John Wayne
For such a macho guy, John Wayne was born with
the ludicrous name Marion Morrison. I wonder if his mother
put ringlets in his hair...? Oh, come on, it's funny... He
was given the stage name John Wayne by the director of The
Big Trail, which was John Wayne's first starring role. The
name John Wayne was decided during a discussion between the
director of the film, Raoul Walsh and the head of Fox Studios,
Winfield Sheehan, without John Wayne present, though they
did, apparently, raise his pay to $105 a week. That was in
1930 and it wasn't until 1939 when John Ford cast John Wayne
as the lead character, The Ringo Kid, in Stage Coach that
Wayne really hit the big time...
The rest, so they say, is the stuff of legends...
There are far too many classic John Wayne films to mention
- when I think of the hours of John Wayne films I have watched
in my lifetime, I think, Jesus! I have a huge emotional investment
in the guy, and then it occurs to me everyone reading this
has made the same emotional investment! ... He was an immense
character and he never even attempted to hide behind the character
he was portraying, he always played himself. Did that mean
he was a bad actor? Good question... He had an extraordinary
screen presence, and the fact I always knew I was watching
John Wayne added to my enjoyment... Come on, we always knew
he would win in the end, so we could relax and just watch
the story unfold. When you watch a John Wayne film you are
not required to think too hard, the plots are not going to
challenge you and you already know the ending... But if I
see that a John Wayne film is on TV, there's a damned good
chance I'm going to watch it.
As I said, there are just too many films that
deserve a mention here and if I was to mention every film
I'd end up writing a book... I'll leave you to your own memories
of John Wayne with my favourite memory: the scene in McLintock
where John Wayne chases Maureen O'Hara through the town in
her underwear. It is hilarious, with Maureen O'Hara at her
brilliant best, seemingly desperate to escape, but secretly
wanting to be caught as John Wayne demolishes everything in
his path to get to her and once he catches her he puts her
over his knee and spanks her infront of the whole town with
their daughter, played by Stefanie Powers, handing her father
the tools with which to spank her mother... It's all a little
bit kinky when you think about it... But what great cinema!
Tim Rees
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