WEBVTT - Part Two: John Wayne: A Dude Who Sucked 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:07.040 Oh boy, Welcome back, Pardner to Behind the Bastards the 0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:13.720 Cowboy podcast talking about John Wayne who is about to 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:18.320 get his first he's just had his first role on screen. Um, 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:21.840 and he's about to get his first cowboy job. So 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.439 he's he's he's he gets on a gig on a 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.479 film as a as a prop boy. Yet again with 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:32.920 his dude role. Walsh, this director and his apparently the 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.800 thing that gets him his first cowboy job is Walsh 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.640 catches a glimpse of Marian while he's carrying furniture across 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.880 the sound stage. He's again he's huge and very strong. 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:45.040 So he has this like reputation for people just like 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:47.240 pick up a couch when that needs to be moved 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:49.680 and just like walk it as on his own, like 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.760 across the stage or something. And so Roll sees this 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:58.800 big showed of a dude just kind of man handling furniture. Um, 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.640 and he feels that like Marian has a warm and 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.920 wholesome expression on his face. Uh. Quote. I stopped and watched. 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.520 I noticed the fine physique of the boy, his careless 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.760 strength and the grace of his movement. Um. Now is 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:20.480 this another forward situation for sure? But are we grooming 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.480 hashtag Disney grooming. I mean, I think what you've got 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.600 here is a dude whose job it is. Like any director, 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:30.960 this obviously gets problematic a lot of the time, but 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:33.160 as a director you should be able to let you 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.520 should be looking and appreciating the way people move and look. 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.360 That is part of like your gig is to be like, oh, 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:41.760 I like the way that motherfucker moves. Just appreciate the 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.000 human form. Yeah, there's a creepy way for that, but 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.240 in this case it doesn't seem to be creepy. Although 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.720 I should state John Wayne's opinion is that this is 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.840 not the first time Walsh saw him and decided like 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.280 he looked good. John Wayne's later opinion is that Walsh 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:00.680 saw him at a Fox Company nick when he was 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.520 super hungover and engaged in a walking contest, which he 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.440 barely won because everybody was still pretty drunk. Um. Whatever 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.280 the case, why did he always has to make these 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:13.560 back stories of like no, actually, like I beat him 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.280 at arm wrestling. That's how we first met. I checked 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:17.760 his ass and then you give me a part and 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.040 I was like, this part sucks. It is one of 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.680 those things. He's a liar, so I wouldn't be surprised 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.720 about that, although I don't feel like barely one a 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.880 walking contest while drunk is particularly cool either. That's true. 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:35.040 That's true, so who knows. Um, but his story is 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:39.000 very much tall privilege. You can't be a six three 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:43.280 brawny man hanging around a film set is not going 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.840 to get noticed doing any of the same stuff. No, 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.200 um he is. He is again like being a tall 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.200 white guy is the easy mode of life. It is. 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.400 There's so many things you can you can get out 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.760 of just by being a tall white dude. It's incredible. Um. 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.040 So Marian he Walsh is like, I like to look 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:04.880 at this kid. I want to make him a Cowboys star. 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.800 Uh and he he puts Marian through screen testing, which 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:10.760 is like where they put you on camera to decide 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:12.560 if you actually do look good on camera, and he 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.920 does so they cast him as the star of of 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.040 an upcoming film, um, which more than doubles his pay overnight. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.359 But it's clear, however, that he's gonna need a new name. 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:28.560 Marian Morrison definitely not a cowboy actor name. Duke is 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:32.400 that's starlet name though, Like that's a oh yeah, yeah, 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:37.520 Marion Morrison. Yeah, absolutely a great leading female name, but 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.000 not not good for a cowboy actor in the twenties. 