I call BS on the main premise of the author saying that John Wayne was using his big closing scene in The Searchers as a statement on his views of the way Hollywood was heading.
It’s already been well documented and spoken by Duke himself what the meaning of that scene was and who he was honoring in it.
And as to the author’s statements of Duke being disgruntled about seeing the industry headed down the toilet well what can you say except that he was right!
By and large what we get out of Hollywood today is garbage. They haven’t had an original thought since 1978.
Duke saw it coming and was sad to see it. I’m sure part of his frustration was in the realization that he couldn’t prevent it.
