Happy Belated 100th, Piiilgrim.
May 27, 2007 8:39 AM Subscribe
On May 26, 1907, a 13 pound baby boy named Marion Morrison was born in Winterset, Iowa. Nicknamed "Little Duke" after his childhood dog, he grew up to become the most famous icon of American patriotism in the world. When he was a football player at USC, Western filmstar Tom Mix got him a summer job at Fox in exchange for game tickets. After two years working as a prop man for $75 a week, his first acting role was in The Big Trail in 1930. "Marion Morrison" didn't sound like the right name for a trail scout though, so the studio took the last name from a Revolutionary War general and replaced "Anthony" with "John." Voila! A working actor from 1930 through the 1970s, this year John Wayne placed third among America's favorite film stars, the only deceased star on the list and the only one who has appeared every year. He was an opinionated patriot who, surprisingly, called himself a liberal... bigger than life, the consummate cowboy star, and the ultimate symbol of heroic action and the Code of the West. In the end, acting actually took his life indirectly thanks to radiation poisoning during a movie shoot in Utah (of the 220 persons on set, 91 had contracted cancer by the early 1980s), and almost three decades after his death, his family continues to carry on his legacy. He has an an airport, an elementary school, and various Cancer Foundations named after him, and while he wasn't much of a singer or dancer, he remains the ultimate symbol of American manliness to this day. Apparently there are hundreds of reasons to love the guy.
And for the record... no, he wasn't gay.
And for the record... no, he wasn't gay.
Couldn't find any of the big movies streamed, but here are a few things for your viewing pleasure:
West of the Divide (1934)
Texas Terror (1935)
Angel & The Badman – ALTERNATE (1947)
Under California Stars (1948)
McLintock (1963)
and Challenge of Ideas (1961 U.S. Army documentary with Edward R. Murrow)
posted by miss lynnster at 8:45 AM on May 27, 2007
West of the Divide (1934)
Texas Terror (1935)
Angel & The Badman – ALTERNATE (1947)
Under California Stars (1948)
McLintock (1963)
and Challenge of Ideas (1961 U.S. Army documentary with Edward R. Murrow)
posted by miss lynnster at 8:45 AM on May 27, 2007
He was, too, you boys. I installed two-way mirrors in his pad in Brentwood, and he come to the door in a dress.
posted by lekvar at 8:51 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by lekvar at 8:51 AM on May 27, 2007
Good night, funnyman.
/btw: Ed Asner claims that Wayne had a pointed dislike for "New York" actors.
posted by RavinDave at 8:54 AM on May 27, 2007
/btw: Ed Asner claims that Wayne had a pointed dislike for "New York" actors.
posted by RavinDave at 8:54 AM on May 27, 2007
His performance in The Searchers forgives just about anything else he might have done.
posted by jonmc at 9:03 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by jonmc at 9:03 AM on May 27, 2007
who, surprisingly, called himself a liberal...
Aren't all real men liberals? In my view it's the gun owning, homophobe conservative men who have the man issues.
Nice post and way to go with the wikipedia avoidance. Low hanging fruit is rarely the sweetest.
posted by three blind mice at 9:10 AM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
Aren't all real men liberals? In my view it's the gun owning, homophobe conservative men who have the man issues.
Nice post and way to go with the wikipedia avoidance. Low hanging fruit is rarely the sweetest.
posted by three blind mice at 9:10 AM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
What actually inspired me to do this post wasn't that I think that much of John Wayne or was a huge fan of his movies. It was when yesterday I was on the phone with my friend in Austria and she told me that all weekend long they are showing John Wayne movies on tv in Vienna in honor of his centennial. I didn't even know it was his birthday, but it hit me what a positive international impact the man made on America's behalf. Cheesy as his swagger may be to some people, in other countries they see him as a representative of the strength and hope of the new country of America.
