Books on Duke- Past Discussion (Archive)

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  • Let’s try to list all the books published about JW here y’all. I’d like to give you a jump start. Please add and mention those I don’t know – yet. I hope the bits of informations I added along with personal opinions will help you decide if you want to purchase them yourself. Let’s try to list everything that can be placed on a bookshelf – to add the magazines would go too far I guess (could be another topic in the future). I’ll list every original release (also the ones not done in the US), but not the translations of US-books in foreign countries even though they sometimes differ.


    This might already look like a long list, but please check it, and add. Don't forget to mention foreign books, since we have members from all around the globe here. Please, let's stick to listing the books in this topic so it can really serve as a guide to the written word about JW. thanks.


    DUKES BOOKS: Discussion


    Duke's Books
    Duke's Movie Books
    Duke's Comics and Annuals
    Books: Original Stories on Duke's Movies
    John Ford Books
    John Ford Movie Books
    Books: On Duke's Directors
    Books: On Pals Of The Saddle

  • THIS IS ITDO'S ORIGINAL LIST


    BOOKS ABOUT JW


    ON BOARD WITH THE DUKE by Minshall & Sharon
    The skipper of the Wild Goose and other mates decided – years after Wayne’s passing – to publish the pictures they took back then and write the story of Wayne’s yacht. While the pictures are certainly very private – and you’ll look at them with the guilty pleasure that the Wayne family probably didn’t expect to find them in a book – the text is somewhat not up to the importance of the pictures. You’ll find out that one of the mates made Duke a drink of protein and Wayne found it gave him energy – those are bits of information you’ll soak up of course – but then they’re not that important – are they? The book’s a companion piece with the VHS documentary with the same title, and home movies made by the same mates (and again, the same guilty pleasure you might experience watching private things like that)



    JOHN WAYNE by Berndt Schulz
    A big scale German publication. Certainly worthwhile for the beautiful reproduction of the photos. But the text will get your ears red. One wonders why Schulz ever set out to do a book about the man when everything he writes is either inaccurate in historical fact or just meant to hurt the Wayne image. One of the guys that cashes in on account of Wayne’s numerous fans abroad – but at the same time tries to be smart in writing about this icon he doesn’t understand.


    JOHN WAYNE – A TRIBUTE by Norm Goldstein
    Just what the title says – a Tribute. Nice Book about career and private life with Foreword by Jimmy Stewart.


    JOHN WAYNE – LE DERNIER DES GEANTS
    French publication done in tribute right after his passing, good photos


    JOHN WAYNE – LE DERNIER GEANT by Francois Pascal
    Also a nice French tribute book.


    JOHN WAYNE – A GIANT SHADOW by C. McGivern.
    Notable perhaps because it’s probably the first book about JW written by a woman. Only a few pictures. Short foreword by Steven Spielberg (who wanted JW to play the General in “1941”, a part eventually played by Robert Stack)


    JOHN WAYNE – AMERICAN by Randy Roberts & James Olson
    Hefty biography that covers a lot of ground


    JOHN WAYNE – ACTOR, ARTIST, HERO by Richard D. McGhee
    Another kind of biography: this author tries to look at the Wayne image in terms of fable, tragic heroes, romantic heroes and the sort. Sometimes too analytic. But why not.


    JOHN WAYNE – MY LIFE WITH THE DUKE by Pilar Wayne
    The memories of JW’s widow. Lots of insights of course in the private man John Wayne. Always interesting that the people that are the closest to stars and write books often mix up the facts about the films. Probably we notice because the fans are the real scholars – and to his next of kin he’s not a movie star on which you can have a trivia contest but, well – their next of kin. Interesting for example that Pilar writes about the infamous incident when Robert Mitchum behaved so badly – they say he threw somebody in the sea – he had to leave the picture Blood Alley and Wayne had to put in to save Batjac’s interests. So many years later she seems to be still angry at Mitchum (Wayne had to cut short his honeymoon to do Mitchum’s part) when it was long since cleared that Mitchum wasn’t to blame at all.


    JOHN WAYNE – MY FATHER, by Aissa Wayne
    An interesting look through the eyes of the daughter.


    DUKE – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN WAYNE by Ronald Davis
    Solid bio.


