Tag: Rio Bravo
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A Maverick’s Response: John Wayne’s Battle with a Beloved Western, Sparking the Birth of His Unique Version
To say that John Wayne was the de facto king of cinema during his heyday would be underselling just how safe and strong a box office draw the actor was. Known mostly for war movies and westerns, Wayne was also an outspoken individualist, American patriot, and conservative person, and that extended into his Hollywood activism.…
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Howard Hughes’ Lost Battle: The Oscar-Nominated John Wayne Western That Defied Suppression
Although John Wayne starred in many of the greatest Westerns of all time, Howard Hawks’ 1948 epic Red River stands chief among them. Although Red River featured stunning visuals that made it enthralling on an aesthetic level, the film was significant because of its darker analysis of capitalistic greed, toxic masculinity, and the inherent violence…
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John Wayne’s Co-Star’s Audacious Act: The Secret Stir Behind ‘The Searchers’
The Searchers was shot in Ford’s favoured Monument Valley, part of the Navajo territory on the Arizona/Utah state line, where temperatures during filming could reach heights of 49°C (120°F). Among the actors was Gone with the Wind and It’s a Wonderful Life’s Ward Bond, who played Reverend Captain Clayton in the Western. He was a…
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Reconciling with the Duke: The Heartbreaking Attempt to Mend Fences in John Wayne’s Final Days
John Wayne’s Rio Bravo remake El Dorado had him co-starring opposite Robert Mitchum, with whom Duke became firm friends on the 1966 movie. When the director of both films Howard Hawks wanted to make the film about a sheriff defending his office from outlaws for the third time, he hoped he could convince his starring…
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From ‘Rio Bravo’ to Raw Truths: Angie Dickinson Opens Up on Fame, Friendship, and a Seven-Decade Career
“Fair to middling” is how Angie Dickinson is feeling this morning as she talks about “Rio Bravo,” the 1959 film that made her a star. “Somebody who says they’re great at 90, you can figure out that they lie a lot.” It’s a line that could have come straight from Jules Furthman and Leigh Brackett’s…
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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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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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Untold Stories: The Shocking Episode of John Wayne’s On-Set Bullying During ‘Hondo’ Production
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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The Resonance of ‘Red River’: How John Wayne Redefined Himself in This Legendary Western
What Makes John Wayne’s Performance So Powerful in ‘Red River’? The complexity of John Wayne’s performance as Dunson echoes Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which was actually released in the same year (it was a good time to be a Western fan). With the gradual reversal of his role from protagonist…
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High Noon’ Vs. ‘Rio Bravo’: How Rivalry Created Two Of The Best Westerns
The 1950s saw the release of two of the most important westerns of all-time: Fred Zimmerman’s romantic morality tale High Noon in 1952, and Howard Hawks’ signature “hangout western,” Rio Bravo, in 1959. Both films are now regarded as classics, and you don’t have to look very far to see how they’ve influenced modern filmmakers.…