Ivylad is a huge John Wayne fan. Even if he’s seen the movie a dozen times, he has to watch it again.
Me, I’ve never seen the big deal. To me, Wayne is somewhat wooden as an actor, and I think he only really portrayed one character, the Good Guy (his appearance as Ghengis Khan notwithstanding).
I know he won an Oscar or two, and directed as well.
What’s the big attraction with John Wayne?
Well, not so much any more… 
But to be honest, I never did see what the appeal was. He had no range whatsoever, and I think Gary Cooper did the strong, silent thing far better than John Wayne ever did.
I do have to say, though, that he was very good in The Quiet Man.
I probably should check out The Quiet Man, at least for the scenery (including Maureen O’Hara.). Because I hated Wayne in just about everything I HAVE seen. God, he was awful in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
He was quite probably the best Genghis Khan, though. 
I think your actual question is impossible to answer in a certain sense. John Wayne was a product of the studio system. After his screen persona became established, you pretty much don’t see him outside it. Mainly the studios would not allow it, and the audience would not accept it.
You can see this working with many other actors/actresses of the time. Cary Grant comes to mind as an excellent example. Cary was probably the penultimate light comedy lead, yet his range went well beyond it. In Penny Serenade, he put in an excellent dramatic performance, but audiences avoided the movie in droves because it was not what they expected from him. Otherwise, most of his films remain in persona, although the persona is occasionaly used in a play against type, such as in Suspicion.
Coming back to Wayne, my point is, in one sense, he was a very good actor, because he played JOHN WAYNE to perfection. Once this persona became established, and proved highly popular, he was not allowed to move beyond it. Although in the fifties, as the studios began to lose control of the business, you begin to see slight movements from the persona, or films that gently tweak it. I would also point out that Wayne, whatever you personally think of him, was no dummy and knew what side the bread was buttered on. The length of time he remained as a draw is nearly unfathomable. In another sense, it is almost impossible to judge as the dynamics of the business in the time of his career did not really allow for certain actors to develop their range.
So your reaction is not really surprising, either the persona resonates, or it does not.
McLintock is one of my favorite movies. And it has Maureen O’Hara too, Ike, so if you haven’t seen it you should check it out. Also a young Stephanie Powers. Everyone just looks like they are having so much FUN in that movie. The actors, I mean.
Come to think of it, John Wayne ALWAYS looks like he is having fun in his movies. Which is why, I guess, I love them. He never appears to take himself, or anyone else, seriously.
If you watch some of his really early films, you will see that his acting improved tremendously from the time when he started. I suppose you could say that in the beginning he wasn’t even good at being HIM, and over the years he got good at it. REALLY good.
Of course, I also liked Star Trek:Final Frontier, which I see is considered by some people to be the worst movie ever made, so…maybe you don’t want to place too much weight on MY opinion.
I think he was terrific in Red River, doing a fine job with an unsympathetic character.
You have 2 types of actors, both types require another approach:
The character player, who can play everything from Shakespeare to some figurant role;
The other is a type actor, as John Wayne was, who always plays the same type of hero (or villain).
John was very good at it, and actually I liked The Shootist.
I don’t recall seeing him in anything I liked. I had read the short story The Quiet Man before seeing the movie, which ruined the movie for me because the movie completely inverts the point that was being made in the story, and I was much more sympathetic to the story line of the short story. That’s not John Wayne’s fault, but I can’t stand the movie The Quiet Man.
Yeah, but look where you live…
Come out here on the prairie and say that ya city slicker !!!
You might have to see the right John Wayne movies, ivylass.
Try “The Searchers,” in which Wayne is playing someone who is most certainly NOT the Good Guy.
It seems to me he was not dissimilar to Clint Eastwood - who either played “The Man With No Name” or “Dirty Harry”, who were similar characters in different settings.
Thus spaketh a non-fan of both men.
John Wayne was great at playing John Wayne. I don’t think anyone really confuses him with actors who submerge their identity in a role and is never seen again. He really was a product of the studio system, playing an archetype.
He won one Oscar (for “True Grit”) and his directing efforts (“The Alamo” and “The Green Berets”) were workmanlike and did not add to his reputation. (IMDB.com mentions he was an uncredited director on three more movies, including “Big Jake” that I didn’t know about. I wonder what the story was there?)
See “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon,” where a 30-something Wayne convincingly played an aging Army officer about to retire.
I’m not a big Wayne fan, but I think his last film, The Shootist, was quite good. It’s a pretty poignant tale about a dying gunfighter and a dying artform (westerns).
His achievement wasn’t his mastery of the thespian arts; he portrayed an American archetype. Archetypes are seldom deep, but only a rare individual can originate one.
Marrion Morrison was a decent actor who made a damn good living portraying John Wayne. He played pretty much the same character in every movie, with notable exceptions like The Searchers. He was not a great actor, but the camera did love him.
He was 42.
The Shootest was his last movie I do believe. It’s a pretty good move. He knew he was dying and it came across in the movie.
Marion Morrison portrayed John Wayne not just in every movie, but in everything else he did too.