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John Wayne

John Wayne Borrowed A Tank To Answer A McQ Challenge From The Harvard Lampoon

After a brief critical and commercial revival kicked off by his Oscar-winning turn in 1969’s “True Grit,” John Wayne fell back into the creative slump that had dogged him throughout much of the previous decade. In 1973, the star slogged through a couple of listless Westerns in “The Train Robbers” and “Cahill, United States Marshal.” They were Old Hollywood tripe in an age of New Hollywood innovation. A few years prior, Wayne foolishly passed on a script about a loose-cannon cop called “Dirty Harry,” which wound up serving as Clint Eastwood’s transition from Spaghetti Westerns to Hollywood action flicks. It was the late-career break Wayne needed, but his taste was too old-fashioned to identify a delectable new flavor of film.
Wayne eventually found a pale imitation of “Dirty Harry” in “McQ,” which, if nothing else, flaunts The Duke wielding a newfangled MAC-10 machine gun. It’s mediocre, but at the time it gave Wayne the appearance of trying something different. Still, he was a punchline to Baby Boomers, many of whom detested their parents’ conservative, pro-Vietnam War hero.
The most savagely witty members of this hateful cohort were hurling bombs from the Ivy League bully pulpit of The Harvard Lampoon. Near the end of 1973, they felt emboldened enough to challenge The Duke to cross enemy lines and personally screen the just-finished “McQ.” They probably didn’t expect Wayne to accept their challenge, but he did. And, just like in his movies, he came out on top.
The Duke goes to Harvard

UniversalThe goofy feud kicked off when Jim Downey, the undergrad president of the Lampoon and future head writer of “Saturday Night Live,” fired off a missive to Wayne. According to Scott Eyman’s “John Wayne: The Life and Legend,” it read as follows:
“You think you’re tough? You’re not so tough. You’ve never pored through dozens of critical volumes on imagist poetry. You’ve never gotten your hands dirty with Corrasable Bond and corrector fluid. You’ve never had to do three papers and a midterm all for one course. The halls of academia may not be the halls of Montezuma, and maybe ivy doesn’t smell like sagebrush, but we know a thing or two about guts.”
They dared Wayne to set foot on “the most intellectual, the most traditionally radical, in short, the most hostile territory on earth.” The Duke, perhaps mindful that he was increasingly viewed as a filmmaking fossil, returned fire.
“I’m sorry to note in your challenge that there is a weakness in your breeding, but there is a ray of hope in the fact that you are conscious of it … I shall be most happy to stop by your campus on my way to London to visit the original college whose name you have assumed and whose breeding and manners you haven’t been able to buy. May the Good Lord keep you well until I get there.”
He got there on January 15, 1974. In a tank.
The Harvard Lampoon surrenders to a charm offensive
Warner Bros.If you ever find yourself in a public dispute with a movie star, keep in mind that their career hinges on knowing how to make an entrance. To wit: when Wayne descended on the Lampoon’s headquarters, he did so in a U.S. Army tank requisitioned from Massachusetts’ Fort Devens. Wayne was pelted by a few snowballs en route to the building, but once he took the stage for a Q&A at the Harvard Square theater, he gave as good as he got.
Consider this exchange between the Lampoon’s moderator and The Duke:
Q: “Is it true that since you’ve lost weight, your horse’s hernia has cleared up?”
A: “Well, the weight was too much for him, so we canned him, which is what you’ve been eating over at The Harvard Club.”
After the screening, the Lampoon boys succumbed to Wayne’s plain-spoken charm just as many of his detractors had in the past. They were in the presence of an American icon, and, being young men with malleable beliefs (Downey, then a self-professed “commie,” would eventually become the conservative cornerstone of “SNL”), they fell for the old cuss:
“They thought I was a horse’s ass,” said Wayne, “but when they saw I was as honest about what I thought as they were about their beliefs, they came around. Then they went too far the other way. We stayed up all night drinking. I guess I was the father they never had.”

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John Wayne

John Wayne Estate Shares Classic Clip from ‘Big Jake’ as It Teases Upcoming ‘Reunion’

As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of John Wayne’s 1971 film Big Jake, the legendary actor’s estate is teasing an upcoming McCandles Family Reunion.

By 1971, The Duke had already starred in what seems like countless classic western films. In fact, he had already worked with director George Sherman on numerous western projects. But Big Jake would be Sherman’s last film of his long directing career. Although critics reviewed the movie with mixed results, it grossed $7.5 million in the US, which made it one of the most successful films of the year.

The McCandles family bands together to help return Big Jake’s grandson who was kidnapped for ransom. John Wayne’s lead role character is joined by his sons who set off to deliver the kidnapper’s ransom. But the McCandles clan has no intention of handing over the money without a fight.

Now that five decades have passed, John Wayne’s estate is bringing some of the cast back together again. The iconic actor’s sons Patrick Wayne (James MCCandles) and Ethan Wayne (Little Jake) both had starring roles in the 1971 film. Additionally, another Hollywood legend Robert Mitchum’s son, Christopher Mitchum, portrayed Michael McCandles.

