Flickgrrl

I, too, am a fan of Wayne movies. He and my father were the same age and Wayne kinda reminded me of Dad. Both were big, tough, but fun men.Of course, my father got drafted at 36 with three kids, while Wayne didn't for the dame reason. And because he made patriotic movies for the war effort. My Dad was a shoe salesman. Still, we saw many Wayne movies together. The Quiet Man and I came along in the same year and has always been one of my favorites, along with Red River and The Searchers. Later movies became rather formulaic, but still were fun.
Maureen O'Hara said that John Wayne was America and in many ways he was. Tough, proud, funny, not always right, but always tried to be. Not the greatest actor, though somtimes brilliant, but one youo could always count on.

I loved Wayne's movies when I was a kid. When I became older and my worldview broadened, I viewed Wayne and his movies as the equivalent of the student bully at school, the tough guy who talks tough and looks confident but at the core is empty and not really the person high on the pedestal you thought they were. Carrie, you also fail to mention Wayne's view of the American Indian: "When we came to America, there were a few thousands Indians over millions of miles, and I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from these people, taking their happy hunting grounds away." "There were great numbers of people who needed new land," he explained, "and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves." It is difficult to separate these views from the man on screen when the movie he is in most often is dealing with these same people.

The Searchers I have come to view not dissimilarly from "Birth of a Nation". Great movie making, but racist. "Birth of a Nation" of course was overtly racist, but while "The Searchers" may not have been as much in scope, it certainly portrays Indians in a negative light. I still cringe when I think of the scene showing the whites who had been in Indian custody. You'd think they'd been in modern day Guantanamo.

Nonetheless, Wayne remains an American icon, and among the films he made there are great ones, never mind how one feels about his views. You mentioned perhaps my favorite of his, "The Shootist". I do think that his choice of movies matured with time, not unlike Eastwood. And "The Shootist" showed a remarkable maturity in his acting style. The sadness you feel as you watch this man who only wants to die in peace and won't be left alone comes from adept portrayal. "The Cowboys" I always enjoyed as well and was again a more mature story (with Bruce Dern playing a delightful psycho). The Man who shot Liberty Valence was again a later movie and more complex than his earlier movies. Big Jake dealt in some ways with the death of the world his movie persona inhabited, at the dawn of the 20th century in the West. And yes, The Searchers, as much as the racist undertones make me cringe, still remains, with its sweeping vistas of the American West and John Ford's brilliant direction, an amazing film.

carrie, basically i agree w/ you. i believe as a wayne fan you must not have seen CHISUM. for me that was clearly john wayne at his best. for you not to mention it only tells me you may not have seen it. i would love for you to check it out and give me you comments. in it are also to young stars playing billy the kid and pat garett. if you get time i'd love to hear from you. thanks, george

George:

I have seen "Chisum." But it didn't make the impression on me that the other titles I mentioned. Thanks for your enthusiasm. I;ll rent it.

I'd have to add "True Grit" to the list. I think of it as more than a Western - more like an epic crafted from the distilled essences of Westerns. In describing the score, cinematography, scenery or almost any aspect of this movie, it's difficult to not use words like "breathtaking," "heroic" or "majestic." I enjoy it as much today as I did when it came out.
Ahh, "The Green Berets." I don't mean to troll, but...
Making sensitive, soul-searching, equally propagandistic anti- Vietnamese War movies became quite fashonable ... after we pulled out, courageously jumping into a controversy after it was over. Wayne was the only one to make his Viet Nam War propaganda flick while we were still there, and at the peak of it. Easy for all the rest to say "I told you so" years later.

Red River & The Searchers are as could as they come. Vintage Wayne, great writing, and excellent direction make both films classics that should be digested as often as one listens to Bach, Gershwin, or Bill Evans. Yeah, Wayne made some formulaic stinkers, but these two belong in the hallowed hall of great celluloid. There are few films and performances out there that match Wayne's portrayal of menacing, driven men in The Searchers & Red River. They're both classics and anyone who doesn't recognize it may as well be lost in Monument Valley.