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.160 Still not cutting in. They decide not. They decide he 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.480 needs an even better name than Duke Morrison, and I'm 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.800 gonna quote from Scott I'm in here. Roll Walsh claimed 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:52.960 that he came up with a name Wayne, and that 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.440 she Hand, who's another person involved in the film's production, 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.160 added John, but Duke said that the whole thing was 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.560 she Hands. I Sheehan was a fan of Mad Anthony Wayne, 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.440 the Revolutionary War general, because he had been tough and 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.760 a nonconformist. The John seems to have been an afterthought, 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:10.760 but it worked. Gave the two halves of the name 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.320 the equivalence of two blocks of granite that miraculously fit together. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.320 And one of the things Wayne will later say that 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:19.200 I think it's true is that it kind of works 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.960 as a single thing you call him like John Wayne 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.400 is a single name on its own, Like it's not 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:26.640 something you split up in your head. And that's part 0:04:26.640 --> 0:04:30.920 of why it's so it became so iconic. Um So 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:32.960 obviously they picked this name for him, which is I 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:37.560 think objectively a good decision. You can't argue with the results. Um, 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.800 Wayne John's not you'd call him Wayne or John's, but 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.719 you wouldn't call him Wayne John's. Yeah, Wayne, Wayne John fails. 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:51.080 Wayne John can't lift a couch. Terrible name. Absolutely not. No, No, 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.120 Wayne John is not a chod John Wayne hardcore chowed. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.039 I love I love your interpret like your definition of 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.000 chowed because very different than I think what my understanding 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:07.480 of the word showed is, which is like a short 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:11.240 dick I have I have chosen, I have taken it 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.080 from the show. I think you should leave so as 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.720 I do every single thing I say. Look, I love that. 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:22.640 So Fox, you know, they change this guy's name. Um, 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.600 and when they do their press releases and stuff. In 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:26.400 the movie he's going to be in the big trail. 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:29.400 They have to like come up with a backstory for him, 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:31.080 and they just lie all the time in these right, 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.120 Like they don't give a ship what your actual backstory is. 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:35.120 Fox is going to make up whatever it seems best. 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:38.039 So they decided to say that his birth name was 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.080 Wayne Morrison, which for whatever reason sounded better for them 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:44.919 than the truth. Um, and John's fine with this. He 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.640 doesn't fight back. His museum states quote it was okay 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.039 with him. If the people paying his salary wanted to 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.359 spruce up his name, Um, which is reasonable as a 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:55.400 poor kid. If somebody's like, hey, we can make you 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.719 rich and famous, but you gotta pick a different fuck it. 0:05:57.800 --> 0:05:59.760 I don't give a ship. Call me whatever. You can 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:04.360 call iced Tea, I don't. Yeah. Yeah, so please take 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.600 that name away from she took the only good name 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.359 I had. Give a good name to my fucking brother. 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:11.400 But that's crazy that you're not only invincing like a 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:14.760 stage name, but you're like even your given name is 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.479 not tough enough. You can't let people know you were 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.800 ever called Marian. You're not going to buy that, absolutely not. 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.120 So the Big Trail is not a good shoot. Uh, 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.720 it's it's what you might call a problem. Um, I 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.359 don't know, you know you You've you've been on some sets, 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:35.160 Francesca Um, probably more than me, certainly more than may Im. 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.200 And I guess, uh so you tell me how normal 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:41.159 this all sounds. I mean I've uggled them. Yeah, yeah, okay, 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:43.000 I guess I've been on like a set or two. 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.080 What's up? Yeah? So the cast and crew had to 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:50.200 travel out to Huma, Arizona, and Duke now John Wayne 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.080 shows up on set drunk and he stays that way 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:57.400 for days. Um, he gets horrible diarrhea instantly, he gets 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:00.080 sick from the water and he can barely function, and 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.400 he's almost immediately like both so sick that he can't 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.760 walk and still drinking. Um, so this is his first 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.840 start and this is his first starring. Row shows up 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:16.120 hammered and then start shooting himself. Amazing, incredible, unbelievable. Is 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.160 that where he gets his actual cowboy walk known only 0:07:19.200 --> 0:07:21.560 the lead but sort of the wide leg, like I 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.600 just shot my past. I don't want to smear this 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:31.800 too much. Yeah. Um so ironized Cody, the Italian man 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.520 who pretended to be a Native American person, takes care 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.320 of John Wayne during this period when he's got deadly diarrhea, 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.280 and Jensen, the biographer claims quote gave him various Indian 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:47.160 remedies for diarrhea. Now again, iron eyed Cody not an 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:51.800 indigenous person, so God only knows. He's just spoon feeding him. Basta. 