A Special Kind of Love Story

 If there was one thing that director, John Ford enjoyed, other than herding actors around like cattle of course, it was throwing parties for family and friends - good food would be served, even better drink would be in ample supply. Sentimental songs would be sung, stories  told and reportedly a good time would be had by all. 

 

It was at one such gathering in 1941 that John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara first met and theirs would be a friendship that was lifelong. Of course, there were numerous reports and speculation that the two were having a romantic relationship; those rumours have never really gone away.There have been claims that while Wayne was married to his third wife, Pilar Palette he was also in a love affair with O'Hara.

 This was something that both John Wayne and Maureen O' Hara denied, both of them saying that their relationship was based on friendship....a very special kind of friendship. 

So even if the romantic element is taken out of the picture, there is little doubt that theirs was a love story; a very special kind of love story.

 

'Duke and I were not just friends. We were best friends.' Maureen O'Hara

'There is only one woman who has been my friend over the years, and by that I mean a real friend, like a man would be. That woman is Maureen O'Hara,' John Wayne 

 

 

When the pair first met,at a John Ford party they were both riding high - Wayne had finally shaken off the shackles of the B-movie after the success of  Stagecoach, and O'Hara was about to star in John Ford's How Green was my Valley.

 

QUICK TRIVIA - How Green Was My Valley -  based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn was actually based on my own home of Gilfach Goch. Llewellyn, actually an Englishman was of Welsh descent and used to spend a lot of time as a child at his grandfather's home in Gilfach Goch. The village in his novel was very much based on my home village. In fact we have a blue plaque on the village hall commemorating this fact 

 

 

You can check out a prose poem about my village in video form HERE

They became instant friends, and would often meet socially and finally in the early 1950's John Ford persuaded the pair to take the leads in a project he was developing called, The Quiet Man. This quirky Irish romance was a dream project for Ford but the powers that be were not keen, and would only agree to finance the movie if Ford would first film a western, Rio Grande which was guaranteed to make money at the box office.

This was the first time Wayne and O'Hara would star together on screen and the chemistry between the two was intense - the film, the third in Ford's Cavalry trilogy, is recognized as a stone cold classic of the genre. 

 'We loved working with each other. Working with John Wayne was comfortable for me.' Maureen O'Hara.

 

The Quiet Man followed and was a huge success, grossing $3.8 million in the first year and many times that since. Even the critics were wowed by Wayne and O' Hara together on screen.

 

 'Beautifully filmed.Wayne works well under Ford's direction.' Variety

 

"A delightful and rollicking comedy melodrama of Irish life, directed with skill and acted with gusto by a fine cast." Harrison's Reports 

"Director John Ford and star John Wayne depart the Western for the Irish countryside, and the result is a beautifully photographed, often comedic romance."  ^{91% APPROVAL RATING Rotten Tomatoes}

 

 

The pair's friendship was based on shared values - both believed in professionalism and hard work. Neither of them were divas and both seemed to recognize these traits in each other.

 

They remained friends, both of them laughing off press speculation that there was more to their relationship that the platonic, and they would be reunited on screen in 1957 Wings of Eagles, and then again in 1963 for the quite silly but excellent, comedy western McLintock. Loosely, based on The Taming of the Shrew the movie is in a sense, The Quiet Man out West. 

The movie, which is actually in the public domain thanks to an oversight when the copyright was not renewed is great fun. And you get to see Wayne spanking O'Hara!

 Off-Screen they remained friends - O'Hara often visited Wayne and the pair would take trips on Wayne's yacht, The Wild Goose.

 The pair worked on screen together for one final time in 1971's Big Jake - a solid late period Wayne western. In November 1976 O'Hara appeared in an NBC show entitled, An All-Star Tribute to John Wayne, where she serenaded the Duke with the song, 'I've grown accustomed to his Face,'

 

 

 

The pair became even closer in Wayne's final years and in April 1979 O'Hara flew to Wayne's bedside to spend time with the dying actor. The pair went down memory lane, talking of old times and when O'Hara left she was sadly aware that she would never see Wayne again.

Wayne died on 11 June 1979, and O'Hara, who would outlive him by more than a quarter of a century never forgot her old friend, Duke. In her 2004 autobiography she wrote that Duke's death knocked her on her rear and sent her into a depression that lasted years.

 

So was there ever a romance between the two? Who knows! Though make no mistake theirs was a true love story....a very special kind of love story. 

 

 

Rooster Cogburn - western movie review

 Think The African Queen out west and you've pretty much got this western summed up.

"Any deputy who shoots and kills 64 suspects in eight years is breaking the law not aiding and abetting it." Judge Parker.

"Now let's get this straight, Judge. Only sixty of them died and none was shot but in the line of duty or in the defence of my person." Deputy Marshall Rooster Cogburn.

That line of dialogue leads up to Cogburn's badge being revoked and when Rooster objects the judge tells him that he's gone to seed and that he drinks too much. Rooster then points out, "I ain't had a drink since breakfast." And proceeds to go back to the shack he calls home and drink himself stupid.

The west is changing and the modern world has no place for men like Rooster Cogburn however when an army troop are ambushed and killed Rooster is soon back on the job. Judge Parker has no option but to reinstate Cogburn to go after a gang led by Hawk (Richard Jordan), a one time associate of Cogburns.

