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Here’s my capsule look back on the career of ‘America’s Biggest Hero,’ John (Duke) Wayne, born Marion Michael Morrison on May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa. Wayne always considered himself a native Californian because he was raised in the golden state and attended U.S.C. on a football scholarship.

The young Wayne, on summer vacation from school, was employed as a laborer and third-string prop mover at the Fox studio. While at the studio, he was noticed by legendary film director, John Ford, and because of the young man’s good looks and 6 feet 4-inch frame, was chosen for bit parts in the films Ford was making on the lot. Wayne was shocked when Ford suggested to fellow director, Raoul Walsh, to cast him in the lead role in the expensive epic production of, “The Big Trail.” When Wayne told him, he had no experience as an actor, Walsh told him all he had to do was to look good and…point.

“The Big Trail” was made on location in seven states and was the very first film to use a new process called Grandeur, a 70 mm wide screen presentation. While critics were impressed with the beautiful production, the movie bombed because theaters at the time were concentrating on new sound systems and wouldn’t spend the money on converting their screens to the new process. Wayne, after failing in his first big chance, decided to stay in the movie business and, because of his friendship with Ford, the knowledge of others in the business, and his ability to ride a horse like a pro, he was cast as a cowboy in low budget “oaters,” as the low budget westerns were called .

After eight years of making an unprecedented 80 or so low budget pictures, it seemed that Wayne was entrenched in the position of low-payed, lowly star, when Ford, who remained friends with Wayne, chose to cast him in the role of ‘The Ringo Kid’ in his western classic, “STAGECOACH” (1939).

The success of “Stagecoach” provided the turning point in Wayne’s career and launched him as a screen hero. Year-by-year, often in films directed by Ford, Wayne developed into one of the biggest box office stars the screen has ever known. As his career – and his features – began to crack, Wayne’s image began to embody the American spirit and even today, after being gone for over 40 years, his movies still are rating winners on cable and venues like TCM (Turner Classic Movies). 

Besides, westerns, Wayne, while not serving in the service during World War II, because of a punctured ear drum, was the image of the American soldier in flag-waving films such as ‘Sands of Iwo Jima,” “Flying Leathernecks,” “Back to Bataan,” and others. To single out John Wayne’s most popular films would be a task too heady too tackle, (my favorite is neither western nor war vehicle, but the popular Ford charmer, “The Quiet Man”).

However, Wayne, who had been criticized for just playing himself without showing range, surprised those who limited his acting ability by showing depth and poignancy, particularly in the role of Captain Nathan Brittles, the aging cavalry officer reluctant to change his way of life in 1949’s, “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.” Equally defining was his role as the harsh, Tom Dunson, leading a cattle drive, in Howard Hawks, “Red River” (1948), and in his most complete role, that of the obsessed Indian hunter, Ethan Edwards, in “The Searchers.”

As his screen persona projected American values, so he did in the image of Super Patriot. As a fundamentalist and aforementioned super patriot, he made the Vietnam War a personal crusade and produced, directed and starred in, “The Green Berets” (Wayne’s 2nd film as director). Eight years earlier he made the massive saga, “The Alamo,” starring as Davy Crockett. He saw that historical event as a metaphor for America.

At the end of his 40 years as a screen star, in which he appeared in over 250 films, Hollywood paid its highest tribute to John Wayne when it awarded him the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of the hard drinking, one eyed Marshall with an eye patch, Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit.” HOWEVER, it was his final movie, “The Shootist,” which provided a more genuine tribute to his career, as the cancer-ridden gunfighter, John Book. John Wayne survived three major operations, including open heart surgery, and in 1979, he had his stomach removed. Until he finally passed away at 72 years, he showed remarkable courage. The prestigious Medal of Honor was struck in his honor.

There are scores of books about the life of John Wayne.  The one I read most recently was “JOHN WAYNE: American,” by Randy Roberts and James M. Olson, very detailed – and long at 775 pages – but if you’re an avid fan, this book published in 1995, might be for you.

One particular story in the book made me laugh out loud, particularly because of my bad John Wayne impersonation. “Well, Pilgrim.. .etc., etc.” 

