John Wayne: Bad ass American icon or overrated can?

[TardStrong]

Im more of a Clint Eastwood kind of guy but I have two John Wayne sayings.

I say this when i see someone drinking an ice coffee/frap:

If John Wayne were here he would slap the taste out of your mouth

I also say that every time someone take a hit off an e cigarette/vaporizer John Wayne rolls over in his grave

 

[Morning Star]

I prefer Clint, but I enjoyed the few John Wayne movies I've seen. It's pretty indisputable that the guy is a cinema legend.

 

[Lonesome Crow]

In addition to credited roles, he appeared uncredited as a Klansman in D. W. Griffith's 1915The Birth of a Nation, as the man who lifts up one side of his hood so he can see clearly.

And the only thing he shot in the war was photographs and film. He was in some major battles, in the back taking video.


John Wayne:

America's entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age, although actor Henry Fonda born two years earlier volunteered and served three years, (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status, classified as 3-A (family deferment). He repeatedly wrote to John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion inquiring whether he could get into Ford's military unit, but consistently kept postponing it until after "he finished just one or two pictures".[4]:212 Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him. Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract,[4]:220and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne's further deferment.[4]:213

Wayne toured U.S. bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944.[4]:253 with the USO.[30][31][32] By many accounts, his failure to serve in the military was the most painful part of his life.[4]:212 His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang from guilt, writing: "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home."[33]

U.S. National Archives records indicate that Wayne had, in fact, made an application [34] to serve in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), that day's equivalent of the CIA, and had been accepted within the U.S. Army's allotted billet to the OSS. William J. Donovan, OSS Commander, wrote Wayne a letter informing him of his acceptance into the Field Photographic Unit, but the letter went to his estranged wife Josephine's home. She never told him about it. Donovan also issued an OSS Certificate of Service to Wayne.[35]

Ford was actually wounded by enemy fire at Midway. That's more danger than Marion ever faced.

And if Marion really wanted to serve in WW2, he would have.

Age didn't stop Clark Gable or Henry Fonda from getting waivers and enlisting.

When Jimmy Stewart got passed over for being underweight, he got MGM's fitness trainer to work with him and then subsequently passed the weigh-ins.

David Niven had just broken through as a leading man, but still went back home and joined the British Army.

What did Marion do? Write some fucking letters? Oh, Republic threatened him with a lawsuit? I'm sure they would've loved the publicity fallout from that had they actually followed through... of course that would actually require Marion to make more than a token effort to join. GTFO with that weak shit. Marion talked the talk but he never walked the walk.

Marion: Fake badass.

Real Badass:

Got the Purple Heart as a tailgunner.

 

[Revolver]

Huge overrated can

 

[Guestx]

LOL.

It's interesting how the first half of the thread is almost nothing but praise and adulation for The Duke, and now the critics are bringing up the rear.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

John Wayne was a typical big talk no action coward he harped on about the united states enemies and what should be done to them but didn't have the balls to enlist himself.
He reminds me of half the posters in the War room who always want to invade or bomb other countries but only if they can be safe at home watching on CNN/FOX

Agreed on all accounts. The War Room is full of guys like the dude who drove his car into the protestors in Charlottesville. They all fantasize about having some badass military career, or being the savior of their neighborhood in the apocalypse, but they were too stupid to pass the entrance exam to get into even the Marines.

 

[ripskater]

My local airport is named after him "the John Wayne airport" and has a giant ass statue of him in front of an enormous American flag

I'd go to war to defend that thing

Out where you are there's some leftist that want's to destroy that you know?

 

[evergreenrider]

Once you can high kick in cowboy boots and tight ass REAL, not some stretchy spandex Chuck Norris jeans, you can speak ill of The Duke. Bunch of unamerican fucking pansies

 

[Sir Galahad]

Pretty sure I would've shoulder rolled his ass and sent him to the floor with a three punch combo.

 

[Gregolian]

Bigger fan of Eastwood and his western's but El Dorado is still funny as fuck and an entertaining flick.

 

[Cajun]

Grew up watching all his films. Def icon.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

The Quiet Man and Yhe Searchers are his only good movies. One of the most overrated actors of all time. But an icon nonetheless

 

[Rav1nHunter]

He wanted to enlist but the military told him he is of better use to make movies to support the cause.

No the studio he worked for got him a deferment after he got called up for the draft.
The excuse they used was he was working in a war necessary job. This is usually reserved for factory or shipyard workers who contributed to the war effort not pansies in makeup.

 

[Twelve75]

My local airport is named after him "the John Wayne airport" and has a giant ass statue of him in front of an enormous American flag

I'd go to war to defend that thing

Still wouldn't rule out,the chance some snowflakes looking for a name change and a statue removal.

 

[M3t4tr0n]

Overrated one dimensional can but still an icon. Not a hero at all tho.

 

[Philo-Publius]

I have no real opinion personally. I didn't grow up in a household that had any strong feelings about John Wayne and I didn't grow up watching many of his movies. I've seen a few of his films, that's it.

So I figured I'd turn this over to people who DO have a lot of experience with John Wayne.

What are your thoughts? Do you think he was awesome? Do you think he's overrated? Do you enjoy his films?

The floor is yours, John Wayne fans and haters.

Sound off.

I respect his accomplishments, but I think his performances are a little dated, and I was never really personally a huge fan of his work.

 

[Big Burly]

John Wayne was an all-American badass ICON!

He had a lung removed due to cancer in the early-to-mid 1960s, and he still made movies that year and beyond.

He had to be filmed in the morning, because by noon he was drunk.

My favorite John Wayne movies: The Quiet Man, The Wings of Eagles, and Donovan's Reef.

His Western movies were damned good, too: Big Jake, True Grit, Rooster Cogburn, The Cowboys, The Searchers, etc.

 

[Plissken]

Icon. Likely did far more as a propaganda icon during WW2 and after than he would have on the battlefield; and Hollywood and the military wanted him kept out so he could make one money and the other propaganda.
Also one punched Sinatra's bodyguard.

 

[europe1]

Dennis Hopper has an story about John Wayne that is even more hilarious than it is bizzare.

By 1965, Dennis Hopper was allowed back into Hollywood after being recast by the same guy who’d kicked him out (Henry Hathaway) for 1965’s The Sons of Katie Elder. A few years later, he starred alongside John Wayne in True Grit.

According to Hopper, he had a fairly amicable relationship with Wayne, for the most part. Wayne dished out friendly advice on acting and life, and the two got on fairly well. However, one day, John Wayne allegedly tried to kill him.

Wayne, who was a right-wing conservative, thought of Hopper as his very own “in-house commie.” Whenever some new political development disturbed or troubled him, Wayne would come after Hopper (whom he referred to as a "pinko“).

According to various sources, Wayne arrived on set one day via helicopter, angry that his daughters had attended a UCLA lecture by a civil rights activist, screaming, “Where’s that pinko Hopper?!” To make matters worse, Wayne was also carrying a gun on his belt. If Biskind’s book is to believed, Hopper spent the rest of the afternoon hiding in a cupboard while John Wayne stalked about, saying things like “I want that red motherf—r. Where is that commie hiding?”