I figure, no matter what I may have ever thought of John Wayne's politics or his movies, I'm actually pretty thankful that SOMEONE has given the world a lasting positive impression of what is admirable about us. Cuz we can use all of the help we can get.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:12 AM on May 27, 2007
I figure, no matter what I may have ever thought of John Wayne's politics or his movies, I'm actually pretty thankful that SOMEONE has given the world a lasting positive impression of what is admirable about us. Cuz we can use all of the help we can get.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:12 AM on May 27, 2007
And y2karl... I'll do a one link youtube post next. Just for you. ;*
posted by miss lynnster at 9:14 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by miss lynnster at 9:14 AM on May 27, 2007
I don't mean to diminish the impact of radioactive fallout on his health, but let us also not forget his habit of "...100 cigarettes a day for decades, and after he lost a lung to cancer he promptly began smoking small cigars."
posted by furtive at 9:17 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by furtive at 9:17 AM on May 27, 2007
Ok, good point.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:18 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by miss lynnster at 9:18 AM on May 27, 2007
For all the athletic types that out there, I'd like to add that Team DUKE is a great way to raise money for cancer research.
posted by foot at 9:19 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by foot at 9:19 AM on May 27, 2007
Not just Vienna, either...TCM's been showing John Wayne movies this weekend.
So John Wayne thought he was a liberal, huh? Must... recalibrate... irony... detector....
posted by pax digita at 9:24 AM on May 27, 2007
So John Wayne thought he was a liberal, huh? Must... recalibrate... irony... detector....
posted by pax digita at 9:24 AM on May 27, 2007
I don't mean to diminish the impact of radioactive fallout on his health, but let us also not forget his habit of "...100 cigarettes a day for decades, and after he lost a lung to cancer he promptly began smoking small cigars."
Real men don't throw in the towel just because a lung decides to pussy out.
posted by secret about box at 9:32 AM on May 27, 2007 [5 favorites]
Real men don't throw in the towel just because a lung decides to pussy out.
posted by secret about box at 9:32 AM on May 27, 2007 [5 favorites]
More than radiation, I have the feeling it was exposure to the dialogue of The Conqueror that gave them all cancer.
posted by pracowity at 9:34 AM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by pracowity at 9:34 AM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
He may not have been gay, but it has been claimed he was a Nazi.
posted by doublesix at 9:41 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by doublesix at 9:41 AM on May 27, 2007
Real men don't throw in the towel just because a lung decides to pussy out.
Fuckin' A.
(and the Duke, like most people who achieve iconic status, seems to me to be a complicated figure.)
posted by jonmc at 9:41 AM on May 27, 2007
Fuckin' A.
(and the Duke, like most people who achieve iconic status, seems to me to be a complicated figure.)
posted by jonmc at 9:41 AM on May 27, 2007
The Searchers is one of the greatest movies ever made. I saw it on TV when I was a kid in grade school and it struck me deeply even then. All through the Vietnam era, when Wayne's name was anathema to the rest of my peers, I stuck to my guns on the fact that, however loathsome his politics seemed to be then, John Wayne's legacy would always be redeemed by his role as Ethan Edwards in that movie. His role as Genghis Khan, however, will always be another thing.
posted by y2karl at 9:47 AM on May 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 9:47 AM on May 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
Why can't you be Pro-American and Anti-War.
Sheesh, anyway.
posted by hadjiboy at 9:51 AM on May 27, 2007
Sheesh, anyway.
posted by hadjiboy at 9:51 AM on May 27, 2007
I've always had tremendous difficulty understanding how people go nuts for John Wayne. I don't think I've seen a movie of his I would want to sit all the way through, although that probably means I haven't seen his best movies. Either way, I'm gonna have to go through all this and see if it enlightens me. Thanks, miss lynnster.
posted by shmegegge at 9:52 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by shmegegge at 9:52 AM on May 27, 2007
I don't recall which film it was (one of his many war movies) where he was in the battlefield being examined by a medic. The medic informs him that his ankle is broken. Wayne tells him to lace up his boot. The medic emphasizes, "But sir, the ankle is broken." Wayne growls at him, "Lace it up, and lace it up tight. I got me a war to win." Mr. Adams uses this quote whenever I think he's too ill to go to work and should stay home.
