Born On this Day, John "Duke" Wayne

John Wayne place ^

[Budge]

Hellfighters - that's it, thanks!

[Slyfox]

BTW, my favorite Wayne film is still The Quiet Man.

In Ireland on St. Patrick's Day, the people watch two movies in celebration - 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People' and 'The Quiet Man'.

[tame]

Schwarzkopf was larger than life and reminded people of the Duke. We were ready for another hero and John Wayne wasn't here.]

Schwarzkopf is no John Wayne:-)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is one of my all time favorite movies.

I love it! I also love the fact that it's in black and white.

[Slyfox]

1949 - Wake of the Red Witch

One of the only movies where the character John Wayne was playing, dies.

I have some friends who bought a replica of the Red Witch and run tours on it in Lake Erie near Cedar Point, Ohio. I got a few minutes at the wheel. Felt like Captain Ralls was standing right behind me.

[itsLUCKY2B]

JOHN WAYNE..... AMERICAN!

[Budge]

Thanks, AR! Great site!

[wardaddy]

Happy Birthday Duke!

[El Gato]

Jimmy was another great one, actor and American.

Indeed, and one who flew combat missions in eigth Air Force B-24s in WW-II, he'd also flown B-17s stateside. Eventually retired from the USAF reserve as a one star general in 1968. He was 32 years old when he joined up, about 9 months BEFORE Pearl Harbor, for the war he knew was coming.

After Stewart's death in 1997, Air Power History published a memoriam that included this little-known item: "In 1966, during his annual two weeks of active duty, Stewart requested a combat assignment and participated in a bombing strike over Vietnam. In 1969 Stewart's stepson, 1st Lt. Ronald McLean, was killed at age 24 in the Vietnam War.

Perhaps because Lt. McLean was not "Lt. Stewart" is the reason so many of us had not known of him.

[Tijeras_Slim]

One of the only movies where the character John Wayne was playing, dies.

I think he only dies in 6 movies total.
Wake of the Red Witch
Flying Leathernecks
Sands of Iwo Jima
FIghting Seebees
The Cowboys
The Shootist

Any others?

[Tijeras_Slim]

To say "They don't make them like that anymore" may see trite, but it's true.
Wayne
Stewart
Reagan

Anyone of them is worth more than 99.99% of the "actors" out there today.

[wardaddy]

Hellfighters...with Jim Hutton....also in the Green Berets with El Duque.

[Slicksadick]

Find here a link to a great (but long) review of "The Searchers". JW stated this was his favorite role of all, playing an anti-hero type before it was common.http://www.filmsite.org/sear.html

[wardaddy]

There's a sad irony there particularly in Duke's case.

[mikeb704]

Lots of great movies to remember him by, including Donovan's Reef, a comedy with Lee Marvin.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[demlosers]

Add "The Alamo" as Davy Crockett.

[TaMoDee]

About 10 years I was going across country on I-80 through Iowa and took the time to visit Duke's birth place in Winterset. The home was a very small white wood structure with a simple sign out in front "Birth Place of John Wayne".

(Winterset is about 19 miles south of I-80 on Hwy 169. Use I-80 Exit 110.)

[Redleg Duke]

I have seen the sneering assholes denigrating this fine man for not serving in World War II. Well, the following part of this article should place these assholes where they belong...in the dustbin of history:

"When war broke out, John Wayne tried to enlist but was rejected because of an old football injury to his shoulder, his age (34), and his status as a married father of four. He flew to Washington to plead that he be allowed to join the Navy but was turned down. So he poured himself into the war effort by making inspirational war films - among them The Fighting Seabees, Back to Bataan and They Were Expendable. To those back home and others around the world he became a symbol of the determined American fighting man."

Mr. Wayne will always be my personal hero. He always showed me, on the screen and in real life, although I never had the honor to meet him personally, how an AMERICAN MAN should live his life.

THANKS, DUKE!

[RJCogburn]

He does not actually die in the movie, but the characters have come to Shinbone for his funeral in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".

[Redleg Duke]

The greatest scene in the history of the silver screen!

[RJCogburn]

I stopped in in 1992 myself.

An understated place worth the trip.