Movie star John Wayne played some of the most iconic characters across the war and Western genres. From Rooster Cogburn in True Grit to Davy Crockett in The Alamo, he commanded the screen in a way that went down in history. He intentionally avoided any roles that he considered as pushing the boundaries of his moral compass. However, Wayne once revealed that he only had one role that he thought was “cautious.”
Movie star John Wayne created the image of the Western hero John Wayne as Jim Smith | Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Wayne pushed his own image of the Western movie hero through his roles. He wanted to create Hollywood magic, but he still wanted to create grounded characters that audiences would enjoy watching. Wayne changed the way that heroes fight on the silver screen, allowing them to “fight dirty” in response to an antagonist using violence to get their way.
Movie star John Wayne created the image of the Western hero John Wayne as Jim Smith | Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Wayne pushed his own image of the Western movie hero through his roles. He wanted to create Hollywood magic, but he still wanted to create grounded characters that audiences would enjoy watching. Wayne changed the way that heroes fight on the silver screen, allowing them to “fight dirty” in response to an antagonist using violence to get their way.
- 3/9/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Movie star John Wayne had dedicated fans who hated seeing any deaths surrounding the characters he played. He held an image that represented America to many moviegoers, making it hard for some to stomach watching his characters die. Nevertheless, Wayne had 8 character deaths out of his large filmography totaling over 200 motion pictures, not including 1955’s The Sea Chase, which left his character’s fate unknown.
‘Reap the Wild Wind’ (1942) L-r: Paulette Goddard as Loxi Claiborne and John Wayne as Captain Jack Stuart | FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images
Cecil B. DeMille’s Reap the Wild Wind is set in the 1840s, when a group of salvagers go from profiting off shipwrecks to to causing them. All those in the American South consider King Cutler (Raymond Massey) the most dangerous, who sets his eyes on the ships of the wealthy Devereaux Company, Captain Jack Stuart (Wayne), and the company’s lawyer,...
‘Reap the Wild Wind’ (1942) L-r: Paulette Goddard as Loxi Claiborne and John Wayne as Captain Jack Stuart | FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images
Cecil B. DeMille’s Reap the Wild Wind is set in the 1840s, when a group of salvagers go from profiting off shipwrecks to to causing them. All those in the American South consider King Cutler (Raymond Massey) the most dangerous, who sets his eyes on the ships of the wealthy Devereaux Company, Captain Jack Stuart (Wayne), and the company’s lawyer,...
- 2/15/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
When it comes to classic movie stars from Hollywood's golden age in the '40s and '50s, few cast a shadow larger than John Wayne. In a five-decades-long career, Wayne became an iconic western hero -- landing close to 200 performances in film and television. Wayne is one of those rare movie cowboys whose work has lived on past the genre's peak popularity -- making Wayne himself one of the most enduringly rugged stars in history.
Though we've already covered the greatest films in Wayne's career, there are scores of films viewers haven't seen. From bringing the American war effort to the silver screen at the height of World War II to dramatic turns that expanded Wayne's range, Wayne has shown a surprising amount of acting skill. Here we'll explore the underrated movies across Wayne's filmography. Some titles were overshadowed by his more high-profile work whereas others have endured the...
Though we've already covered the greatest films in Wayne's career, there are scores of films viewers haven't seen. From bringing the American war effort to the silver screen at the height of World War II to dramatic turns that expanded Wayne's range, Wayne has shown a surprising amount of acting skill. Here we'll explore the underrated movies across Wayne's filmography. Some titles were overshadowed by his more high-profile work whereas others have endured the...
- 2/8/2023
- by Samuel Stone
- Slash Film
The world was at war 80 years ago. The United States was grieving over the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 by the Japanese military and the defeat of our forces that month at Wake Island. And then the beloved Carole Lombard, her mother, servicemen and the crew perished in a plane crash west of Las Vegas on January 16, 1942. She was returning to Hollywood after raising 2 million in a war bond drive in Indianapolis.
How would Hollywood and audiences respond to World War II? They certainly didn’t shy away from the war. If you look at the top 10 films of the year, there are some escapist films but also movies dealing with the global conflict.
In fact, the No. 1 film of the year William Wyler’s “Mrs. Miniver” broke records at Radio City Music Hall in New York playing 10 weeks. Production began on the stirring, sentimental drama about a British...
