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.

McLintock

Mclintock
1963 dr by Andrew V. McLaglen

This John Wayne western borrow heavily from the Taming of the Shrew and is an enjoyable enough western with a massive mud brawl at the end that is great fun. The film has fallen into the public domain and The Tainted Archive presents the entire movie for your viewing pleasure here.

**************************************************

WESTERN ICONS - THE DUKE

'Get off your horse and drink your milk.' My father always used to say that to me in his best John Wayne voice.I think it's a paraphrase from The Cowboys.

There are a great many actors who I think were better than John Wayne but I can think of only a few that I love without reservation - Clint Eastwood, Humphrey Bogart, James Stewert and John Wayne.

As a man Wayne was often vilified for his politics but as an actor he was America, or specifically frontier America.

Some of his performance were clunky but think of all the seamless classics he's been a part of, most of them as the lead.

RED RIVER, THE SEARCHERS, THE QUIET MAN, THE SHOOTIST, TRUE GRIT, FORT APACHE, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, RIO BRAVO, RIO GRANDE, HONDO, SANDS OF IWO JIMA, SON'S OF KATIE ELDER, STAGECOACH - the list could go on and on......the thing with Wayne is that even his lesser movies are watchable.

Wayne was also the first singing cowboy - he may have been dubbed but he made several B movies as a signing cowboy. The hilarious video below shows him as Singing Sandy.
*******************************************************************************


***************************************************************************************

The Searchers is for many people, myself included, the best western ever. And even doubters would have to admit WAYNE's performance as the racist Ethan Edwards is a wonderful highly nuanced piece of acting. He should have got the Oscar for this and this oversight was probably the reason Wayne eventually got the award for True Grit.

True Grit is a great movie but hardly the classic The Searchers is - Red River also contains a similarly brilliant performance as does Wayne's part in the feel good classic, The Quiet Man.

Perhaps the only other western actor that comes close is Clint Eastwood.

So next time there's a John Wayne movie playing settle back and watch a true American icon at work.

Now - 'Get off your horse and drink your milk.'

This Post is Dedicated to The Duke - loved by generations.