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:57 AM on May 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:57 AM on May 27, 2007 [2 favorites]
This is my birthday. Give me the best in the house."
The Shootist was his last film, and his nuanced, at times elegiac performance (I'm not referring necessarily to the climactic gunfight here, although there's a wonderful moment with Ron Howard at the end of it) made it feel at times almost like a bit of on-screen autobiography.
posted by pax digita at 9:59 AM on May 27, 2007
The Shootist was his last film, and his nuanced, at times elegiac performance (I'm not referring necessarily to the climactic gunfight here, although there's a wonderful moment with Ron Howard at the end of it) made it feel at times almost like a bit of on-screen autobiography.
posted by pax digita at 9:59 AM on May 27, 2007
Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin in a great role as one of the meanest, most sadistic, hard drinkin, murderin' SOB's ever.
According to Peter Bogdonavich's book, Who the Hell Is In It?
Wayne got tired of being touted as a political icon towards the end of the Sixties, he said to Bogdonavich: "all anyone ever wants to talk to me about these days is politics and I'd rather talk about pictures".
posted by Skygazer at 10:01 AM on May 27, 2007
Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin in a great role as one of the meanest, most sadistic, hard drinkin, murderin' SOB's ever.
According to Peter Bogdonavich's book, Who the Hell Is In It?
Wayne got tired of being touted as a political icon towards the end of the Sixties, he said to Bogdonavich: "all anyone ever wants to talk to me about these days is politics and I'd rather talk about pictures".
posted by Skygazer at 10:01 AM on May 27, 2007
I get depressed when I think of all the spineless Western actors from Nebraska, like Ward Bond and Robert Taylor, who gleefully fed 320-some fellow actors to the HUAC toads. Wayne was one of their cheerleaders.
posted by RavinDave at 10:07 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by RavinDave at 10:07 AM on May 27, 2007
I think Liberty Valence era Duke could have taken Chuck Norris at his peak.
posted by psmealey at 10:09 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by psmealey at 10:09 AM on May 27, 2007
This was a fantastic post as usual, miss lynnster.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:12 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:12 AM on May 27, 2007
Oriole Adams:
Your mister quotes a line from The Longest Day, but it's not mere cinematic braggadocio -- LtCol Benjamin Vandevoort, whom the Duke portrayed, did just that.
posted by pax digita at 10:16 AM on May 27, 2007
Your mister quotes a line from The Longest Day, but it's not mere cinematic braggadocio -- LtCol Benjamin Vandevoort, whom the Duke portrayed, did just that.
posted by pax digita at 10:16 AM on May 27, 2007
Announcing an exciting new adventure in the history of John Wayne—the NEW John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center!
And, strangely, Iowa is not much of a tourism destination.
posted by jaronson at 10:48 AM on May 27, 2007
And, strangely, Iowa is not much of a tourism destination.
posted by jaronson at 10:48 AM on May 27, 2007
Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn't.
posted by miss lynnster at 11:01 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by miss lynnster at 11:01 AM on May 27, 2007
Why can't you be Pro-American and Anti-War.
I consider myself both.
Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn't.
I betcha the Duke would've been popular among the gay community if he was. Any voices from there wanna chime in?
posted by jonmc at 11:10 AM on May 27, 2007
I consider myself both.
Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn't.
I betcha the Duke would've been popular among the gay community if he was. Any voices from there wanna chime in?
posted by jonmc at 11:10 AM on May 27, 2007
He represented, it seems, the Teddy Roosevelt idea : walk softly (and talk quietly) and carry a big stick (he seitched from pistol to rifle). Wayne, no matter what you will say about him, had a commanding presence in the films he was in. Like Stewart, he said but little but what he said was sensible, to the point. He could generally be trusted, was honorable, and trustworthy. In a tough spot, he was a guy you would want with you. Now what he may have been in real life is neither here nor there as far as his films and acting are concerned.
posted by Postroad at 11:17 AM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Postroad at 11:17 AM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
vronsky: masterpiece.