During the 1960s, Wayne made several cameo appearances in other stars’ films or all star productions like Kirk Douglas’ “Cast a Giant Shadow,” “The Longest Day,” and “How the West was Won.” The reason for this was that he practically financed his dream project, “THE ALAMO” single-handedly and it lost a ton of money. To recoup the money he lost, he was available. One of the roles he took on was the George Stevens prestige production of the biblical epic, “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” 

Wayne played a Roman centurion whose only line was to look up at Christ on the cross and say: “Truly, this man was the Son of God.” After the first take , Stevens told him, “Put a little more awe into the line.” When the cameras rolled again, Duke grinned up at the cross and his voice, exaggerating a western accent drawled…..“Aaawe, truly this man was the Son of God.”

Joe Redmond, former marketing director for Alive Magazine, is retired and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, near his daughter and grandchildren. He recently had the pleasure to meet his first great-grandchild, Dot. He enjoys discussing classic films and contributes content to social network groups with a special interest in noir films of the 1940s and 50s.

There’s nothing more American than bourbon whiskey. Developed in America more than 300 years ago, bourbon is a product of American land and ingenuity. Still incredibly popular today, the much-beloved American bourbon is a vaunted product of US history.

First distilled from corn, barley, and rye by Irish and Scottish settlers in the colonies of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland in the early 1700’s, whiskey was the spirit of choice during the time of the American Revolution and enjoyed by all of the forefathers, including General George Washington himself. As the country expanded and the intrepid moved west, whiskey was used as currency on the frontier to pay for goods and services.  

In 1792, Kentucky became the fifteenth state and many Americans traveled there to set up farms and distilleries. Quite a few of the now-famous families of whiskey production such as the Browns of Brown-Forman, the Boehms of Jim Beam, and the Samuels of Maker’s Mark moved to the region at this time.  Kentucky quickly became the whiskey-producing capital of the new nation.

The State of Kentucky is ideally suited for whiskey production. The rich soil is perfect for growing grain and the many rivers provide clean, calcium rich water. Timber from the oak forests of Kentucky is used for cask production and the climate lends itself to successful whiskey aging.

At the time, Kentucky distillers exported much of their whiskey down the Ohio River in huge crates from the port of Limestone in Bourbon County (which ironically, is a dry county, meaning the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited). The crates were stamped “Bourbon” and from that came the moniker “bourbon whiskey,” and eventually just “bourbon.” 

In order to legally be called bourbon, a whiskey must conform to a series of regulations. It must be produced in the United States, though not necessarily in the State of Kentucky. The spirit must be made from at least 51% corn, although some bourbons are made from far more than that. The aging requirement is a minimum of two years in new, charred American Oak casks or barrels. Many fine bourbons are aged for much longer to achieve an intensity and boldness of flavor. No artificial flavors or colors may be added to bourbon. 

When the newly distilled whiskey (which is called “moonshine” at this stage) enters the cask, it is clear, like vodka. After years of aging, it becomes that rich cherry amber color loved by so many. Since bourbon barrels, by law, may only be used once, bourbon producers created an ingenious secondary market, selling used barrels, flavored with bourbon, to European scotch and sherry producers to enhance their own products.

The United States’ Congress recognized bourbon in 1964 as a distinctive product of the United States, but well before than, a certain American actor made bourbon famous worldwide. John Wayne was a bourbon drinker and favored Wild Turkey 101, neat. It was likely one of the earliest unofficial celebrity endorsements of a product.

Through his life, the original western tough guy, who allegedly once said, “I never trust a man who doesn’t drink,” amassed a great collection of bourbons. After his death, Wayne’s son, Ethan Wayne, launched a unique, specially blended bourbon, in honor of his father, called “Legendary Duke.” Through his distinguishing choice of drink, the legend continues.

Bourbon can be served neat, on the rocks, or in a multitude of delicious cocktails like the Manhattan, Old Fashioned, or Whiskey Sour. If you’ve never tried it, give it a go! You’ll discover characteristic flavors of smoke, sweet maple, caramel, and oak. Brands vary, so try a few and find your favorite. Bourbon is a fabulous piece of American history that can be enjoyed (in moderation) today. Cheers!

I can honestly say that I have been an avid movie buff before the term was ever coined. As a child I collected 8×10 B&W lobby cards and kept a scrap book of Hollywood stars that I could never dream of meeting as I was raised on the other side of the world in Cape Town. But I was wrong. I attended two Academy Award events and met, or rubbed shoulders, with some of Hollywood’s greats.