Additional Wayne classics were Rio Bravo. I loved the chemistry between Wayne and Angie Dickinson, particulary the scene where Angie's character catches him putting her pantaloons up against him, she actually makes him blush. Rio Bravo is great movie of a few men up against the odds with a wonderful cast of Dino, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan playing men standing up for their principal of "law and order".

In addition, I would add the John Ford triolgy of the U.S. Cavalary: "Fort Apache", "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" and "Rio Grande". My particular favorite of these three is "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". Wayne's portrayal of the Captain Nathan Brittles is right up there with his portrayal of Ethan in the "Searchers". Once again I loved his interaction with Joanne Dru and Mildred Natwick (Old Ironpants). The cast, story and scenery were great...

Another favorite of mine is the "High and the Mighty". His portrayal of the "Calm, Cool and Collected" co-pilot is an excellent contrast next to Robert Stack's portrayal of the pilot who is feeling the heat, tension and stress of all the problems that have developed on the commercial airliner. Wayne played this role in a subdued fashion than his usual characters on-screen but it was an understated acting performance by the Duke.

Carrie - Thanks for writing this article, it has brought back my many happy memories of watching the Duke.

Funny, probably the one Wayne movie I have never watched is the "Green Berets".

your article sunday reminded me of watching Kirk Douglas interviewed
on the tonight show years ago. He told a story about John Wayne being
so angry with him for accepting and performing the role of Vincent
VanGogh. He thought it was a black eye for tough-guy hero types, that
Mr. Douglas played "this weakling artist" . I think it is the
unconflicted Wayne that I can neither identify with, nor wish to be swept into the arms of.

After posting previously it came to me this weekend a recollection of Hunter S. Thompson's piece comparing John Wayne to a Hammerhead shark. A snippet that essentially sums it up:

"Wayne is the ultimate & perhaps the final "American". He beats the mortal shit out of anything he can't understand."

If you haven't read it, I recommend it; it was Thompson at his mischievous best.

One of America's great actors.People don't appreciate how subtle he could be.His facial expressions could speak a thousand words.Also he could be enormously funny at times but in The Searchers did he not have the look of a man who would kill,no questions asked,in his eyes.
Also Merv Griffin did an interview of the Duke on his show once,I think it may have been spread over two full shows I'm not sure,that is absolutly a classic.It covered a variety of subjects and was on the set of a movie Wayne was making.It was a western and Wayne and Griffin were drinking,I believe,Tequila.I wish it were avaiable it is truly a riot.
I miss him and will watch his movies no matter how many times I've seen them.R.I.P.Duke.

One of America's great actors.People don't appreciate how subtle he could be.His facial expressions could speak a thousand words.Also he could be enormously funny at times but in The Searchers did he not have the look of a man who would kill,no questions asked,in his eyes.
Also Merv Griffin did an interview of the Duke on his show once,I think it may have been spread over two full shows I'm not sure,that is absolutly a classic.It covered a variety of subjects and was on the set of a movie Wayne was making.It was a western and Wayne and Griffin were drinking,I believe,Tequila.I wish it were avaiable it is truly a riot.
I miss him and will watch his movies no matter how many times I've seen them.R.I.P.Duke.

Obviously, politics do enter into your view of artists. You weave Wayne into the Iraq war, slam him for supporting the VietNam war (while in progress)and throw in snippets about your protesting the Green Beret movie and your husband leaving the room (to go do laundry, the dishes or crochet?)when a Wayne movie comes on TV. You aren't very transparent in your liberal views there Carrie.
Stick to reviewing movies and keep your personal political views out of your column until they promote you to the editorial section.

Carrrie,
Great article about John Wayne, especially the final paragragh where you state that his portrayal of Ethan Edwards in the "The Searchers" was his greatest role. I totally agree with this. Wayne hit his peak with this film. The more I watch it, the more I appreciate what a masterpiece it is. I only wish I could have seen it on the big screen. (whatever happened to VistaVision?) Except for "Red River" I feel Wayne clearly did his best work with John Ford. My top 5 Wayne films: Searchers, Liberty Valance, She wore a yellow ribbon, Fort Apache, and Rio Grande.

