Wayne, John (1907—79)

Actor

For both the World War II and Vietnam generations, the motion picture icon John Wayne embodied the place where American manhood and martial valor met. Whether riding “tall in the saddle” or portraying a no-nonsense soldier, Wayne presented to Americans and moviegoers around the world an image of American manhood that was captured in his nickname “the Duke.” As with many men whose image is larger than life, the real life John Wayne was less heroic, more complex, and arguably more interesting than the tough-talking marine who dominated the screen.

Wayne was born Marion Michael Morrison to middle-class parents—his father was a druggist—in 1907. His father moved the family to California, where Wayne learned to ride. He got his start in film in the 1920s and, by 1939, had secured small parts in almost 70 films. John Wayne finally made a break from the B-movie list when the director John Ford, to whom his career would be forever linked, had him play a major role in Stagecoach (1939).

Despite the success of Stagecoach, Wayne's career began waning as he was getting too old to play the role of a pretty boy, and his rather wooden presence on the screen limited the types of parts he received. But he was saved by World War II. Many major actors joined the service (James Stewart, for instance, saw combat in the Air Force), and Wayne's status improved owing simply to the resulting decrease in competition. This was not Wayne's finest moment, as he essentially avoided service; as one historian put it, “he used every excuse but the dog ate my homework.” Nonetheless, on screen Wayne's career took off, and he began to play not just the hero, but the middle-aged leader of men, a persona that catapulted him to iconic status.

During the war, Wayne played soldiers, but now he shifted from young man to the honest, tough-talking father figure in films such as They Were Expendable (about the Navy). After the war, Wayne continued to hone this character, headlining such movies as The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). John Ford also cast Wayne in a number of his westerns, including the memorable She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).

Wayne was a staunch conservative who reveled in films such as The Alamo (1960), which cast Americans as the heroic defenders of freedom against despotism. In this film, Wayne played Davy Crockett, whose interest in preserving the honor of a beautiful Mexican woman led her to believe in the Americans' altruistic motives toward Mexico. Wayne often took pains to ensure that his heroes were considerate to non-whites, although some viewed such relationships as reinforcing stereotypes.

John Wayne's politics arguably got the better of him when he put his own money into making The Green Berets (1968), Hollywood's first Vietnam movie. Here Wayne plays Col. Mike Kirby, who leads a band of tough Americans and South Vietnamese against ruthless communists, eventually convincing a liberal journalist (played by David Janssen) of the righteousness of the American cause. The film did not enjoy either box office success or critical acclaim. Wayne's identification with the war effort made him a target of antiwar and counterculture protest, and he remained a target years after his death. For instance, in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), the character Joker ironically affects a John Wayne swagger and cowboy accent, often asking those around him, and himself, “Is that you John Wayne? Is it me?” The jazz poet Gil-Scott Heron argued in 1981 that [Page 926]America really wanted Wayne to be president, to take them back to the days before “fair was square, when the cavalry came straight away, and all American men were like Hemingway.” However, “since John Wayne was no longer available, they settled for Ronald Ray-Gun.”

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