25 May, 2007

Happy 100, John Wayne


"Westerns are closer to art than anything else in the motion picture business" - John Wayne


I don't think I've mentioned it before, but I hold that the premier art form of the USA is the motion picture. And the most enduring movie star of all time is the great John Wayne, who would have been 100 years old tomorrow.

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn my art blog into a movie site. But I couldn't let this landmark day go by without a salute to The Duke.


Congressional Gold medal
Presidential Medal of Freedom


Born in Winterset, Iowa on May 26th, 1907, this quintessential American man would go on to make over 175 films, become the only person ever to be posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1969 he earned his industry's top merit, the Oscar for Best Actor. That was for his role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit.

Quotes:

"As far as I'm concerned, Americans don't have any original art except Western movies and jazz."
Clint Eastwood
"Fill your hand, you sonofab!tch!" John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn (True Grit)


Links:

Clip (Real Play) from "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon":
http://www.jwayne.com/media/she_wore_a_yellow_ribbon_T1.rm


My favorite TV commercial of all time:






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post! Gotta say that I'm not much of a beer drinker but John Wayne is kewl! I think it's great that you posted about him. :)
*HUGS*

Anonymous said...

Cute!

Casey Klahn said...

I like the commercial especially for using the word: "fraternizing". Who says there's no eloquence in barracks talk?

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