Hitch is public domain? John Wayne? I must have missed that memo – I thought only works before ca. 1923 were in that category.
Until 1976, copyrights were (I believe) 23 years, which then could be renewed for another 23 years at the decision of the copyright holder. Also, if a work did not have a copyright notice, it was considered that this was equivalent to not copyrighting it at all (which is why Night of the Living Dead is public domain). The Copyright Act of 1976 and the Sonny Bono Act changed all this, so that a copyright for hire (such as a movie) lasts 95 years.
Then the Duke, who was born in 1907, would have to have public domain movies made when he was about 4. Anyone have a 1911 John Wayne movie? Is it on cylinders?
Using John Wayne as an example, I quote here from the Wikipedia article about McLintock!:
Since at the time the Copyright Law of 1909 was in effect, McLintock!'s copyright expired in 1986. If the copyright had been renewed, McLintock! would have remained copyrighted until 2038, since the Library of Congress no longer required copyrights registered under the 1909 Act to be renewed in 1992 (“Any copyright still in its renewal term at the time that the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act becomes effective shall have a copyright term of 95 years from the date copyright was originally secured.”- United States Code, Title 17, Section 304).
A work for hire’s copyright term is different from a copyright by an individual- a copyrighted work for hire is protected for 95 years, but an individual’s work is copyrighted until 70 years after their death. To use your hypothetical example of Young John Wayne, let’s say he did star in a film in 1911, when he was 4 years old. If he had copyrighted this film under a production company he founded (Baby Batjac Productions?), the copyright would have expired on January 1 of this year. If he had copyrighted it under his own name (©1911 by John Wayne), the copyright would expire in 2049 (70 years after 1979, the year he died).
I picked up an Asterix cartoon dvd… wow. I had forgotten how racist those cartoons were.
I got a copy of Night of the Living Dead at WallMart for a buck. I got three Three Stooges sets, too. (total of nine shorts, and I suppose 27 stooges, mathematically speaking)
I passed on the Werewolf movies
Tris
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet on tv from 1950-56 and elsewhere.
No, it was Rocky Jones, alrighty.
I’m gonna save you one dollar! :EEK:
http://www.archive.org/details/moviesandfilms
and
http://www.archive.org/details/animationandcartoons
Have a comprehesive list of Public Domain Film, Cartoons, and Goverment shorts.
Everything from The 3 Stooges, Racist Looney Toons, to “Duck and Cover”.
I found that today! I consider it my best value buy of the year so far (though I haven’t yet seen what the video quality is.)
Since I’m a 70s movie (well, and anything else from that era…) freak, I’ve been able to find some low-rent drama type pieces. You know, starring like Sissy Spacek or Henry Winkler. Or wait, maybe that one was together. 
Anyway, when I have time to kill and a few extra dollars to spend on camp, it’s always worth it. Plus, they were all so young! And angsty!
Some, if not all, eps of “One Step Beyond” have entered the PD. Growing up, from the antique feel of them, I thought they predated “The Twilight Zone.” Nope. Contemporaries from 1959.