Hmm. Well, all the public-domain dollar DVDs in my local dollar stores are displayed in POP units up by the register, so that’s where I was goin with that.
While I realize I might piss everyone off here at the SD…John Wayne was a hack. I’ve never seen a movie of his that I could stomach. I’ve had numerous arguments with friends that Clint Eastwood is the greatest film cowboy ever…they’ve tried to throw the John Wayne angle at me…it’s not even close. John Wayne was the pussboy that ‘The man with no name’ would let live…to tell the whores that it wasn’t nice to cut 'em…and, he’d be back!
John Wayne started out doing uncredited bit parts in 1926 while he was a student at USC, then was made the star of a big budget western The Big Trail (in early widescreen, no less) in 1930. He spent the rest of the 1930s doing small parts at the major studios and starring in B and C budget westerns at the minor studios, until John Ford cast him in the lead of Stagecoach (1939), making him an A-list star.
Watch The Searchers, True Grit or the previously mentioned Stagecoach or Liberty Valance and then get back to me.
AuntiePam, watch Cat Ballou again: Lee Marvin steals that movie from everybody. “I’d be more scared of the man who bit it off.”
90% of everything is crap. John Wayne movies are no exception. Luckily, he was guided through his mediocre talent into some masterpieces by the greatest American director who ever lived, John Ford. Their chemistry was almost unique in movies, and there’s no question that John Wayne really shined like he did in John Ford’s movies. Well, OK, he shined in his Howard Hawks movies too. But even though 90% of his movies are crap, he made a lot of movies, so there’s around an even dozen that will kick your ass, Kaotic. Case Sensitive isn’t wrong, but I’d probably give you The Quiet Man, or Rio Bravo, or They Were Expendable first, if my goal was to win you over.
Although it sounds like your mind is made up. I should tell you, though, that until I saw *Rio Bravo *for the first time a few years ago, I’d’ve said pretty much what you’ve said.
I’m really not much of a John Wayne fan (I loathe Westerns in general), but I always loved McClintock. Quite un-PC (there’s quite a few racial sterotypes, physical violence, spanking of women, etc.) hilarity ala Taming of the Shrew. The big mudfight scene never fails to crack me up.
The Quiet Man is another fave of mine, but that one was set in Ireland, so wasn’t a Western.
No doubt John Ford made Wayne a star, but it was King Vidor who discovered him. As the story goes, Wayne (or Marion Morrison as he then was) was moving furniture across a movie lot when he caught Vidor’s eye.
mm
It being football season, I have to give a shameless shout-out to my alma mater. In the 1920’s the football powerhouse on the west coast was the University of California (Berkeley); and its biggest star was named Duke Morrison. So if you’re a wannabe football player, and you’re also named Morrison…your nickname is obvious.
I’ll have to look it up again, but I swear the Ford biographies I’ve read say otherwise.
Though I’m almost as big a fan of Vidor, so either way’s cool with me.
Any chance that WAS John Wayne? Early on he was credited as “Duke Morrison,” and my recollection from the Ford bios I’ve read is that he was a star football player when he was discovered. Unless the biographer conflated the two incorrectly.
For whatever it’s worth, Vidor is not mentioned in his IMDB bio; neither is Duke Morrison as a source for his nickname. I don’t know the biographer (Ed Stephan), but he’s written 145 bios for IMDB.
I haven’t looked any further than this though, so I dont’ think that’s necessarily conclusive.
Wikipedia (so still not conclusive) concurs. Also reminds me that “Duke” was closer to his “real” name than “John.” He’d been called Duke, in preference to Marion, since he was a kid. He was named “John Wayne” by Raoul Walsh, for The Big Trail. Before that he’d either been uncredited, or credited as “Duke Morrison.”
It’s not a western, but it is a John Ford/John Wayne/Lee Marvin movie, and I love it: Donovan’s Reef. It’s filmed in Kaua’i and includes plenty of location shots, which is a good enough reason to watch it right there. It also has a couple of lovely barroom brawls involving John Wayne and Lee Marvin (and Mike Mazurki - sort of), and they’re some of my favorite movie fight scenes.
It’s also replete with racism and sexisim, but it’s a John Ford flick, after all.
Ouch. Haven’t seen many John Ford movies, I take it.
I’m able to confirm that Jesse “Duke” Morrison played for Cal from 1920-1922. More to come, when I get my hands on hard-copy sources.