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    tempomacdougall
    Jun 12, 2021

    Remember this

    in WildWest Football Board

    John Wayne, the iconic American film actor,, Trojan and :USC football player

     

    died on June 11th, 1979. While John Wayne is probably best known for his westerns like True Grit, The Shootist, and Fort Apache, we remember him best for his roles in The Alamo and The Green Berets, both of which reflected his patriotic, conservative leanings that opposed the UCLA teachings of socialism and marxism.



    23 comments
    23 Comments
    T
    thesquat
    Jun 14, 2021

    Well said...and the Duke was not an asshole in private....far from it.

    Like
    tempomacdougall
    Jun 14, 2021
    Replying to

    He lived next door to one of the branches of my family. He was quite kind and helpful. A family member did the art direction for Ford on the Searchers. He was 2nd set director. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Basevi


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    Waldorf
    Jun 17, 2021
    Replying to

    @thesquat I'm sure he wasn't. He may have been a complex individual, but I've heard he was quite gracious as well.

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    thesquat
    Jun 12, 2021

    Should have gotten an Oscar for The Searchers....left wing Hollywood bias.

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    Waldorf
    Jun 13, 2021
    Replying to

    @tempomacdougall Fine. But there's no reason it can't be done well.


    Sorry, The Green Berets was execrable as a motion picture. Nothing is going to change that.

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    firenze5
    Jun 13, 2021
    Replying to

    @Waldorf Wayne movies will be playing long after today’s stars are long forgotten

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    Waldorf
    Jun 13, 2021
    Replying to

    @firenze5 Most of them will be, but don't be surprised if a few of the classics won't be -- at least not on broadcast TV. For instance, just the other day they were airing The Searchers on Turner Classic Movies. The Searchers is one of the best Westerns ever made, and it features Wayne's best performance by far.


    The movie was preceded by a quick discussion between three TCM co-hosts. One of them, an attractive red-headed woman (I can't remember her name) was joined by Ben Markiewicz and some other guy. The redhead said that she wouldn't recommend The Searchers because the character of Ethan (played by Wayne) was outdated, racist, and not within the spirit of the movie, which she did find appealing with the exception of the Ethan character. Fortunately Ben M. and the other guy were able to explain that the very existence of Ethan was necessary because he created conflict within the movie that drove the entire narrative forward. Furthermore, racists like Ethan did exist in the Old West, and whether we like it or not they were the ones who were largely responsible for the West being settled. Lastly, Ethan was a complex character, and his views on Indians were not universally accepted by those closest to him. Ethan is destined to be alone, he has few close friends, if any, and his type is vanishing. The ending shot of The Searchers is one of the most iconic in all of movie history, foreign or domestic, and it speaks volumes about the movie and the Ethan character.


    I think too many people are confusing John Wayne the man with The Duke of the movies. Maybe Wayne really was a racist, maybe not. If so, who cares? Hell, think of all of the movie actors of today and yesteryear who were assholes in real life. I couldn't care less as long as they produced memorable performances in memorable movies. If we're going to disregard movies based on the actors, or some ugly ideas, or unfortunate truths (in this case, the Indians were defeated by people who didn't like them, and they didn't like the White Man either), WTF kind of movies are we destined to see? Boring, safe, woke bullshit.


    This isn't censorship, not yet. TCM can choose to never air The Searchers ever again, but I don't think they'd ever stoop that low. But this type of thing could be a slippery slope...could be. I do applaud TCM for having this discussion but deciding to air the show anyway, and ESPECIALLY for NOT editing it, like so many other institutions have done, particularly with public readings of various authors. We can't stop broadcasters from picking and choosing what they'll air, but once they start destroying negatives and masters and that type of stuff, we're fucked. That's why I collect physical media; I want to be able to see my favorites and not wait for someone else to decide if I can.


    To that point, I say continue to air The Green Berets. It may be a complete piece of shit, but obviously a lot of people like it. It's still a free country, brother. But beware. Don't be surprised if they eventually edit parts of that movie, or disregard it all together. There's a scene in that movie where a VC soldier is tortured and killed without due process. He had previously killed a Green Beret, whose lighter was found on the VC soldier. The VC was toast, end of story. Even a journalist vehemently objected to this, but he was told by Wayne's character to essentially fuck off, this is how it's done out here in the bush. And I'm sure it was. But don't be too shocked if any cinematic approximation of the truth is edited or disregarded because the "truth" hurts too much.

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    Coachemup!
    Jun 12, 2021

    Thank god we get to remember him through his movies. Red River, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, True Grit, The man who shot Liberty Valance and Rio Bravo were some of my favorites.


    gif

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    firenze5
    Jun 13, 2021
    Replying to

    @Coachemup! Two more lesser Wayne movies you should enjoy, Tall in the saddle and the 3 Godfathers. Add in Shepherd of the Hills too

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    firenze5
    Jun 13, 2021
    Replying to

    @Coachemup! 7 Sinners with Marlene Dietrich is a must for John Wayne fans

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    Coachemup!
    Jun 14, 2021
    Replying to

    @firenze5 Thanks. I also enjoy some of his final movies: The Cowboys, The Shootist, Big Jake and Cahill U. S. Marshall.

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    Waldorf
    Jun 12, 2021

    All politics aside, the movie The Green Berets was an enormous, steaming pile of shit. The Alamo was, well, whatever; nobody remembers it because cinematically it stood out in no way.


    The Duke could act pretty damned well when he had to (The Searchers), but he couldn't direct a turd out of his asshole.

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    Waldorf
    Jun 12, 2021
    Replying to

    @firenze5 Yes, I'm sure the movie was, in no small part, unfairly criticized due to its politics. I'm judging it based solely on its cinematic merits -- its narrative flow, and its overall effectiveness with the tools of the medium. I just think it's clumsy as hell and incredibly cheesy. The action scenes look like low-budget WWII movies about fighting "Japs."


    I also love how he and the kid walk into the sunset on the beach at Da Nang, meaning the sun set in the East. Being able to spin the Earth? Now, that's production value!

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    firenze5
    Jun 12, 2021
    Replying to

    @Waldorf I agree it wasn’t a great movie LOL

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    tempomacdougall
    Jun 13, 2021
    Replying to

    @Coachemup!


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    23 comments

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