2005. Although now released by Paramount, the Batjac films originally distributed by Warner Bros. still retained their original "WB Shield" logos, as part of a cross-licensing deal between the two companies- which also permitted the use of the original Paramount Pictures logos on the Warner-owned Fleischer/Famous Studios Popeye the Sailor cartoons.

## List of Batjac productions

| Year | Title | Distributor | Producer | Director | Star(s) | Academy Awards | Academy Awards | Notes |
| Year | Title | Distributor | Producer | Director | Star(s) | Wins | Nominations | Notes |
| 1952 | Big Jim McLain | Warner Bros. | Robert Fellows | Edward Ludwig | John Wayne & Nancy Olson | | | Produced as Wayne/Fellows Productions |
| 1953 | Plunder of the Sun | Warner Bros. | Robert Fellows | John Farrow | Glenn Ford & Diana Lynn | | | Produced as Wayne/Fellows Productions |
| 1953 | Island in the Sky | Warner Bros. | Robert Fellows | William A. Wellman | John Wayne | | | Produced as Wayne/Fellows Productions |
| 1953 | Hondo | Warner Bros. | Robert Fellows & John Wayne | John Farrow | John Wayne & Geraldine Page | | Best Supporting Actress (Geraldine Page); Best Story (Louis L'Amour) (later withdrawn) | Produced as Wayne/Fellows Productions; Filmed in 3D |
| 1954 | The High and the Mighty | Warner Bros. | Robert Fellows | William A. Wellman | John Wayne & Claire Trevor | Best Original Score (Dimitri Tiomkin) | Best Supporting Actress (Jan Sterling); Best Supporting Actress (Claire Trevor); Best Director (William A. Wellman); Best Film Editing; Best Original Song (Dimitri Tiomkin & Ned Washington) | Produced as Wayne/Fellows Productions; Filmed in CinemaScope; Won Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (Jan Sterling); Nominated for DGA Award for Outstanding Directing in Motion Pictures (William A. Wellman) |
| 1954 | Ring of Fear | Warner Bros. | Robert Fellows | James Edward Grant & William A. Wellman (uncredited) | Pat O'Brien | | | Produced as Wayne/Fellows Productions; Filmed in CinemaScope |
| 1954 | Track of the Cat | Warner Bros. | Robert Fellows & John Wayne | William A. Wellman | Robert Mitchum & Teresa Wright | | | Produced as Wayne/Fellows Productions; Filmed in CinemaScope |
| 1955 | Blood Alley | Warner Bros. | John Wayne | William A. Wellman | John Wayne & Lauren Bacall | | | Filmed in CinemaScope |
| 1956 | Good-bye, My Lady | Warner Bros. | John Wayne | William A. Wellman | Walter Brennan & Brandon deWilde | | | |
| 1956 | Seven Men from Now | Warner Bros. | Andrew V. McLaglen & Robert E. Morrison | Budd Boetticher | Randolph Scott & Gail Russell | | | |
| 1956 | Gun the Man Down | United Artists | Robert E. Morrison & John Wayne | Andrew V. McLaglen | James Arness & Angie Dickinson | | | |
| 1956 | Man in the Vault | RKO | Robert E. Morrison | Andrew V. McLaglen | William Campbell, Karen Sharpe, & Anita Ekberg | | | |
| 1957 | Legend of the Lost | United Artists | Henry Hathaway | Henry Hathaway | John Wayne & Sophia Loren | | | Filmed in Technirama |
| 1958 | China Doll | United Artists | Frank Borzage & Robert E. Morrison | Frank Borzage | Victor Mature | | | Batjac co-produced with Victor Mature's Romina Productions. |
| 1958 | Escort West | United Artists | Nate H. Edwards & Robert E. Morrison | Francis D. Lyon | Victor Mature | | | Batjac co-produced with Victor Mature's Romina Productions. |
| 1960 | The Alamo | United Artists | John Wayne | John Wayne | John Wayne, Richard Widmark & Laurence Harvey | Best Sound | Best Picture; Best Supporting Actor (Chill Wills); Best Color Cinematography (William H. Clothier); Best Film Editing; Best Original Song (Dimitri Tiomkin & Paul Francis Webster); Best Original Score (Dimitri Tiomkin) | Filmed in Todd-AO; Won Golden Globe for Best Original Score (Dimitri Tiomkin) |
| 1963 | McLintock! | United Artists | Michael Wayne | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara | | | |
| 1966 | Cast a Giant Shadow | United Artists | Melville Shavelson & Michael Wayne | Melville Shavelson | Kirk Douglas & Senta Berger | | | Batjac co-produced with Melville Shavelson's production company, Llenroc ('Cornell' spelt backwards), and The Mirisch Corporation |
| 1967 | The War Wagon | Universal | Marvin Schwartz | Burt Kennedy | John Wayne & Kirk Douglas | | | |
| 1967 | Hondo and the Apaches (TV Movie) | MGM Television | Andrew J. Fenady | Lee H. Katzin | Ralph Taeger | | | Two episodes from the TV series of the same name, edited together and released as a feature. |
| 1967 | Hondo (TV Series) | ABC | Andrew J. Fenady | Lee H. Katzin (and others) | Ralph Taeger | | | 17 episodes |
| 1968 | The Green Berets | Warner Bros. | Michael Wayne | John Wayne, Ray Kellogg & Mervyn LeRoy (uncredited) | John Wayne | | | |
| 1970 | Chisum | Warner Bros. | Michael Wayne | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Wayne | | | |
| 1970 | Swing Out, Sweet Land (TV Special) | NBC | William O. Harbach (and others) | Stan Harris | John Wayne | | | Won Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction of a Variety, Musical or Dramatic Program (Dominic Frontiere) at the 23rd Primetime Emmy Awards |
| 1970 | Rio Lobo | National General | Howard Hawks | Howard Hawks | John Wayne | | | |
| 1971 | Big Jake | National General | Michael Wayne | George Sherman | John Wayne & Richard Boone | | | |
| 1973 | The Train Robbers | Warner Bros. | Michael Wayne | Burt Kennedy | John Wayne & Ann-Margret | | | |
| 1973 | Cahill U.S. Marshal | Warner Bros. | Michael Wayne | Andrew V. McLaglen | John Wayne | | | |
| 1974 | McQ | Warner Bros. | Michael Wayne | John Sturges | John Wayne | | | Co-produced with Levy-Gardner-Laven |

## List of John Wayne productions at Republic Pictures

John Wayne served as Producer for Republic Pictures on the following films, prior to the founding of Wayne-Fellows/Batjac Productions in 1952.
| Year | Title | Distributor | Producer | Director | Star(s) | Academy Awards | Academy Awards | Notes |
| Year | Title | Distributor | Producer | Director | Star(s) | Wins | Nominations | Notes |
| 1947 | Angel and the Badman | Republic | John Wayne | James Edward Grant | John Wayne & Gail Russell | | | |
| 1949 | The Fighting Kentuckian | Republic | John Wayne | George Waggner | John Wayne & Vera Ralston | | | |
| 1950 | The Dangerous Stranger | Short Film | Sid Davis & John Wayne (uncredited) | Sid Davis | | | | |
| 1951 | Santa and the Fairy Snow Queen | Short Film | John Wayne (uncredited) | Sid Davis | Rochelle Stanton, Edmund Penney, Margo Von Leu | | | |
| 1951 | Bullfighter and the Lady | Republic | John Wayne | Budd Boetticher | Robert Stack & Joy Page | | Best Story (Budd Boetticher & Ray Nazarro) | |