Dear Ms./Mrs. Rickey--
In reviewing some of John Wayne's (oops! Marion Morrison's) more memorable roles, you overlooked two of them which demonstrated the 'stretch' he was capable of bringing to a particular film. The first dates from 1940 just after stardom hit with "Stagecoach". Adapted from a Eugene O'Neill one act play written during World War I, John Ford's "The Long Voyage Home" saw Wayne playing a likeable but lugubrious Swedish merchant sailor making one last crossing of the Atlantic at the beginning of World War II before heading home for Stockholm. He did a creditable job with a Swdish accent in addition to a fine piece of ensemble acting with the rest of the crew, which included Thomas Mitchell (of "Stagecoach" fame), Barry Fitzgerald ("The Quiet Man") and John Qualen (part of that perfect cast from "Casablanca" two years later).
Second, as Captain Nathan Brittles in "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon", Wayne seemed to anticipate his valedictory role in "The Shootist" by playing a grizzled veteran cavalry officer who still took time to water the flowers and have a private conversation with his wife at her grave. Captain Brittles also-- for once-- managed to settle matters with the Indians without killing any of them, unlike other Ford/Wayne westerns.
As for your husband leaving the room whenever you like to indulge in watching a John Wayne flick, I can empathize with him-- I do the same thing whenever Jane Fonda's face appears on the mercifully small screen.
.Very truly yours,
Bob Tobin

2 things struck me:

1) a lot of your ambivalence about the Duke is a girl thing; most men, including me, think John Wayne is still the ideal. The brutal stuff and the swagger that bothers you is standard macho toughness to guys;

2) The movie you didn't mention is True Grit, which is my personal favorite. That is the best example of John Wayne as Knight, fighting bad guys and protecting the innocent. I love the jousting scene. Rooster Cogburn doesn't always follow the law to do justice, which moves him towards your anti-hero category, but he is strong and relentless, just as determined as Ethan Edwards in the Searchers. Their quest is shorter in True Grit, but I think the supporting characters make it a better movie than the Searchers.

Carrie-

I enjoyed reading your article on John Wayne today. Liberty Valance, the
Green Berets and True Grit were the first 3 films of his I saw. Compared to
the real Vietnam (e.g. Platoon), the Green Berets was a joke, essentially
government propaganda. But he was great alongside Jimmy Stewart in Liberty
Valance. And I saw True Grit in the theater, the only time I saw the Duke
on the big screen. I still like that movie. Your conflicting emotions are
understandable. I feel the same way.

Scott Barker

Subject: The Duke, a love/hate relationship

Carrie,

Thanks for putting in words my ambivalence toward's "The Duke". I, too, got emotional as Wayne gently held his niece in his arms. His performance in "The Shootist" and "Liberty Vance" was terrific but my favorite is "True Grit" Another favorite is "Island In The Sky". Check it out if you have not seen it.

Thanks, again, for your terrific article on "The Duke"

Pete Karhoff

"The Alamo"
"The Searchers"
"She Wore A Yellow Ribbon"
"The Shootist"
"True Grit"
These are five of my favorite Wayne flicks.
Each shows his outstanding talent as an actor and producer/director for one of them.
He always said he basically played himself. Not so with such films as "The Searchers". Duke really brought out the character of Ethan Edwards likw no other project.
Listening to Dobe Carey a while back, he said Duke was Ethan Edwards during the entire production until the final "Cut! Print it!"
Even though all the networks are driving us crazy with constantly repeating films over and over instead of offering a variety, I can never tire of Duke's movies.
He was the best!

