Posts from arthurarnell in thread „They Were Expendable (1945)“

  • They Were Expendable (1945)

    Hi


    It is also a strange quirk of Fords that he told everyone that he had never watched the completed version of They Were Expendable, even years after he swore that he didn't like the film and therefore hadn't bothered to watch the complete version.


    You make of that what you will.



    Regards


    Arthur

  • They Were Expendable (1945)

    Hi Vera


    What you say is true it is one of the few books wroteabout John Wayne while he was still alive. I think there are parts that Wayne wasn't happy with, and some of it I think is innaccurate, but it is not as bad or as inaccurate as Carpoze's book which I read and thought was abysmal.




    Regards


    Arthur

  • They Were Expendable (1945)

    Hi Tbone


    During the making of the film the PT boat was supposed to be strafed by a Japanese plane.
    To get the effect small ball bearings were going to be used with shatterproof glass. One of the crew forgot to put the shatterproof glass in place and when the ball bearings hit the normal glass the windscreen shattered in Duke's face. He went after the culprit with a hammer in his hand.
    Ford seeing the incident said that's one of my crew you're after to which Wayne repled it also my face.


    Regards


    Arthur

  • They Were Expendable (1945)

    Hi Vera


    It strange how threads cross over


    In one of my earlier posts I wrote how I came to get Shooting Star. We visited the town where Charles Dickens lived most of his life and I bought the book in a small bookshop.


    Ref Ford and Wayne around the time They Were Expendable was made it is interesting to look at what was happening around that time and his use of John Wayne.


    In 1939 he made Wayne's name with Stagecoach, he then made three films on the trot starring Henry Fonda. He then used Wayne once again for The Long Voyage Home.
    The eight films without Wayne (all beit some with a military educational theme.
    He then went back to Wayne for They Were Expendable.
    He then treturned to Henry Fonda to make two films. Then a third - Fort Apache featuring both men.


    In an earlier thread I think I put up a case that Ford deliberately ignored Wayne during the early 1940s and used him deliberately in They Were Expendable to humiliate him.
    If you read some of the incidents in the picture particularly with regard to the incident of the sghattering of the windscreen, I don't think that the picture was a happy experiencefor Duke


    Regards


    Arthur