Wayne was playing that part with toungue firmly in cheek. Watch the great films he made for John Ford and Howard Hawks and then compare them to True Grit. It’s not a great film by any means. Fun but that’s about it. The only segment in “How the West Was Won” that wasn’t expendable was the John Ford one.
Still wrong, I’m afraid. You’re confusing self-parody with great good humor - and the Duke has it in spades in this one. It is not a perfect movie. It has two bad performances. Glen Campbell was cast in the old-fashioned notion that he would bring in the teenagers - just like Wayne westerns featured Ricky Nelson and other teen idols. I don’t know how Kim Darby fell into it. But it has the Duke, Robert Duvall, Strother Martin (brilliant!), Jeff Corey and even Dennis Hopper as an unwashed villian who made it soar. The Duke deserved his Oscar.
How the West Was Won is a classic. I was lucky enough to see it in Cinerama as a kid and later on was surprised how good it was on the small screen. Good story, good script, good actors, good directors and brilliant cinematography and a magnificent score by Ken Darby, I believe (not Kim!).