Your article on John Wayne was intriguing. I've been
an admirer of his work since I was a kid and saw
"Stagecoach" on television. One of the most
interesting questions raised about him is whether he
commands the screen through sheer force of
personality, or through underrated acting ability.
I'd say both.
What do you think of the Wayne of "Fort Apache," or
"The Shootist?"
How about "Shepherd of the Hills," "Three Godfathers"
(Sentimental and dated, I know.)
The quiet performance of "A Long Voyage Home?"
I'd say he had the courage of his convictions and was
able to laugh at himself, which makes it easier to
handle the more jingoistic personal quirks.
He was fortunate in those of his directors who grasped
his unique presence on the screen. What it's all about
really.

I enjoy your reviews and these articles,

Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen,

You put it nicely: Directors such as John Ford, Howard Hawks and Don Siegel understood how to use Wayne dramatically and physically.

Jimmy Mac,

I don't think my ambivalence is a girl thing; I think Wayne is more dramatic when his character is certain, certain, certain...and then wrestles with his uncertainty than he is when he's certain, certain, certain...and certain.

Thank you all for your compelling comments.

I feel the same way (in reverse) about the Smothers Brothers who my wife and I saw at the Patriots Theater on Mother's Day. I was ten in 1965 to give you my timeline, and I loved the goofy, warm humor these two brothers shared on their TV show. I enjoyed the music of Credence Clearwater Revival immensely as I was growing up. I should have been a peacenik like yourself, but instead I wanted to explore the new frontier (Star Trek reference) available to a kid just out of high school in '73. I joined the Navy, married my wife a year later, and we traveled the country and even lived in Japan for three years along with having our four children in four different states. I'm as conservative as they come, but at the same time I can very much appreciate/tolerate what my liberal friends like in life. I really do feel as though I've helped to maintain our right to think and say what all of us hold dear, no matter how different that might be from one another. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's okay for you to love John Wayne just like I love Tom and Dick Smothers even though our political/philosophical views are in some ways at opposite ends of the spectrum. Take care and God bless - FCC Paul Gotshall, USN (Retired). P.S. My favorite John Wayne movie is always the one I've most recently watched and that was "The Hellfighters".

While I loved a lot of John Wayne films, for me he always was at his best actingwise when he played someone with a bit of darkness such as in Red River and The Searchers. He also could be great fun though, as in Rio Bravo and True Grit. One non-movie moment I haven't seen mentioned anywhere that I loved was his appearance on Maude when the ultraliberal Maude was prepared to give the Duke a piece of her mind about his right-wing politics, but melted at the sight of him instead.

I'm sitting here enjoying "El Dorado", one of the many variations of the theme - "Rio Bravo" and "Rio Lobo" round out the trio. Same basic plot, with a revolving door of characters. We're at the part in the movie where Mississippi is providing his recipe to sober a man up.

In addition to being certain, and conflicted, John Wayne was at times funny. He had a comic timing that most people really didn't appreciate. There are parts of "McClintock!" at which I still laugh out loud. And there are parts of many of his movies where his comedy shines through.

My dad loved John Wayne. People called my dad "Big John", and often compared him to Wayne. His friends said that the two of them had the same "gait." I was always grateful that, later in life when my dad was felled by s stroke and could only move around a little, that DVDs became available of John Wayne's movies. We'd sit and watch then together, especially the Westerns. He'd always laugh at the mudslide scene in "McClintock!".

"The Sons of Katie Elder" is on next.
Thanks for reminding me this week to stop and watch.

Dear Carrie:

I enjoyed your piece on John Wayne. Having spent countless hours since I was a kid watching Wayne's movies, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to throw in my two cents.

What makes evaluating Wayne difficult I think is that it's hard to separate him from John Ford. John Wayne starred in some of the best movies ever made but with the exception of Red River, they were all directed by Ford. For me at the very top are Stagecoach, They Were Expendable, The Quiet Man, and The Searchers and slightly below these are Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The Duke also made, like all actors, some very some very bad movies including Green Berets and The Alamo. But what makes Wayne's resume impressive are the dozens (the sheer volume is remarkable) of mid-echelon movies he made throughout his career - from Allegheny Uprising, Dark Command and Angel and the Badman to Hondo up to True Grit and Rooster Cogburn. Formula action movies yes but usually well made with good writing, well-done action sequences, romance and still watchable. More often than not, Wayne was convincing in these roles and I'm not sure there are many other actors who could have pulled it off so routinely.

