10 Unforgettable John Dutton Moments in Yellowstone That Will Leave You Speechless from Start to Finish

Many Western fans consider John Dutton the main antagonist of Yellowstone. The patriarch of the Yellowstone ranch is known for his ruthless ways and stubbornness. However, John is a complex character, and many other viewers might see him as the hero of the story. Played by the brilliant Western actor Kevin Costner, it makes sense that John Dutton is a fan favorite. In fact, several of the John Dutton scenes in Yellowstone aim to show the various facets of this character.

John is a cowboy, a father, a grandfather, and, above all, the owner of the Yellowstone land. He is willing to kill to protect his family’s legacy, but he is also a sweet grandfather. This is exactly what makes John Dutton such an interesting figure. Several of Costner’s best scenes keep viewers either terrified, awed, or forever harrowed.

10John Dutton Talks To His Grandson Tate about Cowboy Life

Season 3, Episode 3 of Yellowstone, “An Acceptable Surrender,” Has an 8.1 Score on IMDb

From the beginning of Yellowstone, it’s clear John believes Tate, as his only grandson, will become the patriarch of the Yellowstone Ranch. He started to get close to Tate, not only out of love, but also because he wanted to turn Tate into a cowboy. In Season 3, Episode 3, John walks through his land with Tate, peacefully strolling through pasture at sunset, with a beautiful background of the mountains. John explains to Tate that having a ranch is tiresome, hard, and not rentable. When Tate asks why they do it, John answers, “because it’s one hell of a life.”

At the end of the scene, John and Tate sit on a tree trunk, both of them wearing cowboy hats as they look around the Yellowstone land. The scene is a perfect moment of Western TV. Of course, everyone knows there is a certain hypocrisy behind John’s words, but the moment might convince people in the audience to start liking him. John’s love of ranching is genuine, and his words are, in a way, truly wise. Is the lifestyle worth dying over? Probably not, but that’s arguable. The moment is still the perfect romanticization of the cowboy ideal.

9Beth Tells John about Her Involuntary Hysterectomy

Season 3, Episode 6 of Yellowstone, “All for Nothing,” Has a 7.9 Score on IMDb

For such a violent man, John rarely loses his cool, but when he learns about what Jamie did to Beth, he shows a fierce and terrifying side to his son. John enters the house, apparently calm, hangs his jacket, and unbuttons his shirt’s cuffs as he talks over Jamie. His anger slowly rises as he pursues Jamie around the kitchen counter. Jamie crumbles in front of his father, as John starts pacing like a caged animal. Eventually, John leaves when Kayce interrupts them.

The dialogue, however, is the most insightful part of the scene. John asks Jamie who is going to fight for the ranch since Tate is now the only heir. He then exits the house in a hurry and leaves his three children in shambles. The final scene sees John walking, looking at the ranch while whispering that all he has done is for nothing. The scene plays out well and is actually very interesting. John doesn’t care about Beth, John cares about his legacy, and thanks to Jamie, the future Duttons seem scarce.

8John Kills Malcolm To Rescue His Grandson

Season 2, Episode 10 of Yellowstone, “Sins of the Father,” Has an 8.9 Score on IMDb

Yellowstone‘s second season finale is pretty intense. After the Beck Brothers kidnap Tate, Kacey and John haunt the brothers. Finally, they get to Malcolm Beck’s location, and as the cowardly man runs away, John shoots Malcolm in the back with a shotgun. John then promises Malcolm to call an ambulance if Malcolm tells him where Tate is.

What’s interesting about this scene is John’s composure. He calmly sits beside a dying Malcolm, inquiring about his grandson. After Malcolm gave him the information, he was even going to honor his word and call the ambulance, but Malcolm told John he already knew he wasn’t going to make it. John’s calculating personality shines in this moment; he keeps in control and comfortably sits on the ground as if he has all the time in the world. In reality, however, Tate could die any moment.

7John Throws a Wine Bottle At Dan Jenkins’ Wall

Season 2, Episode 6 of Yellowstone, “Blood the Boy,” Has an 8.5 Score on IMDb

After Dan Jenkins provokes Beck brothers, John pays him a little visit. He arrives at Dan’s fancy office building, wearing his traditional cowboy outfit, and asks the secretary where he can find Dan’s office. The secretary, of course, asks him if he has an appointment, but John Dutton doesn’t play by the book. John strolls casually to Dan’s office, grabs a bottle of wine, and hits Dan’s bodyguard right in the face before he can shoot him. Once inside the office, he throws the bottle at the wall – only to scare Dan, not to hurt him.

This scene says a lot about John Dutton. Foremost, it is a big indication of John’s strength, as he can casually beat down a professional bodyguard. Secondly, it proves just how violent John’s intimidation tactics are. Dan, a Californian man, is used to talking or making deals, but John tends to solve his conflicts by beating them or bearing them to the ground.