Aye -- Natlaie Wood! But what were all those plains indians doing in Arizona?
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:34 AM on May 27, 2007
Aye -- Natlaie Wood! But what were all those plains indians doing in Arizona?
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:34 AM on May 27, 2007
Never grokked the Wayne mythos until about two years ago, when I stumbled across "True Grit" and saw Rooster Cogburn in all his grizzled glory. Now - finally - I get it.
FILL YOUR HAND, YOU SON OF A BITCH!
posted by davidmsc at 11:47 AM on May 27, 2007
FILL YOUR HAND, YOU SON OF A BITCH!
posted by davidmsc at 11:47 AM on May 27, 2007
The hell he was!
posted by kuujjuarapik at 11:53 AM on May 27, 2007
posted by kuujjuarapik at 11:53 AM on May 27, 2007
Just about every John Wayne western (and westerns in general) is a painful reminder of America's enduring legacy of genocide and racism.
Some guy: Tell the injun to get out of here!
John Wayne: Go on! Get!
posted by Matt Oneiros at 11:56 AM on May 27, 2007
Some guy: Tell the injun to get out of here!
John Wayne: Go on! Get!
posted by Matt Oneiros at 11:56 AM on May 27, 2007
And, strangely, Iowa is not much of a tourism destination.
Winterset is also home to the covered bridges featured in the Bridges of Madison County, which is a pretty big tourist attraction in its own right. The one time I visited, the bridges seemed to overshadow the John Wayne connection.
It's a charming town. I was born in Iowa, however, so I suppose I'm predisposed to liking the place.
posted by jal0021 at 11:58 AM on May 27, 2007
Winterset is also home to the covered bridges featured in the Bridges of Madison County, which is a pretty big tourist attraction in its own right. The one time I visited, the bridges seemed to overshadow the John Wayne connection.
It's a charming town. I was born in Iowa, however, so I suppose I'm predisposed to liking the place.
posted by jal0021 at 11:58 AM on May 27, 2007
He may not have been gay, but his interests definitely walked the fence.
posted by ikahime at 12:02 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by ikahime at 12:02 PM on May 27, 2007
Pax Digita,
Thanks for the info! I did not know that was based on a true story. Very interesting stuff.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:09 PM on May 27, 2007
Thanks for the info! I did not know that was based on a true story. Very interesting stuff.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:09 PM on May 27, 2007
Never grokked the Wayne mythos until about two years ago, when I stumbled across "True Grit"
Yep, True Grit, that's my fave film of his. I'm a huge Kim Darby fan (starred in best star trek episode evar!) and they played their roles off each other really well, it was an endearing pairing.
posted by zarah at 12:15 PM on May 27, 2007
Yep, True Grit, that's my fave film of his. I'm a huge Kim Darby fan (starred in best star trek episode evar!) and they played their roles off each other really well, it was an endearing pairing.
posted by zarah at 12:15 PM on May 27, 2007
Well, I figure he didn't personally slaughter any Indians himself so I'll refrain from holding our nasty racist past against him for reading his lines. I seem to recall that his character was usually the level headed guy who would say a firm "Go on get" instead of killing people, though. What I do know is that his films captured the cowboy/pioneer spirit in a way that's really stuck with people around the world. I've found that a lot of non-Americans are FASCINATED by cowboys and the American West, and the one of biggest things they are drawn to is the straight-talking, loyal, tough as nails kind of frontier attitude John Wayne portrayed. I once overheard someone in Europe putting George Bush down saying, "He thinks he is a cowboy. He is no cowboy. He is a fool. John Wayne was a cowboy. John Wayne was a man." Amazing how even now some people feel they really know exactly who he was and what he represented, and see it as this thing other men can only aspire to be. The longevity of his image is fascinating to me. The man branded himself masterfully.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:22 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by miss lynnster at 12:22 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
And other people just think of him simply as a Republican asshole who was in a lot of propoganda films.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:23 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by miss lynnster at 12:23 PM on May 27, 2007
Why can't you be Pro-American and Anti-War.
Well, you could never be pro-American, anti-war, and be John Wayne.
