“Don’t ever make the mistake of looking down your nose at westerns. They’re art,” said John Wayne in probably the most provocative statement he ever made about the genre, especially given this was the mid-1960s, and outside of a few accepted classics mostly of the John Ford vintage plus perhaps High Noon (1952), few American critics were taking that line.
“Sure, they’re simple,” said Duke, reinforcing the message, “But simplicity is art. They’re made of the same raw material Homer used. In Europe they understand that better than we do over here. They recognize their relationship to the old Greek stories that are classics. But I don’t think that’s the reason they love ‘em.”
“We love ‘em, too, but not because of anything we stop to think about.” Clearly, the Big Man had given this some thought and had analyzed the genre. “A horse is the greatest vehicle for action there is. Planes, automobiles, trains, they’re great, but when it comes to getting the audience’s heart going, they can’t touch a horse.”
(These comments were made prior, of course, to the likes of the vehicle-driven Bullitt and The French Connection and the disaster movies that started with Airport, but let’s not allow that to take away from his point.)
“He’s basic, too,” continued Wayne. “Put a man on him and you’ve got the makings of something magnificent – physical strength, speed where you can see and feel it, heroism. And the hero, he’s big and strong. You pit another big strong man against him with both their lives at stake and there’s a simplicity of conflict you can’t beat.
“Maybe we don’t tell it with poetry like Homer did but in one way we’ve even got him beat. We never let Hector turn tail and run from Achilles. There’s got to be a showdown.
“Westerns are folklore, just the same as The Iliad is. And folklore is international. Our westerns have the same appeal in Germany and Japan and South America and Greece that they have in this country.”
I’m not sure how much of this made it into the newspapers for which it was intended. John Wayne spouting on about art was not the kind of headline newspaper editors thought the public wanted to read. But this is far and away the most interesting piece I’ve ever read in a Pressbook so someone must have caught Duke on a good day for him to open up so much.
As it happened, producer Hal Wallis was on the same page. “Good westerns,” he said, “are a legitimate art form.” Wallis had more critical plaudits than Wayne, his previous picture Becket (1964) clocking up a raft of Oscar nominations and himself twice winner of the Irving G. Thalberg award.
This was a fairly hefty Pressbook/Merchandising Manual promoting one of Paramount’s biggest pictures of the year. It ran to 20-pages of A3 including a thick glossy cover plus an extra 2pp miniature herald. The section devoted to the stars and promotional ideas is larger than usual, running to over two-thirds of the total.
In part this is because Wayne is so voluble. He’s given two articles on the first two pages. In the other article, he assesses what he’s looking for in a character.
“He’s usually outside the law as its written in the books,” explained Wayne, “but that’s not always his fault and anyway it’s not easy for him to cross back over the line but meanwhile he’s doing his best. He’s a man of his place and time, and maybe a victim of circumstance or past mistakes. But he’s living by a moral code of his own just as rigid in its fashion as the one in the books.
“Like in Katie Elder I kill a few guys but I’ve already notified ‘em I’m going to do it just as soon as I can get the goods on ‘em. Because they’re crooks and murderers and they’re out to get me as well as some other folks and what I’m doing is serving justice the only way a man in my position can do it. Nobody says the end justifies the means or anything like that because it never does. And that’s why I say I don’t play heroes – good guys. I’m not what you’d call a villain either. But one thing I make sure of – the guys I play are believable human beings.”
The other article is the more quotable, I guess. But that’s not the only meat in the Pressbook. As usual, some of what’s written is intended for features, others for snippets. For example, wardrobe man Frank Beetson reveals the secret of the much-copied shirt worn by John Wayne in all his westerns, the blue flannel number with the double-breasted ‘plaster-on’ front – it’s an old-fashioned fireman’s shirt. Female lead Martha Hyer discovered 20-year-old designer Camerena at the art school in Durango. Hyer’s wardrobe in the film is confined to gingham and such, but she is wearing three of the designer’s frocks in a photographic fashion feature for Glamour magazine. Turns out Dean Martin is a gourmet and when what was available on the catering front was not to his taste, he arranged for Frank Sinatra to send, by air express, 40 steaks from the Las Vegas Sands while Sammy Davis Jr. obliged with rare cheese and sausages.
The marketeers had found some unusual promotional tie-ups. Coppertone, anyone? Martha Hyer was modelling the suntan lotion in an advertisement that would feature in magazines with a total circulation of 20 million. At the other end of the audience spectrum, Dell was publishing a special comic book. In addition the publisher placed ads in other comic books with a combined circulation of five million. Naturally, since westerns attracted children as much as adults, Paramount suggested cinemas run a coloring contest featuring an illustration from the movie. The studio also suggested promotional ideas themed round the idea of sons.
The Magnificent 60s 
Far from a great movie but curiously watchable. A fine score and solid production values help and Wayne gives an especially solid performance considering he just lost a lung. Politics aside, he was a smart, well-read man so his comments seem more indicative of the real Wayne than the Hollywood image.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He was certainly smarter than given credit for.
LikeLike