Katherine Hepburn plays Eula Goodnight, a missionary whose father is shot down by Hawk's gang and her mission destroyed - that's one of the oddities in the movie - that Hepburn was sixty eight when she made this movie and the actor playing her father, Jon Lormer was actually only a year older at sixty nine. However when Wayne and Hepburn (who, by the way, were both 68) get together their chemistry means that we can overlook this small hitch.

Hepburn's character rides along with Cogburn in pursuit of Hawk's gang and , as with the character she played in The African Queen, is fond of spouting out passages from the Holy scripture at each and every opportunity. Rooster is not one for the Good Book but gradually he mellows towards Hepburn and the story becomes as much a tender love story as action movie. Again, echoes of the African Queen.

The film was shot around Oregon and the Rogue River in Southern Oregon was used for several key scenes - the photography is wonderful and the film really comes into its own on a widescreen television - at the moment there is only a standard DVD version available but the transfer is pretty good and the scenery is clearly reproduced but one suspects a blu-ray hi-def print would look absolutely stunning.

That this was Wayne's penultimate movie and that his health was failing at the time makes the film all the more poignant and although I don't feel it's quite as good as True Grit, it is a worthy follow up. Wayne has an even better handle on the character of Cogburn that he did in the Oscar winning original.




Not his best maybe but it's another great movie by the greatest western star of them all and teamed up with Hepburn, another icon of Golden Age Hollywood, means that the film is essential viewing for anyone interested in classic cinema.

You won't see a better western in a lustrum - (in-joke there. Watch the movie and you'll understand.)

They sure don't make em like they used to.

The John Wayne movie that never was

 

Billed as being by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins, this is actually a novelisation by Collins of an unproduced script that Spillane wrote around 1959 for John Wayne.

The original screenplay was titled the Saga of Celeb York and during the time of writing Spillane and Wayne were good friends - in the introduction to the book Collins points out that the reason the script was never filmed was largely down to the fact that Wayne's company, Batjac lost a lot of money on the movie, The Alamo. 

Wayne of course directed, produced and starred in the Alamo and although the movie took a sizeable slice of the box office it failed to make money given it's huge production costs.

Had the Alamo made money then Wayne' next project would likely have been Spillane's screenplay, but instead Wayne opted for a string of safe though successful westerns, such as North to Alaska.

Reading the expertly written novel one can't help thinking that this was a missed opportunity - the books reads in a very visual style, perhaps because the source material was of course a screenplay. And most of the beats that take us from plot point to plot point are set out in a very filmic fashion. It's very easy to visualise the scenes in the reader's mind, which speaks volumes of Collins skill at penning a narrative.

In an untamed desert ruled by outlaws, Trinidad, New Mexico, appears to be an oasis of civilization. Sheriff Harry Gauge rules his town with an iron fist, a fast gun—and an unbridled thirst for power.

Rancher George Cullen would rather take a bullet than give in to the greedy sheriff's land grab. But a cattle empire isn't all Gauge wants—he also has his eye on Cullen's beautiful daughter, Willa. So Cullen gets word out that he's hiring the fastest gunslinger money can buy. When a stranger rides in, townsfolk wonder if this is the rancher's hired gun. Whoever he is, the stranger won't be pushed . . . and his aim is deadly.

It's a very good book and totally engrossed the reader throughout - I especially liked the way that the character of York was introduced and I felt it was a nice touch that the air of mystery was retained for most of the book. Is the gunman really Caleb York or some other shootist? Reports are  that York was shot down some time back by Wes Banion.

There's nothing truly original about the plot - it's your standard oater material but it's put together with skill and is truly an entertaining traditional style western.

John Wayne - His Ten Best Westerns

Doing all those B-westerns taught him how to be resilient. Doing all those quickie westerns taught him how to be John Wayne and it was with the movie,Stagecoach that the cinematic John Wayne was truly born.

Wayne's introduction in the 1939 John Ford western, Stagecoach was heavily thought out. Ford wanted Wayne to do something flashy with his gun, but the script specified a rifle and Ford didn't want to diverge from the script so spinning six guns were out. And besides, Ford reasoned, any western actor worth his salt could spin a pair of six guns and it wasn't something the audience had not seen a hundred times before.

'Do something flashy with the rifle,' Ford told Wayne.

Stuntman Yakima Canutt, a close friend of Wayne's, suggested spinning a Winchester and then cocking it with one hand which was something he'd seen as a kid when Buffalo Bill's West Circus came to his home town. Wayne liked the idea and a standard Winchester was used but the barrel had to lose an inch because it wouldn't clear Wayne's body cleanly. The scene, almost 18 minutes into the film,  has become part of cinema legend - we don't see Wayne's character until then but we are told he is an outlaw and his presence is felt at the edge of each frame so when he finally appears on screen his entrance is breathtaking.

He has a youthful handsome face, not movie star handsome but compelling just the same. His deep blue eyes, which show up pale grey in black and white, command the viewer's attention. The camera lingers on Wayne's face for his introduction and although it is a face that has been seen many times before in one cheap movie or another, it has never been framed quite like this and for the first time we truly see John Wayne. By the time he made Stagecoach, Wayne had already appeared in more than eighty movies but it is with this movie that he assumes his position on screen as a true superstar - a position he would hold for the rest of his career. And indeed even now, many years after his death, he still ranks as one of America's favorite movie stars. Modern day movie stars don't even come close to Wayne.

Wayne became the personification of America and in many ways John Wayne was America. I am not an American, I am THE AMERICAN, Mark Twain wrote in his notebook in 1897. It's a famous quote and one which may suit Wayne even more than it's original author.