At the 75th Academy Award event at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion my 6’4” husband Richard accidentally bumped into John Wayne, also 6’4”, as he turned around at the foyer bar Wayne commented “excuse me big guy” and sauntered up to the bar.

Trying to be blasé we mingled in the foyer where people smiled at one another thinking everyone present “had to be somebody”!

Wayne, having won Best Actor Award for “True Grit” in 1970, was presenting an honorary award to Howard Hawks.

So how did we have the good fortune to get such coveted tickets? It just so happened that Haskell Wexler, who was initially cinematographer for Coppola’s “The Conversation”, got fired and did not want to attend the awards. A Hollywood friend asked him for the tickets and in turn gifted them to us. It was a dream come true. Wexler won Best Cinematographer in 1977 for “Bound for Glory”.

That Oscar year in 1975 featured the creme de la creme of Hollywood greats; Best Picture and Best Director went to Francis Ford Coppola for Godfather II, Best Original Music Score to his father Carmine Coppola. Best Actress Oscar went to Ellen Burstyn and Best Actor Art Carney who beat out Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino.

The dynamic MC lineup was Bob Hope, Shirley MacLaine, Sammy Davis and Frank Sinatra. To focus on the spectacular “The Great Gatsby” that won Best Costume Design Oscar, a vanilla-toned vintage car drove slowly to centerstage as backdrop for a Roaring Twenties dance routine.

During intermission several bars became magnets for thirsty attendees and I went out an autograph hunt scoring the first one from OJ himself who starred in “Towering Inferno” that won Best Theme Song “We May Never Love Like This Again”. We met up with friends Lloyd and Dottie Bridges, our Bear Valley neighbors, who attended as their son Jeff was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”.

On that April night there was a very heavy rainfall and everyone clustered outside waiting for valets to deliver their cars. Glenda Jackson, who had an umbrella, invited Goldie Hawn and me to share her shelter. Most were making a dash to the Beverly Hills Hilton for a post Oscar dinner party.

John Wayne, nicknamed Duke, was born Marion Morrison in Iowa in 1907 and the Hollywood studio gave him the iconic new name. He made 140 films from 1930 to 1976, most being Westerns and war films. In 1970 Wayne won the Oscar for Best Actor for “True Grit” beating out Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole.

John Wayne, a conservative Republican was encouraged to run for office but preferred acting and producing. He was married three times, had seven children and loved boating. Wayne was larger than life, not only in stature but also in character and ideals. The Duke did everything to extreme; he lived hard, loved hard, drank hard, smoked four packs of cigarettes a day, and epitomized the Golden Age of Hollywood for four decades.

In 1977 we attended the 49th Academy Awards when “Rocky” won Best Picture and Peter Finch won Best Actor posthumously who beat out Giancarlo Giannini nominated for “Seven Beauties”. The highlight of the evening was when Muhammad Ali surprised Sly Stallone by sparring with him onstage.

Yes those were glory days when Hollywood had elegance and glamour, the masters of ceremonies were truly witty, and Oscar winners thanked the Academy for the honor and recognition.

John “The Duke” Wayne was a legendary Hollywood actor and political activist who stood up for the underdog and what was right in a large majority of his films and personal beliefs. During this period of uncertainty and unrest, we could use a stoic leader like Wayne to set an example for the rest of us to follow.  Standing 6’4” and 240 lbs., it’s hard to imaging the Duke wearing a mask and gloves while sauntering through the produce section at Safeway, but if he did, that would be assuredly get everyone else in line. Given how beloved Wayne was by the American public, he would’ve been a wonderful spokesman to assist President Trump and Dr. Fauci with their pandemic messaging while at the same time giving hope and inspiration to the masses

Born Marion Mitchell Morrison, this American born actor was known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed “The Duke”. Wayne was box office gold and one of the biggest movie stars of his day. An Academy Award winner for “True Grit”, Wayne was among the top box office draws for nearly three decades. As a kid, I caught the tail end of Wayne’s career, but I do remember seeing him in movies such as Rooster Cogburn, The Shootist and Brannigan. I remember his being revered by talk show hosts such as Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson.  They all treated him with the utmost respect and admiration, especially toward the end of Wayne’s life. He died in 1979 at the age of 72.

