How self-consciousness convinced John Wayne to try his luck as a director
John Wayne is one of the most instantly recognisable film stars in movie history. His battleship of a jaw was enough to stun a small mammal from 20ft and his rugged charm quickly became a symbol of what a ‘real American’ man should embody. As a younger man, he was more foppish, with wavy hair and a youthful glint in his eye. He may not have been a superstud, the calibre of today’s most coveted actors, but he most certainly had a look.
His was a face that belonged on a movie poster, usually beneath a wide-brimmed Stetson hat. Hollywood is a cosmetic business and Wayne passed their tests with flying colours, but the Rio Grande actor was well aware that beauty can and will fade. In fact, this realisation led him to take a surprising and fascinating career move.
The Duke’s first taste of directing came on the set of his 1952 picture The Quiet Man. He served as second unit director on the project, helping out his friend and long-time collaborator, John Ford. It wouldn’t be until 1960 that he got to take the reins by himself when he made the epic war drama The Alamo. As well as starring as legendary folk hero Davy Crockett, Wayne also helmed the film, featuring Frankie Avalon, Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie, and Patrick Wayne, his own son.
The reason why Wayne got into filmmaking wasn’t just to express himself artistically. According to Cheat Sheet, the western icon was worried that his looks would fail him as he got older and this would cost him work as an actor. “My problem is that I’m not a handsome man like Cary Grant … who will be handsome at 65,” they quoted Wayne as saying, via Frank T Thompson’s book, Alamo Movies. “I may be able to do a few more ‘man-woman’ things before it’s too late, but then what? I never want to play silly old men chasing young girls, as some of the stars are doing. I have to be a director – I’ve waited all these years to be one. The Alamo will tell what my future is.”
Wayne was in his early 50s when The Alamo came out and had been in the movies for almost 35 years. It was incredibly wise of him to consider his long-term future, especially considering how fickle the business can be, but as it turns out, he needn’t have worried. He kept working until 1976, three years before his death from stomach cancer. He was still being offered roles until his final year; Steven Spielberg wanted him to make a cameo in his film 1941, but Wayne turned it down as a result of poor health and his view that the movie was “unpatriotic”.
The Alamo turned out to be a big box office draw, but it cost so much that Wayne ended up losing his personal stake in it. This clearly didn’t put him off the idea because he returned to make his second film, The Green Berets, in 1968.
With himself once again in a starring role, Wayne co-directed this Vietnam War flick with Ray Kellogg, a special effects artist. It was heavily criticised for its binary depiction of the conflict, with critic Roger Ebert giving it zero stars. He called it “heavy-handed” and “remarkably old-fashioned”, likening it to propaganda.
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