    JOHN WAYNE – THE ACTOR, THE MAN, by George Bishop
    Another bio.


    DUKE – THE JOHN WAYNE ALBUM, by Boswell & David
    Handsome publication, great print, maybe the nicest of the “tribute” books that came to market in 79, mainly to cash in after JW’s death (I mean, why didn’t they honor him in 1978?)


    DUKE – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN WAYNE, by Shepherd, Slatzer and Dave Grayson
    Maybe the first bio in which somebody participated who actually KNEW Wayne first-hand, his long-time make-up-man Grayson


    THE JOHN WAYNE STORY, by George Carpozi
    One of the first bios, written when JW was still alive, but by some guy who didn’t like him too much, and, as he claimed, he had reason to. Oh hell. Duke just shook him up a little at some time. Do you have to go and write a book about it? Published first in 72, and then in an extended version after his death. Yes – to cash in!


    SHOOTING STAR, by Maurice Zolotow
    Published in 1970, Zolotow was the first biographer to sit down and talk at length with JW – an advantage pretty much no biographer had afterwards


    DUKE, THE STORY OF JOHN WAYNE, by Mike Tomkies
    Bio published in 1971


    DUKE – A LOVE STORY, by Pat Stacy
    Written by someone who seemed to really have loved the man, not the legend.


    JOHN WAYNE, by Ferrari
    Small French tribute publication but “nice to have”


    JOHN WAYNE – IN THE CAMERA EYE, by Sam Shaw
    If you want to see the private man JW, with his kids, with his wife, at his desk, between shots (lots of Alamo pictures here) AND if you’re interested in the art of photography: Sam Shaw captured it beautifully.


    JOHN WAYNE, by Allan Eyles
    One of the standard works about the importance and the meaning of his films.


    THE COMPLETE FILMS OF JOHN WAYNE, by Zmiewsky and Ricci
    First edition done in 1970, when the True Grit Oscar brought a new interest to JW’s career, next edition (as “The COMPLETE Films of…”) came after his death. Probably the first time somebody took the time to count the films and assemble stills to each and every one of them. Still considered to be the definite list – although in the meantime many silent films in which JW participated, sometimes as a crowd extra – aren’t mentioned here.
    The German edition JOHN WAYNE UND SEINE FILME by editor Joe Hembus was even larger because this well-known author added more info.


    DUKE – WE’RE GLAD WE KNEW YOU by Herb Fagen
    A collection of direct interviews with his co-workers. Actually, the concept looks very familiar to the books Tim Lilley did years before this one, but always in limited number and available just to the fans:


    CAMPFIRE CONVERSATIONS, by Tim Lilley
    Four beautiful books with first-hand-interviews with the Co-Workers, especially those stalwarts who are seldom talked about: the stuntmen. Published in limited numbers. You’ll still get some directly at the editor, Tim Lilley.


    THE TRAIL BEYOND
    An annual publication with which Tim Lilley will top his campfire series, 4 books so far, and the first one has sold out (can anybody get me one, please?)


    JOHN WAYNE – LE COW-BOY E LA MORT by Eric Leguèbe
    French author rounds up a great number of famous people (and for a change, people who did not know JW personally, like James Cameron and Ridley Scott) who tell in which ways JW was of influence.


    THE OFFICIAL JOHN WAYNE REFERENCE BOOK by Charles Kiesalt
    An amount of information of trivia only a fan can assemble.


    JOHN WAYNE – AN AMERICAN LEGEND, by Roger Crowley
    A book done by a fan who also gives credit to the Wayne fans, memorabilia, conventions, locations.


    JOHN WAYNE’S AMERICA – THE POLITICS OF CELEBRITY by Garry Wills
    Maybe the book JW-fans love to burn. True, Wills set out to look behind the image. And he did some research solid as a rock. Sometimes we would love to print the legend. But then you always get the feeling he did it in the first place to hurt the icon, not just to bring out the truth.


    THE JOHN WAYNE MOVIES TRIVIA BOOK
    Harmless fun. Not photos, but pencil drawings.


    THE ULTIMATE JOHN WAYNE TRIVIA BOOK, by Alvin Marill
    Ditto.