How would Hollywood and audiences respond to World War II? They certainly didn’t shy away from the war. If you look at the top 10 films of the year, there are some escapist films but also movies dealing with the global conflict.
In fact, the No. 1 film of the year William Wyler’s “Mrs. Miniver” broke records at Radio City Music Hall in New York playing 10 weeks. Production began on the stirring, sentimental drama about a British...
- 9/18/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
When was the last time you were truly dazzled by a special effect? Our mainstream media landscape has been consumed by CGI to the point where we don't even think about the logistics of what we see anymore. In the series premiere of "House of the Dragon," Were you awed by the presence of multiple dragons, or did you just go, "Oh, yeah. Dragons. Sure?" Bear in mind, these creatures don't exist in real life and look entirely real.
At a time where effects are more seamless than ever before, we no longer feel their power because entire movies and television shows go by without a single frame using them. Before digital effects, you had to build this stuff by hand and have them ready to shoot on the day. Because they took so much time, money, and manpower to create, productions would focus their special effects on one single thing: a set piece,...
At a time where effects are more seamless than ever before, we no longer feel their power because entire movies and television shows go by without a single frame using them. Before digital effects, you had to build this stuff by hand and have them ready to shoot on the day. Because they took so much time, money, and manpower to create, productions would focus their special effects on one single thing: a set piece,...
- 8/24/2022
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
One of cinema’s earliest pioneers, Oscar winner Cecil B. DeMille helmed 70 films throughout the silent and sound era. He made his mark in a number of genres, but was most famous for his spectacularly mounted biblical epics. Let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest movies, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1881, DeMille made his directorial debut with “The Squaw Man” (1914), a story he remade in 1918 and 1931. He made dozens of silent films, including the ambitious biblical stories “The Ten Commandments” (1923) and “The King of Kings” (1927). He entered into the sound era with ease, earning his first Oscar nomination in Best Picture for the Claudette Colbert-headlined version of “Cleopatra” (1934).
After a series of box office smashes, he took home the Best Picture prize for his big top melodrama “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952), which also brought him his only nomination in Best Director. Even at the time,...
Born in 1881, DeMille made his directorial debut with “The Squaw Man” (1914), a story he remade in 1918 and 1931. He made dozens of silent films, including the ambitious biblical stories “The Ten Commandments” (1923) and “The King of Kings” (1927). He entered into the sound era with ease, earning his first Oscar nomination in Best Picture for the Claudette Colbert-headlined version of “Cleopatra” (1934).
After a series of box office smashes, he took home the Best Picture prize for his big top melodrama “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952), which also brought him his only nomination in Best Director. Even at the time,...
- 8/7/2022
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
We’ve got a big week of home media releases ahead of us, so I hope that your wallets are ready to suffer a whole lot of abuse this Tuesday, because there are a ton of must-own titles headed home that genre fans are definitely going to want to add to their collections. We have two new Vestron Video Collector’s Series releases to look forward to—David Cronenberg’s Shivers and Little Monsters (1989)—and for the first time ever, Wes Craven’s Vampire in Brooklyn is being released on Blu-ray.
If you’re a Stephen King fan, Paramount has assembled a 5-Movie Collection on Blu that includes both iterations of Pet Sematary, Silver Bullet, The Stand, and The Dead Zone. Kl Studio Classics is showing some love this Tuesday to the horror comedy The Ghost Breakers featuring Bob Hope, and Dark Sky Films is set to release Luz: The Flower of Evil this week,...
If you’re a Stephen King fan, Paramount has assembled a 5-Movie Collection on Blu that includes both iterations of Pet Sematary, Silver Bullet, The Stand, and The Dead Zone. Kl Studio Classics is showing some love this Tuesday to the horror comedy The Ghost Breakers featuring Bob Hope, and Dark Sky Films is set to release Luz: The Flower of Evil this week,...
- 9/14/2020
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Cecil B. DeMille would’ve celebrated his 138th birthday on August 12, 2019. One of cinema’s earliest pioneers, the Oscar-winning director helmed 70 films throughout the silent and sound era. He made his mark in a number of genres, but was most famous for his spectacularly mounted biblical epics. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest movies, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1881, DeMille made his directorial debut with “The Squaw Man” (1914), a story he remade in 1918 and 1931. He made dozens of silent films, including the ambitious biblical stories “The Ten Commandments” (1923) and “The King of Kings” (1927). He entered into the sound era with ease, earning his first Oscar nomination in Best Picture for the Claudette Colbert-headlined version of “Cleopatra” (1934).
