Am I missing something? Is John Wayne really that good an actor?

Cafe Society
21

Gosh, no one has mentioned The Searchers which is one of my all time favorite movies; it’s so American, it deals with racists and their attitudes, it shows how hard life was for everyone in the Southwest, and John Wayne was perfect for the role of Ethan.

A second gosh from the other day, I was watching a short film called Kisses which is basically a collection of kissies from oldtime movies. I was expecting that kiss from The Quiet Man [ya know the scene with Maureen OHara that was clipped into ET]. Well, I was really surprised when a passionate grab ‘n’ smack from another Wayne film is shown… mmmm.

I wouldn’t say he was a great actor; he was the type of actor that he was convincing in roles that suited his personna. Maybe he was a terrific kisser as well…

22

Although The Searchers is probably the best movie that he made, I have a tender spot for The High and the Mighty. I can’t find it on video though. It hasn’t been released.

What he a good actor? Nyah. But for a couple of generations he represented the American Hero as no one else could. He inspired! He made us laugh at ourselves! He was cool. Maybe you had to have been there.

God rest his soul.

23

The Duke was a good actor and was typecast but it was one of the few times where John Wayne was best at what he did.

No matter how Wayne came across, he was adopted like the Father/Friend no man may ever have. And he was pretty much like that too from friends and stories told about him after passing.

I think its best summed up by a quote of why people love the man.

"John Wayne was probably the biggest star in the world…yet he retained the qualities of a small boy. He had the enthusiasm for life that would make a high school football star envious.

And through it all, Duke never changed. As a man he was exactly the boy he started out. And as a friend…well, you just wouldn’t want a better one.

In his lifetime, Duke stamped AMERICA across the face of the motion picture industry. Few other men, living or dead, have ever portrayed the fine, decent, and generous American qualities as Duke did.

He portrayed on screen the values he lived off screen. Gentle…so much so, it would have surprised his critics. Loyal…once your friend, always your friend. Courageous…if you doubt it, remember his fight against cancer, or the way he faced heart surgery. And decent. Above all, Duke was a decent man.

He was also far from perfect. He made his mistakes as I have made mine and you have made yours. All in all, I would say they were unintentional. Mistakes of the heart, I would say.

Let me say this about the John Wayne I knew. He was an Original. He was the Statue of his Times.

All in all, I think it was the man’s integrity that speaks most of him. His principles never varied. Nor did his ideals. Nor did his faith in mankind."

That was from Jimmy Stewart…a great man himself
Personally, I wish the old man would have been around for another 50 years…lord knows we could use him right now.

24

I agree with deathhawk on this: he was a product of the Hollywood studio system, and one who was almost entirely ineffective at rising above truly mediocre performances that were acceptable for “major releases” in the eyes of the studio moguls.

There are a number of salient aspects to this, chiefly that somebody who’s a patriot isn’t necessarily a good actor. One might argue Hollywood doesn’t produce particularly astute presidents, either, but that’s another story. This “jump on the bandwagon” political correctness reminds me of the insulting cigarette ad from the 1960s “What do you want? Good grammar or good taste?”

No question. Good grammar and good taste. And good acting, too, while they’re about it.

25

Wayne, like Bogart, were actors of very limited range.

But in that range, they were perfect

26

What about (John Wayne and) The Cowboys!

Now that’s a John Wanye movie I tell you whut!

27

[spoiler for Fort Apache later in this post]

First of all, Wayne was a fine actor. Granted, he didn’t often stretch his range, but within that range, he was considerably better than many people grant him.

Wayne was a movie actor, and his talent wasn’t for making great orations (which is what many people mistake for great acting talent), but in the small subtle things that people don’t think of when they mention Great Acting.

There is a moment in Fort Apache that illustrates this perfectly. In the film, Henry Fonda plays a glory-loving military commander who ends up having his men massacred in a parallel to Custer’s last stand. Wayne is his second in command, who has sympathies with the Indians and has all the reason to hate Fonda because Wayne gave his word to the Apaches, and Fonda went back on it. But Fonda, like Custer, became a hero back east.

Afterwards, Wayne is commander and a reporter is talking to him. A painting had been made of the battle, showing Fonda dying gloriously. The reporter asks Wayne “Did the painting get it right?” There is a pause, and a close-up of Wayne.

In that short close-up (no more than five seconds), you can see Wayne thinking, considering all the aspects, and making a decision. He stands and says “That’s exactly the way it happened” because he does not want the deaths of the men to seem as futile and stupid as they really were. (It’s also a precursor to that famous line in “Liberty Valance”: “When the fact becomes legend, print the legend.”)

Few other actors could portray the ambivalance of the character, the ideas that flickered through his head.

Wayne did first-class work there, in “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon” (he was bothered he didn’t get an Oscar nomination for that, and he was right), “The Searchers,” “True Grit,” “The Shootist,” and “Stagecoach,” to name a few.

28

Well, that’s a valid interpretation, in the sense that it’s easily possible to see how you arrived at this appreciation.

Personal inclinations weigh heavily in this, however. I’d read it simply as a stoic, professional soldier unwilling to say anything bad about his outfit. I.e., someone who’s willing to put the good of his party over personal morality and responsiblity. 'Bout how I’d read Wayne.

Specifically regarding the OP, I definitely feel there’s a tendency to mistake Wayne’s emotionless, pasty-faced responses for some higher purpose.

29

Agreed. An under-appreciated performance by John Wayne in an under-appreciated flick. I love that movie.