    JOHN WAYNE – THE ALL-AMERICAN HERO, by Mario DeMarco
    Written by a well-known author in western-circles, he’s especially interested in the B-movies.


    THE JOHN WAYNE SCRAPBOOK, by Lee Pfeiffer
    A fan lists the films he considers the best, as well as the JW “turkeys”. Good info on the side about memorabilia.


    JOHN WAYNE
    This Japanese publication has to be one of the great JW books – even though most of us won’t be able to read it. A hefty book with great, clear, and sometimes rare photographs of his films.
    This is mostly about the photographs, so who cares about the reading.


    JOHN WAYNE, by Alan G. Barbour
    One of the first to analyze what the films meant in film history, often quoted. Published in 47. Good photos all the way.


    DUKE – THE REAL STORY OF JOHN WAYNE, by Jean Ramer
    The biographers will soon run out of titles for their books.


    JOHN WAYNE, by Anton Giulio Mancino
    Handsome German publication if you look just at the pictures but highly inaccurate if you go further and read the text.


    THE DUKE – A LIFE IN PICTURES, by Wagner
    Large-scale picture book, don’t bother to read the inaccurate text.


    JOHN WAYNE… THERE RODE A LEGEND
    Hefty! Great! The only book in which the late Michael Wayne participated. It’s not cheap, but, hell it’s worth every dollar. You knock out a buffalo with that one.


    JOHN WAYNE, by Dureau/Christophe L.
    Great French book on large canvas, just hundreds of photographs.




    BOOKS RELATING TO JW-FILMS


    STAGECOACH by Richard J. Anobile
    Before everybody had a VCR this was the book to have – and it’s still wonderful: the whole film in photographs, every scene of it, along with the dialogue, and a text about the making of the classic.


    IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE QUIET MAN by Gerry McNee
    That’s what you want to call a labour of love. A filmfan who goes and writes a book about everything to know about the making of this classic. You should read it before you visit Ireland – it’ll help you along a great deal. Great photos, sometimes provided by the towns-folk themselves.


    JOHN WAYNE: AMERICA, WHY I LOVE HER
    The companion piece of JW’s famous record.


    JOHN WAYNE – A NOVEL, by Dan Barden
    Surprise! This is not a John Wayne bio, the story is a fictional one dealing with the private live of John Wayne, and, as controversial books go, sometimes with the private PARTS of JW.


    COWBOY MOVIE POSTERS by Bruce Hershenson
    Featuring hundreds of full-color movie posters from silent films to present-day westerns. Some of JW’s beautiful B-movie posters are in it. If you are into the art of movie-posters and especially westerns, that’s the one.


    CANDID COWBOYS by Neil Summers
    The longtime stuntman and co-worker of JW, Neil Summers, assembles an astonishing number of candid fotos: from JW to Clint Eastwood, you’ll see the cowpokes relaxing between shots.


    CANDID COWBOYS, VOLUME 2
    Same concept, other photos. A couple of really-really rare photos of JW on the set of The Big Trail (hey, he looked so confident!)


    MOVIES OF THE FIFTIES, by Lloyd and Robinson
    Pays tribute to The Searchers


    MOVIES OF THE SIXTIES, by same authors
    Pays tribute to JW status in the sixties


    LIFE GOES TO THE MOVIES
    The best pictures the LIFE-photographes took of JW. After this we know why the LIFE photographers were considered the best.


    THE ALAMO
    The souvenir book Batjac published in several versions (long, short, soft- and hardcover, and in variations overseas), with a personal word by JW and background stories. Other hardcover souvenir books: HATARI, THE LONGEST DAY, CIRCUS WORLD, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD.


    A NEWS RELEASE: JOHN WAYNE’S THE ALAMO
    The infamous News Release Russell Birdwell had sent to the press when the film was promoted. News Releases are generally just a couple of pages long, with poster art and articles to use by the press – but this one was so overblown it became a 186-page-BOOK (one page for every Alamo defender). It will sell at Ebay for more than 100 bucks – hard to find. If you’re thinking of buying one, do it now – prices are going through the roof.


    JOHN WAYNE’S THE ALAMO by Clark & Andersen
    The monumental task of researching every step of the making of the epic, as well as the restoration, along with many beautiful pictures.


