‘John Wayne is the United States of America’
by John Nolte
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the passing of John Wayne. To honor this great man, National Review’s John J. Miller has put together a terrific tribute. I was very pleased to be asked to contribute along with Andrew Klavan and our very own Leo Grin, Michael Long, Andrew Leigh, Andy Levy, S. T. Karnick, and others. I urge you to check it out.
It was Maureen O’Hara who said “John Wayne is the United States of America,” and that he was. Honorable, generous, brave, selfless, aware of his own flaws… The great thing about being a John Wayne fan is that he survives all attempts at deconstruction. His timeless work obviously speaks for itself, but the man himself has withstood the toughest of all critics, time. John Wayne doesn’t disappoint.
Simply put: He was a good man; human to be sure, but in the end everything you wanted him to be.
After you’re done checking out NRO, come on back and take another look at some Big Hollywood pieces you might have missed:
Hollywood Unveiled: John Wayne Walks Like a Girl
Haunted by the Memory of Her Song: Fifty Years of ‘Rio Bravo’
‘In Harm’s Way’: Imperfect Greatness on the High Seas
Guess Who’s the Third Most Popular Movie Star in America Today?
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74 Comments
It's true – he is irreplaceable. The big question – which film should be viewed tonight to honor his passing?
I'd pick The Searchers.
John, its funny that you write about the Duke, he is all of our favorite actor and great American. Last week a good friend of mine and fellow filmmaker Steve Latshaw wrote this tribute to John Wayne and I'd love to share it with you and everyone on BIG HOLLYWOOD.
His article is long so I can't cut and paste it here, so I will add the link for everyone to go Robin Chapman News Blog and read this wonderful tribute to a great and humble American.
http://robinchapmannews.blogspot.com/2009/05/gues...
Steve has produced, directed and written some 35 films in the past 20 years. He is somewhat of a film historian and knows just about every location in California where every great film was ever shot. He knows the history of all the westerns, Republic Studios, Warner Bros and he is one of the Mulholland Drive Boys like me.
Enjoy the read everyone.
great head shot- looks to be from one of our very favorite Wayne films, 'Fort Apache'. One of the John Ford 'Cavalry trilogy' , and the Duke was second banana behind a terrific Henry Fonda (much better as a bad guy in our opinion) and scores big in every way… Wayne was always really good in a supporting role, you never got enough of him (see 'They Were Expendable' with underrated Robert Montgomery- a real life PT boat skipper)
as yet another testament to just how good Wayne really was…
Thanks Pilgrim…
God bless you, Duke.
Hard to pick just one. The War Wagon's my favorite but it's not his best. Chisum is a great one too. True Grit won him the Oscar. Rio Bravo is on TCM too much now. The Shootist would be good to watch tonight though it wouldn't be enough. I miss him.
heck; i just saw H.W.'s comment: but we also had “John Wayne Theater,” popularly known as “The Worst of John Wayne,” which featured his low-budget quickies from the 1930s.
And his worst is probably a thousand times better than most anything out there today
I think it should b e the one that captures the American spirit at its best, Rio Bravo. And here's a little bonus clip of what the Duke wants for his daughter and his country
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_64L7Msp9I
Enjoy
we cannot watch 'Rio Bravo' enough, we now even like- really like- Ricky Nelson's role as 'Colorado'- the blu ray is phenomonal as well…
Your tribute is really good, Mr. Nolte. Stuttaford's, on the other hand. . . . I can't imagine why they let him in on it.
Bravo, great youtube clip.
"Hope you enjoyed your dinner, cuz Charlie paid the check"…!
He had a way of making the exclaimation mark come out just a second or two after he stopped speaking. No other actor has ever been able to duplicate this..
[...] ‘John Wayne is the United States of America’ by John Nolte [...]
"For a moment there I thought you where going to draw"
"For a moment there I was"
It went something like that. Great line.
Wayne was Heston – a great screen presence, not a great actor.
As to which film to watch tonight, I would recommend THE COWBOYS. For no other reason than the eulogy that Roscoe Lee Brown's Nightlinger gives for Wil Andersen
"The prairie was like a mother to Mr. Andersen. She cared for him while he lived….and….she is nursing him while he sleeps."
Definitely.
The Searchers is the great American Movie.
If you ever have somebody tell you that John Wayne couldn't act, sit them down and make them watch The Searchers
I like Rio Bravo, but, personally, I like Elderado better. Exact same story, different characters, but I just like it better. True Grit wouldn't have been anything without Wayne. Even Glen Cambell said that his own acting was so bad he made John Wayne look good enough to win an Oscar.