As an actor Wayne didn't really rate himself and believed that his stardom had been due to the support of others rather than his own hard work.

'The reason Pappy (John Ford) made a star of me was because I played cards with him.' John Wayne.

Though in this Wayne is wrong and whilst it may have taken him an age to become a true superstar, it was inevitable ever since he'd first appeared as an uncredited extra before the camera. Stagecoach wasn't Wayne's first big budget movie but it was his first real success - he should have become a big name almost ten years before  in Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail but the movie, which is these days considered a classic, was an expensive flop - and following the movie things were never the same again. True Wayne made several other B-movies following Stagecoach, but with each subsequent picture he became a bigger and bigger star. It wasn't until 1948 that Wayne delivered his second truly classic western with Red River but between that and Stagecoach there had been a few sturdy if not quite classic westerns - Angel and the Badman and Tall in the Saddle to name but two. Wayne followed up Red River with Fort Apache and from there on he seemed to crank out classic movie after classic movie, a great many of them westerns.

Wayne made many classic pictures which were not westerns, but it is for the western that he is forever associated, and so just for fun here is my own personal list of Wayne's ten best westerns. Putting this list together was  not as east as it seems, and I had to leave out several superb Wayne westerns in order to come up with a  definitive top ten. Likely not everyone will agree with me, so let's see your own choices in the comments section of this post.

Counting down....

 10 - THE COWBOYS (1972) - This is a rather sentimental western but never has Wayne's fatherly qualities been so well presented on screen. Wayne plays a rancher who is forced into hiring on a bunch of schoolchildren as cowboys for a cattle drive. The movie was an huge success and inspired a short lived TV series.

9 - She Wore A Yellow Ribbon ( 1949 ) - In my opinion the best of the Calvary trilogy that Wayne made with John Ford., The other two were Fort Apache and Rio Grande and both would have been on my list but I decided to allow only one of the calvary movies on my top ten list and so Yellow Ribbon it is.

8 - THE THREE GODFATHERS (1948) - Incredibly Wayne made three westerns in 1948, the other two being Red River and Fort Apache. 

7- TRUE GRIT (1969) - This was the western that gave Wayne an Oscar, and whilst it is a strong performance by Wayne it is far from his best. If not for Wayne's inclusion the movie would have been just another western but Wayne made the movie a classic, and his portrayal of the one eyed marshall created a true cinematic icon.


6 - THE SHOOTIST (1976) - Wayne's final movie is a bitter sweet movie about a gunslinger dying of cancer. Made when Wayne himself was battling the illness which makes the movie all the more compelling. Excellent

5 -  THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962). Wayne here takes second fiddle to Jimmy Stewart but his considerable presence is felt throughout the movie, even when sharing the screen with the scene chewing antics of Lee Marvin.

4 - STAGECOACH (1939 - I had to include this in the top five as the character Wayne created here is part of the DNA of every western hero he played since. There are also some excellent stunt scenes in this rather brilliant movie.

3 - Rio Bravo (1959) -   A western so good that it was virtually remade later as El Dorado. Wayne is brilliant alongside Dean Martin. This movie set the template for many of Wayne's later westerns.

2 -Red River (1948) - One of Wayne's best acting performances. When John Ford saw Wayne in this movie he remarked, 'I never realised that son of a bitch could act.'


1 - The Searchers (1956) - Not only Wayne's best ever movie but in my opinion the greatest western ever made, and certainly one of the most influential. The character of Ethan Edwards is one of cinema's most layered characters and Wayne brought him to life with a superb performance that ranks among the very best ever put on film.


If I redid this list tomorrow likely there would be some changes, and I am aware that I have left out several classic Wayne westerns, but I chose my top ten list in a way that I think reflects Wayne's versatility in the genre. For instance I have included True Grit when I think Wayne made several better westerns that didn't make my top ten, but True Grit better reflected the way Wayne's screen persona is remembered by movie fans.

John Wayne For President

In the late 1960's 'John Wayne for President' bumper stickers starting appearing on cars across America. This of course never happened, ( Ronnie Raygun was the screen cowboy who made his home in the White House) and one can only wonder what President John Wayne's America would have looked like. Of course the thought will horrify left wingers who take great delight in knocking Wayne's politics but fuck them, for no matter what Wayne thought politically there is no taking away the fact that he remains a bonifide screen legend, arguably the biggest screen legend of them all. When Wayne was told he had the Big C (interestingly this was a term that Wayne himself coined) he  was quoted as saying, 'I sat there trying to be John Wayne.'

I know what he meant by that statement, for John Wayne was tough and virtually immortal and cancer or the Big C was no match for the man who had  won the West. John Wayne, the man behind the screen persona may be long dead, but John Wayne, the screen icon, lives on and the Big C can just go and take a running jump.

Simon and Schuster have just published an interesting book about Wayne - John Wayne: The Life and Legend by Scott Eyman promises to shed new light on the legend. I've not read the book yet but there was a great article in the Times yesterday that looked at the book. From the article I learned that Wayne, at a stage when his screen persona was stamped in the mind of the world, was asked by Mel Brooks to star in his spoof western, Blazing Saddles.

'Not on your life,' Wayne told Brooks but did promise to be first in line to see the movie.

Wayne never claimed to be anything but a journeyman actor, merely playing himself over and over but even that assessment is flawed and Wayne displayed real acting chops in several movies - The Searchers, Red River and The Shootist to name but three. And in his book Eyman argues that Wayne's lasting achievement was injecting an authenticity into an art form which is, in essence, totally phony.

