STACK #189 Jul 2020

FEATURE FILM

by Ann Dvorak. Cheated out of his money due to his gambling inexperience, Duke is not one to be beaten so easily. The film is a mix of gambling, fights and shoot-outs, culminating in an impressive staging of San Francisco's famed 1906 earthquake. Wayne delivers a fine performance as do the supporting cast, which includes Butterfly McQueen, who played Prissy in Gone with the Wind . WAKE OF THE RED WITCH (1948) Directed by Edward Ludwig

JOHN WAYNE In 1995 pollsters asked more than a thousand American film fans, “Who is your favourite movie star?“ The winner was John Wayne, who had in fact been dead for sixteen years. His stature as an iconic movie star continues to grow with the passage of time. J ohn Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa, in May 1907, and soon after his family moved to California and settled in Glendale. He acquired his nickname from his boyhood pet terrier dog named "Duke" that accompanied him everywhere. The Glendale firemen are said to have noticed the inseparable pair and baptised Marion "Little Duke" – the Duke moniker would follow him into adulthood. He won a sporting scholarship to the USC in 1925 and to earn extra money for his education he took a job at Fox studios as an assistant prop man, moving scenery and sweeping the film sets. Fox film director John Ford took notice of the six-foot-four youngster and used him as an extra in several of his films. When Ford heard that fellow director Raoul Walsh was searching for a new leading man to star in his 1930 western epic The Big Trail , he recommended the young Duke Morrison. The larger than life, one-eyed Walsh immediately liked the polite Morrison but told him he had to change his name. Walsh suggested the name Wayne after the Revolutionary War hero "Mad" Anthony Wayne, and the surname prefixed with the masculine John. The Big Trail was released in November 1930 but didn't attract a large audience due to the Depression. Although the film failed, directors noted that the camera liked young Wayne. Subsequently, for the next decade Wayne was cast in dozens of cheaply made westerns. Then in 1939 John Ford offered Wayne the role of the Ringo Kid in the classic film Stagecoach . Not only did Ford's film bring Wayne success, it also gave the world a screen presence that would endear him to future generations of movie fans. Wayne’s formidable (and prolific) screen presence – in excess of 175 feature films – was an outstanding contribution to the world of cinema. For almost 30 years he became the most significant box-office attraction Hollywood had ever known. However, away from the cameras Wayne was often unpopular and severely criticised by liberals for his extreme right-wing political views. But he never hid where his sympathies lay – forever staunchly Republican. He was a strong supporter of Richard Nixon, but as a movie star his impact on American society arguably made him more important to the populace than any single American president. As America rose in the world to superpower status, Wayne – via the movies – hitched a ride and became one of his country’s most recognisable symbols. John Wayne remains one of the most revered of national heroes, both for the image of America, which he projected to the world, and his valiant last battle with cancer. His legend is still alive and well to this day. 44 years after his death, he was – and perhaps still is – an All-American Titan.

BIO

By the time this film was released, John Wayne was ranked fourth in a poll of most popular stars. He returned to Republic to make this panoramic tale about fortune hunters in the South Pacific. Wayne's role of Captain Ralls is a man who inspires passionate extremes – hated by his enemies and worshipped by the South Pacific islanders. When Ralls and ship company owner Sidneye (Luther Adler) meet the island governor's

daughter, Angelique (Gail Russell), both fall passionately in love with her. Thus begins the bitter, poisonous enmity between the two men. They eventually converge on the sunken wreck of the Red Witch, perched on a rock shelf, which contains a cargo of gold bullion. Sidneye agrees to share the bullion if Ralls salvages it. But the islanders warn Ralls that the wreck is the home of a huge octopus. Wayne named his film production company Batjac after the name of shipping company in this film. The movie also has two firsts for Wayne: due to his gradual hair loss, he now wears a toupee; and it's the first of the seven movies in which Wayne's character dies. THE FIGHTING KENTUCKIAN (1949) Directed by George Waggner Set in Alabama in 1818,

Wayne stars as John Breen, a rifleman with the second Kentucky Regiment who is marching back home. Whilst in Mobile he falls for a girl who is the daughter of a French general who, following the fall of Napoleon, has

and escaping across the Rio Grande back into Mexico. Yorke is

led a number of exiles from France to settle in Alabama. An Act of Congress in 1817 granted these French settlers four townships in the state. However, wealthy and powerful businessmen plot to dispossess the French of the lands they intend to settle. This flares into conflict but Wayne and his Kentucky riflemen come to the rescue. The film contains a great performance from Oliver Hardy, playing Wayne's sidekick in a rare solo turn for the rotund comic without his partner Stan Laurel. This was also the film that Chuck Roberson first doubled as a stuntman for Wayne, which would continue for the next three decades. RIO GRANDE (1950) Directed by John Ford The third and last of Ford's renowned US Cavalry trilogy, all starring Wayne. Here he plays Lt Col. Kirby Yorke, commanding officer at Fort Starke, who is frustrated by the Apache raiding homesteads

not allowed to cross the border to pursue them. His son, whom he has not seen for fifteen years, has joined Yorke's command as an enlisted man after having flunked West Point. Yorke's estranged

wife (played by Maureen O'Hara) arrives to retrieve her son and take him home. Their break-up resulted after Yorke was ordered – during the Civil War – to burn the family plantation of his Southern-born wife, an act for which she has never forgiven him. When several women and children are captured by the Apache, the rescue effort is heroically aided by the daring efforts of young Trooper Yorke. This is first of five films that Wayne was teamed with O’Hara, which would immortalise them as a memorable screen couple.

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