Category: Western
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New York’s Christmas Symphony: Captivated by the 1994 Remake of “Miracle on 34th Street” – A Tale of Holiday Splendor
While in her prime as the Queen of Technicolor, Irish actress Maureen O’Hara was in one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made. It was when watching the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street that I truly fell in love with the enormity that is the holiday season and Christmas in America and in…
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A Journey Back to 1976 – Rick Lenz Reflects on John Wayne’s Last Movie, “The Shootist,” and Dispels On-Set Rumors
For the past 15 years, Duke had been struggling with severe health problems after having had a cancerous lung and some ribs removed in 1964. The Western legend would tenaciously work through action sequences, often relying on an oxygen mask he kept secret so as not to taint his macho cinematic image. By the time…
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The Struggles of Hondo: John Wayne’s Stormy Temperament and the Harsh Realities of Filming
Through his starring roles in westerns and war movies during the golden age of cinema in America, John Wayne became a cultural icon. His performances in the epic western The Searchers, as well as Rio Bravo, True Grit, and Red River, are probably what the actor is best known for, but Wayne also had a…
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‘How the West Was Won’ – A Cinematic Marvel Starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, and an All-Star Cast
There is no doubt that John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda are three of Hollywood’s greatest stars. They individually made many classics but rarely worked together. But did you know that there is a Western that the trio appeared in together? Although they didn’t meet onscreen, the threesome appeared together for the first and…
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John Wayne’s Unforgettable Pain: Despite Tragedies, Film Remains a Massive Failure Criticized by Both Contemporary and Modern Reviewers
Hollywood has given us many icons over the years, some considerably more likeable than others. John Wayne has always been one of the industry’s most controversial stars due to his incredibly racist and generally bigoted views. A leading man in many westerns, such as The Searchers and True Grit, Wayne came to represent all things…
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John Wayne’s Gentle Spirit Shines: The Surprising Harmony on the ‘Rio Lobo’ Set Despite Director’s Confrontation
John Wayne was incredibly kind to his Rio Lobo co-star, despite struggling with poor health on the set where director Howard Hawks punched leading lady Jennifer O’Neill. John Wayne had already remade 1959’s Rio Bravo, a film about a sheriff defending his office from outlaws, in 1966’s El Dorado. Yet Howard Hawks, who directed both…
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Iconic Filmmaker John Carpenter’s Passionate Ode to John Wayne: The Western Gem Remade Twice for Modern Audiences
There’s one John Wayne Western that director John Carpenter adores so much, he remade it twice himself. During a 2011 chat with Rotten Tomatoes, Carpenter namechecked several movies he called his “emotional favorites,” meaning they were the films he fell in love with as a child and inspired his love of movies. Among this list…
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Kevin Costner’s Western Mastery: Separating Fact from Fiction in the Iconic ‘Dances with Wolves.’
One of three Westerns to win an Academy Award for Best Picture (behind Cimarron and Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven), Dances with Wolves is one of those movies that you just have to experience. Shot between South Dakota and Wyoming, Costner’s directorial debut branded him a Western icon. Not only that, but it’s often been credited with…
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Lawrence Kasdan’s ‘Wyatt Earp’: A Story that Transcends the Chaos of Kurt Russell’s ‘Tombstone’ to Craft a 3-Hour Epic.
In the early 1990s, Kevin Costner, who was busily branding himself as an all-American hybrid of Gary Cooper and James Stewart, hooked up with “Glory” screenwriter Kevin Jarre to make “Tombstone,” an epic film about the legendary, real-life lawman. This would’ve afforded the ambitious Costner a connection to another red-white-and-blue big-screen icon, Henry Fonda, who’d…
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Step Into the Untamed Frontier with Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon’ – A Cinematic Odyssey Channeling the Intensity of ‘Dances with Wolves.
The actor/director previously told PEOPLE that Horizon is the “hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s exactly what I want to do” Kevin Costner is excited about his next Western project. The Oscar winner, 68, teased his upcoming multi-movie epic Horizon: An American Saga on Instagram Wednesday, saying he hasn’t “felt this way” since he…