Now heres probably another actor that made me want to do this monthly topic in the first place: the all-American cowboy, the symbol of toughness and probably one of my favorite actors; ladies and gentlemen, I give you JOHN WAYNE! *thunderous applause and cheers ensue* What hasnt been said of the most popular actor Hollywood ever got to have during the Classic Movie Era? Well heres something many people may not know: Duke was the first to actually have his own production company (Batjac), and pretty much began the whole actors taking charge of their own films phase during Hollywood history, which has resulted in some stars (Milland, Lancaster, Sinatra, etc.) following in his footsteps. In total, there are 4 films Duke worked on (2 where hes credited as director, the other 2 uncredited), so lets begin with the most expensive film Duke acted, produced, and directed entitled The Alamo (1960). The story of the Alamo has been a famous subject for films (heck, Walt Disney did that with his Davy Crockett TV show and made it look awesome despite the small TV budget), but Duke thought it didnt carry the political views he wanted to express to everyone, but once that show became a huge hit, it became clear to Duke that audiences would pay to see the heroes die, so he decided to make a huge Todd-AO Technicolor production about this historic moment. Originally, Duke was only going to do a cameo appearance and only focus on producing and directing this project (heck he even asked Clark Gable and Charlton Heston to appear in this film!), but United Artists (the distributors) said to him Youre a box office name; appear in the film! so Duke eventually played Davy Crockett (no offense, Duke, but Fess Parker IS Davy Crockett, plain and simple) and was struggling to get this film made. He also didnt get along with Richard Widmark, who plays Jim Bowie, and even during the famous final battle scene, I notice people who are supposed to be dead moving out of the way from the horses hooves, not falling down right away in the same shot when a bullet is fired at them, etc. If John Ford or Howard Hawks were there, theyd have raised hell and say DONT MOVE, DAMNIT! IF YOURE DEAD, STAY DEAD!, or something like that. In the end, The Alamo was nominated for some Oscars (only winning for Best Sound; odd) but it wasnt the huge hit Duke predicted, and only then did he realize that he still had that charisma as a star, so he focused on acting after this huge event. Then in 1961, Duke was asked to help direct The Comancheros when director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Mildred Pierce) fell ill, and would eventually pass away in 1962. Since the cinematographer was by John Ford regular William Clothier (who also shot The Alamo), Duke gladly stepped in and finished the film, and out of respect to Curtiz only left his name on the Directed by credit. Ive seen The Comancheros, and its a really exciting film (aside from the fact its photographed in CinemaScope) worthy of being remembered alongside The Searchers, Rio Bravo, and El Dorado to name a few. Duke kept on acting in some great films (and some not so great films like Circus World and In Harms Way), and when the Vietnam War was becoming a huge thing, Duke bought the rights to a book by Robin Moore entitled The Green Berets and also did directing and producing on the film. He also had co-direction by Ray Kellogg (the man who directed The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster, both of them really horrible B movies from 1959 that I have seen all the way through) and uncredited help by Mervyn LeRoy (who has done much better films in the past like 1955s Mister Roberts). When this film was released in 1968, critics slashed down on this film and even some audience members hated this, citing this as one of Dukes worst films (a worthy companion piece to The Conqueror) yet this film became hugely successful at the box office; in one of my books about John Wayne, theres a newspaper article giving a negative review to the film, and Duke wrote over it in Sharpie 6 and a half million in three weeks thanks to the left-wing overkill. Oh, snap! The final film Duke did uncredited direction on was The Undefeated (1969), directed by one of his fellow friends Andrew V. McLaglen (son of Victor, who appeared alongside Duke in 1952s The Quiet Man). Some of the scenes have been directed by Duke, but its hard to pinpoint exactly which of the different shots/sequences were directed by Duke. The final film Duke got to do to end his Classic Movie Era career was True Grit, which won him his only Best Actor Oscar and he continued to survive the Modern Movie Era until his passing in 1979. Look Duke, I really respect you, I really do. I loved your performance in The Searchers (which the Academy shouldve taken into account but stupidly didnt). You were also great as John T. Chance in Rio Bravo; but look, just because you thought getting old meant your acting career was finished doesnt mean that you shouldve directed. Unless you have a veteran of Westerns showing you the ropes of film directing, then I wouldve loved seeing you direct a film, but as is, the two official films you directed are not the films I want to identify you with. Again, I love you as an actor, and you shouldve stayed that way. Alright folks, we only have one more actor to go in this monthly topic, and is probably just as famous as Lewis and Olivier. I bet you know who he is. Prepare to see the final Hollywood actor/director before I turn over the film work to next months moderators, fellow film fans!
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 00:22:51 +0000