John Wayne once named the most disappointing scene of his career: “That’s a bullshit ending”
From the outside looking in, John Wayne wasn’t a particularly complicated man. He loved America, he hated those damned commies, he hated the prospect of Hollywood moving in a riskier direction, there were certain people he loved working with, and others he hated.
While there’s admittedly a degree of generalisation to that statement, it’s not entirely inaccurate. ‘The Duke’ wasn’t a method actor, nor was he interested in chasing awards season glory. He developed a persona and stuck to it rigidly for decades because he was innately aware that the reason he became one of the biggest stars of his era was that audiences wanted to see him doing what he did best.
He had plenty of offers to make movies that would have taken him out of his comfort zone, but Wayne was constantly thinking of the people buying the tickets. If his name was part of the cast, then the belief was that folks didn’t want to see him doing anything that wasn’t in line with the mythology he’d so painstakingly crafted for himself.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, and one of them left ‘The Duke’ feeling particularly conflicted. His mentor and father figure, John Ford, was wielding the megaphone, co-star Harry Carey Jr was practically family, and the actor would go on to refer to 1949’s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon as one of the best films he ever made.
Actively stretching himself as a character two decades older than he was in real life, Wayne’s Nathan Brittles sets out to diffuse tensions between the Cheyenne and Arapaho while also ensuring the safety of his military superior’s wife and niece. However, both of his tasks go less than smoothly.
He was more than happy with the picture and evidently pleased with his contributions from an onscreen perspective, but what he didn’t like was the finale. “There was one thing that disappointed me about the ending of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” he told Michael Munn. “And it still disappoints me to this day.”
Having been successful in averting all-out conflict between the two Native American tribes who were on the brink of war, ‘The Duke’ wanted She Wore a Yellow Ribbon to end then and there. “I should have just rode away,” he explained. “And that should have been the end. That was the end in the script.”
Instead, Ford decided at the last second that Brittles’ last scene would see him rewarded for his bravery and heroism by being promoted to lieutenant colonel. Wayne stated his case to the cantankerous filmmaker, but he would never be able to convince him that riding off into the sunset was the right way to bid farewell to the protagonist.
“I said, ‘Oh, come on, Coach, that’s a bullshit ending,” he lamented. “That didn’t please him none, and he had to have it his way.” During his lengthy stint as one of the industry’s most popular and powerful names, Wayne had more clout than most actors, but never at any point in his career did he have enough to change Ford’s mind.
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