Posts from A Girl Named Jen in thread „Films You Wish John Wayne Hadn't Made“

Okay, GSP... I looked and my library has a copy on DVD that I've put on reserve. I'll be sure to give you guys a full report once I've watched it.

I'm going to have a box of Kleenex close at hand, though.

Hey General Price:

Y'know, I just have a hard time even thinking about watching that one. Knowing it's his last film, the poignancy behind the fact that he was dying and that his character was dying as well... oh! It makes me sad. But I'm sure I'll see it eventually.

Jen

Hey again Hondo -

I'm impressed by your list, though certainly not surprised. May I ask if there is any specific reason why you haven't seen Shepherd of the Hills? Is that one hard to find? I thought I saw where it had been on TCM a while back, but maybe I'm thinking of something else.

I've got a lot of films to see yet... too bad the two main networks who show them (AMC & TCM) tend to show the same ones over and over again. I need to get off my wallet, I guess.

For goodness' sake... that's interesting. I wonder if Brando had jaw strain after stuffing his mouth full of cotton balls to play Don Corleone.

Regarding smoking in films...

I am very much against cigarette smoking for what it does to a person. My dad smokes and I hate it!!! I wish he'd quit. On the other hand, I admit that it looks pretty danged cool sometimes in a movie. Imagine The Quiet Man without Duke and his pensively smoked ciggies. It's always interesting to watch people's hands and the cigarette is a handy little prop that invites us to look at them.

Another star who went too early (and I think we can probably blame it on cigarettes) is Humphrey Bogart, of course. Too bad it looked so cool. I feel like such a hypocrite!

Oh... one more thing. I am very glad to hear that Mrs. Chester agrees with me about Duke's lack of smarminess. Nary a smarmy cell in him.

Hiya Hondo ---

Yeah, the cop film thing just didn't seem to be a natural fit for Duke. I don't like to think about him doing it because of Clint Eastwood, either. I understand it, to some extent, but I just wish he had remained true to his own calling... if that makes any sense.

Anyway, just to show all of you how pitiful I am compared to some of you, below is a list of all the Duke films I've seen. I might be forgetting some but this should be pretty complete. I don't mind any of them, really!

1975 Rooster Cogburn
1975 Brannigan - didn't see all of it, actually...
1969 True Grit
1967 El Dorado
1965 The Sons of Katie Elder
1963 McLintock!
1962 Hatari!
1962 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1959 Rio Bravo
1959 The Horse Soldiers
1956 The Searchers
1953 Hondo
1952 The Quiet Man
1951 Flying Leathernecks
1949 Wake of the Red Witch
1949 The Fighting Kentuckian
1949 Sands of Iwo Jima
1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
1948 The Three Godfathers
1948 Red River
1946 Without Reservations
1945 They Were Expendable
1945 Flame of Barbary Coast
1943 A Lady Takes a Chance
1942 The Flying Tigers
1941 Tall in the Saddle
1940 The Dark Command
1939 Stagecoach

Okay, so if I had to pick a couple that I didn't like quite as much, I'd probably pick McLintock! (I'm not a feminist but, still!), Flying Leathernecks (the war films aren't always my favorite), The Flame of Barbary Coast, and The Flying Tigers. (These last two I quite liked, I just didn't care at all for his female leads!)

Roland! Duke as Lewt McCanles? Wow!!! I confess I never thought of it. That role is such a combination of sexiness and smarminess... Duke is certainly capable of the former but I don't like to think of him doing the latter. He's just too big and rugged, I think. Gregory Peck has a taut, finely wrought kind of appeal that IMO translates better.

Unbelievably bad but fun movie, though.

To get back to the original topic, I guess I haven't seen enough of JW's films, because I can't think of any that I wish he hadn't made. Maybe some of the '70s cop films?