The climatic tearjerker scene in The Green Berets famously rewrites geography by making the sun set over the South China Sea, as seen from land -- in other words, from the east. But then, the whole movie sorta felt like that.
posted by pax digita at 12:24 PM on May 27, 2007
Well, you could never be pro-American, anti-war, and be John Wayne.
The climatic tearjerker scene in The Green Berets famously rewrites geography by making the sun set over the South China Sea, as seen from land -- in other words, from the east. But then, the whole movie sorta felt like that.
posted by pax digita at 12:24 PM on May 27, 2007
psmealey writes 'I think Liberty Valence era Duke could have taken Chuck Norris at his peak.'
And by 'taken', you mean, of course, taken into his boudoir and ravished?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:53 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
And by 'taken', you mean, of course, taken into his boudoir and ravished?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:53 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
Well, I figure he didn't personally slaughter any Indians himself so I'll refrain from holding our nasty racist past against him for reading his lines.
posted by dirigibleman at 12:58 PM on May 27, 2007
"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them, if that's what you're asking. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."The man was a vile racist. He didn't kill any Indians himself only because he was born 50 years too late.
posted by dirigibleman at 12:58 PM on May 27, 2007
Hey, I never said he wasn't an asshole. Don't claim to know a thing about the man he truly was, myself.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:04 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by miss lynnster at 1:04 PM on May 27, 2007
Probably. Especially since he was an actor.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:12 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by miss lynnster at 1:12 PM on May 27, 2007
This is getting silly. I think we're ticking people off now.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:40 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by miss lynnster at 1:40 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:50 PM on May 27, 2007
I am. I blame John Fogerty.
posted by miss lynnster at 2:10 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by miss lynnster at 2:10 PM on May 27, 2007
John Wayne. One step above a wooden cigar indian in acting ability. Oh, and he was a fag too. I use the handle "john wayne" when I want to post some really virulent anti-patriotic words on forums that allow handles-on-the-fly.
posted by telstar at 3:07 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by telstar at 3:07 PM on May 27, 2007
... no, he wasn't gay.
Oh, please, miss l. What was "Rooster Cogburn" then, if not a thinly-veiled reference to his porn name Cock Hotrail?
posted by rob511 at 3:32 PM on May 27, 2007
Oh, please, miss l. What was "Rooster Cogburn" then, if not a thinly-veiled reference to his porn name Cock Hotrail?
posted by rob511 at 3:32 PM on May 27, 2007
I use the handle "john wayne" when I want to post some really virulent anti-patriotic words on forums that allow handles-on-the-fly.Why not Ed Anger?
posted by watsondog at 6:09 PM on May 27, 2007
What I do know is that his films [constructed] the cowboy/pioneer spirit in a way that's really stuck with people around the world.
posted by Matt Oneiros at 6:56 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Matt Oneiros at 6:56 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
My Favorite John Wayne reference is in "The Bird Cage", when Robin Williams directs Nathan Lane's drag queen diva character to be more masculine by walking more like John Wayne.
Nathan Lane then walks like John Wayne.
Robin Williams responds something like "I never realized John Wayne walked like such a gay man". Or something. It's hilarious.
Really it is.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 10:16 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
...films [constructed] the cowboy/pioneer spirit in a way that's really stuck with people around the world.
Like LOTR.
posted by taosbat at 10:20 PM on May 27, 2007
Like LOTR.
posted by taosbat at 10:20 PM on May 27, 2007
Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of film history and criticism has to know that The Searchers is the most influential film of all time. From the first google hit for "the searchers + influential."
Andrew Sarris on Ford and Wayne
But over the past three decades, it has gained the respect of numerous critics and filmmakers. A poll of international critics found that a majority cited the movie as one of their all-time favorite. Two of the Village Voice reviewers cited The Searchers as one of their ten favorite films. Andrew Sarris ranked the film fourth, preceded by Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons, Murnau's Sunrise, and Hitchcock's Vertigo. And Tom Allen placed the film at the head of his list, followed by Vertigo and another Wayne film, Hatari!
