American Titan: Searching for John Wayne (58 page)

202          “If it’s a bad scene . . .”
John Wayne, quoted by Jack O’Conner, “The John Wayne Story”
The Los Angeles Herald,
January 5, 1954.

202          “I got nothin’ to sell but sincerity . . .”
John Wayne, to Martin Scott, “John Wayne,”
Cosmopolitan,
November 1954.

204          “I knew two fellas . . .”
John Wayne, interviewed by Richard Warren Lewis,
Playboy,
May 1971.

205          “We were not blacklisting . . .”
John Wayne, in an interview with BBC4, London, 1974.

207          “I happen to know . . .”
Louella O. Parsons, “John Waynes Part Again,”
The Los Angeles Examiner
and syndicated, June 18, 1952.

207          “Wayne went into his wife’s room . . .”
An unidentified eyewitness, quoted in Martin Scott, “John Wayne,”
Cosmopolitan,
November 1954.

210          “I was making a movie . . .”
Pilar Pallette, quote
John Wayne Biography,
executive producer Ken Burns, made in association with Van Ness Productions, Fox Star Productions and 20th Century-Fox, 1996.

210          “I had never been so immediately and powerfully affected . . .”
Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne,
p. 63.

211          “We are now in the process . . .”
Jerry Giesler,
The Los Angeles Times,
September 11, 1952.

212          “A man has to have some self-respect . . .”
John Wayne, talking to the press, quoted by the
Los Angeles Examiner,
September 13, 1952.

213          “I went down . . .”
John Ford, to Peter Bogdanovich,
John Ford,
p. 141.

213          “Jesus Christ . . .”
John Wayne, quoted in McBride,
Searching for John Ford,
p. 529.

214          “We had pretty good times . . .”
John Wayne to Hedda Hopper, quoted in Bosworth,
John Wayne: The Legend and the Man,
p. 19.

214          Details of the divorce
From public court records,
The Los Angeles Times,
October 11, 1952, and
The Los Angeles Examiner,
October 11, 13, 1952.

217          “The minute I became a success . . .”
John Wayne, “The Rambling Reporter,” guest columnist for vacationing Mike Connolly,
The Hollywood Reporter,
April 30, 1954.

219          “We’re celebrating the fact . . .”
John Wayne with Chata, quoted by a reporter at “Mocambo,” from
The Los Angeles Times,
January 21, 1954.

220          “I decided to write it . . .”
Oscar Millard,
Los Angeles Times,
April 26, 1955. Additional material from Roberts and Olson,
John Wayne: American,
p. 410.

221          John Wayne and lung cancer
Several sources were used here. The story linking all the celebrity and crew deaths to the filming of
The Conqueror
was first reported in the November 10, 1980, issue of
People
magazine, in which it was stated that “Of
The Conqueror
’s 220 cast and crew members from Hollywood, an astonishing 91 have contracted cancer.” In
HealthNewsDigest.com,
September 14, 2009, in an article entitled “Was the Movie
The Conqueror
Really Cursed? A Look at Radiation Paranoia,” by Michael D. Shaw, the author stated: “Few environmental myths have stood the test of time better than the notion that a significant number of the cast and crew of
The Conqueror
(1956) were felled by cancer, contracted as a result of exposure to radioactive fallout . . . Several above ground atomic tests were run at Yucca Flats in Nevada from 1951 to 1953, including 11 in 1953 under the name ‘Operation Upshot-Knothole.’ The movie was shot from May–August of 1954 in Snow Canyon State Park, located 11 miles (18 km) northwest of St. George, Utah, 137 miles (downwind of Yucca Flats). The movie premiered on February 22, 1956, in Los Angeles, and less than seven years later, director Dick Powell died of cancer. After Powell, several of the leading actors succumbed to cancer, as well. There was Pedro Armendáriz, who killed himself in June of 1963, rather than live with his terminal diagnosis. Agnes Moorehead was the next star of the film to die of cancer, in April of 1974. She was followed by Susan Hayward (March 1975) and John Wayne, who first contracted lung cancer in September of 1964 and finally died of stomach cancer on June 11, 1979 . . . The
People
article quoted Dr. Robert C. Pendleton, director of radiological health at the University of Utah: ‘With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you’d expect only 30-some cancers to develop. With 91, I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of
The Conqueror
would hold up even in a court of law.’ This sounds impressive until you do some basic research. According to the National Cancer Institute, at the time the article was written, the overall incidence of being diagnosed with cancer in a person’s lifetime (age-adjusted) was about 40%. As it happens, this number still holds today. Thus, in a cohort of 220 people, 88 would be diagnosed with cancer at some point. I have no idea how Pendleton came up with his ‘30-some.’ If anything, given the heavy smoking habits of many in the movie business at the time, including Dick Powell, Agnes Moorehead, Pedro Armendáriz, Susan Hayward, and John Wayne at five packs a day, 91 is completely within the expected range. The only ‘astonishing’ thing is that the
People
article did not mention the smoking habits of any of the deceased stars.”

