The perfect way to celebrate the Duke's birthday!

Is to watch the "Quiet Man" on Netflicks. They just added it as a "New Movie." Heh.

It is my favorite of all John Wayne movies. You can't beat it. It has all the regulars of the John Ford stock company. A great story.

I will be watching it tonight.

Happy Birthday to the Duke!

Happy Birthday to the Duke who would have been 108 years old today if he has survived his hard living ways.

The Duke drank and smoked and had three wives. Not what I would reccomend if you want to live to be 108.

Most people think he caught cancer because of the exposure to radiation when he was filming "The Conquerer" in Utah which was downwind from nuclear testing in Nevada. Almost everyone connected to that movie died of cancer.

Of course his life long addiction to ciggarettes didn't help.

It is a testament to his greatness that he is still an icon today when stars of his era like Gary Cooper and Clake Gable are basically forgotten.

You can find a John Wayne movie on TV almost every day of the year. They hold up over time. Some of the best westerns ever filmed.

Happy Birthday Duke!

Keep his name out of your mouth.

 

 

Last night on the "Real Housewives of Atlanta" the diva Nene Leakes appeared on a talk show and she talked about how one of the other girls was nothing but a shit stirrer. This other broad Kenya spent the whole season playing one lady off against another to bring the drama. When Andy Cohen the producer asked who should be fired Nene said definitely not Kenya. Because she was good for the show. All of her drama and bullshit brought eyes to the show and they need to keep her for the good of the show.

One of my lurkers emailed me a link of a post by the Evil Blogger Lady where she attacks the Duke. She tries to set him up as a homophobe because of a quote from the new bio that just came out. So naturally she wants to mock and denigrate him and leaves that out there like a big turd in the punchbowl. She got some pushback in the comments but not as much as she would if I jumped in to set the record straight. Which I will not do.

This lurker is acting like Kenya. Stirring the shit. Trying to get a reaction. Even if I don't go over there I could still react at Lem's joint the next time Lawnboy shows up to shit in the punchbowl. But I won't.

Neither one of those douchebags is worthy of talking about a great American like John Wayne. Their knowledge about the Duke, his movies and his beliefs are as shallow as their knowledge of just about everything they are talking about.

I would like to ruminate about the Duke here for a while. I hope you will indulge me.

Listen we have to agree.

"Listen if you don't tell Desi that you used to bone me when I was hooker when I first came out here then I won't tell Pilar that even though you marry Beaners you would rather fuck red headed Irish girls."
"She already knows."
"How?"
"Maureen told her."

"What do you mean am I a fancy boy?"

"What do you mean am I a fancy boy?"
"Pilgrim anybody that wears an all leather outfit has to be a fancy boy."
"That doesn't mean anything. Lot's of people wear all leather jumpsuits. Liberace. Sal Mineo. Jeff Chandler. Well maybe you have a point."
"Life is hard enough Pilgrim. It is even harder when you go around like a fancy boy. Go put on some jeans and lets rob that Wagon you homo.
"Stop calling me that. At least my son will grow up to die of eating pussy."

Never apologize it is a sign of weakness

Never apologize about how you look like with your shirt off. A real man lets it all hang out and doesn't give a shit about what anybody thinks.

Even with a fuckin' pacemaker.

Get ready.

"That's my Steak"

---

---

Tom Doniphon: [Valance has tripped Rance in the diner, causing him to spill a tray of food] That's *my* steak, Valance.
Liberty Valance: [laughing] You heard him, Dude. Pick it up.
Ransom Stoddard: No!
Tom Doniphon: Pilgrim, hold it. I said you, Valance; *you* pick it up.
Liberty Valance: Three against one, Doniphon.
Tom Doniphon: My boy, Pompey; kitchen door.
[Valance looks and sees Pompey at the door holding a rifle]
Floyd: I'll get it, Liberty!
[Doniphon kicks Floyd in the face as he bends down to retrieve the tray]
Tom Doniphon: Isn't it great that I can call a colored guy "My boy!"
Liberty Valance:Well enjoy it while you can Doniphon. Someday one of them will be President and people like this hashslinger are gonna make it possible.

I have been reading about the movies

I have been reading biographies this week and I have been concentrating on bit players in the John Ford universe.

I read the biography or autobiography of John Agar, George O' Brien and Harry Carey Jr. They were all very interesting. I also dipped into a biography of Howard Hawks.

But I couldn't find anything for Victor McLaglen, Hank Worden, Ken Curtis or Francis Ford. What a rip-off.

Sometimes when I search Amazon I get results for book that cost about $50. That is freaking unbelievable. Jeez.

Anyway it was good reading as I read how they made movies like "Fort Apache" and "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon."

He had a shot to be that conservative icon

But I don't think he is in the Duke's class. I mean Jim Caviezel did play Jesus and he is a pretty cool guy in "Person of Interest." He is very conservative and a good Catholic kind of guy but he is much more in the Clint Eastwood mode than that of the Duke.  He is just too cool for school and he doesn't show the humanity that just dripped off of John Wayne in his famous roles.

Caviezel could play Colonel Thursday but he could never be the Quiet Man.