    ALAMO MOVIES by Frank Thompson
    Everything you ever wanted to know about the Alamo films from the silents to the IMAX-presentation (for example: they used the same coat on Laurence Harvey’s Travis as in the later IMAX film). Very good research and real rare photos.


    ALAMO – JOHN WAYNES FREIHEITSEPOS, by Andrea Rennschmid
    German publication, uses German lobby-cards but not too much research here.


    LA PRISONNIERE DU DESERT, by Jean-Louis Leutrat
    Over-analytical French publication about the meaning of The Searches in metaphysical ways: the scalping of Scar compared to the beheading of the Medusa. Tough stuff.


    THE QUIET MAN – MOVIES MADE IN IRELAND
    Small book you might want to buy just as a souvenir when in Cong, Ireland.


    THE QUIET MAN – QUIZ 1000, by Des Byrne
    Kinda different trivia book which you’ll probably get only in Ireland: Questions you might be able to answer when you’ve seen the film about a 1000 times (and some of us are almost there, no?)


    STAGECOACH, by Edward Buscombe
    Analyze this! A scene by scene analysis.


    STAGECOACH
    The complete film script with added information for film scholars.


    TRUE GRITS, by Lee Pfeiffer and Michael Lewis
    All right. This is a cook-book, using the titles of Wayne-films for receipts. Like “Cahill’s United States Mushrooms”. Those are NOT receipts for menus Walter Brennan cooked up at the chuckwagon, they are in no way related to the films. Oh well. At least there are some pictures.


    JOHN WAYNE PAPERDOLLS
    OK. There’s JW in his underwear and you cut out costumes from his films to dress him. Never figured that one out.


    THE FALL GUY, by Chuck Roberson
    The biography of Wayne’s longtime double is just loads of fun. This guy doesn’t care about analyzing the films he helped make – he rather remembers the poker games, the women folks, the fights on the sets. It’s out of print so if you come across one, grab it.


    STUNTMAN, by Yakima Cannut
    Yes, Yak earned his money as a stuntman, he really started out with JW in the serials. So we won’t complain about the rather stiff writing of his biography – it’s great insight.


    HOW TO MAKE A JEWISH MOVIE, by Melville Shavelson
    The Director of the ill-fated Cast a Giant Shadow reveals what went wrong: Everything! This has to be the funniest book on filmmaking. The only one he doesn’t make fun of is Wayne who helped him produce this thing – and got burned again (Shavelson told him: “Duke, this is like the Alamo in Israel!” to get him interested). Kirk Douglas didn’t like Shavelson’s accounts (sure, he looks like the baddie!) – in his own biography he got some payback when he said a man more Jewish than Shavelson would have made a better picture.





    BOOKS RELATING TO THE WESTERN GENRE (so JW is referred to)


    THE MAKING OF THE GREAT WESTERNS
    Interesting background about the making of classics from Stagecoach to The Wild Bunch.


    WESTERN-KINO, by Roloff and Seesslen
    German-published, very analytical, uses good illustrations, such as lobby-cards.


    GREAT HOLLYWOOD WESTERNS
    A book so monumental one has to buy a new book-shelf along with the book. Great photographs.


    WHERE GOD PUT THE WEST, by Bette Stanton
    Deals with films made in the Moab, Utah, territory. Can help you find locations.


    A PICTORAL HISTORY OF THE WESTERN FILM, by Everson
    A standard book, published when the western wasn’t dead yet.


    THE WEST THAT NEVER WAS, by Tony Thomas
    Author points to films which should not go unnoticed, among them Wayne’s “Born to the West”


    CIVIL WAR CINEMA, by John Cassidy
    Deals with Gone With The Wind, Red Badge of Courage, Horse Soldiers and others


    THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE WESTERN MOVIE, by Jay Hyams
    Well-illustrated


    COWBOY MOVIES, by Norman Richards
    For beginners.


    WESTERN MOVIES, by Walter C. Clapham
    Takes a look at some that mostly go unnoticed.


    THUNDER IN THE DUST, by Hamilton
    The most beautiful photographs taken during the shooting of some JW westerns and others, reveals some movie-making techniques.


    LEGENDARY WESTERNS, by Peter Guttmacher
    This is fun if you love the western.


