Posted on 05/13/2011 4:14:05 AM PDT by rfreedom4u
I often wonder that if John Wayne were alive today, what would he think/do/say regarding the current events of the world. Not just the current regime in DC and Congress, but Iraq, Afghanistan etc....
You’re right on the John Wayne version being an all-around better TRUE GRIT than the remake.
It is a cliche that Glen Campbell can’t act but in reality-land he can act and he was right for the role.
When I was a kid I thought Glen Campbell was awful! But seeing it again - and then seeing the thoroughly miscast what’s-his-name made me realize that he wasn’t really that bad. He is very coached in his line readings (Jeff Corey - were you responsible for that?) but he was physically so right for the part - down to the lettuce for hair! The original is much closer to the book despite what Texans may think, lol.
I do know a con when I see one. And I see them all the time.
We are courted by blow-dried, focus-grouped, stage-managed, photo-opped, sloganeering, false-smiling, hand-clasping, back-slapping would-be citizens who say they feel what we do and understand our concerns and maybe sometimes they do, but all too often, it seems they feel little and understand less.
Superficiality gleams in their perfect teeth and scripted lines. They work hard to make style look just like substance. Yet they are vile beastly rottenheaded foolbegotten brazenthroated pernicious piggish screaming, tearing, roaring, perplexing, splitmecrackle crashmecriggle insane asses, practicing howling below-stairs with a brute of a singingmaster so horribly, that my head is nearly off.
I don’t hate the man. I have no emotion invested in him at all. He’s an actor my parents liked, that and nothing more.
I was reading a nonfiction book the other day and it briefly mentioned John Wayne attending a Hollywood version of a memorial service for a deceased star. From what I gather he was typical Hollywood. Slightly rude and stuck on himself. I think we let his movies paint a picture of him that isn’t true. I understand he was afraid of horses, too. But I still love his movies.
Ouch! LOL!
No ... I meant Ron and Nancy.
That’s cool, too. :-)
Baklava. Everybody loves baklava!
Just checked with my husband - a teacher of film in NYC. Never heard John Wayne was afraid of horses, lol! Certainly, given his masterful control of horses on film (watch his amazing work in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance! None of it possibly faked.) defy that urban myth. My only knowledge of the Duke comes from my brother - who thought he was very gracious.
I’m sorry that some folks think I’m “out of control” about John Wayne. Sadly, I thought freepers understood his value as a patriotic symbol and filmmaker. I was really out of touch. Luckily, my left-wing movie buff friends all acknowledge his greatness. Ironic, ain’t it?
“I know he is beloved and while I am sure he was a really good guy, as long as you weren’t married to him, his acting skills were awful.”
In many films, yes. He was capable of better, but rarely asked to do so. “The Cowboys” (http://www.amazon.com/Cowboys-Deluxe-John-Wayne/dp/B000O599WQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305318826&sr=8-1 $5.49 including shipping) is, IMHO, and example of good acting by the Duke.
Can I ask in what films he was awful? Just for the record.
“I understand he was afraid of horses, too.”
No. Asked in an interview if he rode horses for pleasure, he scowled and replied, ‘When I ride a horse, I want to be PAID’...still:
The Duke’s horse keeps special bond
Published in the Herald News 03/13/05
(This column, by John Whiteside, originally appeared on Jan. 16, 1985.)
Dollor’s ears twitch and then get alert when he hears that well-known voice. The horse looks around searching for the man behind that voice. He is looking for an old friend.
The 17-year-old chestnut gelding carried that man with that well-known voice on his back for many years. They were movie stars together.
Dollor, a long-legged quarter horse, made his movie debut in one of John Wayne’s finest scenes in one of the Duke’s best ever movies, “True Grit.”
Most John Wayne fans remember that scene at the very end. Rooster Cogburn’s other horse, Bo, had been killed when the old, fat, one-eyed marshal charged across the valley at four bad guys. Rooster got them, but they got Bo.
In the final scene, Rooster has found a new horse. Kim Darby’s character comments about the new horse. The marshal says that new horse can jump a four-rail fence.
And then with a sweep of his hat, John Wayne jumps his horse across the fence and the film ends with the horse and rider still in the air.
That was Dollor carrying the Duke, said Debra Keffeler of Midlothian, Texas. She’s now the proud owner of Dollor.
She said John Wayne first rode the horse in that move when Dollor was just a 2-year-old. The horse then was owned by a California movie production company that furnished horses for John Wayne movies.
“The Duke had an exclusive contract with them that no one could ride Dollor but him,” she said. “I think he liked the horse because their temperaments were a lot alike.”
“True Grit” was made in 1969. John Wayne made nine more Western movies after that, including “Chisum,” “Big Jake,” “The Cowboys,” “The Train Robbers” and “Rooster Cogburn.”
Dollor was in most of those films. He was mentioned specifically by name several times in the Duke’s last movie, “The Shootist.”
Debra said the Duke had “The Shootist” script rewritten so he could use Dollor’s name. That’s how much he thought of the horse.
She bought Dollor — “for a whole bunch of money” — about a year ago from an Iowa man. Dollor lives in a $65,000 barn with her nine other horses.
He’s in semi-retirement, content to munch on alfalfa hay and oats. But he still likes to go, she said. Dollor was used to traveling to all the Duke’s movie locations, she said.
But what he likes best of all is listening to the sounds in one of his old movies. Debra plays the old movies for him.
“He gets all excited when he hears the shooting and that voice,” she said. “Then the ears get alert, and he’s looking for John Wayne.”
http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=2283&page=2
“Can I ask in what films he was awful? Just for the record.”
No. I’ve seen ‘em and tried to forget ‘em.
In other words, you have no idea. As my old biology teacher wrote when I handed in my sloppy notebook for grading: why bother?
He would be, like, really old and stuff.
The horse listens to old JW movies and gets excited? A dog ....... maybe...... a horse? I don’t think so. LOL!
If you think every John Wayne movie was a classic, you are wrong. Go watch a hundred and get back with me...
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