Wayne cultivated a macho image that his detractors take great delight in shooting down by stating that Wayne was actually a draft dodger. Whilst it is true that Wayne avoided serving in the Second World War, the official reason given was a ear problem, the reason for this was intense lobbying from the studio bosses who didn't want to see their top star sent off to fight overseas.

By modern standards Wayne may have been a bigot, but his attitudes were of his times and he shouldn't be criticized for that. He once commented about gay actor Rock Hudson - 'What a waste of a face on a queer. You know what I could have done with that face.'

Wayne was a hard living man - he would order six eggs for breakfast, he smoked six packs of cigarettes a day, even after beating his first bout of cancer, and drank tequila by the bottle. He was a man's man and there are precious few of them in today's inane Hollywood. Wayne was of the old school and although his politics may often seem to have been to the right of the extreme right, he was certainly far more complex than most people believe.

 Wayne for instance was extremely cultured - he played Chess to tournament level, was a lover of Tolkein's Middle Earth stories, knew most of Shakespeare's works inside out  and could quote Milton off the cuff.

As Wayne once told an interviewer, 'I could say isn't as well as ain't.'

Wayne's most complex role, that of the racist, misanthropic and violent Ethan Edwards in The Searchers, arguably the greatest western ever made and one of the greatest movies in any genre, took the Wayne image apart and anyone who says, 'Wayne always played himself,' should be made to watch this movie and then punched in the jaw for uttering such an inane cliche.

John Wayne you were loved and continue to be loved by a great many of us - God bless you, sir.

John Wayne  the Life and Legend by Scott Eyman is available now
Simon and Schuster print and eBook

Tommy Lee Jones Dukes up for new western

Here at the Archive we didn't think the Coen's True Grit  was a patch on the John Wayne original, so the news that another Wayne classic is to be re-made should have us all nervous. But the fact that Tommy (Lonesome Dove) Lee Jones is behind the project has made us prick up our ears. Tommy Lee Jones is to write, direct and star in the re-make. The Cowboys seems a smart choice for a re-make given that it is not  as beloved as say The Searchers, Rio Bravo or Red River, which film purists will say should never be touched.

The film will be made for Warner Brothers who are hoping for a late 2014 release.

Time to saddle up again folks

The Sons of Katie Elder

A great cast headed up by The Duke and Dean Martin and directed by Henry Hathaway, The Son's of Katie Elder is a great middle period Wayne western. Wayne had been diagnosed with cancer the year before shooting on this film began and underwent successful surgery. He was expected to take a year or so to recuperate but like the characters he played The Duke was so much larger than life and by January of 1965 he was filming this movie.

John Sturges was originally slated the direct the movie but when he became unavailable Henry Hathaway, a one time actor who had switched to directing in 1932 and cut his teeth on several B-westerns based on Zane Grey books, took over.

The film had success written all over it and the producers were delighted when they managed to bring Wayne and Dean, who had worked together so wonderfully in Rio Bravo, back together. It was filmed in Durango which would become a favourite filming location for Wayne and had a rousing score from Elmer Bernstein which evoked the high drama of films like The Magnificent Seven - both share the same brassy backing.

The film was released in July 1965 and was so successful that Johnny Cash recorded a tie-in single that wasn't featured in the film. It initially grossed $6 million at the US box office putting it in the top ten westerns of the 60's just behind The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Following Katie Elder, Wayne would continue playing veteran characters, often wearing the same costume, for the rest of his filming days - El Dorado followed in 1966 and the much underrated War Wagon came about in 1967 and director, Hathaway was later reunited with Wayne for the Oscar winning, True Grit in 1970 which took a then massive $14 million at the box office.

The Sons of Katie Elder is an all time western classic with all the correct ingredients - whilst is isn't quite in the same league as The Searchers or Red River it would certainly rank in the top ten Wayne westerns. If you haven't see it then you'd better remedy that straight away and if you have seen it then maybe a repeat viewing is warranted.

RELATED: There is a great John Wayne fan site HERE

The Duke film shoot fictionalised

I've not read this but ordered it as soon as I first heard of it - I rushed over the Amazon and found the book but I also found that the Kindle version was free for a limited time - yep, you heard correct FREE - I don't know how long it's free,  but get over there and download one immediately. Anyway I now have it on my kindle and I'll be tackling it immediately. Why so eager? Well read this:

Sam Moffie's To Kill the Duke may well be the funniest and most entertaining novel ever written about Hollywood and movie history. And Moffie is not afraid of casting some of Hollywood's biggest legends - both in terms of movie stars, directors, producers, and films - for his plot and characters.


This time Moffie has penned a hilarious re-creation of the filming of The Conqueror. While I have never seen this 1956 film, as a movie buff, of course, I've heard about it. It's reputedly one of the worst films ever made, although it had everything going for it that should have made it a hit - an all star cast, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward, and Agnes Moorehead; being directed by Dick Powell, himself a screen legend; and being produced by Howard Hughes.

Yep I'm a sucker for anything related to John Wayne, and The Conqueror was the production that may have actually killed the Duke.

The following comes from The Seattle PI

Moffie creates a fictionalized - but not too fictionalized - version of the film's production, which is truly stranger than fiction.

The movie had some notable flaws. John Wayne as Genghis Khan just wasn't believable; he refused to take voice lessons to pull off the role.