It's sad, but no one in Hollyweird now can fill his boots.
My favorite was Angel and the Bad Man. A smaller film, still with star power but before his movies became a little too self-conscious about being John Wayne Movies.
Same here with Rio Bravo…John Wayne and Dean Martin in the same movie. The "toughest man ever to live" along side the "coolest man ever to live"……Just me.
Most modern day reviews (dvd reviews) I have seen of Rio Bravo all seem to contain a common line. They all say at some point "Arguabley the best western ever". I won't argue……..
And you can't forget forget the great Walter Brennan…….."Well, if'n ya don't come back, me 'n' Joe'll have us a good cry."
They had a marathon of those on AMC once. Who would have thought that one of the greatest movie stars of all time would begin his career with movies about midget circuses and tanks in the wild west (it was a weird movie).
In all seriousness, though, it may be the thirtieth anniversary of his death, but John Wayne will never die!
Saw part of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" the other day just in time to see John Wayne as "The Centorian". It wasn't his best role but it made me smile.
I have to go with Rio Bravo. Loved The Searchers, but there's just something about Rio Bravo….
By far my favorite Duke film. This one hit on all cylinders and I can watch it all day long.
But I have to part ways with you regarding the coolest man ever to live. That title belongs to Steve McQueen…..
Lotsa hate for Wayne on Roger Ebert's journal (not from Ebert, but from ignorant commentators):
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/06/shall_we_...
I'd recommend "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon." Great movie!
http://armandsrancho.blogspot.com/2009/05/remembe...
Hard to believe 30 years has passed.
Got me on the Steve McQueen one! I still have to give it to Dean, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I give Dean a 10 and Steve McQueen is a 9.99…………………I can't help it, I just love Deano's "horribly bad" Matt Helm flick's (Your welcome Mike Meyer's)……..
Hilts: "Right. Oh, uh, you'll still be here when I get out?"………………..One of the best lines ever?
I preferred the darker side of John Wayne in his films. Films like THE SEARCHERS, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE for me it ran truer to who he actually was , at least in my minds eye. Another I liked him in was THEY WERE EXPENDABLE he really captured the American fighting spirit and resolve in that… good film. Well No matter what you may think of him he was and remains do I dare say,… I do dare…..ALL AMERICAN and that's more then I can say for the majority of the current pernicious Holly-weird types. He's sorely missed. Just one mans opinion.
Love the article, it is a fitting tribute to a great American.
John Wayne is my favorite all time actor! The Duke is da man!
you are all deadly on this… Dino Martinelli, from Steubenville Ohio is still pretty much the 'coolest' enetrtainer of all time, and as 'The Dude' he matches Duke step for step. And the Matt Helm films are marvelously watchable B films.
Yes, Vigil Hilts, the 'Cooler King' is McQueen's best performance and a great line as well…
'Stumpy' was Brennan's best role as well. John Russell, who played Joe's older brother, was a highly decorated Marine in WWII…
he played Longines, and he was the first protector of one of the most sought after relics in Christendom after the Holy Grail- the Spear of Destiny…
Ebert is a rabid leftist, although his film commentary is far more balanced- his fan base is to the left of, say Trotsky…
also in John Wayne news…
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/robertharr...
Robert Harris (he restored Lawrence of Arabia, Vertico, Rear Window, My Fair Lady, Godfather 1 and 2, etc.) wants to restore John Wayne's The Alamo to its full 192 minute version by March 2010!
scratch that, 172 minute version…
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I read on a Disney web blog recently that the head honchos went to "The Duke" first to ask permission to use his likeness in the parks. After he agreed, the other "stars" were a snap. Pretty smart to start at the top, I say.
I love the Matt Helm movies.
I'll try not to sound like I'm blowing smoke up "your you know what"…………
But, Holy Crap, your good!
Keep this up and my next question to you will be "What's the meaning of life"….
A fellow I was going to school with was discussing John Wayne's performance in "Red River" one time, when he looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, you probably hate John Wayne movies, huh?" I was bewildered by the assumption, so I asked him why he'd think so, and apparently he believed my being a female precluded me from enjoying John Wayne's movies. I laughed, is all, before rattling off a list of my fave movies where John Wayne was the star, including "The Quiet Man", "The 3 Godfathers", "McClintock", and "Big Jake". I told him my father raised his little girl right, hehe.