224          “This is the greatest thing . . .”
John Wayne, as reported in the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
November 1, 1954.

224          “Some men collect stamps . . .”
John Wayne, to Sheilah Graham,
Hollywood Citizen-News
and syndicated, November 1, 1954.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

228          “Wayne is a nice guy . . .”
William Wellman, to Martin Scott, “John Wayne,”
Cosmopolitan,
November 1954.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

234          “The biggest, roughest . . .”
Part of the advertising campaign designed by Whitney for
The Searchers,
referenced in McBride,
Searching for John Ford,
p. 553.

234          “I can’t say whether my father . . .”
Patrick Wayne, quoted in Frankel,
The Searchers,
p. 244.

238          “representative of a peculiarly American wanderlust”
Sarris,
The John Ford Movie Mystery,
p. 171.

238          “Suddenly, this character, this lonely character . . .”
Martin Scorsese, from an interview by the American Film Institute for its archives, published March 13, 2013.

239          Bogdanovich’s question and Ford’s answer about the relationship between Ethan and his sister-in-law
Bogdanovich,
John Ford,
pp. 93–94.

241          “The first scene I was in with Duke . . .”
Harry Carey Jr.,
Company of Heroes,
p. 170.

244          “How can I hate John Wayne . . .”
Godard claimed to have wept at the end of the film, overwhelmed by the “mystery and fascination of this American cinema . . .” Sarris,
The John Ford Movie Mystery,
p. 173.

245          “You know . . .”
John Wayne, from an interview quoted by Frankel,
The Searchers,
p. 315.

245          “Blithering idiot . . .”
Pilar, quoted in
John Wayne Biography,
executive producer Ken Burns, made in association with Van Ness Productions, Fox Star Productions and 20th Century-Fox, 1996.

245          “This is my second chance . . .”
John Wayne, quoted in Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne,
p. 18.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

251          “I didn’t want to do the picture . . .”
John Ford, to Peter Bogdanovich,
John Ford,
p. 96.

252          “ . . . I reported happily to the set . . .”
O’Hara,
’Tis Herself,
pp. 200–201.

253          
“
My problem is
. . .” From Emanuel Levy,
Cinema 24/7
(blog), posted November 10, 2006.

CHAPTER TWENTY

257          “I came in and said to Jack Warner . . .”
Howard Hawks, quoted in Bogdanovich,
Who the Devil Made It,
p. 357.

258          “I don’t like
High Noon. . . .”
Howard Hawks, in Schickel,
The Men Who Made the Movies,
p. 121.

258          “The scenes we were in . . .”
Angie Dickinson,
John Wayne Biography
, executive producer Ken Burns, made in association with Van Ness Productions, Fox Star Productions and 20th Century-Fox, 1996.

