True Grit - Classic

I'm all excited about the new version of True Grit coming this Christmas movie season but it's only fair I give you the trailer to the original version:

True Grit Trailer

I want to hate the True Grit remake but this makes it hard. Real hard:



No one can replace John Wayne but Jeff Bridges seems to make the character memorable in his way, too. The movie's been touted as hewing more closely to the book than the original but I didn't find the original strayed that far, other than some plot points. It's a great book and was made into a great movie. It looks like it may have been made into a great movie again.

Clint Eastwood Voted Favorite Film Star But Who's Number 7?

Sure, Eastwood's number 1 but look who comes in at number 7:

As has been the case every year since Harris began its poll, the only dead star in the Top 10 was John Wayne, who came it at No. 7 this time around.

Wayne, in fact, is the only actor -- living or dead -- to appear on the list every year since its inception in 1994.

(Emphasis mine.)

Take that, you whippersnappers. Codgers, both alive and dead, rule!

Awesome, and Then Some - John Wayne and Noel Coward

TV talk show host Dick Cavett was astonished that John Wayne - John Wayne! - knew of and appreciated Noel Coward:

Wayne: Wasn’t he great?

Me: Who?

Wayne: Coward.

Me [startled, realizing now that the tune was Noel Coward’s “Someday I'll Find You”]: Yes.

Wayne: I’ve always loved his stuff. Remember the scene in “Private Lives” when they realize they still love each other?

Me: Yes, and did you know there’s a recording of Coward and Gertrude Lawrence doing that scene?

Wayne: Gee, I gotta get that. I guess I’ve read most of his plays.

Me [still not convinced there isn't a ventriloquist in the room]: I’ll send you the record.

Wayne: Well, thank ya. I like the line [he switched to quite passable upper-class British], “You’re looking very lovely you know, in this damned moonlight.”

Me: I did a show with Coward and, as he introduced them, “My dearest friends, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.”

Wayne: I sure would love to have seen them in “Design for Living.” [Mentally I reach again for the smelling salts.] And, damn, I’d love to see that show of yours.

Me: I’ll see that you do. [Jesus! Did I? Oh, I hope so.]

Wayne: That’d be awful nice of ya.

Me: Did you ever think of doing one of his plays?

Wayne: Yeah, but it never got past the thought stage. I guess they figured that maybe spurs and “Blithe Spirit” wouldn’t go together. Can’t you see the critics? “Wayne should go back to killing Indians, not Noel Coward.”

A nice remembrance by Cavett so read the whole thing. I wasn't nearly as astonished as Cavett but Wayne never ceases to surprise and delight.

Hat tip: the great Terry Teachout.

John Wayne on Acting

For my dear, sweet sister, via Terry Teachout, John Wayne on acting:

Long Live the Duke: Thirty Years Since John Wayne's Death

John Wayne passed away thirty years ago and the commemoration of his passing proves he's a uniter, not a divider. Two sites, each from the other end of the political spectrum, give the Duke his due.

First up, NRO's symposium; my favorite is by Michael Long:

John Wayne made entertaining movies. That was the point of his career, the key to his success, and the main reason he is remembered. That he was conservative and a man of character is incidental; a few people go to see a movie for the star or the subject matter, but the mass audiences that create a hit come for the story. John Wayne made sure his movies told interesting stories. Thus the way in for those who believe conservatives are forever shut out of Hollywood: Tell good stories. Make movies people want to see. Inform your work with your conservatism (or whatever is in your personality, because that is what will make your movie unique), but create true entertainment. Preachy pictures generally fail: Witness the dozens of recent anti-war movies with a box-office take less than Michael Moore’s annual budget for exercise clothes. John Wayne was not a conservative entertainer; he was an entertainer who happened to be conservative. Being that is how our side will finally gain traction in Hollywood.

Exactly right. First and foremost, Wayne was an entertainer. The rest is just gravy.

Next up, the great movie critic himself, Roger Ebert:

The first time I saw him, he was striding toward me out of the burning Georgia sun, as helicopters landed behind him. His face was tanned a deep brown. He was wearing a combat helmet, an ammo belt, carrying a rifle, had a canteen on his hip, stood six feet four inches. He stuck out his hand and said, "John Wayne." That was not necessary.

The NRO symposium is more political, of course, because it's a political site which makes Ebert's inevitable foray into politics a little more awkward. Ebert's statement that he believes John Wayne "would have had contempt for the latter-day weirdos of the Right" sounds wore like projection on Ebert's part than anything. Still, it's a fine essay, leavened by bits and pieces from Ebert's earlier interviews and articles about John Wayne, and isn't to be missed.

In reading over these articles, you can't help but realize that no other actor, living or dead, could claim such a long string of classic movies. Were they classic because of John Wayne? Of course! Try to imagine of any of them with a star other than John Wayne in the John Wayne character. See?

If nothing else, John Wayne was an original, an American original, and to dismiss him and the importance of his impact on art is to make a grave mistake.