In the 1972 survey of Sight and Sound, several Wayne movies were mentioned among the best films of all times, but The Searchers was the most frequent choice.
Jean-Luc Godard on Wayne
Mention has been made of the popularity of Ford and Hawks Westerns in France. Jean-Luc Godard, a leader of the French New Wave and one of the most experimental filmmakers, whose leftist politics were diametrically opposed to Wayne's wondered: "How can I hate McNamara and adore Sergeant La Terreur, hate John Wayne upholding Goldwater and love John Wayne tenderly when abruptly he takes Natalie Wood into his arms in The Searchers."
This scene is often cited as one of the most memorable and touching in film history! Another noted French director, Francois Truffaut, liked The Searchers, but also admired Rio Lobo, which neither Hawks nor Wayne liked, as one of the ten movies in the l970s he would like to see again, for its "magistrate direction."
Hollywood's Young Directors
A whole generation of American directors was inspired by "The Searchers," including Paul Schrader, John Milius, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Michael Cimino.
*By 1980, John Milius said he had watched the movie at least 60 times.
*Scorsese and Paul Schrader cultivated the habit of revisiting Ford's movie at least once or twice a year. Schrader, the critic-turned director-screenwriter, admitted that his scenario for "Hardcore" (1979) was virtually a reworking of "The Searchers" plot. George C. Scott plays the Wayne role, a father obsessed with finding and rescuing his teenage daughter from prostitution. The urban scene of New York's pornographic world substitutes for the Comanche Indians. In the last reel of "Hardcore," Schrader betrays his hero's psychological makeup so that he can stage a climax that mimics "The Searchers."
*Spielberg had seen the film at least a dozen times, twice during the shoot of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Spielberg also paid homage to Ford and Wayne in his blockbuster "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982). In a funny and moving scene, the creature from outer space is watching television and is aroused by the seduction scene between Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in "The Quiet Man." Spielberg later offered Wayne a role in his war comedy "1941," which the star turned down.
Most of these directors have tried to incorporate elements and ideas and characters of The Searchers into their movies. The Searchers has inspired many directors and writers all of whom have acknowledge their great intellectual and cinematic debts to it. About a dozen American films, which are masterpieces in their own right, ranging from "Taxi Driver," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Deer Hunter," have used the same narrative premise: an obsessed and obsessive young man searching for something, to which goal he is willing to sacrifice his body and soul.
Individual sequences, thematic ideas (revenge) and visual motifs of "The Searchers" have appeared in Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" movies, Sam Peckinpah's "Ulzana's Raid," "The Wind and the Lion," "Dillinger," Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West," and George Lucas' "Star Wars" film series.
posted by vronsky at 10:24 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
Andrew Sarris on Ford and Wayne
But over the past three decades, it has gained the respect of numerous critics and filmmakers. A poll of international critics found that a majority cited the movie as one of their all-time favorite. Two of the Village Voice reviewers cited The Searchers as one of their ten favorite films. Andrew Sarris ranked the film fourth, preceded by Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons, Murnau's Sunrise, and Hitchcock's Vertigo. And Tom Allen placed the film at the head of his list, followed by Vertigo and another Wayne film, Hatari!
In the 1972 survey of Sight and Sound, several Wayne movies were mentioned among the best films of all times, but The Searchers was the most frequent choice.
Jean-Luc Godard on Wayne
Mention has been made of the popularity of Ford and Hawks Westerns in France. Jean-Luc Godard, a leader of the French New Wave and one of the most experimental filmmakers, whose leftist politics were diametrically opposed to Wayne's wondered: "How can I hate McNamara and adore Sergeant La Terreur, hate John Wayne upholding Goldwater and love John Wayne tenderly when abruptly he takes Natalie Wood into his arms in The Searchers."
This scene is often cited as one of the most memorable and touching in film history! Another noted French director, Francois Truffaut, liked The Searchers, but also admired Rio Lobo, which neither Hawks nor Wayne liked, as one of the ten movies in the l970s he would like to see again, for its "magistrate direction."