    THE WESTERN, by Phil Hardy.
    400 pages A-Z encyclopedia. Has some good points.


    WESTERN-LEXIKON, by Joe Hembus
    Standard encyclopedia, the first ever issued in Germany, covers a lot of ground, and actually more than the US encyclopedia.


    A PICTORAL HISTORY OF WESTERNS, by Parkinson
    Good choice of pictures.


    LE WESTERN, by Brion
    Oui, they don’t come any better than this big French book. Uses original film cells as illustrations. Le French, they really love the cinema, n’pas?


    THE WESTERN READER
    Dives deeply. Psychoanalyzes The Searchers, for instance. Interviews with Clint and Anthony Mann.

    THE COWBOY IN ART
    Relates to the icon of the US cowboy in paintings (such as Olaf Wieghort’s who painted the ones we enjoy in the El Dorado title sequence). John Wayne wrote the foreword to this book.



    BOOKS RELATING TO THE WAR FILM (so JW is referred to)


    THE GREAT WAR FILMS, by Lawrence Quirk
    Handsome pictures, good read.


    VIETNAM ON FILM, by Adair
    Takes a look at Green Berets


    HOLLYWOOD GOES TO WAR, by Koppes
    How Hollywood worked in the war effort


    WAR MOVIES, by Garland
    A-Z to the war movie genre


    PROJECTIONS OF WAR, by Thomas Doherty
    Deals with the importance of films as propaganda.


    VIDEOHOUND’S WAR MOVIES, by M. Mayo
    Describes every war film available. Enjoyable trivia.


    A PICTORAL HISTORY OF WAR FILMS, by Clyde Jeavons
    The whole story of the genre.


    WAR MOVIES, by Jay Hyams
    The whole story of the genre.




    BOOKS ABOUT WAYNE’S DIRECTORS (so JW is referred to)


    JOHN FORD, by Peter Bogdanovich
    One read is not enough. Bogdanovich is of course now a filmmaker in his own right. His visit to Ford in Monument Valley and his long interview is now legendary.


    JOHN FORD, by Joseph McBride and Michael Wilmington
    Will give you lots of insight


    PAPPY, THE LIFE OF JOHN FORD, by Dan Ford
    Written by his grandson. A must.


    JOHN FORD INTERVIEWS
    Ford in his own words: So he DID give interviews. About two dozen of them.


    COMPANY OF HEROES, by Harry Carey jr.
    In my opinion, not only the best book about Ford, it’s also one of the best about Wayne as well. The long-time member of Ford’s Stock company tells it all. And it’s so much fun.


    JOHN FORD
    Published by the French Cahiers de Cinema, which are of course the movie critics who started to look at films differently in the Fifties, so men like Budd Boetticher could be discovered as cult directors. They analyze Ford at length. Good photographs.


    JOHN FORD, THE MAN AND HIS FILMS, by Tag Gallagher
    Considered to be the man who knows Ford’s work the best. I once attended a screening of Ford’s documentary “Battle of Midway” and Callagher asked us to see it twice the same evening. He knows his stuff. Beware: this is written from the perspective of a film professor, not from a man who loves Ford and wants to tell about this love.


    ABOUT JOHN FORD, by Lindsay Anderson
    Now he is the contrary to Callagher – a film student who admires Ford for what he is: Cinemas greatest poet. Anderson met Ford several times.


    THE WESTERN FILMS OF JOHN FORD, by J.A. Place
    Deals with every single Ford western, beautifully illustrated, interesting points.


    THE NON-WESTERN FILMS OF JOHN FORD
    The companion piece, by same author.




    HOWARD HAWKS, by Robin Wood
    Standard work, often quoted from.


    HAWKS ON HAWKS, by Joseph McBride
    The Best – Hawks gives a long interview, very much like Francois Truffaut’s famous interview with Hitchcock.


    HOWARD HAWKS, STORYTELLER, by Gerald Mast
    Interesting points.


    HOWARD HAWKS, by Noel Simsolo
    Nothing new here.


    JOHN HUSTON, AN OPEN BOOK
    His biography. He himself couldn’t figure out quite right what the hell went wrong with Barbarian and the Geisha. An interesting life to read about.


