Direction: William A. Wellman

The best movies, series, and documentaries directed by William A. Wellman. Explore exceptional titles that showcase a unique filmmaking vision.


The Ox-Bow Incident

1942 · Movie · 72 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Henry Fonda · Dana Andrews · Mary Beth Hughes · Anthony Quinn

Plot In Nevada in 1885, two worn out cowboys, Gil (Henry Fonda) and Art (Harry Morgan), ride into Darby’s Saloon and Hotel looking for a drink. Shortly after their arrival, they...

8.0

4K votes

8.0

4K votes

The Public Enemy

1931 · Movie · 84 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast James Cagney · Jean Harlow · Edward Woods · Joan Blondell

Plot A young hoodlum rises up through the ranks of the Chicago underworld, even as a gangster's accidental death threatens to spark a bloody mob war.

7.6

4K votes

7.6

4K votes

Yellow Sky

1948 · Movie · 98 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Gregory Peck · Anne Baxter · Richard Widmark · Robert Arthur

Plot In 1867, a gang led by James “Stretch” Dawson robs a bank and flees into the desert. Out of water, the outlaws come upon a ghost town called Yellow Sky...

7.5

2K votes

7.5

2K votes

Beau Geste

1939 · Movie · 114 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Gary Cooper · Ray Milland · Robert Preston · Brian Donlevy

Plot BEAU GESTE begins with a framed scene of a mounted column approaching Fort Zinderneuf in the desert of French Morocco. No one answers Colonel de Beaujolais's signal. Someone fires shots...

7.5

4K votes

7.5

4K votes

Wings

1927 · Movie · 138 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Clara Bow · Charles 'Buddy' Rogers · Richard Arlen · Gary Cooper

Plot In 1917, Jack Powell is a young man with passion for cars. His next door neighbor is Mary Preston, who is in deep love for him, but Jack does not...

7.3

1K votes

7.3

1K votes

Good-bye, My Lady

1956 · Movie · 94 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Walter Brennan · Brandon De Wilde · William Hopper · Phil Harris

Plot An old man and a young boy who live in the Georgia swamps are brought together by the love of a dog.

7.3

122 votes

7.3

122 votes

Heroes for Sale

1933 · Movie · 71 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Richard Barthelmess · Aline MacMahon · Loretta Young · Gordon Westcott

Plot A war veteran (Richard Barthelmess) whose cowardly comrade (Gordon Westcott) has accepted all the glory for his heroism battles a morphine addiction, then starts life anew in Chicago, where he...

7.2

314 votes

7.2

314 votes

Wild Boys of the Road

1933 · Movie · 68 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Frankie Darro · Edwin Phillips · Rochelle Hudson · Dorothy Coonan Wellman

Plot In the depths of the Depression, two teenage boys strike out on their own in order to help their struggling parents and find life on the road tougher than expected.

7.2

201 votes

7.2

201 votes

Other Men's Women

1931 · Movie · 70 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Grant Withers · Mary Astor · Regis Toomey · James Cagney

Plot Events take an unhappy turn for two Bill and Jack, two locomotive engineers, after Bill is attracted to his best friend's wife.

7.2

131 votes

7.2

131 votes

Beggars of Life

1928 · Movie · 100 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Wallace Beery · Louise Brooks · Richard Arlen · Bob Perry

Plot After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of...

7.2

145 votes

7.2

145 votes

The Next Voice You Hear...

1950 · Movie · 83 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast James Whitmore · Nancy Reagan · Gary Gray · Lillian Bronson

Plot "Joe Smith, American" lives in a Los Angeles suburb and works at an aircraft plant. One night Joe hears a voice cut in on a radio program: "This is God....

7.1

46 votes

7.1

46 votes

Westward the Women

1951 · Movie · 118 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Robert Taylor · Denise Darcel · Hope Emerson · John McIntire

Plot By 1851, Roy E. Whitman has established a growing ranching community in his California valley. The one thing missing is women for the men to marry, which would enable them...

7.1

9K votes

7.1

9K votes

A Star is Born

1937 · Movie · 111 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Fredric March · Janet Gaynor · Adolphe Menjou · May Robson

Plot Esther Blodgett is just another starry-eyed farm kid trying to break into the movies. Waitressing at a Hollywood party, she catches the eye of alcoholic star Norman Maine, is given...

7.0

2K votes

7.0

2K votes

Frisco Jenny

1932 · Movie · 73 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Ruth Chatterton · Louis Calhern · Helen Jerome Eddy · Donald Cook

Plot Frisco Jenny was orphaned by the 1906 earthquake and fire and has become the madame of prosperous bawdy house. She puts her son up for adoption and he rises to...

6.9

130 votes

6.9

130 votes

Midnight Mary

1933 · Movie · 74 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Loretta Young · Ricardo Cortez · Franchot Tone · Andy Devine

Plot A young woman is on trial for murder. In flashback, we learn of her struggles to overcome poverty as a teenager -- a mistaken arrest and prison term for shoplifting...

6.9

128 votes

6.9

128 votes

Battleground

1949 · Movie · 118 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Van Johnson · John Hodiak · Ricardo Montalban · George Murphy

Plot December, 1944. The Nazis, in the face of the onrushing Allies, turned and pushed into the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and Luxembourg for what would be their last major offensive...

6.8

645 votes

6.8

645 votes

Track of the Cat

1954 · Movie · 102 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Robert Mitchum · Teresa Wright · Diana Lynn · Tab Hunter

Plot In a stunning mountain valley ranch setting near Aspen, complex and dangerous family dynamics play out against the backdrop of the first big snowstorm of winter and an enormous panther...

6.8

704 votes

6.8

704 votes

Across the Wide Missouri

1951 · Movie · 77 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Clark Gable · Ricardo Montalban · John Hodiak · Adolphe Menjou

Plot In the 1830's beaver trapper Flint Mitchell and other white men hunt and trap in the then unnamed territories of Montana and Idaho. Flint marries a Blackfoot woman as a...

6.7

927 votes

6.7

927 votes

Roxie Hart

1942 · Movie · 75 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Ginger Rogers · Adolphe Menjou · George Montgomery · Lynne Overman

Plot Sassy '20s Chicago dance hall girl Roxie (Rogers) decides to take the fall when hubby (Chandler) murders a man (She sees it as a publicity boost to her career). Slick...

6.7

154 votes

6.7

154 votes

Night Nurse

1931 · Movie · 72 min. · United States

Direction William A. Wellman

Cast Barbara Stanwyck · Ben Lyon · Joan Blondell · Blanche Friderici

Plot Lora Hart manages to land a job in a hospital as a trainee nurse. Upon completion of her training she goes to work as a night nurse for two small...

6.6

245 votes

6.6

245 votes