All three men are making an appearance at the upcoming reunion. It takes place in Fort Worth, Texas on Nov. 3 with a pre-reception cocktail hour and a live panel interview with the actors. If interested, you can get more information and purchase tickets here.

“‘Not hardly.’ Never underestimate Jacob McCandles… or the whole McCandles family. Join us November 3rd for the McCandles Family Reunion! A live panel featuring Patrick Wayne, Ethan Wayne, and Chris Mitchum,” John Wayne’s official Instagram account wrote.

John Wayne’s Son Patrick Reveals How He Named His Son

Speaking of John Wayne’s son Patrick, he recently revealed in his new podcast that he used one of his dad’s unused nicknames to name his child. That’s right, The Duke’s grandson is named after his grandfather in a roundabout sort of way.

While Wayne’s children haven’t shared the spotlight in Hollywood anywhere close to their father, many of them have acted as well. Patrick Wayne has starred in more than 40 movies over the years, including sharing the screen with his famous dad in 11 films.

While his father’s fans may not know The Duke’s family well, they’re getting to know his children better these days. Wayne’s son Ethan has created The John Wayne Gritcast, a podcast that dives into all things John Wayne. During the debut episode, Ethan’s siblings Patrick and Marisa were special guests. While Wayne’s children spoke about their life with their Hollywood dad, Patrick shared the origin story of his son Anthony’s name.

“Raoul Walsh was going to name my dad, he was gonna name him Anthony Wayne,” Patrick explained. “But then, ya know, they called him ‘Mad Anthony Wayne’ after the general in the Revolutionary War. So they said, ‘Wayne, yeah, but we’ll call him John Wayne. So I named my son Anthony Wayne.”

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John Wayne

John Wayne’s Children Debate His Most Influential Film He Ever Made

“What John Wayne film do you think had the biggest impact on the cinema industry?” asks Marisa Wayne in the first episode of the John Wayne Gritcast. Ethan Wayne says 1930’s The Big Trail, as it was 23-year-old John Wayne’s first leading role.

Patrick Wayne disagrees, stating that The Big Trail was a failure. And it was; as one of the first films with sound to hit theaters, it also followed the Great Depression by a year. Shot in new widescreen format, most theaters refused to spend the money to upgrade their projection equipment in order to show the film, according to the Gilcrease Museum.

Patrick votes for The Searchers, a 1956 western epic directed by John Ford and also starring Natalie Wood and Jeffrey Hunter. The American Film Institute seems to agree with Patrick Wayne: in 2008 the organization named The Searchers the greatest American Western.

According to Patrick, The Searchers was not a critical or financial success. But, with the help of up-and-coming directors in film school who discovered the film, it became a cult classic. “I don’t know if it’s that it was a generation later, people look at it with a different eye,” said Patrick. “But it became impactful and it is today one of the 50 top westerns ever made.”

He goes on to tell the story of how The Searchers got made. Apparently, John Ford wanted to make The Quiet Man, and Warner Bros. weren’t sure about John Wayne in Ireland. So, they made a deal with Ford that if he made a western with John Wayne as well, they would let him make The Quiet Man.

“They made a two-picture deal,” says Patrick. “And that’s how those two films got made. Otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten made.”

John Wayne’s Most Impactful Films

Along with The Searchers, Patrick also spoke about 1949’s Sands of Iwo Jima. The film followed a squad of Marines through basic training all the way to the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. John Wayne played Sergeant John Stryker, who the men in his squad greatly disliked. He put them through rigorous training, which they eventually learned to appreciate as the battles escalated.

“The U.S. Marine Corps claims today that that film is the reason why the Marine Corps is still existent,” says Patrick. “They have a special place in their heart for John Wayne.”

According to Ethan Wayne, apparently John Wayne was the Armed Forces’ “greatest recruiting tool.” He says that it’s possible General Douglas MacArthur actually wrote to John Wayne to tell him “not to change a single thing he was doing.” John Wayne made most of his war films during the actual war, so it’s no wonder they were great for morale.

When speaking of why so many people come back to his father’s films, Ethan Wayne says, “He led us. He gave us an example to follow.” And ain’t that just the way, pilgrim.

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John Wayne

John Wayne’s Granddaughter Wrote The Song “God Bless John Wayne” In Honor of His 100th Birthday

John Wayne, who starred in countless popular Westerns and was nominated three times for the Academy Award during his 50 years in the film industry, is without a doubt one of Hollywood’s most iconic movie stars. Some of his most notable performances include True Grit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, and Stagecoach, among others – which stood to be timeless and keep on collecting a large fan base until today.

More than forty years past his death in 1979, Wayne remains an iconic staple in the film industry. His legacy will continue for a long time – not just because of the greatest films that he made but also through this heartwarming ballad his granddaughter, Jennifer Wayne, wrote in honor of him.

Jennifer Wayne is a celebrity in her own right! She’s a singer, songwriter, and founding member of the country music trio Runaway June. The group used to be Carrie Underwood’s supporting act, and you may know them for their breakthrough hit “Buy My Own Drinks” in 2018.

Sadly, Jennifer never had the chance to meet her iconic grandfather. Wayne died three years before she was born. But that did not stop her from expressing her respect and gratitude for the man he was and the values he instilled in her family.

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