Flashback: Gratuitous bathtub photo horse trough edition.

To beat the cold we are going out west to the Gratuitous bathtub photo horse trough edition.

Can you guess who this lovely might be? One of the Duke's favorite leading ladies she starred in one of the seminal westerns of all time.

Remember the Alamo....playset

This is part of the Alamo play set I gave my nephew. It was totally cool. It had Mexican army guys and Crockett and his Tennesseans and Travis and Bowie and all the rest.

The best toy soldier sets are based on John Wayne movies!

But he must learn that a man's word to anything, even his own destruction, is his honor.

One of my favorite movies on the relationship between a father and a son is of course a movie that is so vital to understanding this blog. It is of course John Ford’s masterpiece Rio Grande.

I am sure you know the story. Lt. Colonel Kirby Yorke a hero of the Civil War (like our pal Custer) is commander of a post on the Texas border. Hostiles have been raiding and escaping across the border into Mexico. So it has become increasing frustrating as it is impossible to stop the attacks without breaking the law by following then raiders into sovereign territory of another country (Mexico).

There is an added complication as Col. Yorke’s estranged son Jeff has enlisted after flunking out of West Point. Col. Yorke accepts his enlistment but refuses to baby him and treats him even worse than the regular recruits even though his faithful Sergeant Quincannon looks after the boy. He allows his son the chance to find his way as a man without holding his hand and forcing others to kiss his ass which a lot of fucking yuppie parents could take a lesson from let me tell you.

To add to the mix, Yorkes true love his estranged wife Kathleen (Maureen O’Hara) comes to the post to plead to have her son released as he was under aged and she is too fearful that he will be hurt. So of like the yuppie moms who are afraid of their puppies playing on the freaking monkey bars in Carroll Park. But Col. Yorke let’s his son make up his own mind and he stays on to become a hero in action as he helps rescue some kidnapped children (OK Ford likes to load the dice).

Anyway, the conflict and competing tugs of the relationship of duty, family and honor are fascinating. The conflict that can occur between being a good husband and being a good father is laid bare for all to see. You can please your partner by giving in to their wishes, but that might not be the best thing for your child. Sometimes you have to break the rules if it’s the right thing to do.

Check out this film the next time you have a chance.

Oh by the way, when I first decided to comment and blog I decided to do it with a pseudonym for various reasons. I wanted to use the name the Duke used as a boxer in the Quiet Man. But I misremembered it as Trooper York. It actually was Trooper Thorn for Sean Thornton but once I figured that out I had already been commenting for months as Trooper York. So I stuck with it. You get the idea.

Smile when you say that partner.

In a thread about "The Man who shot Liberty Valance" our fellow Western and Wayne officiando An Edjamikated Redneck said...

I love the lessons in this movie; especially the way the shooting of Valance comes about.

Tom could have taken Valanace out at any time, and both of them knew it; consequently Valance kept his head when Tom were Tom was concerned.It was the pending shooting of Stoddard that caused, not to step out and face down Valance man to man as the code required, but to shoot him from ambush, so Stoddard could look good to the girl, teh girl Tom loved.

He broke the Code to keep the girl happy, something that wouldn't have happened had Tom stepped into thr street.And then he admits to the Pilgrim that he shot the man form ambush.

I have always finished that movie wondering; did he really shoot Valance, or did he make up the story to keep Stoddard in the race for represenative?Not that Tom wasn't capable of the shot, but was he capable of the ambush?

I have a slightly different take on this. You see John Ford had met many of the actual cowboys who had lived during those days. Hell Wyatt Earp was hanging around Hollywood until the twenties so Ford got some first hand accounts of what it was really like in the West. The men who built empires and cattle ranches were hard men. They didn't have fancy notions about a "code" and you have to meet out in the street face to face and that Hollywood bullshit. Most violence was spontaneous and messy. A lot like the fights in the TV show Deadwood and the violence there rang true. A straight up gunfight was pretty unusual. Certainly facing a guy out in the street with the whole town hiding behind water barrels and fence posts. The actual historical murder of Wild Bill Hickok was a case in point. Jack McCall just walked up behind him and blasted him in the head. That was the norm not the exception. The murder by Dan of the one eared outlaw on the stairs was also more the way it was. He just pulled out his blade and slit his troath. If you read historical accounts you would be amazed at the number of shots fired and missed in these "gunfights." I think the violence in the West has a lot more similarity to drive-bys by the Crips and the Bloods then it does to the beginning of "Gunsmoke."

My favorite "Gunsmoke" episode didn't even have Matt in it. It starred Buddy Ebsen as an old mountain man who's daughter or granddaughter was raped by a band of outlaws passing through. Newly was covering for the Marshal so he goes on the trail of these outlaws but the old mountain man ( a Jim Bridger/Kit Carson style figure) is always one stop ahead of him killing those guys one at a time. No fuss. No muss. No big show. Like shooting pests. Or killing bugs.