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:57.280 It was just just a little molla. He is a 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:05.200 classic food of the planes. Uppa settles the stomach every time. 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:11.000 It's like, well that's some I don't understand magic. But 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:18.720 thank you, Cody. He just smacked him. Yeah, he's literally 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.360 just cooking a pizza and enough and everybody's like, oh 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:27.760 my god, look at his hes. Not whiskey is not 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:35.120 a meal. Um. So, after, in Cody's words, quote, puking 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.959 and crapping blood for a week, the director of the film, Walsh, 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:42.160 is forced to shoot the movie around his star, who 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.960 was actively dying at this point. He loses like eighteen 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.240 pounds in a couple of weeks. So again, despite the 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.000 fact that he is pooping himself to death, he does 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.800 not quit drinking all day every day. Jensen writes that 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:58.120 this was partly a factor of him wanting to show 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.880 up all of the other drunk people on set. Quote, 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.520 he had to show these self important actors that he 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.120 was as manly as they were. He drank like crazy, 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:11.439 which prolonged his dysentery. Nothing more manly than shooting your 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.400 pants on a set. That is that is what shows 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.120 you're tough, pooping yourself to death because you drink so much. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:20.520 I mean, that's how Johnny Depp got into character for 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.120 Pirates of the Caribbeans. That is actually accurate. Yes, um, 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.120 it is also how Johnny Depp got in the character 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:31.479 for being Johnny Depp. Yes, every day, it's just rings 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.240 and shipping his pants. Yeah, exactly, That's that's really all 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:39.560 he needs. So iron eyed Cody recalled that one night 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.800 the drinking got completely out of hand. Uh, the Apaches 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.400 hired to work on the film, got really wasted and 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.439 decided to attack the settlers. Um. They raced into location 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.840 set on their horses, drunkenly firing arrows into the wagons, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:54.640 the town set, and even the tents in which some 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:56.960 of the cast and crew were sleeping. By the way, 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:58.520 I have no idea if any of these guys were 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.160 actually Apache. If they're just cast that way, it's probably 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.280 a mix. Like a lot of them are probably like Cody, 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.520 just like Italian dude, Like who knows, Um, it is 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:11.200 Hollywood in the twenties. Um. So Cody wakes John Wayne 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.280 up to warn him that, like, hey, a bunch of 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.640 the crew were shooting arrows at other people. Like it's 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.240 kind of a big mess. As it heads up, there's 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:22.080 like an arrow fight going on on set. Um, And 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.000 he sees that Duke is like too drunk to like 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.760 know what's going on. So Cody sees these these actors 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.000 on horses coming and he decides, well, I might as 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.280 well join them. So he gets on his horse and 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.920 just start shooting arrows at the set and apparently Duke 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.319 just keeps lying down and drinking the entire time. Um, 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.199 so that's fun. That sounds like a fun filming set 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.920 to do. Oh the Golden years of Hollywood. Like this 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:52.319 guy can't even get up, No he's not. Like half 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.640 the set is like drunk and pretending to be indigenous 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.200 and shooting arrows at the other half of the set. Uh. 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.959 And then the star are is drunken, shifting his pants 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.920 on on the floor. Just grown up cowboys and Indians. Yeah, 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.960 grown up seems like too strong a term. Yeah. Um 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.040 it's a bunch of seven year olds with access to 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:18.800 liquor and real arrows. Yeah. Yeah, So the studio is 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:20.960 not psyched with their big star. This is not a 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.800 great first performance. You know, even in the thirties, you 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.480 wanted a guy who, for example, could hold off on 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:30.720 the being an alcoholic long enough to make the movie. Um. