May 08, 2007
Gratuitous Duke Blogging
Gretchen Wayne on her famous father-in-law:
“They refer to that generation of men during the Forties as ‘the finest generation’,” says Gretchen. “They put everything on the line. They married their sweethearts, went off to war, kept us safe from the enemy, and we still revere them, thank God. We haven’t done the same for our other fighting men. But we revere that generation, and they were the moral compass for a lot of us today. They were the ones who set the standard. And who was emblematic of that standard? John Wayne.”Yet that wasn’t how Wayne saw himself. “He always said to Michael, ‘People say I’m a hero. I must be a good actor! I’m not a hero.’ People identified with him. He had an honesty about him that people could connect with. He was sophisticated, but he didn’t wear sophistication on his sleeve. He had a humble quality. Women saw him as the manly man – the epitome of what manhood should be. He was respectful of women, except in The Quiet Man, but that’s the humour of it. And men — I think of the guy that went to work, doing his best to support his family, eking out his living, being honest, loving his wife, caring for his children, supporting his country: he felt he could identify with John Wayne. Because in John Wayne he saw a guy that was true to his ideals in life.
“He represents a time when we gave our word, and meant our word, on a handshake. Honesty, a certain amount of gentility, respect and obligation. He felt all of those things, and he represented that in characters he played. People look up to that. Maybe he’ll remind us of a time when people were responsible human beings, and I think we’ve lost that.”
Read the rest of the article. It is surprisingly sympathetic, given that it comes from the UK Times. It's always been my experience that Europeans (and many of their imitators on this side of the pond) have a hard time "getting" Wayne, often puzzled or offended or both by his pure Americanism.
The 100th anniversary of Wayne's birth is coming up later this month. To mark this, the family production company (still run by Gretchen) plans to release commemerative DVD's of four of the Dook's movies: Island in the Sky (1953), Hondo (1953), The High and the Mighty (1954) and McLintock! (1963).
The High & The Mighty always amuses me. It's basically the story of a passenger plane on its way from Hawaii to the Mainland running into mechanical trouble and is very much the prototype of the later Airport disaster movies. Wayne plays the plane's co-pilot, but the real joy is in watching Robert Stack as Captain John Sullivan, the cool, experienced, no-nonsense guy who suddenly snaps. It is only after seeing this performance that you realize he later parodies himself when he plays Captain Rex Cramer in Airplane!
As for the Dook's westerns, I almost always have a couple floating around in my Netflix queue at any given time. At the moment, I've got Rio Bravo, The Comancheros and Fort Apache. In honor of Wayne's Centennial, I think I'll toss in a few more.
Posted by Robert at May 8, 2007 02:06 PM | TrackBackShe Wore a Yellow Ribbon. The shots by John Ford in Monument Valley are fantastic.
Also The Cowboys -- a pretty good late Wayne entry.
Chisum! -- also a good one.
For non-Cowboy ones, certainly The Longest Day (Greatest. Movie. Ever.), and Preminger's In Harm's Way are good.
Mrs. C. is a big John Wayne fan. Knows 'em all.
For an unusual one, there's The Conqueror. John Wayne as Genghis Khan. A Howard Hughes film, and probably Exhibit One in every commitment hearing he was ever subjected to.
Posted by: The Colossus at May 8, 2007 03:40 PMAgree about all those pics except The Conqueror, which I haven't seen & kinda shudder to think about. Only trouble with In Harm's Way was the low-budget effects - it looked as if Pearl Harbor was being attacked by a single plane.
Only Wayne film I can think of at the moment which I didn't like is The War Wagon, largely because I thought Kirk Douglas was ridiculous. Wayne can carry most films even if they're cheesy, but I think this one got stuck in the whiz.
Posted by: Robbo the LB at May 8, 2007 03:49 PMFor the Duke's centennial celebration on May 25, Winterset is having a big soiree at his birthplace, along with groundbreaking for the big new birthplace/library/media center.
I might record the event for posterity, but only if Kathy gives me the FULL set of keys to the Cake-mobile so I can post pictures.
"In Harm's Way" was good, but I've always been more partial to "They Were Expendable" myself. Kudos on "..Yellow Ribbon", but really ANY of his John Ford movies were classic.
"The Searchers" is one that could have been a contender with a little more spent on production values.
Posted by: Russ from Winterset at May 8, 2007 05:42 PMThe War Wagon -- Wayne totally pwned Douglas in that.
A puzzler Mrs. C. and I think about is "Who is this generation's John Wayne?"
There is no answer to that. Best we could come up with was Clint. After that, you're down into Harrison Ford territory. That's the problem with Hollywood -- no room for John Wayne.
Posted by: The Colossus at May 8, 2007 07:28 PMWhat? No fans of "The Quiet Man" and "The Shootist"?
Posted by: jd watson at May 8, 2007 07:54 PMI agree with jd. If you don't agree that The Quiet Man is one of the best John Wayne films ever made, I will fight you. That's no lie.
Posted by: Boy Named Sous at May 8, 2007 11:22 PMFor some reason I've always like Donovan's Reef but I could never put my finger on exactly the reason why. Which gets me to the question "Who is this generation's Lee Marvin?"
Posted by: OrgleFan at May 9, 2007 08:40 AMWhen I got my first DVD player - an Apple Cube with a DVD-ROM drive, actually - the first DVD I bought was The Quiet Man.
As much for Maureen as Marion, I must admit. ;^)
Posted by: Hucbald at May 9, 2007 12:05 PMWhen I encounter difficult situations, I always try to remember: WWJWD?
It's hard to go wrong with that.
(All time favorite: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon)
Posted by: Russ at May 9, 2007 12:23 PM"Stagecoach" - his first for Ford, and the one that made him a star.
"Angel and the Bad Man" - first production by Wayne, IIRC. Hell of a good story, too. And Gail Russell is a cutie.
Posted by: mojo at May 9, 2007 02:01 PMI personally LOVE McClintock! Hubby says you can't go wrong with a John Wayne movie. His favorite lines are from True Grit. You know - something like (I should know this by heart by now!!!), "Pretty brave talk for a one-eyed fat man....Fill your hands, you son-of-a-bitch."
Couldn't get away with spanking Maureen O'Hara now!!!
Posted by: JB in Florida at May 9, 2007 11:51 PM
Image courtesy of the lovely and talented 