American Titan: Searching for John Wayne (59 page)

There is inadvertent humor: “He’s dying,” a Negro medic says, thoughtfully spooning Jim Beam bourbon down the throat of an elderly Oriental. “Poor old thing can’t even keep his rice down anymore.” What is clearly an Indian extra in a loincloth somehow straggles in among the montagnards. A Vietcong general is dragged from a bed of sin (which, through an indescribable inanity of the plot, the Green Berets have contrived for him) with his trousers on. He is subsequently drugged and yanked off into the sky on a string dangling from a helicopter. A Green Beret points out to the journalist some American-made punji sticks (the movie is obsessed with punji sticks): “Yup,” the Green Beret says, “it’s a little trick we learned from Charlie. But we don’t dip them in the same stuff he does.”

What the movie is into is another thing entirely. What is sick, what is an outrage and a travesty is that while it is meant to be an argument against war opposition* while it keeps reiterating its own line at every step, much as soap operas keep recapitulating their plots* it seems so totally impervious to any of the questions that it raises. It is so full of its own caricature of patriotism that it cannot even find the right things to falsify. No acting, no direction, no writing, no authenticity, of course, but it is worse. It is completely incommunicado, out of touch. It trips something that would outrage any human sensibility, like mines, at every step and staggers on.

The first Green Beret comes on speaking German, to show his versatility in languages. When the VC have just been sprayed with flames, a Green Beret is asked about his apparent affinity for this kind of thing. “When I was a kid,” he says modestly, “my dad gave me a chemistry set. And it got bigger than both of us.” When the VC, nonetheless, win the Special Forces camp in hand-to-hand combat, a soldier calls in air support. “It’ll only take a minute,” he says, like a dentist, as the VC are mowed down from the air. The journalist, “the former skeptic about the war,” the press kit synopsis chooses to say at this point, “leaves to write about the heroic exploits of the American and South Vietnamese forces.”

The point is that Wayne is using spoken German, lunatic chemistry sets, machine killing of men who have won fairly hand-to-hand, without apparently noticing that this is not exactly the stuff of which heroic fantasies are made. This is crazy. If the left-wing extremist’s nightmare of what we already are has become the right-wing extremist’s ideal of what we ought to be we are in steeper trouble than anyone could have imagined. The movie opened yesterday at the Warner Theater.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

324          “If you’re gonna . . .”
The anecdote and quotes of Wayne showing Chris Mitchum how to handle a gun are from Bogdanovich,
Who the Devil Made It,
p. 244.

326          “Ooh, they’re going to hate you,”
and “
Maybe, . . .”
from an interview with Bruce Dern,
Entertainment Weekly,
January 24, 2014.

326          “In about three months . . .”
Ethan Wayne, in his preface to
John Wayne: The Genuine Article,
August 2012.

327          “Hell, it’s over with Pilar . . .”
John Wayne to Wayne Warga, from the John Wayne Collection of papers at the University of Oregon, reprinted in
John Wayne: The Genuine Article,
p. 17.

327          “We finished shooting . . .”
Pat Stacy, from a televised interview with Connie Martinson, 1983.

330          “From then on . . .”
Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne,
pp. 261–262.

336          “He was thin . . .”
Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne,
p. 268.

EPILOGUE

339          “Hell, I’d have gotten sick . . .”
John Wayne, quoted by Wiley and Bona,
John Wayne: American,
p. 562.

341          “I really prayed . . .”
Pilar Wayne,
John Wayne Biography.
executive producer Ken Burns, made in association with Van Ness Productions, Fox Star Productions and 20th Century-Fox, 1996.

Index

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.

Abbott, Bud, 28, 172

Abe Lincoln in Illinois,
106

Academy Awards: (1935), 72–73; (1939), 90–91; (1940), 106–7; (1948), 161; (1949), 179–81, 185; (1952), 203–7; (1954), 218; (1956), 243; (1960), 275, 278–80; (1970), 1–9, 322, 323; (1975), 331–32; (1979), 337, 339–40

Acuff, Roy, 177

Adair, “Red,” 318

Adler, Buddy, 249, 250, 254, 283, 284

Adler, Luther, 171

Adler, Renata, 316, 325

Adventure’s End,
77

Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The,
159n

African Queen, The,
331

Agar, John, 160, 236

Airport,
217

Alamo, The,
3, 177–78, 197, 199, 210, 220, 221, 247, 258, 260, 262–63, 267–80, 283, 285, 294, 316, 317

