Tag: John Wayne
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Spielberg’s Cinematic Ritual: Unlocking the Enigma of John Wayne and John Ford Inspirations
The Indiana Jones franchise famously began as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas sought to pay tribute to the serials that inspired them in their respective youths, including Zorro, Buck Rogers, and Flash Gordon, to name three. Spielberg was also driven by his admiration for the James Bond movies, but a classic western from two genre…
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Turbulent Tinseltown: Aissa Wayne’s Revelations on the John Wayne-Clark Gable Clash
Very few actors in Hollywood history can compare to the might of John Wayne, a performer who was as much a cultural icon as he was a star of the silver screen. Making the western genre shine throughout the 20th century alongside such names as Clint Eastwood, Gary Cooper and James Stewart, Wayne remains a…
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A Western Like No Other: John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda’s Epic Collaboration
What Is ‘How the West Was Won’ About? How the West Was Won is an American fictionalized historical account of the period between the great westward migration and the establishment of law and order in the Wild West. The film follows three generations of the Prescott family across decades, spanning significant American history events, like…
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John Wayne’s Legacy Reshaped: Carpenter’s Bold Reinventions in Two Distinct Genres
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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How ‘Stagecoach’ Catapulted John Wayne to Stardom, Riding and Fighting His Way to the Top
I watched an early John Wayne movie on the Grit Network recently and found it awful. I didn’t see the start of it so I don’t know the title, but it had been colorized with an unnatural look. I didn’t expect much of the dialogue, but Wayne’s singing was simply horrible. He was serenading his…
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John Wayne’s Arizona Affection: Unraveling the Bond That Made the Desert State His Beloved Home
Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this story gave an incorrect year for John Wayne’s death. He died on June 11, 1979. All right, pilgrim, Hollywood may have been where Western movie icon John Wayne made his fame and fortune, but he clearly also left a mark – and perhaps a piece of his…
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True Grit’s Resurgence: The Western Genre Rides Again, Crossing $100 Million, and Bob Mondello’s Ultimate Frontier Experience
With True Grit crossing the $100 million mark at the box office, the Western, often given up for dead, appears to be back. Black hats, white hats, guns, a frontier code of honor, big-sky country — all have been Hollywood staples since at least 1903, when The Great Train Robbery sent gunslingers galloping across the…
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Rethinking Icons: Politicians Spearhead Efforts to Rename John Wayne Airport Amidst Racial Critique
The Democratic Party of Orange County passed an emergency resolution this week calling on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to change the name of John Wayne Airport. Submitted by Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, along with Chapman University professors Fred Smoller and Dr. Michael A. Moodian, the resolution “condemns…
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Brannigan’s Secrets: John Wayne’s Battle with Heart Issues and the Unlikely Appearance of Laurence Olivier
John Wayne’s last cop movie was the London-based Brannigan, where the exhausted veteran star struggled through production with a series of health problems. Having starred in 1974’s McQ, John Wayne played another tough cop in the 1975 action thriller, Brannigan, opposite Richard Attenborough. Set in London, the movie saw Duke’s Chicago detective Lieutenant Jim Brannigan…
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The Ultimate Western Antagonist: Lee Van Cleef, the Scene-Stealer Who Outshone Clint Eastwood
Move over Wayne and Eastwood — Lee Van Cleef is here to steal your scene! Sure, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood are practically synonymous with Westerns (and for good reason), but Van Cleef is the most under-appreciated and overlooked regular of the genre. His hawkish, piercing eyes and naturally intimidating demeanor make him an effortless…