259          “
Rio Bravo
is a work . . .”
Godard, quoted by Peter Bogdanovich,
The New York Observer,
July 24, 2007.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

268          “It’s all gone . . .”
From Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne,
p. 138.

272          “I have everything . . .”
John Wayne, quoted in Zolotow,
Shooting Star,
p. 303.

275          “One smart-aleck remark . . .”
John Wayne, quoted in Wiley and Bona,
Inside Oscar,
p. 319.

278          “The eyes of the world . . .”
John Wayne, quoted in Holden,
Behind the Oscar,
p. 229.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

284          “
Hatari!
in a way . . .”
Howard Hawks, in Schickel,
The Men Who Made the Movies,
pp. 122–123.

285          “ ‘Well,’ Hawks said, ‘you can’t sit in an office . . .’ ”
Howard Hawks in Bogdanovich,
Who the Devil Made It,
p. 364.

285          “The difference in our ages . . .”
John Wayne, quoted in Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne,
p. 155.

286          “a deceptively simple Western . . .”
Bogdanovich,
Who the Devil Made It,
p. 10.

289          “Ford would talk to him . . .”
Lee Marvin to John A. Gallagher, “The Directors Series,” New York City, February 10, 1986.

289          “The relationship between . . .”
Howard Hawks, to Schickel,
The Men Who Made the Movies,
p. 120.

289          “had Jimmy Stewart for the shitkicker . . .”
John Wayne, as told to Dan Ford, quoted in Roberts and Olson,
John Wayne: American,
p. 492.

291          “
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
is a political Western . . .”
Sarris,
The John Ford Movie Mystery,
pp 175–182.

291          “A Ford masterpiece . . .”
Bogdanovich, “Directed by John Ford—35 Movies and a Lifetime, in One Weekend,”
The New York Observer,
August 9, 1999.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

296          “‘Look,’ Ford said, ‘don’t you want to spend . . .’”
Lee Marvin, “The Directors Series.”

296          “When I read the script . . .”
Maureen O’Hara interviewed about the making of
McLintock!
For a promotional film that accompanied the DVD.

298          “I’ve got a little problem . . .”
John Wayne, quoted in Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne,
p. 117.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

304          A virtual zombie . . .”
Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne,
p. 201.

305          “The Western takes, really, a couple of forms . . .”
Howard Hawks, in Schickel,
The Men Who Made the Movies,
pp. 119, 121–122.

306          “We chatted for an hour . . .”
Peter Bogdanovich, quoted by Sam Delaney,
The Guardian,
November 19, 2004.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

314          “Also Ray had had his troubles . . .”
Major Ron Miller, interview with author, July 2014.

316          
Here is the complete controversial Renata Adler review in full as it appeared in the
New York Times
:

June 20, 1968

‘Green Berets’ as Viewed by John Wayne

By RENATA ADLER

“The Green Berets” is a film so unspeakable, so stupid, so rotten and false in every detail that it passes through being fun, through being funny, through being camp, through everything and becomes an invitation to grieve, not for our soldiers or for Vietnam (the film could not be more false or do a greater disservice to either of them), but for what has happened to the fantasy-making apparatus in this country. Simplicities of the right, simplicities of the left, but this one is beyond the possible. It is vile and insane. On top of that, it is dull.

The film, directed by John Wayne and nominally based on a novel by Robin Moore, has no hero. It is vaguely about some Green Berets, led by John Wayne, trying to persuade Wayne’s idea of a liberal journalist (David Jansen) that this war is a fine thing for Vietnam and for America. The movie has human props taken from every war film ever made: a parachute jump; an idea of Vietcong soldiers, in luxury, uniform, champagne and caviar, apparently based on the German high command; a little Asian orphan named Hamchunk, pronounced Hamchuck but more like Upchuck than anything; battle scenes somewhere between “The Red Badge of Courage” and “The Dirty Dozen”; a pathetically dying dog.