Aldrich, Robert, 217

Allegheny Uprising,
97, 98, 100

Allen, Elizabeth, 295

Allen, Fred, 63n

Allen, Woody, 334

All Quiet on the Western Front,
128

All the King’s Men,
3, 169, 180, 204

Altman, Robert, 323

American Film Institute, 244, 328

Ames, Stephen, 147

Amos and Andy,
236

Anderson, Michael, 243n

Ando, Eiko, 254–55

Andrews, Julie, 309n, 322

Andriot, Lucien, 50

Angel and the Badman,
64n, 145–46, 171, 215

Anne of the Thousand Days,
1

Annie Laurie,
30n

Ann-Margret, 326

Anthony, Stewart, 118

Apartment, The,
3, 280

Araner, The
(boat), 67, 75, 78, 79, 176

Archer, Eugene, 274

Ardrey, Robert, 243

Argosy Pictures, 103, 158, 159, 172, 174, 187, 197, 231, 232, 233

Arizona,
57n

Arliss, Georg, 4

Armendáriz, Pedro, 170

Arnaz, Desi, 219n, 221

Arness, James, 208, 223, 234–35

Around the World in Eighty Days,
243

Arrowsmith,
71

Arthur, Jean, 129

Ashburn, Allen W., 212

Astaire, Fred, 193n

Astor, Mary, 232

Atkinson, Buddy, 336

Auer, John H., 115

Autry, Gene, 65, 67n, 98n, 105, 120

Avalon, Frankie, 271

Ayres, Lew, 128, 161

Baby Face,
63n

Bacall, Lauren, 219n, 227, 333

Bach, Stephen, 111n, 112n

Back to Bataan,
135–36, 137

Bacon, James, 299

Bad and the Beautiful, The,
203n

Balaban, Bob, 280

Ball, Lucille, 221, 308

Bancroft, George, 79, 83

Barbarian and the Geisha, The,
254–55, 256, 268, 269

Bardelys the Magnificent,
28, 30n

Bardot, Brigitte, 284

Barnes, Binnie, 123–24

Barnes, Howard, 161

Barnett, Beverly, 80, 207–8

Barrett, James Lee, 308

Barrymore, Lionel, 4

Barzman, Ben, 135

Bataan,
135n

Batjac, 3, 218, 227, 228, 249, 251, 253, 267–68, 271–72, 275, 278, 296–97, 303, 305, 306, 308, 313–14, 319, 323, 329

Battle Cry,
314

Battleground,
179n, 180n

Battle of Little Bighorn, 159

Battle of Midway,
141

Baur Diaz Ceballos, Esperanza “Chata,” 5n, 126, 128, 131–32

and her mother, 132, 138, 147, 201, 207

separation and divorce, 201–2, 207–8, 209, 211–12, 213–17, 223

spending money, 178, 189, 215

unhappiness of, 138–39, 145, 147, 176, 194, 199, 201

wedding of Wayne and, 137–39, 141

Baxter, Warner, 4, 44–45

Bazin, André,
What Is Cinema?,
88–89

BBC4, 205

Beau John,
336

Beckley, Paul V., 290

Beebe, Ford, 60

Belcher, Frank, 211–12, 216, 223

Bellah, James Warner, 159, 174, 188, 233, 288

Beneath the Planet of the Apes,
323

Benjy,
159n

Bennison, Andrew, 44

Berger, Senta, 303

Berman, Ted, 302

Bernstein, Elmer, 332

Berry, John, 249

Best Years of Our Lives, The,
144, 157

Big Jake,
193n, 324, 325

Big Jim McLain,
208–9, 227, 269

Big Punch, The,
33–34

Big Sky, The,
234

Big Stampede, The,
63n

Big Trail, The,
45–52, 55, 56, 58, 76, 78, 79, 82, 87, 91, 96, 97, 118n, 119–20, 204, 242