Sincerely,

Ray Perry
Warrington, PA

| | | | | Drafts | Inbox

Get the latest updates from MSN
MSN Home | My MSN | Hotmail | Search | Shopping | Money | People & Chat
Feedback | Help
© 2007 Microsoft TERMS OF USE Advertise TRUSTe Approved Privacy Statement GetNetWise Anti-Spam Policy

Carrie-- While I adore the two films that bookend the latter part of the Duke's incredible career, "The Searchers" and "The Shootist," I plan to play devil's advocate here and put in a word for two of his lesser, lighter films -- namely Henry Hathaway's "North to Alaska" (1960) and Howard Hawks' "Hatari!" (1962), Hathaway and Hawks being two other directors who knew exactly what to do with Wayne. Like your husband, my wife also has little tolerance for Wayne, but I plan to convert her over -- no matter how long it takes. As for anonymous, who took a gratuious swipe at Jane Fonda here, what's your problem? She's great.

Carrie,

Great article, as usual.

FWIW, I too disagree with John Mac.

My introduction to John Wayne calls to mind a nice memory. When I was 7 or 8, we lived in Harvard Square. My father and I walked to the Orson Welles Theater and watched a double feature of The Searchers and Rio Bravo. What I remember most, though, is not the movies, but the way that Dad put his arm around my slender shoulders as we crossed Mass. Ave. when we left the theater, keeping me safe, the rough texture of his tweed jacket brushing against my cheek.

Dear Carrie,

Thanks for your excellent article on John Wayne. He made a good number of great movies
and many decent movies. He has been unfairly demonized, basically due to the Vietnam protest movement and its aftermath. If he were such a "fascist" (which, really, is a McCarthyite term), why would he have married Mexican-Amerian women and been friendly with Lauren Bacall and Kathryn Hepburn? He played the liberal in Fort Apache; it was Henry Fonda who played the racist/imperialist type.

The protest movement itself was unfair. How could the US have been the good guys in Korea and a "racist, sexist, fascist Amerika" just 10 years later? It was Kennedy, a liberal icon, who started the Green Berets, by the way.

Vietnam had moral ambiguities that did not exist in the Korean war, due to the fact it was partially a guerilla war. However, from 1969 onward, it was a primarily a conventional war with North Vietnam regulars, and ended exactly as Korea, wiht an invasion from the North. Had we not abandoned South Vietnam, it would be a free and prosperous nation, like South Korea today, instead of being a sweatshop nation
exploited by the capitalists, like China. The irony is that the workers would be much better off today, had South Vietnam prevailed.

The demonization of John Wayne was analagous to the demonization of the US soldiers ("baby killers"). The Green Berets was not a good movie and did not show the true nature of the war, but neither did Platoon. The redneck-psycho character was not representative of the average Vietnam platoon. Its a Hollywood caricature we see in a lot of horror movies.
Indeed, Platoon bore as little resemblance to Vietnam as JFK did to the Kennedy assasination. We still have not seen a balanced
Saving Private Ryan Vietnam movie. Put in perspective, the Green Berets was just a second rate movie, along with other second rate movies John Wayne made.

In general, you are correct in preferring his Westerns to his war movies. What made him great was that touch of vulnerability he had, according to Lauren Bacall, which we did not see in his war movies. He also aged gracefully. Most of his generation of actors were pretty much out of the game when they reached late middle age,let alone old age, such as Henry Fonda. John Wayne made some if his best movies as an old man, such as True Grit and the Shootist.

I just recalled some great memories of watching the many "taped off the tv" john wayne movies my dad has made over my early years. my top five (mind you, I watched these movies from ages 7-13) are 1) Hatari 2) North to Alaska 3) Donovan's Reef 4) Blood Alley 5)The Searchers.

