Great American, or Greatest American? Either way, politics aside he was still one hell of a great actor, spokesman, and patriot. We need more people leading our country like this.
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HEAR HEAR!!!!!!
“we need more people leading our country like this.”
Well, yeah, we certainly could use more men named Marion.
(John Wayne’s real name was Marion Robert Morrison.)
Lung cancer.For the lose.
mmmmm, No.
In an interview with Playboy magazine published on May 1, 1971, Wayne made several controversial remarks about race and class in the United States. The interview became a hot topic and many stores had trouble keeping the issue in stock.[37] He noted that, as someone living in the 20th century, he was not responsible for the way people who lived one hundred years before him had treated Native Americans, stating:
I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them if that’s what you’re asking. Our so called stealing of this country was just a question of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves…. I’m quite sure that the concept of a Government-run reservation… seems to be what the socialists are working for now — to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave…. But you can’t whine and bellyache ’cause somebody else got a break and you didn’t, like those Indians are. We’ll all be on a reservation soon if the socialists keep subsidizing groups like them with our tax money.[38][39]
He then continued to discuss race relations, including his opinions regarding the current civil rights of African Americans:
I believe in white supremacy until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people…. The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically…. I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or ten generations ago these people were slaves. Now I’m not condoning slavery. It’s just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and can’t play football like the rest of us.[40]
When asked how blacks could address the inequities of the past, Wayne replied:
By going to school. I don’t know why people insist that blacks have been forbidden to go to school. They were allowed in public schools wherever I’ve been. I think any black man who can compete with a white can get a better break than a white man. I wish they’d tell me where in the world they have it better than right here in America.[37]
He also alluded to his distaste with the North Vietnamese Communist forces during the Vietnam War:
Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I’m not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be. I was proud when President Nixon ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor, which we should have done long ago, because I think we’re helping a brave little country defend herself against Communist invasion. That’s what I tried to show in The Green Berets and I took plenty of abuse from the critics.[41]
A flawed man, who loved his country, flaws and all. John Wayne is the embodiment of my nations deep seated difficulties in wrestling with its’ less than savory past history. Many of us long to look backwards towards the (fictional) certitude and righteousness we must certainly have had back in the 50s, when everything was wonderful (unless you were non-white, Catholic, Jewish, handicapped, a non-conformist, or gay). Others dive headfirst into acknowledging our flaws and constantly want to hold ourselves accountable for failing to meet the impossible benchmark of perfection (see above Mr. Wayne’s many flaws). The truth, of course, is in the messy messy middle.
The basic point is that people who laud Wayne as some kind of pinnacle need to stop it, because that’s not just idealism it’s out-and-out fantasy. He had a lot of rough edges that when you saw in less famous individuals would make you sick. I appreciate his contribution to film, as a character actor, but not as an individual or as some kind of icon; there’s really just not anything there. He had very strong opinions, but he was also in an advantaged position to voice them and not be blacklisted or anything.
The Duke was a great Western actor and that’s about all I can say for him. It’s not like he did a lot for other people at the expense of his own livelihood or health. He was an entertainer.
Great American? “That’ll be the day…”
On that, we agree.
Great Actor!!! You gotta be kidding, he was a crap actor, wooden and soulless. The only part he could play was the persona of John Wayne which he played in every role he had.
and that is a fact.
One could say the same of Burt Reynolds or Clint Eastwood; it doesn’t change that I enjoyed nearly everyone of their films.
Lead the country? His job was pretending to be other people.
Your mommy told you that movies were just pretend right?
lol reagan
“Others dive headfirst into acknowledging our flaws and constantly want to hold ourselves accountable for failing to meet the impossible benchmark of perfection (see above Mr. Wayne’s many flaws). The truth, of course, is in the messy messy middle.”