Hollywood's Young Directors
A whole generation of American directors was inspired by "The Searchers," including Paul Schrader, John Milius, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Michael Cimino.
*By 1980, John Milius said he had watched the movie at least 60 times.
*Scorsese and Paul Schrader cultivated the habit of revisiting Ford's movie at least once or twice a year. Schrader, the critic-turned director-screenwriter, admitted that his scenario for "Hardcore" (1979) was virtually a reworking of "The Searchers" plot. George C. Scott plays the Wayne role, a father obsessed with finding and rescuing his teenage daughter from prostitution. The urban scene of New York's pornographic world substitutes for the Comanche Indians. In the last reel of "Hardcore," Schrader betrays his hero's psychological makeup so that he can stage a climax that mimics "The Searchers."
*Spielberg had seen the film at least a dozen times, twice during the shoot of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Spielberg also paid homage to Ford and Wayne in his blockbuster "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982). In a funny and moving scene, the creature from outer space is watching television and is aroused by the seduction scene between Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in "The Quiet Man." Spielberg later offered Wayne a role in his war comedy "1941," which the star turned down.
Most of these directors have tried to incorporate elements and ideas and characters of The Searchers into their movies. The Searchers has inspired many directors and writers all of whom have acknowledge their great intellectual and cinematic debts to it. About a dozen American films, which are masterpieces in their own right, ranging from "Taxi Driver," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "The Deer Hunter," have used the same narrative premise: an obsessed and obsessive young man searching for something, to which goal he is willing to sacrifice his body and soul.
Individual sequences, thematic ideas (revenge) and visual motifs of "The Searchers" have appeared in Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" movies, Sam Peckinpah's "Ulzana's Raid," "The Wind and the Lion," "Dillinger," Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West," and George Lucas' "Star Wars" film series.
posted by vronsky at 10:24 PM on May 27, 2007 [1 favorite]
I finally saw The Searchers within the past year and found it over-hyped ... although perhaps it was so influential that it's hard to see its uniqueness now. But I honestly don't get including it in a top ten list.
On the other hand, I just saw Red River, and that movie lives up to its billing, IMHO.
posted by pmurray63 at 10:42 PM on May 27, 2007
On the other hand, I just saw Red River, and that movie lives up to its billing, IMHO.
posted by pmurray63 at 10:42 PM on May 27, 2007
Were we able to post images, I'd post the one of my mom at age 16 when she met John Wayne, during a visit to the Fort Apache reservation in Arizona where my mother was living at the time and near where Wayne owned some land.
Damn the no image rule.
posted by padraigin at 11:05 PM on May 27, 2007
Damn the no image rule.
posted by padraigin at 11:05 PM on May 27, 2007
I remember reading, a ling time ago (and I wish I could remember where I read it,) an anecdote from someone who heard John Wayne, at a party, making an impassioned defense of the idea to return the Panama Canal to Panama. It surprsied them, and thought it was interesting.
posted by Snyder at 11:43 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by Snyder at 11:43 PM on May 27, 2007
The Searchers is one of the greatest films ever made. Sill, John Wayne was so good in it because he was playing himself.
posted by dirigibleman at 11:51 PM on May 27, 2007
posted by dirigibleman at 11:51 PM on May 27, 2007
[Raoul] Walsh's advice to Wayne was to play his part "with a cool hand like you'd do on a football field." He also told him to "speak softly but with authority, and look whoever you're talking to right in the eye."It's always a little more complex and interesting in reality. While the first quote is by a guy who wrote a cornily entitled book about Wayne, still, the opinions of Raoul Walsh, John Ford, Lee Strasberg and Katharine Hepburn should matter, as they were people who knew more than a little bit about acting.
Indeed, actors who worked with Wayne always marveled at his ability to listen and look at the other players straight in the eyes. Right after the screen test, Walsh knew that "all Wayne had to do was to be himself. His personality, looks, and natural mannerisms were made in order for motion pictures."