I tried to get my two sons, ages 13 and 14, to appreciate Wayne and took them to see "They Were Expendable" about a year ago in Lisbon. They balked thoroughly and now consider Wayne something of a joke. "That's the worst movie I've ever seen!" is pretty much their reaction. However, after seeing the movie then for the first time in probably 30 years I found it quite moving. It's really about sacrifice and doing your job no matter what. Wayne meets a cute nurse, Donna Reed, falls for her, and then she disappears into the maelstrom of battle. There is no resolution, just -- she's not there, like in real life. The boats don't come back, the crews are whittled down to nothing. I also think Robert Montgomery is excellent, very low key -- when I saw Tom Hanks in "Saving Private Ryan" I thought the two of them looked very much alike, all the way to the receding hairlines. It's an exceptional movie, but it has that weird imperialist strain through it. Remember the part where the shipyard owner waits for the Japs to show up with a rifle across his lap and jug next to him? This is a guy who's a million miles away from Texas, in the U.S. colony of the Philippines, and don't they have "Red River Valley" playing on the sound track? Isn't that pushing some strange buttons?One of the shortcomings these days about Wayne is that he's best appreciated in a theater where you get a feeling of the big screen -- Monument Valley on a TV set just isn't the same, you can't feel the heat and dust and sweat. So Wayne gets cut down to a six-inch figure from 20 feet tall.

My all-time favorite Wayne film is Rio Bravo with Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Walter Brennan and Ward Bond) and it's remake El Dorado with Robert Mitchum (playing Dean), James Cann (playing Ricky - even named the character after another state) and The Duke, playing as always - The Duke. He's been good in other projects but if I had only three westerns to watch for all eterninty - give me Rio Bravo, High Noon and Sliverado - but make certain I get Rio Bravo

Thanks for the article, I have always been a huge John Wayne fan and have defended his right as one of America's greatest actors!!! He played many different characters, with many personalities and did them all well. He was basically what America is, proud, a bit cocky, not afraid to be wrong, but also sentimental and kind and not afraid to show his emotion, and always willing to help a friend in need!!! I like most of the Dukes films, but to name a top 5 is most difficult, but here goes... The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,(showed a wide range of emotions in this movie), Rio Grande,(again from rough to soft), The Searchers
(probably his best performance), The Shootist,(my
personal opinion, it's his best film), and last and certainly not least The Long Voyage Home,( excellent cast, with many fine performances).
Red River, She wore a Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache,In Harms Way, Wings of Eagles and The Quiet Man, round out my list. Again thans for the kind word for the DUKE!!!!!!!!!

Of the well-known movies, my favorites are The Searchers, Rio Bravo, and The Quiet Man.

Among the lesser known, I enjoy Angel and the Badman, In Harm's Way, and The Horse Soldiers. The last is interesting in the context of your post and its responses in the sense that the relationship between Wayne's cavalry officer and William Holden's doctor pre-figures to a surprising degree the two factions we see to this day when it comes to conversations about Wayne, with Holden's character serving as stand-in for the anti-Wayne Vietnam era group, and Wayne as himself (or perhaps his simplified public persona).

I'd also like to reiterate a point made by Molly Haskell: Wayne had great chemistry with a remarkable number of his leading ladies, and was one of the few actors who didn't drop back to a younger generation of actresses as he got older. (Perhaps there's a connection between those two points.) Whatever the reason, he really clicked with, among others:

- Claire Trevor in Stagecoach
- Jean Arthur in A Lady Takes a Chance
- Gail Russell in Angel and the Badman
- Maureen O'Hara on several occasions, most notably The Quiet Man
- Janet Leigh in Jet Pilot
- Constance Towers in The Horse Soldiers
- Capucine in North to Alaska
- Patricia Neal in In Harm's Way
- Lauren Bacall in The Shootist

He seemed to take pleasure in the company of these actresses on screen, and his character seemed to respect their characters, in a way and to a degree that distinguishes Wayne from most other actors, in my view. (Joel McCrea is one of the the few actors who compares in this one regard, I think.)