One of the most interesting discussions of this is in a book by Louis Lamour called "Bendigo Shafter." I highly recommend it to Western Fans. Now Louis Lamour practically patented a lot of Western Cliches so I don't claim by any means that his stuff isn't mostly Hollywood. But in this book the hero, "Bendigo Shafter" is a lawman who is stalked by an old mountain man and outlaw called Stacy Follett. He is a regulator and assassin who regularly shoots people in ambush. His eventually decides not to kill Shafter and they actually become friends. But his discussion of these themes is very interesting and worth the look. It is my favorite book by the dean of Western Writers.

In the end, I think Tom did kill Liberty Valance and the newspaperman just got it wrong.

Remember: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Or as Tom Doniphon would say: "The only thing worse than a journalist, is a lawyer who becomes a Senator and steals my girl."

Pilgrim, hold it.

Tom Doniphon: [Valance has tripped Rance in the diner, causing him to spill a tray of food] That's *my* steak, Valance.
Liberty Valance: [laughing] You heard him, Dude. Pick it up.
Ransom Stoddard: No!
Tom Doniphon: Pilgrim, hold it. I said you, Valance; *you* pick it up.
Liberty Valance: Three against one, Doniphon.
Tom Doniphon: My boy, Pompey; kitchen door.
[Valance looks and sees Pompey at the door holding a rifle]
Floyd: I'll get it, Liberty!
[Doniphon kicks Floyd in the face as he bends down to retrieve the tray]

Paid in advance.

Link Appleyard: Mr. Peabody's awful hurt and he needs you bad over at his office.
Liberty Valance: What's the matter, Mr. Marshal? Somebody have an accident?
Doc Willoughby: So that's it, another one of your 'accidents', huh Valance? I'm looking forward to the day when it's you they'll be calling me for.
Liberty Valance: [tossing Doc a silver dollar] Paid in advance

Major Kendall: I suggest you see a doctor.

Colonel Marlowe: I don’t care what he does… he can only make it worse. He’s a doctor. They claim they can heal and they feed you all their pills and such but you still die anyway.
Hannah: Someone close to you?
Colonel Marlowe: My wife. She never had a chance once the doctors got a hold of her. I held her in my arms as she let out her last breath. And I swore I would never let one of those butchers ever get close to anyone I loved.
(The Horse Soldiers 1959)

"Red Will" Danaher: I'll count three, and if you're not out of the house by then, I'll loose the dogs on you.

Thornton: If you say "three," mister, you'll never hear the man count "ten."

"Red Will Danaher" Not you and twenty Dolan's with yer.

(The Quiet Man, 1952)

Football is over for another year.

Steve Aloysius Williams: Oh, it's a fine game, football - noble game. Originated in England in 1823. An enterprising young man named William Weber Ellis - who studied for the ministry, by the way - found his team behind in a soccer game, so he picked up the ball, and ran through the amazed opponents for a thoroughly illegal touchdown. And that's how football was born - illegitimately. So, it moved to America where someone took advantage of a loophole in the rules, and invented a little formation called the Flying Wedge. So many young men were maimed and killed by this clever maneuver that President Roosevelt - Theodore Roosevelt - had to call the colleges together and ask them to make the game less brutal. He was, of course, defeated in the next election. In spite of this setback, football became an industry. The price of a good running back often surpassed the salary of a professor. And when some righteous committee unearthed this well-known fact, there was always a coach that took it on the chin. I just got tired of picking myself up.

(Trouble Along the Way 1953)

The Duke knew what he was talking about, but he didn't always know what everyone else was saying!

Townshead Harris: Well how are you little lady.?
Okichi: Tameguchi kitten ja ney o
Townshead Harris: Well I don’t sabe your language pilgrim. Sorry.
Okichi: Chipitama
Townshead Harris: So what do you do around these parts for fun?
Okichi: Omanko ni banzai, Benjo Mushi.
Townshead Harris: I don’t know what you said but it sounds so good when you say it.
Okichi: Sugu ikasete!
(The Barbarian and the Geisha, 1958)

The Duke knew what he was smelling.

Angie Lowe: Anyway, I don't believe a dog can smell Indians. Haven't you ever been to a 7-11.
I mean, as different from anyone else. You and me, for instance.
Hondo Lane: Well they can. As a matter of fact, Indians can smell white people.
Angie Lowe: I don't believe it.
Hondo Lane: Well it's true. I'm part Indian and I can smell you when I'm downwind of you.
Angie Lowe: That's impossible.
Hondo Lane: No, it isn't impossible, Mrs. Lowe. You baked today. I can smell fresh bread on you. Sometime today, you cooked with salt pork. Smell that on you, too. You smell all over like soap: you took a bath. And, on top of that, you smell all over like a woman. I could find you in the dark, Mrs. Lowe, and I'm only part Indian.
(Hondo, 1853)

Now what makes this hilarious is what actually happened on the movie set. The actress Geraldine Page was a New York Theater actress making her first western. And she had the unfortunate habit of not bathing. Also reputedly really bad teeth. Irish girl teeth if you know what I mean. She was banging all the key grips and camera guys on the set and causing all kinds of trouble. And she smelled bad. Real bad. In the hot western sun. Like an oyster po-boy left on a bench on the bayou.

So the writer put this little bit of dialogue in as an inside joke. John Farrow the director said that when the Duke said that with a straight face it was the most impressive feat of acting prowess he had ever seen.