    HOLLYWOOD TRAILBOSS, by Burt Kennedy
    Kennedy’s biography, lots of funny stories.





    ORIGINAL STORIES (books JW films are based on)


    THEY WERE EXPANDABLE, by W.L. White
    One of the first books published in WWII dealing with the real people on the front, the basis of Ford’s film and Spig Wead’s script. Highly interesting and very well written. There was another printing in 1945, using pictures from the film, very desirable.


    THE LONGEST DAY
    Cornelius Ryan’s, who later wrote the screenplay, monumental task to research D-Day.


    THE SHOOTIST
    By Glendon Swarthout. A modern classic.


    THE SEARCHERS
    By Alan LeMay. One of the greats.


    WAKE OF THE RED WITCH
    By Garland Roark. The first edition was used in the trailer of the film.


    THE GREEN BERETS
    By Robin Moore. Wayne found this story before it was published. But then, the screenplay is a world apart from Moore’s combat look.


    HONDO
    By Louis L’Amour. Just one of the great westerns. Actually, L’Amour published this first as a short story, A GIFT FROM COCHISE (which is also a great story). Then James Edward Grant made it into the screenplay. And only THEN, L’Amour wrote HONDO.


    THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
    By D.M. Johnson. Complex story.


    THE WAR WAGON
    By Clair Huffaker. Same author, done in 1957, but quite different than his own screenplay 10 years later.


    WAR PARTY
    By James Warner Bellah. Re-wrote it to FORT APACHE. In the original, it is the Cohill character who really hides the truth about Thursday’s death (who shot himself!)


    THE QUIET MAN, by Maurice Walsh
    This and other short stories help you make a transition to Ireland once you open the book. It is, of course, quite different from the Frank Nugent screenplay. For example, Sean Thornton’s name is Paddy Bawn Enright in the original story.


    TRUE GRIT, by Charles Portis
    Move over, Huckleberry Finn – this novel is a classic.


    THE COMANCHEROS
    By Paul Wellman. A good western.


    THE COWBOYS
    By William Dale Jennings. This author knows what he’s writing about. A classic novel and a briefing in cowboying.


    RIO BRAVO
    By Leigh Brackett. Now this could be just a tie-in for which they used Brackett’s name, not an original work by that famed author (who later went on to write STAR WARS).


    TIE-INS
    Not original books, but written to help advertise the film, were produced for THE ALAMO, HATARI, MCQ, TRAIN ROBBERS, CAHILL, BIG JAKE, CHISUM, MCLINTOCK, TRAIN ROBBERS…

  • More original stories made into JW movies


    RED RIVER by Borden Chase. Great read, but Dunson dies in the book. Prefered the movie ending
    THE HORSE SOLDIERS By Harold Sinclair. Story based on a true raid into Confederate territory. The part of Hanna isn't in the book.
    REAP THE WILD WIND By Thelma Strabel. Not much like the movie, but enjoyable sea-faring story.
    SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS By Harald Bell Wright. I LOVE this book. The story is way different then the movie, but the characters are the same, only Aunt Molly is a very kind woman. I highly recommend this one!
    THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY By Ernest K. Gahn. I bought this one in an antique store for a buck! What a find. Great story that the movie pretty much followed. Goes into great detail on each of the passengers and their story line.
    THE DARK COMMAND By W. R. Burnett. I havn't read this one yet (just got it off ebay for a buck!) Will let you know how I liked it when I read it.


    Great idea, listing these books. Makes a great reference list for those of us who can't read enough and enjoy a great story. Dukefan1

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Homeric! ;)


    But as pathetic and inadequate as I feel at this moment, I actually have something to add to this list. I can scarcely believe it meself.


    THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE QUIET MAN by Des McHale
    Amazingly and astoundingly in-depth. Includes the short story by Maurice Walsh that inspired the film, a complete cast list (including the names of stunt doubles, the names of all the horses, the names of extras, the names of everyone in any way [no matter how insignificant] connected with the film and their entire life story, it would seem), complete & detailed maps of locations in case anyone wants to do a pilgrimage, new photos of all the locations... it's mind-boggling. There are also some great photos taken behind the scenes and lots of behind the scenes anecdotes. Every scene and practically every shot and every word of dialogue is analyzed in depth - from perspectives varying from historical, to symbolic, to Irish folkloric, to technical... the guy makes a big deal about a stupid little fly landing on Maureen O'Hara's cheek, for cryin' out loud.