Oooo, just what I was thinking. It's always so hard to decide as there are so many great films to choose from! The Searchers? Red River? The Quiet Man? The Sands of Iwo Jima? Maybe I'll just close my eyes and pull one randomly from the John Wayne section of my DVD shelf.
I've always enjoyed the somewhat "darker," "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."
Who can forget the "steak scene." Lee Marvin was menacing in that role. When John Wayne (as Tom Doniphon) cooly says " No, Liberty, you pick it up," the viewer (and Liberty) knows he's the only one in the room that can back it up! Great Scene.
how does one respond to that?…Gee thanks! as far as the 'Meaning of Life', we defer to Monty Python for any solutions there…
There are a few more of his movies I would like to see as special editions. Man who Shot Liberty Valance and El Dorado recently received the SE treatment. One of my favorites of his lesser films is The Comancheros. I have a Laser Disc version with commentary by Stuart Whitman but to the best of my knowledge, there is not a DVD version with commentary.
'Muderer's Row' is the best, we think- when he gets into his Thunderbird ('65- very cool)
and open his center console he sees a flask and two shot glasses. He happily retrieves the flask and underneath is a tape recorder that turns itself on. We then hear James Gregory's stentorian tones "Now, that I have your attention…"
Mike Meyer's owes his entire career to Dino's "Matt Helm" movies and James Coburn's fantastic "Our Man Flint" and "In Like Flint" movies…………….
Most things in life can be answered by defering to "Monty Python"………
or at least make you laugh hard enough to forget the question!
I've loved John Wayne all my life. When I was a kid, I wanted to go to Disneyland just like every other kid, but just as much I wanted to go to the place where the John Wayne movies were filmed (which, I didn't know at the time, of course is Monument Valley and, yes, I made it to both).
My favorite Duke role is Tom Dunson ("Red River"). Dunson, who had a dark side to which he nearly completely succumbed, was a bit of a departure for Wayne and he played the nuances beautifully. Montgomery Cliff (the un-Wayne?)/Matthew Garth were terrific counterpoints to Wayne/Dunson and Howard Hawks was at his Howard Hawks best (I wish they had made more than the few films they did together). My iconic picture of Duke is Tom Dunson striding through the throng of cattle, flicking them aside as he goes, on his way to a showdown with Matthew.
(cont) I lived in Newport Beach for the last ten years of Wayne's life. He was much beloved there. There wasn't a charity auction in the area that didn't have some sort of prize from Duke (and I'm not talking about things like signed pictures; I'm talkin' weekends on The Wild Goose, his yacht). You could run into him at the grocery store, anywhere, really, around town. I was fortunate to encounter him from time to time in my job at the OC airport–now named for him–which was still primarily a general aviation airport back then. He was a big, friendly bear of a man (and cue ball bald) and that voice, oh that voice.
Wayne said that he didn't play men who where fearless, but who were able to act in spite of their fears. I liked that. He was one of a kind and 30 years later I miss him still. Here's to you, Duke.
I can't argue with the Masterpiece list — "The Searchers" is probably the best film, but "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" is my favorite (expect on or about March 17th).
See my previous post, and then buy a Blu-Ray of The Searchers, Jon
'I'm a lumberjack and I don't care, I work all day and I sleep all night…" and to our gay lobby friends we say "No pooftas!"
The Quiet Man. The Duke taming that wild irish rose Maureen O'Hara. Man, it doesn't get any better.
"Wonderful Spam, Lovely Spam" spam spam spam………………………………….
you bet. The Bond thing is the least of his references outside of Blofeld and the cat… 'Flint' is heavily mocked- and even Austin refers to 'In Like Flint' as one of his favorite films in, we think, the second… not really that big a fan of the Powers stuff but is is a pleasant diversion…
Wish the Duke was still with us. He was a great Patriot! He would be appalled at what is happening to his beloved America the Beautiful today.
In "The Undefeated" with Rock Hudson – admittedly not a great film, Wayne plays a horse rancher going south to Mexico to sell his stock. Two larcenous government horse buyers try to force Wayne to sell his stock to the U.S. government at a lowball price, obviously so that they can make a big profit themselves. Of course, Wayne refuses the "generous offer," and when one of the thieves makes a rude remark, Wayne knocks him flat with a hard right. He then punches the other rep who said nothing. The following exchange occurs:
Thieving buyer: "Why'd you hit me? I didn't do nothin!
Wayne: Well, you shoulda!