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.920 Wayne does eventually dry out enough to become functional, and 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.559 it's because another actor sits down to drink with him, 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.880 and instead of giving him normal whiskey gives him what moonshine, 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.920 basically peer ever Clear, and so John Wayne drinks like 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:49.120 essentially hundred and eighty proof Ever Clear with a stomach bug, 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.760 which makes him so sick that he stops drinking for 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:57.800 a while. Is there anything alcohol can't do? You just 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.320 have the jangle keys in front of face, but like yeah, 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.920 like worse alcohol for him. Yeah. So the Big Trail 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.560 flops not it doesn't do super well. Although people today 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.640 will claim it was a really good movie. It just 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:13.720 isn't like a huge hit at the time kind of 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.480 is not seen as very successful. But it's people will 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.440 argue it's it's a pretty good movie. Um, those people 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.680 are fucking lying. Like, I don't know, it seems maybe 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:25.319 it was good, Like who knows. I would watch the 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:29.640 behind the scenes once again, Sure I would much Yeah, 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:32.400 Like like the documentary about the making of The Isle 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.200 of dr Moreau, Like I haven't seen it, but believe 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.720 it's it's The director initial director of the film was 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.040 a wizard who went crazy and got fired and decided 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.200 to live in the jungle and sneak onto set in 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.600 costume every day while they were trying to make the movie. 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:55.480 It's it's fucking awesome. It's such a fun story. Say it, okay, Um, 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.360 can I just put it? Didn't say that ironized Cody's 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:05.240 real name? Yeah? Well, Espera Oscar DECORTI also like a 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:10.440 really effeminate name, Espada. Yeah, so no wonder he and 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.200 Marian got along. Um no, it's it's very funny. I 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.959 do like the image of him like feeding lasagna to 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:20.079 John Wayne and pretending it's like an ancient Apache remedy 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:24.240 for I can't figure out what he's doing, and all 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.839 of the other Italians and costume are like, yeah, no, 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:35.959 that's an ancient remedy. Oh, Hollywood was pretty racist. Um 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.800 still is so the Big Trail. You know, it doesn't 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:41.880 kill his career entirely, because a lot of people do 0:13:41.880 --> 0:13:44.760 see it as a pretty decent movie. Um, but it doesn't. 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.600 It does, like poorly enough that he spends most of 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.360 the next decade kind of just hanging in there as 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:54.320 an actor. He's he's moved up solidly from prop Boy, 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:56.480 but he's also kind of a side character. He's like 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:00.400 Ronald Reagan, right, he's not unknown. But no in this 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:04.080 period really considers themselves a John Wayne fan. You know, 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:06.720 like they've got a career. They're doing okay, but they're 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.640 also not like they're never like top build usually, right, 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:11.360 they're not they're not going to move a lot of 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:16.839 butts into seats. Um and Westerns are pretty much all 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:19.360 this out there. Correct, There's a lot. No, there's a 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.120 lot of gangster movies. There's a lot of romance flicks. 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.080 There's some like war pictures and stuff like. But westerns 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.560 are they're like the Marvel movies of the day broadly speaking, right, 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:31.400 Like they're the most number one what tends to get 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:35.120 like not like they're kind of the most consistent way 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.360 people are making a bunch of money. They're like superhero 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:41.080 films broader than Marvel because there's cheap ones too, because 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.480 you can make them pretty cheap sometimes. And this is 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:48.840 the Fast and the Furious franchise. Yeah, I don't know, right, 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:53.480 Like in these are a lot of your action films, right, 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.200 this is what puts butts in seats. These are the 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.000 popcorn flicks. Right. And John Wayne kind of for a 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.640 decade is sort of a side character and those sort 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.920 of movies. Right, He's rarely gonna be a particularly big 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.920 because he's not a big draw. You know. This changes 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.560 in nineteen thirty nine when John gets finally cast in 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:15.360 a john Ford Cowboy film called Stagecoach. If you have 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.360 ever whenever you are watching like a movie or a 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:22.480 TV show that mentions John Wayne or cowboy movies, you 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.400 will see the same clip from the movie Stage Coach. 