Here are some fun facts about John “the Duke” Wayne.

1. Born May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa. His family moved around a lot throughout his childhood, but finally settled down in Glendale, California.

2. He was president of Glendale High School – Class of 1925.

3. He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to the University of Southern California as a result of a bodysurfing accident.

4. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he appeared mostly in small bit parts.

5. His first leading role came in Raoul Walsh’s widescreen epic The Big Trail, which led to leading roles in many B movies throughout the 1930s, most of them in the Western genre.

6. Wayne’s career took off in 1939, with John Ford’s “Stagecoach” making him an instant star.

7. He went on to star in 142 motion pictures altogether, including the dozens with his name above the title produced before 1939.

8. His father was a pharmacist while his grandfather was a veteran of the American Civil War.

9. He was a staunch Republican.

10. At USC, Wayne was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity.

11. He had always wanted to serve the U.S. Navy, but was rejected by the U.S. Naval Academy so he took a football scholarship to the University of Southern California in 1925.

12. After leaving the University of South California, his coach at the university, Howard Jones, called in a favor and got him the job of an extra with the help of actor Tom Mix. As an extra, he appeared in countless cowboy and sports themed related movies.

13. Wayne fathered 7 children.

14. After appearing in some minor roles in movies and television shows throughout the 1930s, Wayne got his big break in the movie “Stagecoach“, released in 1939.

15. Wayne always preferred his childhood name, “Duke Morrison,” to his eventual stage name.

16. Wayne attributed his walk, talk and persona to his acquaintance with legendary law man Wyatt Earp.

17. As a lifelong chess enthusiast, Wayne had a star-studded list of chess partners: Marlene Dietrich, Rock Hudson, and Robert Mitchum.

18. Wayne was the first person to publicly refer to cancer as “The Big C.” He came up with the idiom to make his struggle with the illness less “scary” to studio executives in the early 1960s.

19. In his first battle with cancer, Wayne lost a rib and half of one lung, and still managed to hold a press conference in his own living room shortly after in order to maintain his strong public image.

20. Wayne famously walked away from the lead role in “High Noon” because he felt the movie was an allegory against blacklisting, an activity which, as a staunch conservative, Wayne supported.

21. Wayne’s guilt over not serving in World War II haunted him for life. Although many of his Hollywood peers volunteered to fight, Wayne himself didn’t make particularly great efforts to change his own draft exemption.

22. He rejected the starring role in “All the King’s Men” because he thought that the script was un-American.

23. Despite a long and critically acclaimed career, Wayne was only nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars twice: once for Sands of Iwo Jima, then winning 20 years later for True Grit.

24. He was fluent in Spanish and all three of his wives were of Latin descent.

25. Towards the end of the 1940s, Wayne’s hair began to thin, so he started wearing hairpieces.

26. He was a registered Freemason, ranking as a Master Mason in Marion McDaniel Lodge No. 56 F&AM, in Tucson, Arizona.

27. Because of Wayne’s star power and conservative views, Republican party backers frequently approached Wayne about trying his luck at public office.

28. For the first time ever, Wayne got hate mail from Republicans after he sided with President Jimmy Carter and the Democrats over the Panama Canal.

29. Contrary to much of what he did and say in his later life, Wayne identified as a Socialist during his college days as the University of Southern California.

30. Wayne converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before his death by stomach cancer at the age of 72.

Most millennials probably couldn’t tell you who John Wayne was unless their grandfather encouraged them to watch the old westerns with him. When trying to come up with a sampling of contemporary actors who might have a little bit of the Duke’s swagger I could only list Dwayne Johnson, Jason Stratham and Jason Mamoa, but none have Wayne’s body of work. He was a heroic man’s man who led by example. I envy that type of reputation and sometimes think we all need to remember John “the Duke” Wayne’s toughness, resilience and strength of character when it comes to overcoming the social and health obstacles we’re currently facing.

Starring John Wayne and a cast of hundreds.