Nobody but Wayne could pull it off. No male actor of our time can even stand in his shadow. Has it really been 30 years without him?
He was a big BS-ing chain-smoking "ACTOR". An actor pretending to be a hero. We have REAL heroes in the USA, and very few of them are actors.
"The Quiet Man" John Wayne, Victor McLaglen, Maureen O'Hara, Barry (and Francis) Fitzgerald, and Ward Bond as directed by John Ford. Perhaps the most romantic film ever made, yet still a favorite with men, too. You can wait and you can hope, but you will never see the likes of this again! It includes the longest fist fight in films, including a break in the middle for a quick one at the local.
Yes, but from the beginning of recorded history "real heros" have been inspired to great deeds by myths and legends. In people's minds, Wayne stood for timeless values like courage, honor and defense of the weak against oppression and injustice – concepts that once were important to Americans and, hopefully, will be again. He never claimed to be a hero himself and always deferred to those who were. The myth was not the man, but the myth is still important nonetheless.
Miles Davis is indisputably the coolest man who ever lived.
Is it longer than the one in "They Live?" ;-D I'm still gonna go Stagecoach for my favorite JW film, followed by Liberty Valence.
Cite a legit reference or STFU.
Great American Hero? Errr . . . the guy was an actor. He never served in World War 2 and, as FAIK, never did anything particularly heroic in R/L. (Which in all honesty could be said about yours truly as well.)
That said he was a Great American Actor; every John Wayne movie I've seen as been entertaining and some of them rank among the best movies ever made.
My favourite: "The Searchers." John Wayne was playing a real bastard there, and he did it superbly. Though I have a sneaking regard for "The Green Berets." A powerful political statement and still an entertaining war movie.
[...] John Wayne is the United States of America. I missed this yesterday on the 30th anniversary of his death, but better late than never. He was [...]
Not a "draft dodger," but 4F due to a seriously damaged knee, sustained either playing football at USC or doing his own stunt work early in his film career.
[...] Hollywood: Top Ten Possible Letterman Reactions to Fallout Over Willow Palin Rape ‘Joke’ and ‘John Wayne is the United States of America’ My View: The Gary Cooper type Living in Cinema: 30 Years Ago Tomorrow: John Wayne NRO Symposium: [...]
Some people can remember where they were when they heard Kennedy was shot; most of us remember 9/11; I will always remember the moment my dad told me Duke had passed away. Unbidden, my friends came to my house and took me to Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor where we all shared a gigantic sundae and reminisced.
God Bless you, Duke, and all you stand for.
Not sure if everyone has seen it already, but just in case, some kind soul on Youtube has put up a nice short clip of The Tonight Show. Johnny was on vacation and Don Rickles was guest hosting. He is surprised by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and the man himself. The pure joy of the crowd upon seeing John Wayne made them rise to their feet immediately. The love of those men by everyone there is so clear and powerful.
Sadly, not too many years after that show, both Bing and the Duke were gone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUUTf7T-kDI&NR...
The comments for that and others like it, overwhelmingly show how much that era of class and integrity is missed so very dearly by so many who remember it.
Agreed.
The Searchers is an absolute masterpiece.
Although Rio Bravo ( I think ) has the best John Wayne line EVER:
"I'm lookin' at a tin star – with a drunk pinned to it."
I love John Wayne, and he was a truly great actor whose roles embodied great American values. I just ordered the John Ford/John Wayne box-set from Amazon for $29.99–a great deal!
However, I can't help but say that as a man (not an actor) he wasn't everything I wanted him to be. He sat out WWII (I'm not saying he was a draft dodger, but it still wasn't the most honorable course), he boasted about "running some people out the country" for having Communist sympathies in Hollywood, he cheated on all three of his wives, he was somewhat neglectful of his kids, and he made some undeniably racist comments. And in real life, he didn't like horses (!). None of these are as bad as liberals make them out to be, and they don't define his entire life by any means, but I think its still important to acknowledge his flaws clearly instead of idolizing and deifying him the way liberals do Obama.
Yes. And I was just thinking how the Bill Whittle video about Captain James T. Kirk being America and how Shatner pauses — well, it all made me think of John Wayne. It must prove all things good lead to John Wayne
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bwhittle/2009/0...
John Wayne has always been one of my favorites. I love all John Wayne movies.
If anyone is a big fan like me, you can get a John Wayne calendar with FREE SHIPPING here
http://www.2010wallcalendars.com/
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