The Duke At 100

There aren’t manner die-hard Republican, card-carrying John Birch Society members whom I would allow to cross the threshold of my home, but I would make an exception for John Wayne.  Rabidly patriotic and fiercely conservative, Wayne would have been 100 today; Wayne died at 72 in 1979, the same year I was sent out in the adult world to make my way as a soldier in the US Army.  Most of the people in my office weren’t even born before he died.

He made a career of playing larger-than-life, hero bad-ass cops, soldiers, and cowboys.  I was always kind of partial to him because he started life in Iowa – in Winterset, as Marion Morrison.  Can you see a big, strong movie hero with a name like Marion?  I think the name change was a stroke of genius.  Into Hollywood he blew with his trademark swagger and voice that was unmistakable.

His stridently right-wing politics also made him a very divisive presence in the era of the turmoil caused in our country by our involvement in the communist witch hunts of the 50s and then during the Vietnam conflict of the 60s and 70s.  I remember watching “The Green Berets,” and listening to people at the house arguing about whether he was a sinner or a saint for making it with a very pro-war perspective.  Funny, though, when I watch that film now, it seems to be the quintessential anti-war movie, because the futility of it all is seems so very clear on the big screen.  I kind of wonder what he’d think about our current military situation.  The big thing I got from all of that is that he had the cult of personality to make a film like “Big Jim McClain” and the “Green Berets” to advance his own political agenda.

I didn’t like all his movies and his westerns I could take or leave for the most part, but there were a few I loved – like Fort Apache, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Searchers, Rio Lobo, Chisum, McClintock, and especially his last film, The Shootist.  I thought it was a fitting way to end a career – kind of like saying, “All those pretenders tried to take my throne before my time, and dammit, it ain’t happenin’–I’m going out my way.”

He also made some God-awful movies – let’s talk about “The Barbarian and the Geisha!.”  He never claimed to be a great actor though, thank goodness, because that would be easily argued and we might have missed out on a lot of entertainment – he was sort of a one-trick pony, but a smart pony that knew what his audiences wanted. 

But, one of my top 10 films is a John Wayne film – it was also a departure for him – but hey, it was a John Ford film, so I’m guessing he couldn’t resist – well, that an pairing up with the very lovely and sassy Maureen O’Hara – “The Quiet Man.”  As soon as I saw it, I decided I was moving immediately to the lush, green country of Ireland, getting a thatch-roofed cottage, a good, sturdy bicycle, a Guinness habit, and a Maureen O’Hara to court.  Well, seems I wasn’t allowed out after dark, so my trip was indefinitely delayed by a strict father.

 

Anyway, Duke–happy 100^th, Pilgrim.  And, in honor of that generation of American men (my father’s generation), who lived by his words…

Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much. ~ John Wayne