    But it's a lot of fun if you love this movie, and who doesn't love this movie?

  • I just stopped in again to let ya all know, there is a copy of The High And The Mighty on ebay going for $6 right now. I don't see this one selling that often, so if you want to bid on it, click here . I have gotten quite a few books off ebay and have never been disapointed. Dukefan1

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Hi guys i have an old western novel which i've just found in my cupboard forgot i had it . I've never read it . it's called OH, PROMISED LAND by James Street,on the front of the book it has soon to be filmed by 20th Century-Fox. Funny thing is also on the front it has a painting of John Wayne.It was published in 1958. :stunned:

    "COME SEE A FAT OLD MAN SOMETIME"

  • itdo,


    A gigantic THANKS to you for posting all of this!! For us who are newbies in the collecting of books related to the Duke, it looks like we've got our work cut out for us. It's really great having all this info in one location, instead of a piece here and a tidbit there, to have to search out. You know, some people posts lists on Amazon, and I think you've got the grand-daddy of lists right here!


    :D


    itdo, you are truly amazing!


    Chester :cowboy: and the Mrs. :rolleyes:

  • That Jethro... er, Chester! Always has a good word for anybody, don't he?


    Now back to books: I'm sure there must be lots of foreign versions we don't know about as well. Go list'em!

  • Those I haven’t read myself, so I didn’t include them in the list, but since nobody pointed them out:


    Our fellow member of this board, Ermal, has written three books, sequels (or rather: prequels, as this term is in fashion more and more) to „The Cowboys“. „Across the Brazos“, „The Man from the Brazos“ and „Call of the Brazos“, with permission of the author’s family of the original novel. The story deals with Wil Andersen’s two sons, long before Wil used schoolboys as cowhands. Ermal himself is on the cover, under the shadow of his sombrero you could expect to find JW.


    BTW, didn't know W.R. Burnett wrote the original "Dark Command". Have read his novel "High Sierra" (which was made into the Bogie-film by Huston). Great read. Let us know what you think of Dark Command, dukefan!

  • Will do, Itdo. I am near the end of my current book and will be starting Dark Command shortly. Looking foward to reading it. Don't you get a great pleasure out of reading the books made into movies and seeing the difference or similarity between them? I know I do. My thanks go to eBay for making these out of print books easy to get. Dukefan1

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Quote

    Originally posted by dukefan1@Sep 10 2003, 07:22 AM
    I have gotten quite a few books off ebay and have never been disapointed. Dukefan1


    dukefan1 (and anybody else who loves :wub: books),


    Ebay is a good source, and so is Amazon.com. In fact, before I will bid on Ebay, I check to see if the book is available at Amazon. It often is, and at a fixed price (no bidding war there). Shipping on Amazon for one item, used, is generally $3.50 and I take that into account when determining which place will serve me better.
    Also, anything bought new that adds up to $25.00 or more, you get free shipping.


    Happy shopping! :D


    Chester

  • Well, I finished Dark Command. Great book, I couldn't put it down. The movie took alot of the basics from the book, but there were differences also. Like Seton didn't run for election against Cantrell in the book, another man did. The love of both men for the same woman was the main story. As in the film, Seton got her in the end, but I didn't want him to. She put him through too much throughout the book because she KNEW he loved her and would be there no matter what. I do recommend it to others who like a good story. Now I gotta find me another Duke movie book to read. Ebay (and Amazon, Chester ;) ) here I come. lol Dukefan1

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Lets' add the comic BOOKS: "John Wayne Adventure Annual"


    Five of them have been released in the Fifties as books, containing written stories, comic adventures, and even short stories on John Wayne, with great cover artwork.
    Since they were made by a company in the UK and are mostly sold from collectors in Britain (ebay buyers seem to shy away from anyting outside the US) they are not as costly as the US comics. If you are not looking for a perfect copy without any wear then you should be able to get them off ebay for under 15 $ or so.