In 1958, Howard Hawks was given a strange script with the above title, translated as: Cowboys of Alien River, but he didn’t like the plot, and the cost of all the special effect in the 1950s would have been prohibitive. Hawks only produced good old westerns, with no aliens and no plywood spaceships. So, he gutted the story and changed the title to RIO BRAVO. However, if he would have produced it, read on, as I have discovered some of the lost pages of the script for this offering.

Hawks couldn’t get Daniel Craig who would eventually star in “Cowboys and Aliens” as craig wouldn’t be born until 1968. So, he got John Wayne to play Sheriff John T. Chance. He couldn’t get Harrison Ford to play the boss of the wagon train, because at 16 years of age, Harrison was still in High School at Maine East High in Park Ridge, Illinois,  he got Ward Bond instead, to play Pat Wheeler as the wagon master. And of course, every western needs a town drunk that rehabilitates halfway through the story, so hawks talked Dean Martin into playing Dude or as the Mexican community knew him, Borrachón (or drunkard).

As Sheriff Chance’s love interest, Hawks could have gotten Abigail Spencer, however she wouldn’t be born until 1981. That would have been a long wait. So, he got Angie Dickinson, who was 27 and had a waist three years younger than her age; that would be 24inches. Just for the record, here are her measurements: 35-24-36. She played Feathers, a card shark. We’ll talk about some of the other characters as we go along.

Below, is a sampling of the script, from the original typewritten pages, for the movie that was never made: COWBOYS OF RIO ESTRANJERO.

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SCENE 1 – Carlos the barkeep comes running into his saloon, yelling.

“Sheriff Chance, there are aliens from space, and they are taking people to their spaceships. It’s a roundup!

“What in the name of Sam hell are you talking, Carlos?” asks the Sheriff. “What are you babbling about aliens and spaceships?”

“It is true, Señor Chance. They have these flying things all over town and they are taking men, women and children with these ropes with hooks on them and pulling them up into those flying things.”

“Carlos, have you been nipping your Tequila again?”

“Señor Chance, what means nipping?”

“It means, to sneak a drink, Carlos. Well, have you?”

“No Señor Chance, I have not. Why did not you just ask me in the first place, if I have been drinking?”

“Well?”

“No, Señor Chance, I have not been nipping my Tequila. It’s your deputy, Señor Dude, he is the one who has been nipping all my Tequila. That is why all my people they call him Borrachón.”

“OK, Carlos, I’ll have a talk with Dude.”

“Thank you, Señor Chance, but what about the Alien Roundup?”

“I’ll look into that. But first, get Dude and tell Consuela to go find Stumpy.”

“Si, Señor Chance! Ay, Dios…”

SCENE 5 – A wagon train rolls into town, followed by 200 head of cattle, with Ol’ Pat Wheeler in charge. He’s brought along a new hired gun, Colorado, played by 18-year-old Ricky Nelson in his first Movie gig and just old enough to smoke.

“Well Pat, how fast is the kid?” Asks Chance

“Why don’t you ask me Sheriff? I speak English!” Kentucky cuts in.

SCENE 7 – Carlos reports to the Sheriff.

“Señor Chance, Deputy Dude, he is on his way. But I forgot to tell you, a young woman, she came in on the last stagecoach and she got a room upstairs.”

“Who is this young woman, Carlos?”

“She call herself Feathers, Señor Chance.”

“What in the hell kinda name is feathers?” Chance irrupts, “did you ask her what kinda feathers?”

“No, Señor Chance!” Carlos shakes his head. “Just Feathers!”

SCENE 12 – Feathers walks down the stairs at the same time as Dude stumbles in.

“Hey Chance,” Dude mumbles, “I’m no good to you anymore. This morning, I shot myself right in the foot.”

“What in the Sam hell were you doing, cleaning your gun?”

“No, Chance! I was trying to shoot this damned six-foot rat that busted into the jailhouse and I missed.”

“That was no giant rat, Dude! It was probably one of them alien creatures.”

“Look at my hands. They’re shaking!”

“Sit down and have another drink!”

SCENE 24 – The Sheriff finally gets some alone time with shapely Feathers. “Well Feathers, how about we go upstairs and see if your mattress is firm?”

“Why, Sheriff, I’m not that kinda gal!”

“You sure were last night, Missy!”

SCENE 123 – Feathers has to get inside the spaceship and blow it up, rat-looking aliens and all.

