Better known in Hollywood circles as “the Duke,” Wayne’s career stretched from the silent era of the late 1920s through film-making’s Golden Age and into the early beginnings of the American New Wave cinema in the 1970s.
He appeared in a total of 179 movies and television productions and was a top box-office draw for more than three decades, particularly in films he made under the direction of Hollywood legends Howard Hawks and John Ford.
The local film festival will lead off at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 8 with one of the Duke’s best – the 1956 Western epic The Searchers. In a critically-acclaimed role, Wayne plays a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece.
Reportedly Wayne’s favorite movie, the John Ford masterpiece co-stars Natalie Wood, Jeffery Hunter, Vera Miles and Ward Bond.
At 7 p.m. on Friday, May 12 the Utah Theatre will screen McLintock!, a rare comedy outing by the Duke.
Very loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the 1963 film memorably co-stars one of Wayne’s favorite leading ladies Maureen O’Hara along with Patrick Wayne, Stephanie Powers, Chill Wills and Yvonne DeCarlo.
The following evening (May 13) the Utah Theatre will present She Wore a Yellow Ribbon at 7 p.m.
The 1949 RKO movie was the second of John Ford’s “Cavalry Trilogy,” following Fort Apache and preceding Rio Grande. It features the Duke as an aging cavalry officer teaching young officers to replace him.
The film co-stars Victor McLagen, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., Joanne Dru and John Agar.
The festival’s next offering will be the adventure-comedy romance Hatari! on Monday, May 15.
Directed by Howard Hawks, the 1962 film features Wayne as the leader a group of professional game catchers in Africa. The film is widely acclaimed for its realism, because Hawks filmed the actors actually making vehicle-mounted captures of wild animals.
Hatari! co-stars Red Buttons, Hardy Kruger, Bruce Cabot and Elsa Martinelli.
The film festival continues on Wednesday, May 17 with the first — and arguable the best – of Howard Hawks’ films in what might be called the “Sheriff Saga Trilogy.”
In Rio Bravo, Wayne plays a small-town Western sheriff with his back against the wall fighting a wealthy and powerful local rancher.
The 1959 film teams Wayne at the top of his game with Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Ward Bond, Angie Dickinson and Walter Brennan.
Hawks returned to his Sheriff’s Saga nearly a decade later with El Dorado, staring Wayne and Robert Mitchum as an alcoholic sheriff desperately in need of the Duke’s help.
That 1968 film will be screened at the Utah Theatre on Friday, May 19.
The supporting cast of El Dorado included James Caan, Ed Asner and Christopher George.
Hawk’s final film on that theme – and the last movie he ever made — was Rio Lobo, a 1970 offering starring Wayne, Jennifer O’Neill, Chris Mitchum, Jack Elam and Victor French.
The Utah Theatre will offer Rio Lobo on Saturday, May 20.
Next on the film festival’s schedule is Big Jake, a 1971 film reuniting Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, on Wednesday. May 24.
The Duke plays O’Hara’s estranged husband who returns after a long absence to confront the kidnappers of his youngest son and the resentful opposition from his other offspring.
The film co-stars Richard Boone, Patrick Wayne, Christopher Mitchum, Glenn Corbett and Harry Carey, Jr.
On the occasion of Wayne’s birthday, the Utah Theatre will offer a free screening of original True Grit on Friday, May 26.
The 1969 film, based on Charles Portis’ western classic of the same name, features Wayne’s unforgettable Oscar-winning performance as Marshal Rooster Cogburn.
The supporting cast of True Grit includes Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper.
The finale of the John Wayne Film Festival on Monday, May 29 and Wednesday, May 31 will be The Cowboys.
What can you say about The Cowboys? Just that movie-goers will see why all true John Wayne fans hate Bruce Dern.
The supporting cast of the 1972 film includes Roscoe Lee Browne, Colleen Dewhurst and Slim Pickins.
The Utah Theatre is located at 18 West Center Street in downtown Logan.
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