6John Is Disappointed in His Family

Season 2, Episode 3 of Yellowstone, “The Reek of Desperation,” Has a 7.9 Score on IMDb

At the end of “The Reek of Desperation,” John sits down to have dinner with Beth and Kayce, but things go south very quickly. Gator, the family chef, brings a charred octopus as the main dish, and John simply can’t comprehend such a meal. Disturbed, John still tries to make small talk with his family, but he’s quickly shut down by his two children. To make matters worse, Jamie decides to make an appearance, which triggers a laugh attack from Beth.

John finally decides to leave the table and stands outside his house. The scene is not only hilarious but also shows John’s hypocrisy. As he rejects Beth’s choice of meal, and doesn’t even try the octopus, he feels rejected by his daughter’s aloofness. John’s lack of open-mindedness is his own downfall, but he can’t see it. John stands on his land, disappointed in his children who don’t feel like family because he spent so much time fighting for that land.

5John Has a Nice Dinner with Beth, Rip, and Carter

Season 4, Episode 8 of Yellowstone, “No Kindness for the Coward,” Has an 8.0 Score on IMDb

Dinner is not usually a pleasant affair at the Yellowstone ranch, but one time John, Beth, Rip, and Carter manage to have a wholesome family moment. Beth decides to have dinner on a table in the living room, and that changes the whole dynamic. John charmingly tells Carter the story of a big rattlesnake and how Rip was deeply afraid of it. Funnily enough, John didn’t kill it because it hunts mice, but his dog at the time did kill it. John gave Carter the tail of the rattlesnake and treated him like a grandson.

The scene is interesting because it shows one of John’s most nurturing sides. His amicable behavior, his generosity to Carter, and his funny story melt his daughter’s heart. Outside the dining room, John became a better man. The moment seems to suggest that without the Yellowstone family tradition, John could have been a good father. The dining room is a traditional place in which John and his family have dined for decades. Simply changing the scenery is enough for John to break generational habits.

4John Dutton Says Goodbye To His Father

Season 2, Episode 10 of Yellowstone, “Sins of the Father”

The flashback scene of John Dutton with his elderly father is one of the most heartbreaking moments in Yellowstone and helps the audience understand John as a character. On his dad’s last day, John takes his father from his hospital bed, and the two of them ride along the Yellowstone ranch. Finally, John and his father sit in an old trunk and have something of a goodbye, the cowboy way.

John’s father tells him that he misses his family and being young. He also confesses that he always knew John used to steal cookies as a kid. However, the most important part of the scene is when John’s father asks him to protect the Yellowstone ranch, every inch of it. The Dutton legacy is not only its material assets but the Dutton’s connection to their ancestors. For John, letting go of the ranch would be like letting go of his father.

3John Comforts Monica in a Compassionate and Empathetic Manner

Season 5, Episode 4 of Yellowstone, “Horses in Heaven,” Has an 8.0 Score on IMDb

John Dutton talking with Monica at her baby’s funeral is one of his wisest, kindest, and most redeemable moments for the character. He tells Monica about his baby brother, Peter, who died after only 18 hours of life. He explains how his family suffered through that death, but that the baby had a great life because all he knew was love. John also tells Monica that they are the only ones who know her baby had a short life, and that all he knew was Monica’s love, which is a great way to live.

This moment shows that John Dutton is not a black-and-white villain. He understands the human heart and cares for the people around him. Unfortunately, John was the sole inheritor of the Yellowstone ranch, and the responsibility must have been heavy on his shoulders. John could have made better decisions, but in the end, it seemed his heart was in the right place. While it doesn’t justify all of his actions, this perfectly poignant scene gives him a ton of depth as a character.

2John Scares Bikers Away from His Property

Season 3, Episode 4 of Yellowstone, “Going Back to Cali” Has an 8.4 Score on IMDb

After Rip throws out some bikers trespassing in the Yellowstone land, John predicts they will come back to get revenge. When the bikers come back in the middle of the night, holding gasoline to burn the field, John is already waiting for them in the trunk. He talks calmly to them, but they don’t back out until they realize there are three more men holding guns to their faces. John then asks them to dig their own graves, and after they have, he decides to let them go with a warning.

John Dutton is a bully, but this time, he has a right to defend his property. Instead of beating the bikers or doing something sinister to them, he teaches them a lesson. John lets them believe for a while he will kill them, and when he notices the bravado is gone, he lets them go. It is a fair system that ensures they won’t go back and harm him or his family. It would have been great if John had dealt with most situations with the same level of fairness, wisdom, and aplomb.

1The First Episode of Yellowstone Shows John Dutton Sacrificing His Horse

The first Yellowstone scene says everything the audience needs to know about John Dutton. After a severe car crash, John stands in front of his injured horse, who lost a leg in the accident. He caresses the horse and apologizes. He tells the horse he can only offer peace, and seconds later, he shoots it in the head. John then picks up his hat, puts it back on his head, and, looking at his cow, comments on the sacrifice of keeping them fed.

It is a heartbreaking scene that signals the brutality of the ranching world, but it also shows John’s complicated relationship with life and death. Throughout Yellowstone, John is both nurturing and murderous, cruel and compassionate, wise and irrational. In the end, his bad actions outweigh the good ones, but John is a product of Montana, of the Dutton family, and of the cowboy lifestyle ideal.