Here's some interesting stuff about The Duke on this boring off day. Some may not care but I stumbled upon an article about him and there's some interesting facts. One amazing this is that at one time he smoked six packs of cigarettes a day. Now lets just say it takes five minutes to smoke each one. That's 120 x 5 which is 600 minutes. That's ten complete hours out of the day where you have a cigarette in your mouth or hand. In January of 1979 he had surgery to remove his stomach. He was undergoing gall bladder surgery when they found cancer in his stomach. He was given a good prognosis. Well at least that's what was told to his fans. As we know John Wayne would pass away six months later. Most amazingly is this little story. In 1955 John Wayne made a horrific picture called The Conqueror. It was shot on location in Utah. Downwind and only 137 miles away from a government nuclear testing site in Yucca Flats Nevada. In 1953 the US had tested 11 atomic bombs at that site. The actors and crew were exposed to the toxic dust for 13 weeks. And then 60 tons of dirt from the site was shipped to Hollywood back lots in order to shoot the movies retakes later on. Of the 220 people who worked on the film 91 of them would be diagnosed later on with cancer. Using stats of that time only 30 or so of them should've developed cancer in their lifetime. Those afflicted later in life included John Wayne, director Dick Powell and actress Agnes Moorehead. Even several friends and relatives of the cast who had visited the set also developed cancer later in life. Now with his smoking habit and the fact that he had a lung removed after lung cancer it's hard to prove a movie killed John Wayne. Those are just some interesting facts thought. Also, interesting is that Wayne's part of Genghis Kahn (how the hell did he play that part?) was originally supposed to be played by Marlon Brando.
...I know that i many people's minds he's an icon, but to me he was a very one dimensional "actor" if you want to call him that...but I will admit that I always thought that True Grit and The Shootist were damn good movies.
I like westerns but I became more of a fan of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns than what John Wayne did. For example I can watch The Good, The Bad and The Ugly anytime it's on. Eli Wallach's character cracks me up.
Wayne to me was a movie star but no actor, they just turned on the camera and let him be himself. He fit Westerns well and did make some good ones with great supporting casts. My favorites were Stage Coach, Hondo, Rio Bravo, and I too liked the Shootist with Lauren Bacall.
As a HUGE John Wayne fan, I've seen everything he's done. And I knew 90% of what you shared. And yes years later he said that he must have been drunk to do the conqueror, one of his biggest regrets. And Ron yeah True Grit & the Shootist were very good movies but his best two pictures IMO were The Searches & Sands of Iwo Jima. Then you had to love all those great westerns like Son's of Katie Elder, El Dorado. Chisim, & McClintock.
I also liked Lee Van Cleef. Died of a heart attack but also had cancer at the time. Throat cancer which likely would've killed him anyway.
Kind of. He was in A few dollars more with Eastwood where they both teamed up as bounty killers teaming up to kill some outlaws.
...oh yeah, I watched all of Eastwood stuff...in fact, I watched Million Dollar Baby for about the 5th time last night...If I remember correctly, the Eli Wallach character you're talking about was called "Tuco" or something like that...Lee Van Cleef was also a bad ass in those Eastwood westerns. ...my favorite "western" of all time is still "Goin' South" with Jack Nicholson, Danny Divito, John Belushi, Christopher Lloyd, Veronica Cartwright, and Mary Steenbergen...if you've never seen it, do yourself a favor...you'll laugh your ass off at Nicholson...I think it was also his first time as a director too.
Oh I saw that. It's hilarious. Those were the times when they made good movies instead of the crap they churn out today. If I was to list my top ten favorite movies I don't think any of them are after the year 2000.
...yeah, same here...for me the best relatively "recent" movies are Braveheart, Gladiator, Shawshank Redemption, and Dead Poets Society. (hence "Oh Captain My Captain" next to my avatar)
I would agree. Gladiator was 2000 so I guess that's it for me. I enjoy good writing and good stories. For example Godfather without a doubt for me not just because of the cast but I think it's just a fantastic story and it's well written. Jaws another novel adaptation and a well written story. Jack's stuff like One Flew Over and The Shining. Just great acting and great stories. I'm sorry but the actors today suck.
AMC is doing mobster Monday's or something this summer. Casino is on tonight. Jaws marathon was on for July 4th.
They are doing Jaws again tomorrow. I liked Jaw & II ditto the Godfather but they got crazy with the rest.
Godfather II is one of the greatest sequels in my opinion. Jaws 3 and 4 are complete disgraces. Jaws II wasn't too bad even thought Spielberg didn't want anything to do with it.
I found Robert Duvall to be the "glue guy" in the Godfather & II, the man had his stuff down pat. I never was a Brando fan either, but he did an excellent job in the Godfather. I'd agree that II was a damn good sequal, Di Niro played a great young Corleone with the flashbacks providing history on what came to be. Saw a part of III did not like it.
III was a mistake. It was made simply for money. Plus, not having Duvall was a real killer. Part II was just a great continuation of the story. Adding in Di Niro made it all the better.
