John Wayne
John Wayne opens up on the two scenes he’d ‘cut’ from The Alamo
JOHN WAYNE revealed which two scenes he should have ‘cut’ from his western The Alamo in archived footage about the film.
The Oscar-winning hit The Alamo was the first film silver screen icon John Wayne produced and directed. While the film was a success, the actor opened up about the length of the western and the two sequences which could have been ‘cut’ from the final edit in an episode of BBC’S Talking Pictures.
Wayne starred in the 1960s film alongside Richard Widmark and Laurence Harvey.
In 1960, Wayne was in the UK for its opening, and he spoke to Robert Robinson on the programme Picture Parade, starting with the subject of the movie’s length.
Wayne was asked if the film needed to be more than three hours long and he explained the reasoning for the runtime.
The screen legend replied: “Well, I felt that it needed to be that long.
Talking Pictures: John Wayne directed and produced The Alamo (Image: GETTY)
Talking Pictures: The screen icon died in 1979 (Image: GETTY)
“We wanted to develop each character, particularly the Travis character, who was not well-known to audiences.
“Naturally, they’ve heard of Bowie and Crockett, and they’ve developed a picture of him.
“But in order to set Travis – [he] was played by Laurence Harvey and we thought he was magnificent in the picture.
He added: “Actually, now that we’ve seen Ben-Hur out and Spartacus and they’re saying, ‘Too long, too long, too long,’ perhaps we should have tempered the time, cut it down.”
Talking Pictures: The actor became a household name for his western films (Image: GETTY)
Talking Pictures: John Wayne was born in Iowa in 1907 (Image: GETTY)
Wayne revealed he used his own baby in the film and admitted he gave her a “little too much footage” for sentimental reasons.
He continued: “And I had a sequence in which I wanted to set the tenor of a feeling of the men at the end, and I had Parson’s death. But the Parson was not too well-known to the audience.
“So, actually, I feel that maybe those two sequences we could have done without them, and we may cut them.”
The actor also opened up on a big concern he had while filming The Alamo, which left him “spending a night shaking”.
He explained how he did not realise whether the characters would have good chemistry on screen.
The star said: “I’ll tell you something. When you first start, you’re kind of a lamb, you know, in a thing like this.
“And I just assumed that I would have no troubles. About halfway through the picture, I realised that although I had known my crew for years, and knew each personality, I hadn’t known Mr Harvey and I hadn’t known Mr Widmark, and whether or not we would chemically adjust to each other.
“And about halfway through, when everything was going well, and I realised how well it was going.
John Wayne
The Legend Lives On: John Wayne is Still Alive!
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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