Birdwell, Russell, 275, 277, 278, 279

Birth of a Nation,
33, 44, 70

Bitter Tea of General Yen, The,
82

Blackie (dog), 255

Black Watch, The,
41, 71

Blane, Sally, 75

Blood Alley,
227–29, 247, 248, 269, 305, 333

Bloomberg, Daniel, 203

Blue Angel, The,
81, 109, 111

Blue Steel,
64n

Blyth, Ann, 250

Bogart, Humphrey, 4, 52, 57, 98, 120, 161, 219n, 228, 254, 331

Bogdanovich, Peter, 88n, 89–90, 170, 175n, 239, 244, 251, 285, 286, 291, 306

Bond, Mary Lou, 278

Bond, Ward, 83, 104, 115, 126, 134, 137, 142, 149, 160, 187, 196, 197, 258

death of, 277–78, 281, 294

early film work of, 41, 58

friendship with Wayne, 67, 74, 75, 127, 131, 131–32, 138, 173, 250

in
Quiet Man,
198, 200

in
The Searchers,
237, 239

in
3 Godfathers,
170, 171

in
Wings of Eagles,
252

Boomtown,
106

Booth, Shirley, 203n

Borgnine, Ernest, 4

Born Reckless,
44

Bosworth, Patricia, 86, 164

Bowie, Jim, 262, 270, 277

Box Office Management,
334

Boyle, Marie, 50

Brackett, Leigh, 305

Bradbury, Robert N., 64

Brand, Max, 110

Brando, Marlon, 4, 165, 204n, 220, 227

Brandon, Henry, 240

Brandt, James, 146

Brandt, Joe, 57

Brannigan,
329, 331

Brassac, Virginia, 77

Brazzi, Rosanno, 253

Breaking Point, The,
170

Breaking the Sound Barrier,
203n

Breen, Joe, 87

Brennan, Walter, 163, 166, 258, 259

Brewer, Roy, 150

Bridge on the River Kwai,
252–53, 261

Bridges, Lloyd, 206

Bringing Up Baby,
162

Britt, May, 271

Bronson, Charles, 334

Brooks, Mel, 334

Brooks, Richard, 270

Browder, Earl, 149

Brown, Francis Li, 223

Brown, Harry, 171, 178, 305

Brown, Pat, 307

Brown of Harvard,
28, 30n, 334

Bruce, David, 158n

Brynner, Yul, 4, 220, 243, 303

Bullitt,
327

Burks, Robert, 213

Burton, Richard, 1, 5, 7, 8–9, 309n

Bushman, Francis X., 28, 59

Bus Stop,
243n

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
7

Buttolph, David, 124

Caan, James, 305, 306, 310

Cabot, Bruce, 307

Cagney, James, 4, 52, 98, 191, 231, 258n

Cahiers du Cinéma,
244, 343

Cahill, U.S. Marshall,
326

Caine Mutiny, The,
137, 236n

California Straight Ahead,
77

Campbell, Glen, 6–7, 320n

Cane, Joseph, 134

Cannes Film Festival, 232

Canutt, Enos Edward “Yakima”; “Yak,” 48n, 59, 65, 67n, 74, 85

Capra, Frank, 3, 57n, 72–73, 82, 87, 90, 129, 187

Capucine, 274, 283, 284

Cardinale, Claudia, 297

Carey, Harry, 23–24, 33, 59, 78n, 83, 117, 123, 145, 170

death of, 163

filling the role of, 34, 68, 71, 85, 240

Carey, Harry Jr. “Dobie,” 48n, 76, 163, 170, 171, 175

in
The Searchers,
237, 239, 241

Carey, Olive, 138, 237

Carr, Trem, 64, 76, 77

Carradine, John, 79, 83

Carson, Johnny, 339, 340

Carter, Jimmy, 295, 334–35, 336, 341

Cartoonists Guild, 151n

Casablanca,
99, 120

Cassidy, Hopalong, 172

Cast a Giant Shadow,
302–3, 304, 305, 309

Cat Ballou,
300n

Central Airport,
63n

Ceplair, Larry, 150

Champion,
180

Champlin, Charles, 321

Chaplin, Charlie, 23, 31, 55, 106, 219n

Chase, Borden, 147, 162

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 78n

Cheer Up and Smile,
44

Cherrill, Virginia, 55, 56

Chisholm Trail, The,
162

Chisum,
321–22

Christmas at Mojave Tank,
170n

Churchill, Marguerite, 48, 49, 51, 52, 55, 56

Churubusco Studios, 300

Cimino, Michael, 340

Cinecittà Studios, 253, 303

Circus World,
286, 297

Cisco Kid, 44–45

Citizen Kane,
89, 103

City Lights,
55

Clark, Colbert, 63

Clemente, Steve, 48

Cleopatra,
293

Clift, Montgomery, 145, 163–65, 167, 168, 204n, 241, 258n

Cline, Eddie, 41

Clothier, William, 269, 271–72, 278, 285, 307, 326

Cohn, Harry, 57–58, 59, 61, 82, 169, 204n, 234, 271