And then there is the location - Hughes purchased land in Utah from the U.S. government for $1 to film the movie. How could he get it so cheap? Because it was the victim of nuclear fallout from nearby government weapon testing.

In fact, most of the crew and cast would end up dying from cancer in future years, presumably from the nuclear fallout, and Moffie provides an extensive list at the book's end of all the cast and crew (and fictional characters), detailing their careers and deaths.

I was impressed that Moffie even corresponded with one of the stuntmen while researching the book - of course, most of the cast and crew are long dead.

As if a novel about The Conqueror were not enough to please fans of The Duke and old movie buffs, Moffie mixes the Cold War into the story. The plot begins in the U.S.S.R. with Ivan, who is hired to work as projectionist to Joseph Stalin; not only does Stalin enjoy watching American films, but he likes to dress up like the characters in Westerns, and he has a desire to have John Wayne assassinated.

Before long, Ivan and some of his fellow Soviets find themselves in Hollywood, making their own films while they try to figure out how they can get close enough to John Wayne to carry out Stalin's plan.

Moffie offers many surprising twists and turns along the way. I found myself checking online to find out what was true and what fiction, and I was surprised by how much was true, since as I said, the story behind The Conqueror is stranger than fiction.

Hero - John Wayne

John Wayne's final bout with cancer in the summer of 1979, unleashed a wave of genuine emotion across America and the world beyond. Wayne was a man with true grit and never was this displayed so clearly than at the 1979 Academy Awards Ceremony when the gravely ill actor took the podium and stared in defiance into the TV cameras.

'Oscar and I have a lot in common,' he said. 'We both came to Hollywood in 1928 and we're both a little weather beaten but we're still here. And plan to be around a whole lot longer.'

Two months later The Duke was dead. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour, the highest tribute that can be paid to an American and it was well deserved.

For all of Wayne' s controversial aspects and his often ultra right wing politics, to many people  he was America, and to people all over the world John Wayne represented all that was great about the country.

Wayne was the one American actor who symbolized strength, bravery, patriotism and manliness.

Wayne's image as the ultimate American fighting for right was cultivated in the world war II movies, The Flying Tigers (1942) and The Fighting Seebees (1941). And in the aftermath of Hiroshima, when the American military might was most in need of justification in Back to Bataan and They Were Expendable. Later Wayne would portray America as glorious and righteous in the gung ho, The Sands of Iwo Jima. The simplistic nature of these movies has been criticized and with them Wayne himself - but Wayne firmly believed in the values he preached and even if his right wing politics were often hard to stomach there is no denying his importance as an actor.

This can not be denied and Wayne still stands as the ultimate action star. There are perhaps only two entertainers who truly represent the American Dream and John Wayne is one of them with Elvis Presley being the other. For both men were complex and often troubled personalities but in terms of stardom no stars ever burned brighter.

Though not all of Wayne's characters were idealised Americans  - Ethan Edwards in the western masterpiece, The Searchers is portrayed by Wayne as a psychopath trapped in the darkness of his own mind and Tom Dunston in Red River is a spiteful, repulsive man. These men more represent the American Nightmare than the American Dream.

'I hope you die,' Marty Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter) screams at Wayne's Ethan Edwards in The Searchers to which Wayne replies, 'That'll be the day.'

Wayne though did die but his image has endured and even the uncovering of the darker side of his personality has only increased his legendary image. Will we ever forget him?

That'll be the day!

Top Ten Western Actors No 1 - John Wayne

I have a theory about John Wayne and it is this - that a lot of the criticism he gets is nothing to do with his acting but more because of his extreme right wing politics. He certainly pissed off a lot of the liberals in the film business but the charge that Wayne always played the same character is just bullshit. Wayne was a favourite with John Ford and Ford was not sentimental and wouldn't have used him so many times if there was any question of his acting abilities.

True Wayne did often play variations of the same character but that's what the public wanted - they wanted to see John Wayne and that is just what they got, but no actor has appeared in as many truly exceptional western as John Wayne and regardless of what the press and critics are saying at the moment, and as good as the Coen's version of True Grit is, John Wayne is still the definitive Rooster Cogburn.

In fact John Wayne is the definitive western actor.

He may have had a girl's name (he was born Michael Marion Morrison) but he was as tough as they came.

I won't list all of Wayne's western as there are far too many and even I, a Wayne nut, have to admit that several of his westerns were only average, but I will instead concentrate on what I consider the essential John Wayne pictures. First off then let's take a brief look at what I think is the finest western picture ever made, John Ford's, The Searchers.

The Searchers is, in my opinion, just perfect and represents a masterclass in western movie making. Not a single frame is wasted and Wayne's performance is perfectly nuanced. Those who say he couldn't act should be made to watch this movie at gunpoint and if this doesn't change their minds then just as well pull that trigger. The scene where Wayne as Ethan Edwards breaks down and screams at his companions after finding his nieces body is as effective as any other in the entire western genre. True enough not everything Wayne did was exceptional. His stint in the director's chair for The Alamo resulted in a seriously flawed movie but the good far outweighed the bad.

