Thursday, June 11, 2009

I Thought You Were Dead

Not hardly. Thirty years ago today John Wayne died of cancer. Shortly thereafter the Congress struck a medal. No other movie star resonates so long with the American people. I own the Alamo, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance but the filmography of John Wayne is tremendous. Rio Bravo, StageCoach, Sands of Iwo Jima, the Shootist, True Grit, The Ballad of the Green Berets, the Searchers and so many more.

4 comments:

Powaqqatsi said...

Saints preserve us! You forgot The Quiet Man, laddie.


Then again, not being much of a quiet kind of guy, maybe it wasn't one of your faves... just figured you being half irish & all....

MLR said...

Argh! Wayne played the same American Man character over and over. If you want to pick a great actor, pick someone who actually played a range (Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep).

(Yes, I know this will piss Vech off to no end, but I already forgot his birthday the other week, so I figure I'm on the s**tlist anyway.)

Anonymous said...

"No other movie star resonates so long with the American people."

Jimmy Stewart.

Not only did he create an indelible "type" as Wayne did, but Stewart actually served in WWII.

Dave S. said...

Jimmy Stewart leapt to my mind as well, but I would argue that, as a much better actor than Wayne, he was able to transcend type. On the other hand I am not prepared to argue this with JJV and leave it to others to do so.