John Wayne

By Ian Woolstencroft Wayne looks like he’s having a good time and with much of the film shot on location in Hawaii, it’s no wonder. From an acting point of view he seems uninterested but this isn’t a film about character it about making a political statement. Big Jim McLain makes Wayne’s The Alamo and The Green Bere...

By Ian Woolstencroft John Wayne made his final ten films between 1970 and 1976; eight of them were westerns with the other two being ill-advised attempts at the cop movie genre. The misjudged True Grit sequel, Rooster Cogburn (1975) followed before Wayne’s final film, The Shootist (1976). Let’s take a closer l...

Movie Review: Rooster Cogburn - Katharine Hepburn Centenary - Blogcritics

By Ian Woolstencroft The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) The ‘60s was Wayne’s decade for making fun films, even when not out-and-out comedies like McLintock! his westerns, with the exception of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, had a easy going sense of fun that is hard not to like. The War Wagon (1967)

By Richard Marcus Early military science fiction was close to the equivalent of watching The Green Berets staring John Wayne or some such equally jingoistic piece of patriotic propaganda. The stories weren't bad and the action was good, but everything had a my country, right or wrong sentiment, and you ju...

By Ian Woolstencroft If She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was Ford’s love letter to the US Cavalry then The Quiet Man fulfilled the same purpose for his spiritual home, Ireland. While Ford was born on US soil both his parents were from Ireland and it was clearly a place he felt great affection for. The Searchers (1956)

By Ian Woolstencroft The first film in John Ford’s famous cavalry trilogy saw Wayne in a secondary role with Henry Fonda playing Lt. Col. Owen Thursday, the film's central character. The story was inspired by the massacre at the Little Big Horn with Thursday based on George Armstrong Custer.

By Ian Woolstencroft The Big Trail (1930) It was another nine years before Duke got another chance to shine. Those years were filled with an endless list of forgettable B westerns and bit parts. By the time Stagecoach came around in 1939 Wayne was almost a seasoned pro. Stagecoach (1939)

By Ian Woolstencroft My Dad’s preference (with one exception, The Quiet Man) was always for the westerns though. John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo and El Dorado and his Oscar winning turn in True Grit were some of our favourites, as were the comedy westerns McLintock and North to Alaska (my M...

By Chris Beaumont She Wore a Yellow Ribbon The Searchers The Green Berets The Wings of Eagles Operation Pacific Stagecoach The John Wayne Western Collection: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, True Grit, Hindo, McLintock!, Big Jake, The Shootist, Rio Lobo, The Sons of Katie Elder, El Dorado)

By El Bicho This year we celebrate one hundred years of John Wayne, his life and his work. He is one of cinema’s greatest heroes and an American icon. In True Grit we get to see him shine in the role that won him an Oscar for his portrayal of Rooster Cogburn.

By Ian Woolstencroft This follow-up to True Grit sees Wayne reprising his Oscar-winning role as Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn six years after that western classic. The pairing of John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn should have been a recipe for cinema gold, but thanks to a less than original story and some o...

Opinion: John Wayne Centenary: The '70s - Big Jake, The Cowboys and The Shootist - Blogcritics

By Ian Woolstencroft US TV 24 Day 6: 5pm – 9pm" “Maelstrom” “Crossroads, Part 1” “Crossroads, Part 2” Blood Ties Blood Price" Criminal Minds Ashes and Dust" CSI “Empty Eyes” Heroes “Parasite” Lost “Enter 77” “Par Avion” “Exposé” Raines “Pilot” “Meet Juan Doe” The Riches “Pilot” “Believe the Lie” UK TV

By James Sligh The Searchers sends us into the wilderness, but not into darkness; the darkness we bring along with us, and that final sliver of light swallowed by darkness feels in some ways like a curtain pulled down on the Western. With the death of the traditional Western will come its rebirth in revisi...