  • those I haven't read myself:


    Original stories:


    STAGE TO LORDSBURG, by Ernest Haycox - the original story to "Stagecoach"


    BORN TO THE WEST, by Zane Grey (aka "Helltown" as a movie)


    Books about the western genre:


    "ILLUSTRIERTE FILMBÜHNE", BY JOE HEMBUS
    published in Germany: this is really interesting because it contains souvenir programs of 50 classic westerns. The US never had souvenir programs, except for the real "biggies". In Germany (and some other countries, like Sweden) each film got his souvenir program, mostly a neatly done 4-page-program with pictures and synopsis and interesting artwork. Those were then sold right at the movie-house at an affordable price (during the war years and the shortage on paper, they still produced them but cut down from 4 to 2 pages). Among the ones chosen to represent 50 westerns are Fort Apache, Yellow Ribbon, Rio Bravo, Stagecoach...



    BTW, dukefan: I've read the script for "Reap the Wild Wind" - did you know it was partly written by Alan Le May who went on to write the novel "The Searchers"? Would you recommend the original book?

  • Yes, Itdo, I wold recommend the book. I enjoyed it and plan on reading it again. It wasn't one I couldn't put down, but enjoyed all the same. Now Wake Of The Red Witch was better. I highly recommend that one. Great in character depth. Gives you a better look into the characters then the movie could. The love story in it isn't as deep as in the movie, but the personal battle between Sydney and Ralls is more entralling. A great read! Dukefan1

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • Re: Ralls & Sydney in The Wake of the Red Witch. Could you (or anyone else for that matter) explain it to me a little bit? Sydney seemed like a complete wacko creep to me - one second he wants Ralls dead and the next he's practically in tears because he thinks Ralls IS dead. He seemed sort of effeminate and gay to me too (here we go again! sorry!) which made me wonder if his feelings for Ralls were a bit confused...


    What a strange movie with a completely strange ending - over the top sappy and corny and not at all the way I like to see a Duke film end. If my boy's gotta die, have him die like he did in Sands of Iwo Jima. Now that made me bawl.


    A sidenote: I noticed that some of the kisses between Duke & Gail Russell looked pretty real. Not to be too explicit, but they weren't some of those firm closed-mouth kind of kisses you often see in old films. Then I read that Duke & Ms. Russell were romantically involved. None of my business, of course, just something I noticed in the film.

  • Hi Jen
    would you mean the book "Wake of the Red Witch"? In this topic, the literature only, please, so to finally get the "Definitive list of JW books".


    I'd like to add this one to suggest to check it out - haven't read it myself, but it's a classic and has been made into film several times, once - even before the John Wayne version - starring Gary Cooper:


    "THE SPOILERS", BY REX BEACH

  • Roland, please forgive me if these have already been mentioned (though I don't think they have).


    I work at a big huge university with a big huge library and thus have access to lots of books on just about any topic. There are probably lots of Duke titles but for now I've got a couple I can share with you to add to your list:


    John Ford's Stagecoach
    Edited by Barry Keith Grant
    Published 2003, copyright Cambridge University Press
    ISBN 0-521-79331-9 (hardcover)
    ISBN 0-521-79743-8 (paperback)


    So far it's pretty interesting - the kind of stuff I think you'd enjoy reading. It consists mostly of critical essays written by various film scholars/historians. For example, "Stagecoach and Hollywood's A-Western Renaissance," "Powered by a Ford?: Dudley Nichols, Authorship, and Cultural Ethos in Stagecoach," "That Past, This Present: Historicizing John Ford, 1939," "A Little Bit Savage: Stagecoach and Racial Representation," "Be a Proud, Glorified Dreg: Class, Gender, and Frontier Democracy in Stagecoach," & "Stagecoach and the Quest for Selfhood." There are also three contemporary (i.e., 1939) reviews of the film.


    The second one I have to mention is called:


    John Ford's Westerns: A Thematic Analysis with a Filmography
    By William Darby
    Published 1996, copyright McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers
    ISBN: 0-7864-0080-3


    As the title suggests, it's all about Ford's westerns. Most of it is critical analysis and I'd say it's pretty well done. The Duke films that are analyzed in depth are The Horse Soldiers, Fort Apache, Rio Grande, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Three Godfathers, The Searchers, and Stagecoach.


    Cheers, matey!