In fact if Wayne had not made a western other than The Searchers he would still top my list for his work in this movie alone. But there were so many other classics - The Big Trail, Stagecoach, Red River, Rio Bravo and many others. Wayne was, as Ford called him, a star bigger than Monument Valley and even cast alongside actors like Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda and James Stewart he still managed to dominate. Wayne was more than a star he was an institution. And he wasn't averse to playing with his image - he did this to great effect in 1972's The Cowboys and again in True Grit as the one eyed fat man with a badge. Wayne was heroic (both off and on screen) and although he suffered from the critics being blinded by his more formulaic roles he rose above it all and still even today, decades after his dignified death from cancer, enjoys a reputation as a true legend of the cinema screen.

"To me John Wayne is westerns." Richard Widmark.

At the moment the excellent True Grit remake is riding high in the cinema and most are saying that it is better than the John Wayne original, but I firmly refute this. As good as Jeff Bridges is in the role, Wayne was better and as time passes it is Wayne's True Grit that will be seen as the definitive version. This doesn't surprise me at all as there as always been a lot of spite against John Wayne and even when he won the Oscar for True Grit people were saying he was just awarded it out of sentiment and not for his performance. What a load of bollocks - Rooster Cogburn was written as a slightly comedic, over the hill lawman and that was just how Wayne played him. And think of Wayne's last role, as a gunfighter dying of cancer when John Wayne the actor was actually fighting the Big C himself. And yet it is a brilliant film and Wayne's character dies the way he wants to, in control, never once falling into self pity. Now for Wayne to film that with so much going on in his real life must have taken great courage - that must have taken True Grit.

Thank you John Wayne.

True Grit from page to screen

John Wayne's 1969 True Grit is a surprisingly faithful telling of the original Charles Portis novel - sure there are many changes, not least of which is the climax of the movie which differs considerably from the novel but the characters particularly Mattie and Rooster are mostly in synch in both film and movie.

This surprised me since I've seen the film at least a dozen times but until last week had never read the novel and the many articles that I had read led me to believe that the film bore only a passing resemblance to the source material. That's not so, even if the tone of the novel is somewhat darker. Many people have said Wayne dominated this movie and was presented as the central character when in the book it is Mattie who leads the narrative, indeed it is a first person narrative with Mattie being the narrator but the film almost follows the book scene for scene and much of the dialogue is ported across to the screenplay, particularly the words spoken by Mattie.

Now the chief difference between between book and film is with the character of Rooster himself - the film presented him as the ageing John Wayne but in the book the fat, one eyed Marshall is somewhere around his mid-forties with a walrus moustache. He is malarial and spends much of the book drunk and is a veteran of the Confederate Army and rode with Quantrill's border gang.

"People do not give it credence that a fourteen year old girl could leave home and go off in wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band."

Mattie is such a strong character and it is clear that after her father's murder it is she and not her mother who becomes head of the family. She is fearless and threatens anyone who goes against her will with the almost mythical sounding Lawyer Daggett. The lawyer's name is used to great comedic affect early in the book when Matti is trying to secure a deal on her father's horses - this scene was carried over to the movie and is almost identical to that written in the book.

True Grit, the 1969 movie, then is certainly not the massive departure from the book that many people claim and in fact watching the film straight after reading the book I am of the opinion that the film doesn't suffer from Wayne's casting, that the character of Rooster in the film does not dominate at the expense of Mattie. In both book and film we see Rooster through Mattie's eyes and whenever the character takes centre stage Mattie's and thus our full attention is one him.

And soon there will be another movie version of True Grit out there, this time with Jeff Bridges as the one eyed lawman and from what I've read it will become fashionable to say Wayne didn't do it right but that's simply not true. Wayne was such a big star that maybe it is the viewer's fault and not the movie that he tends to overshadow the character of Mattie. For if any actor could be considered to represent the entire western genre then it is John Wayne.

In the introduction to the 2005, Bloomsbury edition of True Grit, Donna Tartt wrote that there is something of the Huckleberry Finn in Mattie Ross and that author, Charles Portis should enjoy a similar reputation to that other giant of American writing, Mark Twain and on the strength of this book she could be right.

So by all means go and see the new True Grit but if you ignore the original movie you will be doing yourself a disservice, just as you will by not reading the original novel from which the whole thing started.

John Wayne - yep, he certainly had True Grit.

JOHN WAYNE EXHIBIT

Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne, will open an exhibit that focuses primarily on the senior Wayne, in conjunction with the 2010 Harvey Awards presentation.

The exhibit, which opens Saturday, will run through early November.

Most items on display come from the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset, Iowa. Joe Zuckschwerdt, the president of the Wayne Museum and owner of much of the collection will be present.

Two local collectors will be represented in the exhibit.

Both Fred Roser of Saltsburg, and former museum President Jay Rubin have loaned items from their personal collections for this exhibit.

During Saturday's event, Patrick Wayne will be available for photographs and autographs. After the opening of the exhibit at 12:30 p.m., museum guests may be photographed with Patrick Wayne by the museum-provided photographer for a donation of $20. Guests may use their own camera for a donation of $10. A donation of $10 will secure an autograph from Patrick Wayne on a personal item, or guests may purchase Wayne-related items from the museum's gift shop to have signed.

THREE GODFATHER'S

£4.00 in Morrison's as part of their Father's Day display was this John Ford classic - one of the few John Wayne movies I didn't have on DVD. I don't need to tell you it flew off the shelf and into my hands as soon as I saw it - man, I love the Duke.

The film is actually a remake of Ford's 1919 silent movie, Marked Men (today no prints of this film are believed to exist) which in itself was an adaption of the novel written by Peter Kane. Basically it's the Biblical story of the three wise men in a western setting. And whilst it may not be up there with Ford's best it is an enjoyable western.