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:28.280 And it is John Wayne with a lever action gun 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.120 that he flips over and over in his hand as 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.240 he fires while walking onto screen, and it like slowly 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:36.720 zooms on in us face. It is one of the 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:41.240 most iconic scenes in Western cinema. Among other things, it's 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:45.840 entirely why Terminator to the action scenes initially are shot 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.560 the way. It's why Arnold in that movie gets a 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.360 lever action shotgun that he can flip around and fire. 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:54.640 It's this really iconic moment that makes its way into 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.040 a bunch of modern pop culture right um, And that 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.760 is the moment, that moment when John Wayne walks on 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:05.080 scene in Stagecoach that makes him as a star. And 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.840 I'm gonna quote from a BuzzFeed right up by Anna 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:12.480 Helen Peterson. Stagecoach was intended as an ensemble picture. Wayne 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.880 doesn't even show up until fifteen minutes into the film, 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:17.800 but When he does, It's with a Heroes intro. Wayne 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.120 twirls his rifle as if it were a pistol as 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:23.240 the camera zooms into a glorious close up of Wayne's face. 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:26.360 It's become one of the most iconic scenes in classic cinema, 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:30.080 and Wayne's way out of Quickie Western purgatory. Gradually, Wayne 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.320 became something of a leading man. He was in Ford's 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:35.120 next picture, The Long Voyage Home as a Swedish fisherman, 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.840 and played a Navy officer opposite Marlene Dietrich in Seven Centers. 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.760 Wayne's westernness was treated as a matter of fact. He was, 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:45.640 in photoplays words, the typical Western American, open faced and 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.880 open minded, but the press also emphasized that he enjoyed 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.120 the finer things. Wayne dressed with meticulous care like any 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.600 well capped businessman, looks divine and tucks her tails, and 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:58.440 doesn't wean a guitar or sing sad pieces about Western 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.680 skies either. He lived in an exquisitely furnished home and 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.399 the swinkiest section of Hollywood, and has no yin for 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:09.400 horses off screen, so he becomes huge after this right 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.800 stagecoach makes him into a leading man and he kind 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.280 of immediately takes off in Hollywood. Part of it is 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.399 that he's been in film twenty years at this point, 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:21.040 he's in his he's like forty, Um, he's old enough 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:23.040 to get he's one of these guys who doesn't look 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.800 right until he gets kind of grizzled. Um. And so 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.560 he gets very popular for that. And he doesn't just 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:33.040 get cast as the stead in westerns um. And he's 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:37.800 kind of the first cowboy actor who's more actor than cowboy, 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:41.920 because the previous generation, guys like John Mix, are real cowboys, 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:47.760 you know, like that's how they learned. Wayne isn't really 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.520 like he's he's got some of that in his background, right, 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:52.760 Like he has some claim to it, but it's he's 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.399 kind of you know, he's a fancy dandy boy. You know, 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:57.600 he wants to he's just having a good time being 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.000 a rich guy. Yeah, and and he grew up poor, 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.200 so it's like, yeah, he's gonna want to not ride 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.000 a horse to a crop set right. Right. It's often 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:08.720 framed as like he hated horses, and he's like, no, 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:10.359 he just had to do that as a kid. He 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.880 probably doesn't want to do it anymore. Like he's too 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:15.719 many horses. But that's really interesting that like it takes 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.359 especially in the Westerns, and maybe in this time that 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:24.440 like having an older hero was much more compelling than like, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.719 you know, you know, the Tom Hollins of today, like 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:31.159 a little baby face Spider Man. You're like, no, you 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.959 want a grizzled guy was killed many, many, many people. 