I think that you really pointed out what made John Wayne such a great man. He did acknowledge the flaws we as a nation have made in the past like slavery. * Allot of you who posted after hufnmouth really ripped on John Wayne for his conservative views. Now, I as a white man did disagree with his views on the treatment of the native americans, but I do feel like he hit it out of the park with blacks. The sad reality of this world is that for every upstanding, taxpaying, hardworking, and educated black man or woman, there is 10 or more who are selling drugs, uneducated, involved in some form of crime, or have multiple children by multiple partners and is not providing any child rearing or support for said children, which really adds to the detriment of our society. Am I asking for blacks to be kicked out of positions of authority or denied their rights? No! I am with Mr. Wayne in his statment “I believe in white supremacy until blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people…. The academic community has developed certain tests that determine whether the blacks are sufficiently equipped scholastically…. I don’t feel guilty about the fact that five or ten generations ago these people were slaves. Now I’m not condoning slavery. It’s just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and can’t play football like the rest of us.[40]”
Meaning that if people are unqualified to lead, or teach, or they are non contributors to society, they should not be leaders, teachers, and we should not be supporting them or contributing to their delinquintcy by allowing them to live on the “dole”.
Yes he was a conservative. Yes he pissed off the liberals. But a reality check is this, when the liberals run things, society falls apart. (See our current government). Conservatism makes people accountable for their action (or inaction) and encourages economic growth, and a strong national defence. Thats what Mr. Wayne stood for, and that is what I meant by my original text included in the pictures.
*Thank you hufnmouth for your post. I disagree with your assessment of the article, but you sharing it really helped show the strong, conservative values he lived by, and tried to portray in his films.
First off, sad to say but your economy is crum because of the conservative government you had before. Economic changes take time, they don’t just happen when a black man enters the whitehouse.
John wayne is the shit though, and we do need more men like him nowadays. Not because he was politically correct, but because if you told him he was wrong, he’d sock you in the teeth. Kids now-a-days aren’t looking up to men like him, instead they have twilight and harry potter…
John Wayne.
Eh, something tells me of an actor who can only play one character all his life. That he wasn’t acting at all. Which is both good and disturbingly sad at the same time.
Every time I see a picture of him I think of my Grandma who has Alzheimers. She was starting to go downhill already when it happened. We were in a flea market somewhere around town probably about 13 years ago and she saw a clock with John Wayne on it and she said “Oh look its John Wayne, he’s still alive, isn’t he?”
Got lung cancer from either smoking or shooting a film downwind of a nuclear test site (on which some ridiculous % of the cast & crew came down with cancer)…depends on who you ask.
“It took a nuke to kill the Duke”
I enjoy John Wayne Westerns! Hondo is one of his best.
As for them all being the same…I hear the same argument over AC/DC…I, for one, don’t want to hear AC/DC do a “slow jam” any more than I want to see John Wayne break a formula that works.
Now, his person opinions in Playboy…at least he has his own opinions not some pant washing illusions about life. I don’t feel any guiltier about black slavery than I do about the MILLION WHITE SLAVES held in bondage at the same time in history by North Africans and Turkish owner who purchased them from Barbary Coast Pirates…or the indentured servants of the USA prior to black slaves sold to boats captains by BLACK Chiefs in Africa. As Mr. Wayne said, I don’t condone it, but it is a fact of life. We are all so romantic, that’s a problem, we have this illusion of how it should have been, but all we can do is control how it is, (maybe you should fight the CURRENT Pakistani “slavery”) do your part — be a man, be a pragmatist.
SO in conclusion, JW is a great man because he’s just that, A MAN, he might be wrong (aka have a different opinion than you), but he’s honest, if I had a talk with him, like or not, I’d know where he stood and if you want to learn to be a man watch Hondo and McLintock!
Fuck What Would Jesus do — WHAT WOULD HONDO DO?
If you really want to know what people like John Wayne would do if they were in charge, watch The Green Berets, one of the plain dumbest movies ever made, and which was a vanity project for the Duke; he bought the book, directed, and his son produced. It is a piece of cinematic dross. Wayne was just fine as an actor, but he needed people who knew what the hell they were doing to be in charge – like John Ford and John Huston.