John Wayne’s Daughter, Aissa, Saw Her Father Rage at Movie Critics’ Negative Reviews
Actor John Wayne earned both positive and negative reviews from movie critics over the course of his career. Some actors consistently follow critical opinions of their movies, but others choose to avoid them at all costs. Wayne’s daughter, Aissa, recalled seeing her father raging at major movie critics’ negative reviews of his feature films.
John Wayne supposedly never read movie reviews
John Wayne | ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images
Aissa’s John Wayne My Father explores her relationship with her father both on and off the set of movies. She noted that several sources stated that Wayne was so secure in his work that he never read any of the reviews for his movies. However, Aissa noted that was false. In fact, Wayne read nearly all of the major critics’ reviews.
Wayne didn’t have the time to read all of the reviews himself, but he had his confidante and longtime secretary Mary St. John read them to him over the phone. Her father tried to pass it off as if the bad reviews never upset him, but she knew otherwise.
John Wayne’s daughter, Aissa, saw her father rage at negative reviews from movie critics
“He was really a loving dad and granddad. It was cute seeing him with the grandkids — he would get all ‘goo-goo’ and ‘gaga.’ He was just a jolly guy.” – Aissa Wayne on her father, John Wayne pic.twitter.com/iXRuiLOMIv— John Wayne Official (@JohnDukeWayne) April 16, 2019
Aissa specifically pointed back to The Green Berets, which was a Vietnam war motion picture. Her father held great pride in the film and it earned a strong audience turnout. However, The New York Times, Life Magazine, The Washington Post, and others ripped Wayne and The Green Berets apart in their negative reviews.
“A little clique back in the East has taken great satisfaction in reviewing my politics instead of my pictures,” Wayne told Roger Ebert. “And they’ve drawn up a caricature of me, which doesn’t bother me: their opinions don’t matter to the people who go to the movies.”
However, Aissa specified that negative movie critic reviews did deeply bother Wayne. “That son of a b****,” the actor howled. “I’ve been in this goddamn business for 50 years. He’s never been in front of a camera in his life. What the hell does he know about acting?”
Yet, Wayne never slammed The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael, who consistently bashed the actor and his work. Aissa recalled that her writings about True Grit especially stung him, even though he wouldn’t admit it.
Kael’s review read: “The two principal subjects of the script’s attempts at humor are Wayne’s gut and (Katharine) Hepburn’s age, which is to say that the film tries to make jokes of what it can’t hide. It never Waynes, but it bores.”
The actor didn’t expect to win an Oscar for ‘True Grit’
However, John Wayne My Father explained how positive the early critic reviews were at the time for True Grit. Some potential Oscar chatter began, but the actor never believed that it would actually happen. An executive from Paramount Pictures even told Wayne: “Duke, this is the one. This one’s gonna get you the award.”
Wayne appreciated all of the positive reviews and praise from his colleagues. Nevertheless, he figured that even if he secured an Oscar nomination, he would lose again after his previous acting nomination for Sands of Iwo Jima. However, he would be proven wrong when he did in fact earn his one and only Oscar for True Grit.
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.
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.
True Crime on Amazon Prime: ‘Lorena’ Reexamines a 90s Tabloid Sensation
True crime might not be the first type of show that comes to mind when you think of the offerings on Amazon Prime Video. The perpetually buzzy genre is usually more associated with the likes of Netflix and HBO.
However, the streaming service boasts at least one standout docuseries from 2019. It’s one that can scratch the true crime itch for fans, but also give them a much needed new perspective on a well-worn tabloid sensation from the 1990s.
‘Lorena’ was produced by Jordan Peele of ‘Get Out’ fame
Jordan Peele, Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke, and Lorena Gallo attend the ‘Lorena’ Premiere during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. | Rich Fury/Getty Images
Lorena, as the simple, to-the-point title suggests, chronicles the sordid story of Lorena and Jon Bobbit. The series was produced by Jordan Peele, the comedian-turned-director best known for Get Out and Us, and released on Amazon Prime Video in early 2019 following a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
In 1993, Lorena Bobbitt infamously cut her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt’s penis off in his sleep with a kitchen carving knife. She drove off with it, tossed it out the car window into a field, and eventually called 911 to report the incident. After a search followed by 9.5 hours of surgery, John Bobbitt was able to get his penis reattached and functioning normally.
Thanks in large part to the salacious and sexual nature of the Bobbittss story, it quickly became a tabloid and late-night talk show sensation. Sadly, as one might expect from a male-dominated culture, the media spectacle largely focused on John Bobbitt as a sympathetic victim and cast Lorena as a hysterical victim. John Bobbitt went on to become something of a cult figure for a time, even starring in two pornographic films.
Part of the mission statement of Lorena, the series, was to use the true crime format to recontextualize the Lorena Bobbitt story. Despite the prevailing perception of the incident beforehand, in reality, John Bobbitt had subjected Lorena to years of domestic abuse and rape, up to and including the night of her attack.
John Bobbitt was eventually acquitted on rape charges. Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty by a jury for reasons of insanity.
“25 years later, Lorena is a groundbreaking re-investigation of the deep moral issues and painful human tragedies buried at the heart of this infamous American scandal,” Amazon’s official description of the series reads, as reported by Deadline. “Lost in the tabloid coverage and jokes was the opportunity for a national discussion on domestic and sexual assault in America.”
Lorena saw a positive reaction upon its release, currently boasting an 82% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was the biggest project yet from director Joshua Rofé, who previously helmed Lost for Life, a documentary about juvenile offenders sentenced to life in prison.