The film opens with the dedication To Harry Carey, bright star of the early western skies (Harry Carey actually starred in the original silent version) and this film features the debut of the actor's son, Harry Carey Junior who would go on to become a regular fixture in Ford movies. Other Ford regulars are Ward Bond and Hank Worden. The film is also notable for Pedro Armedariz who would later play Kerim Bay alongside Sean Connery in From Russia with Love.

Because of the plot - three outlaws on the lam, a posse in pursuit, come across a dying woman and make a promise to care for her newborn son, this is something of an off-beat western. There are some particularly effective scenes - one where the three man trudge through a sand storm , the sands looking like the waves of a sea in the grip of a perfect storm, is particularly thrilling. Indeed many hardships are suffered and only Wayne and the baby make it to town, the outlaw broken but not beaten as he stumbles, child in arms, into New Jerusalem on Christmas Day.

The Duke Tribute

I especially wanted to share this John Wayne tribute which the author brought to my attention. Great job.

AND THE AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR GOES TO...

When His True Greatness, John Wayne won the Oscar for True Grit, many critics said that the award was actually for his long contribution to cinema rather than for this run of the mill western. And whilst it is true Wayne should have taken Oscar home for Red River and The Searchers, there is no way that True Grit is run of the mill. Nor Wayne's performance.

It always annoys me when people say John Wayne always played himself and was an actor of limited range. Wayne was a victim of the mostly left wing critics who abhorred his stern right wing politics and found it difficult to separate the actor from the commie bashing propaganda machine Wayne had become. Shame on them - What's so wrong with being patriotic?

True Grit is a superb western and Wayne's turn as the drunken, one eyed Marshall is far more rounded than the script allowed. Not just any actor could stand out alongside Kim Darby's powerhouse performance as the young girl out to avenge the death of her father. And in a film full of great performances Wayne dominates the screen. He comes across as a great big lumbering, but strangely graceful grizzly bear

Wayne's one eyed fat man, who has seen it all and is as tough as old leather, comes perfectly to life. In fact True Grit may be the perfect western - the scenery is spectacular, the action varied and exciting, and the bad guys so much larger than life. Of course Wayne made more serious, intense westerns, films with more depth (several of his films with John Ford are classics of any genre) but in True Grit he made a film that can be enjoyed on many levels by the entire family. And what's wrong with that? There's no hidden agenda woven into True Grit- the film does what it says on the tin. It ENTERTAINS and those critics who set themselves up as barometers of celluloid quality can go kiss my arse.

So do me a favour the next time someone say's John Wayne couldn't act - simply smile politely and then punch the son-of-a-bitch on the nose.

Nuff said.

THE DUKE - THE ENDURING LEGEND

The legend of John Wayne continues to grow by the day - over thirty years after his death his name still shines brighter than most movie stars. As a performer his image is cemented in the mass consciousness - travellers are presented with a large bronze statue upon touching down in John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, the police in his home town pay tribute to him with their DUKE helicopters.

Away from the camera Wayne was unpopular because of his political views - he was president of the Motion Picture Alliance for American ideals. He was a supporter of Richard Nixon and an outspoken opponent of communism. However in the final analysis it is for his work in motion pictures that he should be remembered and not for his often extreme right wing views.

Born in 1907 in Winterset, Iowa and promptly named Marion Robert Morrison and not, as some people think Marion Michael Morrison

Wayne spent the early years in show business churning out B-westerns for the Poverty Row Studios and few of his earlier B's hint at the start he would soon become. Several of the B's are worth checking out though and many are available on budget DVD - The Archive suggests The Man from Utah, Riders of Destiny, The Lucky Texan and Randy Rides Alone as being especially good.

Wayne's first real break came in 1930 when, on John Ford's suggestion, director Raoul Walsh cast him as the lead in the epic western, The Big Trail. Unfortunately the film was not the major success it was hoped. The film is a must see thought for both Wayne and western fans. It's a great epic movie which whilst not as accomplished as say Stagecoach is still a great adventure movie with Wayne looking like a prototype of the Duke we came to love.

It was 1930's Stagecoach, directed by John Ford and with Wayne playing the now iconic role of the Ringo Kid that made Wayne a superstar. The movie is a flawless masterpiece and is the movie that really gave the western mainstream respectability. Legendary British movie critic, Barry Norman placed it in his 100 best works of the twentieth century.

Westerns would prove a big part of the Duke's screen life with his starring in many classic of the genre but he also made dramas, historical epics,war movies, family adventure pictures and even cop thrillers. And although Wayne will always be associated with westerns there is certainly much more to him than cowboys and Indians.

He was terribly miscast several times and is laughable as the Roman Centurion with the western accent in the Greatest Story ever Told. However many of his non westerns are once again all time cinema classics:

The Quiet Man
The Green Berets
Sands of Iwo Jima
In Harm's Way

To name but a few.

It was criminal that Wayne didn't receive an Oscar for The Searchers - perhaps the best western ever made. But he was awared it many years later for True Grit - many feel that the award was for his services to cinema rather than for his performance as the one eyed old codger, Rooster Cogburn.


When Wayne died in 1979 the entire world went into mourning - a true cinema icon had passed and Hollywood and indeed the entire film industry has shone just that bit dimmer since his passing. There is never a time when a John Wayne movie is not showing somewhere in the world.

John Wayne may have passed but his legend is immortal.