SEECharlton Heston movies: Top 12 greatest films ranked worst to best
After a series of box office smashes, he took home the Best Picture...
Born in 1881, DeMille made his directorial debut with “The Squaw Man” (1914), a story he remade in 1918 and 1931. He made dozens of silent films, including the ambitious biblical stories “The Ten Commandments” (1923) and “The King of Kings” (1927). He entered into the sound era with ease, earning his first Oscar nomination in Best Picture for the Claudette Colbert-headlined version of “Cleopatra” (1934).
SEECharlton Heston movies: Top 12 greatest films ranked worst to best
After a series of box office smashes, he took home the Best Picture...
- 8/12/2019
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
On March 18, 1942, Paramount unveiled Cecil B. DeMille's high seas adventure movie Reap the Wild Wind in Los Angeles. The film went on to earn three nominations at the 15th Academy Awards ceremony, winning in the special effects category — presumably for the giant squid attack prominently featured in the marketing. The Hollywood Reporter's original review, headlined "'Reap the Wild Wind' Big in Spectacle and Box Office," is below.
Cecil Blount DeMille, in celebration of his 30th anniversary in pictures, turns to a swashbuckling sea spectacle lavishly splashed in Technicolor. His production and ...
Cecil Blount DeMille, in celebration of his 30th anniversary in pictures, turns to a swashbuckling sea spectacle lavishly splashed in Technicolor. His production and ...
- 3/18/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
On March 18, 1942, Paramount unveiled Cecil B. DeMille's high seas adventure movie Reap the Wild Wind in Los Angeles. The film went on to earn three nominations at the 15th Academy Awards ceremony, winning in the special effects category — presumably for the giant squid attack prominently featured in the marketing. The Hollywood Reporter's original review, headlined "'Reap the Wild Wind' Big in Spectacle and Box Office," is below.
Cecil Blount DeMille, in celebration of his 30th anniversary in pictures, turns to a swashbuckling sea spectacle lavishly splashed in Technicolor. His production and ...
Cecil Blount DeMille, in celebration of his 30th anniversary in pictures, turns to a swashbuckling sea spectacle lavishly splashed in Technicolor. His production and ...
- 3/18/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Susan Hayward. Susan Hayward movies: TCM Star of the Month Fiery redhead Susan Hayward it Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in Sept. 2015. The five-time Best Actress Oscar nominee – like Ida Lupino, a would-be Bette Davis that only sporadically landed roles to match the verve of her thespian prowess – was initially a minor Warner Bros. contract player who went on to become a Paramount second lead in the early '40s, a Universal leading lady in the late '40s, and a 20th Century Fox star in the early '50s. TCM will be presenting only three Susan Hayward premieres, all from her Fox era. Unfortunately, her Paramount and Universal work – e.g., Among the Living, Sis Hopkins, And Now Tomorrow, The Saxon Charm – which remains mostly unavailable (in quality prints), will remain unavailable this month. Highlights of the evening include: Adam Had Four Sons (1941), a sentimental but surprisingly...
- 9/4/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl': Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' review: Mostly an enjoyable romp (Oscar Movie Series) Pirate movies were a Hollywood staple for about three decades, from the mid-'20s (The Sea Hawk, The Black Pirate) to the mid-to-late '50s (Moonfleet, The Buccaneer), when the genre, by then mostly relegated to B films, began to die down. Sporadic resurrections in the '80s and '90s turned out to be critical and commercial bombs (Pirates, Cutthroat Island), something that didn't bode well for the Walt Disney Company's $140 million-budgeted film "adaptation" of one of their theme-park rides. But Neptune's mood has apparently improved with the arrival of the new century. He smiled – grinned would be a more appropriate word – on the Gore Verbinski-directed Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,...