For a whole decade, Wayne practiced his skills in mostly B-movies. He became known for his underacting, as Walsh noted: "Wayne underacts, and it's mighty effective, not because he tries to underact--it's a hard thing to do if you try--but because he can't overact."
Wayne subscribed to the naturalistic school of acting, as he explained: "I merely try to act naturally. If I start acting phony on the screen, you start looking at me instead of feeling with me. But you can't be natural; you have to act natural, because if you're just natural you can drop a scene."
The closest thing Wayne came to having a coach on the set was Paul Fix, a character actor of the silent era whom Wayne had met through Loretta Young. Fix recalled that "Duke was bright enough, but he didn't know how to prove it, what to do with his hands, and after three lines he was lost." Wayne and Fix worked out a set of signals: when Wayne was overdoing his famed brow furrowing, Fix would put his hands on his head. Fix was on the sets of Wayne's movies for years, but nobody ever noticed.
Wayne gave a lot of credit to Yakima Canutt, the distinguished stunt man, who taught him all of his tricks, including how to fall off a horse without getting hurt. "I took his walk and the way he talked, sorta low with quiet strength," Wayne said. The waffled forehead, cocked eyebrows, and swivel-hipped walk were all modeled on Canutt's techniques.
Wayne learned from Ford, his most frequent and favorite director, to let the other actors in his scenes guide his performance. He thought of himself as a reactor rather than actor: "I can react to a situation that has already been built up when I walk on, but I don't like to explain that situation myself."
For Wayne, the difference between good and bad acting, was "the difference between acting and reacting." He explained: "In a bad picture, you see them acting all over the place. In a good picture, they react in a logical way to a situation they're in, so the audience can identify with the actors." However, Wayne insisted that reacting was a valid form of acting, and harder work than given credit to. Screen acting was "a matter of handling yourself, comparable to sitting in a room with somebody you know." In film, "the audiences are with you--unlike the stage, where they're looking at you--so you've got to be careful to project the right illusion."
Over the years, Wayne mastered the art of natural acting, which also characterized the style of Cooper and Gable. John Ford these performers as "great actors, because they are the same off the screen as they are playing a part." As for Wayne's distinctive style, Ford said: "He's not something out of a book, governed by acting rules. He portrays John Wayne, a rugged American guy. He's not one of those method actors, like they send out here from drama schools in New York. He's real, perfectly natural."
Lee Strasberg, of the Actors Studio and Method acting, also believed that "good acting exists when an actor thinks and reacts as much to imaginary situations as those in real life. Cooper, Wayne, and Tracy, try not to act but to be themselves, to respond or react. They refuse to do or say anything they feel not to be consonant with their own characters."
Katharine Hepburn, who appeared with Wayne in "Rooster Cogburn", once described Wayne as an actor with an extraordinary gift. A unique naturalness, developed by movie actors who just happened to become actors." What impressed her about Wayne was his "unself-consciousness, and very subtle capacity to think and caress the camera--the audience, with no apparent effort." For Hepburn, Wayne and other actors of his kind developed a technique similar to that of well-trained actors from the theater, arriving at the same point from an entirely different beginning." Wayne's acting was based on "the illusion of a total reality of performance, to the point where the acting does not appear acting, and becomes as powerful as his personality. Hepburn thought "Wayne was a very, very good actor, in the most highbrow sense of the word, because you don't catch him at that."
John Wayne:
Prophet of the American Way of Life
"How can I hate John Wayne upholding [Barry] Goldwater and yet love him tenderly when he sweeps Natalie Wood into his arms in the last reel of The Searchers?" asked French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. His Wayne-bivalence is not mine. My feelings about an artist's politics rarely get in the way of appreciating his art.
Wrestling with the Duke
As for Godard, well, he makes the point. If John Wayne was playing himself in The Searchers, we saw where the better angels of his nature win out in that penultimate scene. Politics and his appearance in many crappy movies aside, his name and his acting grace a number of universally recognized classics of American film.
posted by y2karl at 6:57 AM on May 31, 2007 [1 favorite]
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posted by miss lynnster at 8:40 AM on May 27, 2007