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.440 You want a guy who's like, looks like he's kind 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.959 of seen some ship, who can who can play that 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.280 off a little bit, And he doesn't. Even this isn't 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.280 really the height of his career because he's still kind 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.320 of young at this point. Um, but yeah, this is 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:50.280 the first time he gets his big snakes. He's old 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.359 enough to you know, to look like he's been through 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.679 some stuff. Um. Now, there's one last PostScript to the 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.000 story of Stagecoach. While it ignited John Wayne's career, by 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.240 nineteen thirty nine, Tom Fix was largely out of work 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.120 and desperate for a good job. He asked John Ford 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.040 for a part on Stage Coach, and Mix would allege 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.080 until his death that John Wayne begged Ford not to 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.239 give Mixed the part, sabotaged the guy who got him 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.080 his first job, right, real piece of shit, you know, 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.640 I know you're gonna get like, oh my god, that's crazy. Yeah, 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:25.439 because it was supposed to be an ensemble cast or 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:30.520 it is an ensemble cast everybody. Yeah, But you know, 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:32.879 if if Mixes in there, maybe that's gonna take some 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:36.080 shine away from John Wayne. He's not gonna because mix 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:40.520 is a better cowboy actor. Maybe that's gonna funk with 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:45.480 John Wayne's ability to, uh, you know shine on set 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:49.760 right now? Does he learn anything in these in these years? 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:53.119 Like is he a better alcoholic? Number one? He's an 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:56.480 incredible alcohol You gotta give him credit for that. The 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:59.879 King like really, honestly, this is a separate story. But 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.719 and I do my podcast on the heroes of drunk driving. 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.320 He's one of the most influential drunk drivers they're ever 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:10.320 really invented a lot of modern drunk driving techniques, holding 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:13.520 a beer in between his legs, uh, screaming at his 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:16.320 wife drunkenly from in the back seat while he drives, 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.320 like all of those John Wayne originals in the closet 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:24.000 when nobody could piss in a closet like John Wayne. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:31.879 Absolutely not. You know what else is oscar worthy? These ads? 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:42.960 And we're back, uh, and the Oscar for best, ad 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:51.800 goes to the one about how Mattresses no longer uses 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:55.240 rare earth minerals mind by slave labor in the congo 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.679 to make their beds. Not anymore, not anymore. Yeah, that 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:01.960 was back in That was back in the seventeen hundreds 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:07.640 when Mattress was better known as the East India Trading Company. Um, 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:12.000 they've moved on now they just ship people mattresses. It's fine, 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:16.040 We've forgiven them. Yeah, you need to forgive them too. 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:20.360 That's the message of our Oscar winning Mattress ad. So 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:24.640 in the Ford films Seven Centers, John Wayne played opposite 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:28.919 Marlena Dietrich and she's the real actress who inspired the 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:33.560 fictional Bridget von hammers Mark and Inglorious Bastards. So in 0:21:33.600 --> 0:21:36.600 that movie, she is the German actress that Quentin Tarantino 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:41.480 insisted on strangling on camera for very unclear reasons. Um 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.719 or maybe not so unclear reasons. I don't I'm not 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:46.760 enough of an expert on that. But it's weird, right, 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:49.240 we gotta agree, it's weird. It's kind of uncomfortable that 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:53.399 he did that. Yeah, yeah, I'm remembering that. That's in 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.320 the Yes, yes, yes, it's like the Yeah he wanted 0:21:56.359 --> 0:21:59.119 it to be his hands on on camera that strangled her. 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:10.919 Very weird. Um, but your feet fucking Quintin Tarantino. So, Um, 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.399 she's the real actress that that lady is based off of. 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:16.440 She's quite a star, one of the most famous leading 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:20.040 ladies ever and certainly in this period. Um, kind of 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:25.720 top of the fucking female you know, actor food chain. Um. Now, 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:30.240 in real life, Wayne and Dietrich started hooking up immediately. Um, 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:35.879 she is way more experienced than him. Um she oh yeah, yeah, 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:38.840 she is Marlen di Dietrich, and he is is an 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:41.840 awkward boy who spends most of his time drunk with 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:45.320 a bunch of dudes on a yacht. Um. So one 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:47.879 of the things that like he obviously he gets super 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:50.720 into this thing. He's also kind of insecure with her 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:53.439 and around her because she's more experienced than him and 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:56.200 more famous than him. Um, so a few things are 0:22:56.200 --> 0:22:58.800 going on here. This is kind of a complex relationship, 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:02.600 although I think from marline she just likes fucking hot actors. 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:06.000 You know, he's the one who starts developing some complexes 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:10.240 around this. Hey boy, boy, lift that couch over there. Yeah, 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:13.960 Oh absolutely, hang on, Let me, pour some oil on 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:17.920