- 6/29/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Cecil B. DeMille on the set of Four Frightened People. Image via Doctor Macro.Classical Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille, subject of a recent retrospective at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, is charged in pages upon pages of film history and criticism with codifying modern Hollywood spectacle, often through the lens of Old Testament biblical narrative. However, bookended by his prolific (and oft revered) silent work, and his late career showmanship are a string of virtually un-regarded films that push the director’s ideology into something bordering Naturalism. Specifically, This Day and Age (1933), Four Frightened People (1934), and Reap the Wild Wind (1942) are wholly uninterested in the Christian mythology that defines his more canonical work (The Ten Commandments, 1923 and 1956, King of Kings [1927], Sign on the Cross [1932], etc.); instead they exploit DeMille's scale and sense of melodrama in order to attempt the rather lofty task of explaining the role of man in...
- 3/10/2015
- by Daniel Watkins
- MUBI
They’re talented, they’re successful, and they have an earning potential that would make you writhe in envy if they weren’t so darn cute. No, I’m not talking about The Saturdays – I’m talking about all those animal actors who brought their thespian gifts to the large and small screens and became massive stars in their own right.
Some of the creatures listed within may be instantly recognisable, whereas others have been massively successful without their visages necessarily having been emblazoned upon your memory (at least one has a resume that many of its human counterparts would kill for). Check out this list and then waste no time in taking your beloved household pet down to Rada, just in case they have hidden depths. For the record, I desperately wanted to include the T-Rex from the Jurassic Park films, but I’m reliably informed that it was animatronic…...
Some of the creatures listed within may be instantly recognisable, whereas others have been massively successful without their visages necessarily having been emblazoned upon your memory (at least one has a resume that many of its human counterparts would kill for). Check out this list and then waste no time in taking your beloved household pet down to Rada, just in case they have hidden depths. For the record, I desperately wanted to include the T-Rex from the Jurassic Park films, but I’m reliably informed that it was animatronic…...
- 11/8/2013
- by Barry Marshall
- Obsessed with Film
Paulette Goddard, Modern Times Paulette Goddard on TCM Part I: Modern Times, Reap The Wild Wind I've never watched Alexander Korda's British-made An Ideal Husband, a 1948 adaptation (by Lajos Biro) of Oscar Wilde's play, but it should be at least worth a look. The respectable cast includes Michael Wilding, Diana Wynyard, C. Aubrey Smith, Hugh Williams, Constance Collier, and Glynis Johns. George Cukor's film version of Clare Boothe Luce's hilarious The Women ("officially" adapted by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin) is definitely worth numerous looks; once or twice or even three times isn't/aren't enough to catch the machine-gun dialogue spewed forth by the likes of Goddard, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Mary Boland, Phyllis Povah, Lucile Watson, et al. A big hit at the time, The Women actually ended up in the red because of its high cost. Norma Shearer, aka The Widow Thalberg, was the nominal star; curiously,...
- 8/2/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Paulette Goddard wouldn't have a special place in the Pantheon of movie stars if it hadn't been for her close personal and professional association with Charles Chaplin, with whom she co-starred in Modern Times and The Great Dictator. That's not only unfortunate, but downright unfair. After all, besides being beautiful, charming, lively, a former Ziegfeld girl, an Academy Award nominee (in the Best Supporting Actress category) for So Proudly We Hail, and a top contender for the role of Gone with the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara, Paulette Goddard was a major box-office attraction in the 1940s and, in the right role and under the right guidance, could be a remarkably effective actress. And let's not forget her eclectic taste in husbands — Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, Erich Maria Remarque, and millionaire businessman Edgar James; her leaving $20 million to New York University at the time of her death in 1990; and her firm — and...
- 8/2/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Reap the Wild Wind Debonair Ray Milland is Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month in April 2011. This evening, beginning at 8 p.m. Et, TCM will show a couple of Milland's biggest box-office hits: Mitchell Leisen's period drama Kitty (1945), co-starring Paulette Goddard, and Cecil B. DeMille's color adventure Reap the Wild Wind (1942), with Goddard, John Wayne, Susan Hayward, and a giant octopus. Also scheduled are William A. Wellman's Beau Geste (1939), a great-looking adventure tale starring Gary Cooper as an, ahem, Englishman, and featuring Milland, Robert Preston, Broderick Crawford, a very youthful Susan Hayward, and Donald O'Connor as the boy Beau. Brian Donlevy deservedly received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his sadistic Foreign Legion sergeant. Some would derisively call Beau Geste politically incorrect; it's not. Much like Gunga Din, The Four Feathers, and The Charge of the Light Brigade, it's...
- 4/20/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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