Did James Dean and John Wayne star in a long-lost movie together?
In September 1955, James Dean passed away in a car accident in California that has become a snapshot moment in pop cultural history. At age 24, the star appeared to have a long and successful career ahead of him. His breakthrough movie and first lead role, East of Eden, would sadly be the only one to arrive during his lifetime. Posthumous releases Rebel Without a Cause and Giant consolidated his legacy as a star of slain potential.
In the early 1950s, John Wayne was among Hollywood’s biggest stars, thanks to his trailblazing work as a leading man in westerns like Riders of Destiny and Red River and a portfolio spanning back to the silent film era. With his work in Rawhide and the Dollars movies thereafter, Clint Eastwood ultimately became Wayne’s younger rival in the game. Had Dean not passed away in 1955, would he have been another young competitor?
Of course, it is difficult to tell what might have come of Dean’s career. However, despite his profile, which differed wildly from that of the conservative gunslinger John Wayne, Dean was associated with the True Grit actor prior to his death. Unbeknownst to many, Dean actually made a small appearance in Wayne’s 1953 movie Trouble Along the Way.
In Trouble Along the Way, Wayne starred opposite Donna Reed as a retired American football coach who tries to earn enough money to win custody of his daughter. It was one of his many successful roles outside of the western genre and was his first, potentially only, collaboration with Dean. The young actor took on a small cameo role as a spectator at the football ground where he mingled with the stars and profited from some crucial networking.
According to the iconic actor Rick Lenz, who starred in John Wayne’s final movie, The Shootist, Trouble Along the Way wasn’t the only time Wayne and Dean collaborated on a project. Luz claims that he spoke to Wayne about a rumour that he had heard about a movie called Showdown, which was set to star Dean and Wayne but was abandoned during production.
Allegedly, Wayne appeared somewhat puzzled before asking Lenz if he had ever worked with Richard Boone. Lenz suspected that Wayne blamed his fellow western star Boone for leaking information about the axed project. “I don’t talk about that,” a mysterious Wayne finally commented.
Inspired by these rumours, Lenz wrote the mystery thriller Impersonators Anonymous, which was inspired by the abandoned movie Showdown. In the book, Lenz reflects on his experiences working in Hollywood over the past 45 years.
The central character, aspiring producer Emily Bennett, doesn’t believe the rumours she heard about a two-thirds completed movie starring Dean and Wayne. However, when she meets the editor who owns the master negative of Showdown, she devotes her time to completing the film with uncanny impersonators of the two actors, with whom she enters into a precarious love triangle.
Lenz commented on his publication at the time of release: “All three characters emerge from their pasts, gifted but damaged. Young and ignorant, they refuse to believe they have power over their lives. Their vengeful ghosts inhabit their every decision, every passion, and every dream.”
Entertaining as this plot is, many movie fans and historians are dubious as to whether the abandoned Showdown project ever existed. Besides Lenz’s word, there is no evidence that Dean and Wayne collaborated before or after Trouble Along the Way. If it didn’t exist, I applaud Lenz’s creativity and shrewd marketing ploy. If it does…
