Category: Western
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Unveiling 1968’s Legendary Onset Prank: How Rock Hudson Earned John Wayne’s Respect on The Undefeated
Back in 1968, having shot his Oscar-winning performance as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, John Wayne made another Western with Rock Hudson. The Undefeated followed the French Imperial intervention in Mexico during the 1860s and was loosely based on a Confederate General’s real escape south of the US border after the American Civil War. Originally…
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From Cancer Surgery to The Shootist: John Wayne’s Relentless Struggle with Health, a Cinematic Odyssey
John Wayne suffered from ill health for the last 15 years of his life, being hospitalised for two weeks with influenza on his last movie The Shootist. At one point, doctors were even unsure if they would allow Duke to complete his final picture, in which he played an old gunslinger with cancer opposite James…
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Uncover John Wayne’s Surprising Choice for His ‘Worst’ Film – Dive into the Trailer for Jet Pilot
Known as one of the very best actors in American cinema, creating such classic movies as The Searchers, True Grit and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the legacy of John Wayne marks him as one of the most definitive Hollywood stars of the era. Sharing his limelight only with the likes of James Stewart,…
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Fading Legend: The Untold Story of John Wayne’s Final Movie and Its Close Call
John Wayne suffered from ill health for the last 15 years of his life, being hospitalised for two weeks with influenza on his last movie The Shootist. At one point, doctors were even unsure if they would allow Duke to complete his final picture, in which he played an old gunslinger with cancer opposite James…
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Clint’s Handsome Rides and 600 Spaghetti Surprises: The European Western Revolution
In the 1960s a new subgenre of Western movies emerged. These were low-budget films, collaborated with Italian and German directors, and filmed in Spain and sometimes Southern Italy. Due to their place of origin, they were crudely dubbed “Spaghetti Westerns” by American critics and “Macaroni Westerns” by the Japanese. Most of these movies were originally…
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Clint Eastwood’s 20-Year Reflection: Clint Eastwood’s Unforgivable Delay in Crafting ‘Unforgiven’
Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood’s magnum opus, continues to stand the test of time as one of the finest films in the history of cinema. The picture, which is credited for ending the romanticization of the Western, as well as subverting the genre on its head, had a lot of things going for it. It was more…
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From B-Movies to the Open Sea: John Wayne’s Journey from Poverty Row to ‘The Long Voyage Home’
John Wayne had finally broken free of Poverty Row B-flicks as the lead of John Ford’s classic Western “Stagecoach” when he jockeyed for the lead in the filmmakers 1940 seafaring drama “The Long Voyage Home.” Like “Stagecoach,” this World War II-set yarn about a tramp steamer wending its way from the West Indies to Baltimore…
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Duke’s Right-Hand Men: Ranking John Wayne’s Top 10 Male Co-Stars in Film History
This article lists my favourite top 10 actors who have appeared opposite John Wayne, in ascending order. All of these actors have, at one time or another, appeared second in the cast list after John Wayne. Dan Dailey | The Wings of Eagles (1957) In The Wings of Eagles, Dan Dailey, as ‘Jughead’ Carson, plays…
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John Wayne’s Candid Take on Kirk Douglas and a Memorable Veranda Confession
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Kirk Douglas established himself as a genuinely titanic force in American cinema. With a chin sharper than a chef’s knife and eyes that blinded those who dared to look deep into them, Douglas transcended the very role of the movie star and became a force of artistic nature in the…
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True Grit’s Resonance: John Wayne’s Defining Performance and Unforgettable ‘Best Scene’
Throughout the 20th century, John Wayne burned himself into the minds of America with remarkable portrayals of the cowboy archetype. A true hero of the films of the old west, Wayne established himself as an actor who could consistently deliver the acting goods, whether firing a rifle from atop his horse or taking care of…