“Why do you have to go up into that flying thing all alone?” asks Chance, “let me help you. I’m big and strong.”

“No chance, Chance!” replies Feathers. “You’re older than the saddle on my pony. You’ll just slow me down”

SCENE 124 – Feathers takes off for the mountain. Five minutes later, the Sheriff and a posse, made up of Dude, Carlos, Pat Wheeler, Kentucky, the Burdette Brothers, Consuela and 35 extras, follow.

SCENE 125 – Stumpy finally stumbles into the saloon, just as the posse takes off.

“Gall dang it anyhow,” he swears. “How come nobody around here never tells me what’s going on? Well, I might as well have me a whiskey, or two!”

SCENE 142 – The Sheriff’s posse, the Burdettes’ old gang, Chief Red Cloud and his war party of 47, picked up on the way, go up against the Aliens with their superior weaponry and defeat them and save the civilians that captured in the Alien roundup.

SCENE 143 – Just as the spaceship reaches a couple miles in the air, it blows into smithereens from all the dynamite Feathers and Sheriff Chance had tossed in it before it took off.

SCENE 148 – They all ride off into the sunset, as Dude, Stumpy and Colorado and Feathers sing “Fly Me To The Moon” with Chance on the harmonica and Carlos on the guitar.

THE END

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This would have almost been an impossible movie to make in 1958, had Howard Hawks not rewritten the script, eliminated all the Flying things, the aliens, and the giant spaceship sucking gold out of the mountain as well as 200 pages of the script. Instead, he created RIO BRAVO for the wide screen, running 2 hours and 21 minutes, at a whopping cost of $1.21 Million.

In 2011, COWBOYS AND ALIENS, based on that original 1958 screenplay, was produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, with Steven Spielberg and director Favreau acting as the film’s executive producers, at a cost of $163 Million, with a ton of special effects. Compare that to the $1.21 million cost for Rio Bravo, which at current value only comes to about $10.8 million, in 2020. You would think that this complex Sci-Fi /Western would have been much longer, but it actually runs just a minute under 2 hours.

When RIO BRAVO came out in 1959, I was still attending Berkeley High School, a year away from graduating. Just so you understand my love for the western genre, you gotta know how I got to the USA and where from. We lived in France until 1956 February, when we finally made it here. However, I had by then seen a number of John Wayne Westerns; of course, most of them dubbed in French.

One of those early Westerns I got to see at the Odeon cinema in Algrange, France was “Le Bagarreur du Kentucky” (known in the US as “The Fighting Kentuckian starring, Jean Wayne, with a sidekick played by Oliver Hardy. Some of the other Wayne classics that came to town, were Fort Apache, Red River, Rio Grande, Hondo, and a few others. I was happy that we had made it to the US, so that I would get to see more westerns.

In March of 1959, when RIO BRAVO came out, my father acceded to my request and we all went to see it. Mom and dad loved the movie, as they already liked John Wayne and Dean martin, and they got to know young Ricky Nelson from The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Walter Brennon from The Real McCoys . This was unfortunately, the last movie my father would see in a theater, as later on, that year, he passed away at the age of 62.

I have quite a collection of John Wayne classics on DVDs, although, I don’t own every movie he ever made, which is in the neighborhood of 169. But I do have about twenty-five of them. My wife Bonnie and I watch one every so often on a lazy Sunday afternoon while munching on popcorn. Of course, now, with the Corona Pandemic, and the fact that most TV shows are unable to produce new episodes, we get to enjoy more of these old classics from our DVD library.

I hope you realize that this whole cockamamy story about Howard Hawks’ rewriting of COWBOYS OF RIO ESTRANJERO and turning it into RIO BRAVO was just a parody. The actual title of that submission from many years ago was originally, RIO LOCO. Ha, ha, ha!

This piece was certainly not meant to disparage the Duke. On the contrary, it’s an homage to his talent and his ability to draw you into whatever movie he was starring in and I actually believe that if Howard Hawks would have convinced him to play an alien hunting sheriff, Wayne would probably have done it. After all, he did play Genghis Kahn in The Conqueror, and got lambasted for it by the critics and even some fans. It wasn’t really that bad, except, he was way kinda big for a Mongolian warrior. For that matter, he was a truly giant presence on the screen, in whatever role he played. Happy birthday, big guy!