John Wayne
Weakened John Wayne’s health struggles on Cahill US Marshall set: ‘I’m on borrowed time’
Back in 1959, critics were already asking if John Wayne was too old to be playing gunslinger leads.
Rio Bravo was released that year and the romantic age gap between the 51-year-old and his 27-year-old co-star Angie Dickinson received negative reactions in reviews.
Nevertheless, the Hollywood star found ways to play older cowboys over the next couple of decades, even as his health began to decline dramatically.
Wayne was 65-years-old when he shot one of his last Westerns, 1973’s Cahill US Marshall, which celebrates its 50th anniversary today.
The movie had Duke play a widowed US Marshal who neglects his two sons when he finds them mixed up with an outlaw in a bank robbery.
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John Wayne shooting Cahill: US Marshall (Image: GETTY)
Director Andrew V McLaglen felt Cahill US Marshall was “not the usual John Wayne movie. It’s a very deep, personal story about children neglected by a father who is just trying to do his job.”
The star was far from being in good shape, having had a cancerous lung removed back in 1964. He was also struggling with emphysema on his remaining one.
Being significantly weakened, Wayne was forced to use a stepladder to climb onto his horse in the movie. As for riding shots from a distance, Duke’s Cahill was doubled by Chuck Roberson.
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John Wayne in Cahill US Marshall (Image: GETTY)
When Cahill US Marshall hit cinemas, both audiences and critics thought that Wayne should really have played the boys’ grandfather. However, at the time, he had three kids around the same age as his on-screen sons played by Gary Grimes and Clay O’Brien. On top of this, many men in the 19th century didn’t have children until their middle age.
Nevertheless, Duke was coming to terms with being in the winter of his own days, having heard that his long-time collaborator, director John Ford, was dying of cancer. Upon news of his death in August 1973, Duke told journalists: “I’m pretty much living on borrowed time.”
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Hardly helping matters, Cahill US Marshall was the worst-reviewed of his films since he played Genghis Khan in 1956’s The Conqueror. Produced by Duke’s son Michael under his father’s production company Batjac, Cahill had failed to live up to the praise Wayne received for his Oscar-winning role in 1969’s True Grit.
The star later admitted of the 1973 Western: “It just wasn’t a well-done picture. It needed better writing, it needed a little better care in making.”
Wayne would go on to make a couple of better-received Westerns in True Grit sequel Rooster Cogburn opposite Katherine Hepburn and The Shootist. The latter film saw him playing a terminally ill gunfighter. The Hollywood icon himself died of cancer just a couple of years later in 1979.
John Wayne
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John Wayne
Why John Wayne Turned Down the Chance to Work With Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood and John Wayne are the two biggest legends in the history of Western movies, however, they never worked together. The duo did have the opportunity to work together once in the 1970s. Here’s why the film never came to fruition.
How John Wayne responded when Clint Eastwood tried to work with him
Firstly, a little background. According to the book John Wayne: The Life and Legend, it all starts with Larry Cohen. Though Cohen is not a widely known director like Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino, he’s a huge name to fans of B movies. He directed famous B movies like The Stuff, Q: The Winged Serpent, It’s Alive, and God Told Me To. He also wrote a script called The Hostiles shortly after Eastwood released his classic High Plains Drifter.
The Hostiles was about a gambler who wins half of an estate of an older man. The gambler and the older man have to work together despite the fact that they don’t like each other. Eastwood optioned the screenplay with the intent of playing the gambler alongside Wayne as the older man.
Eastwood sent a copy of the script of The Hostiles to Wayne. Although Eastwood felt the script was imperfect, he saw its potential. However, Wayne was not interested. Eastwood pitched the film to Wayne a second time and Wayne responded with a letter. Wayne’s letter complained about High Plains Drifter. Wayne was offended by the film and its portrayal of the Old West as a cruel, violent place.
John Wayne
Ann-Margret Refused to Call John Wayne ‘Duke’ While Introducing 1 of His Movies
Ann-Margret once starred in one of John Wayne’s lesser-known movies. However, she refused to call him by his popular moniker Duke. Here’s a look at the film they made together — and why she declined to call him by a nickname.
The one time Ann-Margret and John Wayne made a movie together
Ann-Margret is probably most known for her work in musicals, specifically Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, and The Who’s Tommy. However, she also dabbled in the Western genre. She starred alongside Wayne in the mostly forgotten movie The Train Robbers.
Wayne was also known as The Duke or just Duke. According to USA Today, the nickname was derived from his childhood dog. It stuck with him for many years. It continues to be used today — even on the box covers of the DVDs for his movies.
John Wayne | Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
During an interview with Interview Magazine, Ann-Margret explained why she didn’t refer to the Rio Bravo star by this famous name. “When I came to this country, first of all, mother and I didn’t know English,” she said. “I would curtsey, then say, ‘Thank you,’ and then when I was leaving, curtsey. For example, we went to Dallas to introduce a film I did with John Wayne. And I never called him Duke. I just couldn’t. That’s the way I was raised. When you meet someone, you say either Mr. or Mrs. or Miss. You stand up.”
Ann-Margret revealed she treated other famous people in much the same way. For example, she worked with director George Sidney on Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas. She always called him Mr. Sidney.
What Ann-Margret thought about John Wayne
Ann-Margret refused to use Wayne’s most famous moniker. However, she had a positive view of the actor. During an interview with Fox News, she was asked what she expected when she met Wayne. “Oh, I didn’t know what to expect,” she revealed. “But when he hugged me, it’s like the world was hugging me. He was so big and wide with that booming voice.
“We were shooting in Durango, Mexico and my parents came down to visit me,” she added. “He was so great with my parents. So absolutely welcoming and gentle with them. And anybody who was great to my parents was on a throne in my eyes.”
How the world reacted to ‘The Train Robbers’
Wayne starred in many classic Westerns, including The Searchers, Stagecoach, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. However, The Train Robbers is mostly forgotten. It didn’t gain a cult following like Once Upon a Time in the West or Dead Man. It wasn’t a critical success either, garnering a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, Ann-Margret had some fond memories of making the film — even if she refused to call Wayne by his famous nickname.
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