John Wayne and the Western Movie - A Patriot's Journey
One thing you have to love about America is our western movies. To me they’re pure Americana, especially if they starred John Wayne. What makes the Duke special? Well, my father was a big Wayne fan and, thanks to these two men, I fell in love with film, especially the western. It’s a love that remains strong to this day.
Western movies were, for me, an uncharted land filled with danger and excitement. They represented a place where a man lived by his own rules, where, to quote Wayne, “There’s right and there’s wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you’re living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you’re dead as a beaver hat.” The westerns I watched growing up were always centered around morality and I believe they helped shape my views on right and wrong.
Of course, Wayne didn’t just star in westerns. I watched him kill half of the Japanese army, wrestle a giant octopus not once, but twice (okay, one was a squid), get lost in the desert with Sophia Loren, put out oil fires and catch animals in Africa. But the westerns were my favorites. John Ford’s cavalry trilogy, Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo and El Dorado, his Oscar winning turn in True Grit and, of course, The Shootist and The Cowboys were some of my more recent favorites. But I think my all time favorite Wayne western was The Searchers.
But film wasn’t my only exposure to westerns. My dad and I watched all the TV westerns during their heyday. Hondo, Have Gun Will Travel, Sugerfoot, Cheyenne, Bronco, Wanted Dead or Alive, Trackdown, Lawman, The Rifleman, Maverick, Tales of Wells Fargo, Death Valley Days, and, of course, Gunsmoke were regular events at our house. And before them (although my dad seldom watched them with me) were Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, and The Cisco Kid. In all of them, the underlying message was one of basic, cowboy morality, doing what’s right ‘cause it’s right.
Many of my most vivid memories of growing up are shared film or TV experiences with my father. Even now, when I watch a modern western like Open Range, I find myself thinking, “Dad would have enjoyed this.”
Yes, the western movie is as American as, well, apple pie. But that’ll be another post during this journey.
Remember to check out the other Patriotic Journeyers… JimK, Scott, Larry, Drumwaster, and Cosmicbabe.
Doug
10 Comments
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (10)
I will admit to being a Western fan. (Do you remember "Shane" with Alan Ladd?)
You failed to mention Bob Steele and Johnny Mac Brown although they may have been before you time. They were early cowboys and made many early westerns.
I also watched some of the TV shows you reference although I am not familiar with some of them.
Cowboys and indians (early westerns) are definately an American invention, as is jazz. Consider writing an article on jazz. I will watch for it!
You forgot Johnny Yuma, The Rebel (Nick Adams). I used to like that one.
And don't leave out The Virginian and Big Valley. They were great shows. Also High Chaparral. Man, those were all good shows, I miss them. Those were the good old days of TV.
The show I used to watch religiously was Wild Wild West. Robert Conrad was so cool as a cowboy!
Yep, I watched them all and more! There must have been dozens of pretty good (and a few clinkers) TV westerns during their heyday. My favorite, as far as sheer coolness, was Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive. But he was cool in everything he did.
Stephen, I saw Shane at a theatre with my parents. I thought Alan Ladd was cool then. I rented it a few years ago and was disappointed. I guess my opinion of Ladd's performance as a cowboy changed considerably. And I do remember Bob Steel. He was one of my dad's favs and was in tons of westerns that I saw on TV when they had western marathons on Saturdays. I remember the name Johnny Mac Brown, but he was, I think, another of my dad's favs. I can't remember seeing him.
If anyone remembers some others (there are tons of them - amazing we were able to watch them all!) please share. My dad and I probably watched them, too.
-Doug
You forgot Johnny Yuma (Nick Adams).
At our house we used to call these cowboy shows "shoot 'em ups". They were great and you are right, there was always that good message. Did we outgrow them? They were soooo popular for so long. It would do us good to have shows like that again.
Yippy ki yay! Head em up, move em out! Wear a white hat and always let the bad gunfighter draw first! Mooooo!
Personally I never cared much for cowboy flix but I respect your right to like them.
I had forgotten most of these, but I do remember most of them now that you bring them up. What a great era in TV that was. Stuff with a good message for the youngsters (and their parents!) Now it is all about reality. Death, destruction, decadence, all called the real world. You know, the real world is whatever we make it, whatever we want it to be. The pendulum has swung too far away from morality.
I never understood the attraction to cowboy movies. Must be a guy thing.