THE TOP TEN JOHN WAYNE WESTERNS

Any list such as this is bound to be contentious and this is my list of what I consider to be the ten best Wayne western. It will be interesting to know what other Duke fans think.

1 The Searchers - 1956 - Maybe the best western ever made and to my mind Wayne's best movie and director John Ford's masterpiece. It was the third most successful western of the Fifties, taking $4.9 million.

2 Red River - 1948- perhaps Wayne's most complex performance. Gary Cooper was originally lined up for the lead role but now it is difficult to think of anyone buy Wayne in the role. The film took $3 million and catapulted Wayne into top ten list of cinema stars.

3 Rio Bravo 1959 was a massively successful western, so good in fact that director Howard Hawks remade it not once but twice. It was released in March 1959 and has remained a fan favourite ever since.

4 The Man who shot Liberty Valance -1962 - The Duke teams up with James Stewart and Lee Marvin for this wonderfully melodramatic western which is full of iconic moments.

5 Stagecoach-1939- The film that dragged Wayne out of B-movie hell and made him a box office favourite, a position he would maintain until his death in 1979. The film was a critical and commercial success. From now on Wayne was the screen cowboy.

6 The Shootist -1976 - Wayne's last film is a beautiful meditation on growing old and the last days of the West. Wayne plays J. B. Books, an ageing gun slinger dying of cancer. James Stewart, in his last western, is the Duke's doc and even at this advanced age the chemistry between the two starts lights up the screen. And Lauren Bacall is excellent as Wayne's landlady. A brilliant and fitting swansong for a screen legend.

7 True Grit - 1969 - Henry Hathaway and John Wayne are reunited for this western classic that saw Wayne take his one and only Oscar. It was massive at the box office and is a delight from start to finish. Fill your hand you son-of-a-bitch.

8 Hondo - 1953 -based on a Louis L'amour novel and originally filmed in 3D which perhaps explains why it is not shown as much as the Duke's other westerns. It's a great movie though and one which has been given a packed DVD release as part of the John Wayne collection.

9 El Dorado is basically a remake of Rio Bravo but with Robert Mitchum in the Dean Martin role. There is much debate over which is actually the better film but has Rio Bravo came first I would have to plump for that movie. This though is a stunning movie with Mitchum dominating every scene he appears in.

10 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1949 is the middle film in John Ford's cavalry trilogy. Wayne, under heavy make up, plays an ageing character who is serving out his last days on the American frontier. It took an impressive $2.7 million on its first release and has become an evergreen classic. Simply wonderful.

THE DUKE GOES TO WAR

John Wayne will always be seen as the definitive screen cowboy but he often worked in other genres, crime, comedy, drama and war movies. Some of his non-western excursions were forgettable but there were a fair few classic there - The Quiet Man for one but outside of the westerns it is perhaps for war movies that Wayne is best remembered.

Here is the Archive's list of the 5 best John Wayne War movies:


1- Green Berets - I know this movie is often criticised for it's "gung ho" attitude and flag waving but as a movie it doesn't go far wrong. Wayne play his usual heroic character and David Janssen is the doubter who soon raises his weapons in the defence of liberty when he realises what it's really all about. Ignore the doubters and sit back and enjoy this movie for the screen entertainment that it is.

2-The Flying Tigers - Made in 1942 this movie was very much intended to boost morale during the mid-point of the war. Cowards redeem themselves and good ultimately triumphs over evil thanks to some steely eyed heroics from the Duke.

3- The Longest Day - Whilst Wayne is only a small part in the massive cast that makes up this drama about D-Day it deserves to be included here - not only is it a great war movie but Wayne plays his cameo role wonderfully. The advertising posters boasted of 48 international stars in the cast and the movie took two Oscars in 1962.


4- Operation Pacific - Set in the Philippines this looks at the operations of the American submarine crews. The Duke plays Lt. Duke E. Gifford in this tense drama that really should be better remembered than it is.

5-In Harms Way - The Duke, Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda. What a cast! And that's not to mention Burgess Meredith, George Kennedy and Slim Pickens. This is another tension filled movie about the attack on Pearl Harbour. It's an 160 minute epic and well worth watching.

HOTTER THAN HOT WESTERN NEWS

According to Ain't it Cool news Jeff Bridges is to play Rooster Cogburn in the Coen Brother's remake of True Grit.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

This is another of those films that people who say, 'John Wayne couldn't act', should be tied to a chair and forced to view. Under heavy make-up that ages him some twenty years, the Duke gives a wonderful and sensitive performance as a cavalry officer in the last weeks of his service. This film is a masterpiece of mood with director, John Ford painting the canvas with broad assured strokes.

And this time in blazing technicolor.

Set after Custer's defeat at The Little Big Horn the film centers on Captain Nathan Brittles (The Duke) as he deals with a looming Indian uprising and his forthcoming compulsory retirement. There are some tender moments of genuine pathos - Brittle visiting his wife's grave, the burial of a Confederate general who ended up serving out his final days as a common trooper and of course Brittles farewell to his troop. It is in the latter scene that Wayne's performance is so full of subtle nuance that it steps away from mere performance and becomes a kind of reality in itself.

At $1.6 million the film was in its time, one of the most expensive westerns ever made. However it was a huge hit for the studio, RKO and is an acknowledged classic today.

TRIVIA: A plot problem sees it being referenced that Pony Express riders were concerned for their safety after Custer's defeat. And yet in reality the Pony Express shut up shop some 15 years before Custer's death.