Posts from Dukesfan in thread „Films You Wish John Wayne Hadn't Made“

  • Films You Wish John Wayne Hadn't Made

    I wish the Duke had not done „The Green Berets“! Not because of what the movie said about war in Vietnam. Although the Duke´s opinion about the Vietnam-War isn´t mine, it´s O.K. for me, that he wanted to express his feelings about that war in the movie, but “The Green Berets” is not a good War Movie and John Wayne had done much, much better War Movies!


    In “The Green Berets” we have two different story plots, like two episodes of a TV-Show. First there is the fight for that US-camp in the jungle and then the secret operation to capture a communist leader. The characters in the movie do not have a real good and interesting background. Compare “The Green Berets” to “In Harm´s Way”, You will find much more interesting characters there! If You compare it to “They were Expendable” You will see, that this movie has one good story arc – it is about leaving, saying good bye and loosing friends in war. If You take a look at Sergeant Stryker in “Sands of Iwo Jima”, he is a much more interesting character for John Wayne to play and to show his great talent as an actor, than Col. Kirby in “The Green Berets”. I even prefer “The fighting Seabees” to “Green Berets”.


    Some people here mentioned “The Conqueror”. I can live with that, although it´s not typical for John Wayne and sure not his best. I think, he is not the man for those history-movies, but he was a strong male actor and so they choose him for the role. I cannot imagine Marlon Brando as Temujin, he is not as tall and strong as the Duke! Maybe it would have been a good role for Charlton Heston, who played El Cid and Ben Hur… I have watched “The Conqueror” in English and German language, and believe me: this movie sounds much better with the German dialogs!


    Others here did not like “The Cowboys”. I always enjoyed that movie! “The Cowboys” had all the traditional Western elements like horse-braking, cattle-driving, rustlers trying to steel the herd, and it is about loyalty and being responsible for bringing a job to an end. It´s about boys growing up to be men, and Will Anderson shows them what it means, to be a man – who could teach them better than John Wayne? And I like the soundtrack of “The Cowboys” very much!


    I wish John Wayne had done “Lonesome Dove”! I read, that long before Larry McMurtry wrote the novel and brought it later to television, starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, he had given a script to John Wayne and the idea was, John Wayne to play Capt. Woodrow Call and James Stewart to play Capt. Gus McCrea. I think, this would have been the perfect couple for “Lonesome Dove”, but the Duke did not like the script and the rest is history…


    I liked Robert Duvall as Gus, but I never liked Tommy Lee Jones, how much better would have been John Wayne as Woodrow Call! – “Lonesome Dove” would have been a perfect John Wayne movie, I think, because is about friendship and keeping promises, it´s about how it can change Your life, whether You ride with good companions or You fall in with bad companions and we have a father-son conflict too. We all know, John Wayne could have handled that great, because we have seen it in “Red River”!