In the dusty world of the films of the old west, there’s one leading man who possesses the sheer prowess to dominate all those who would come to take his mantle: the towering and inimitable John Wayne. With some of the most memorable star performances Hollywood has ever known, Wayne is a true icon of American cinema, and his professional legacy remains unscathed, even if his personal views have somewhat tainted his reception.
Making phenomenal appearances in classic movies such as Stagecoach, Red River, The Searchers and True Grit, the latter of which he finally won the Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ in 1970, and collaborating with John Ford on several wonderful occasions, John Wayne was an enduring icon of the American silver screen.
But as far as being a leading man, it all started for Wayne in the 1930 pre-code western movie The Big Trail, directed by Raoul Walsh. The film holds historical significance in the world of cinema, too, as it was the first movie to be shot in a widescreen format, which would eventually become the standard 70mm format.
Wayne starred in his first leading role as Breck Coleman, and the film details the journey a wagon train makes west on the Oregon Trail, exploring the difficulties the American frontier pioneers faced during the 19th century. There’s truly stunning cinematography that brilliantly captures the wide expanses of natural America.
The on-set experience proved to be wilder than Wayne had ever imagined possible, though, and he once compared his time on The Big Trail as akin to “alcoholic orgies”. The actor had arrived on the cast for a low price, seeing as he was relatively new to the acting scene, but the overall cost of the movie was rather vast.
Filmed on location across five states, the cast and crew had to travel over 2000 miles to complete the scenes, and Walsh himself encountered a series of problems on set, including many of the cast not speaking any English. The production was huge, and in the book John Wayne: A Giant Shadow, the actor admitted that it was “enormous and nothing like it had ever been tackled before”.
The pressure of making The Big Trail led to downtime featuring debauchery and disorder of the highest degree, with many of the actors being drunk most of the time, unable to bear the heat of the West Coast. “They and the screenwriter were plastered most of the time,” Wayne said. “Nights in Yuma were like alcoholic orgies.”
Still, Wayne used the opportunity to embolden his early career and impressed several audiences who saw the film, even if it was something of a box office bomb overall. Eventually, though, The Big Trail was reappraised and led to widespread critical admiration.
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