The one role John Wayne was never satisfied with: “We rushed the picture, and it shows”
John Wayne made nearly 200 on-screen appearances throughout his five-decade career, and not all of them were Oscar-worthy. In fact, most of them weren’t, but some of his worst were the efforts he was proudest of. The Green Berets, for example, was a passion project that he dreamed up, directed, and starred in, and it is easily one of the lowest points of his career, whether he knew it or not.
No one could accuse the actor of being lazy, though. Wayne was acutely aware of the power he held in American society, even if that power was earned through smoke and mirrors rather than actual valour. He worked tirelessly to maintain his image, and that meant making a lot of movies in which he played variations of the same character. The standard profile of a Wayne role was a lawman in a small Old West outpost who needed to fend off a horde of outlaws while dealing with matters of the heart. He fit this narrow framework countless times and may as well have trademarked it.
Cahill, US Marshal was, on the surface, yet another opportunity to play into this character type. As the title suggests, the film is a bit of a blunt instrument. Wayne, it will not shock you to know, plays Cahill, who is, in fact, a US Marshal. He’s out there catching outlaws and bringing them to justice as is his wont, but back home, trouble is brewing because he isn’t sufficiently parenting his two young sons. Yearning for his attention, they turn to a life of crime, presumably reasoning that the only way their dad will take notice of them is if he has to arrest them. They take up with a gang of bank robbers led by George Kennedy, and Cahill has to redeem himself by rescuing them from themselves.
Directed by Andrew McLaglen, Cahill, US Marshal is pretty standard Wayne fare. It is neither his best nor anywhere near his worst, but apparently, Duke himself wasn’t happy with it. “We rushed that picture, and it shows,” he said. “We should have had a better script.”
Kennedy agreed. “I had a good role, and I wouldn’t complain about anything except that the film didn’t do well,” he said. However, he acknowledged that Wayne had gotten an unusually meagre role rather than the starring vehicle to which he had grown accustomed. “He really had nothing much to do in the film,” Kennedy said. “The stars were really the boys, but the writing wasn’t good enough to make anyone care too much about them.”
Perhaps Wayne’s disappointment can be explained by how high his expectations had been for the film. Although he often played characters who were struggling with wives and love interests, he rarely had the opportunity to play a neglectful parent. “I thought it had a different approach, the story of a man who puts his work before his family,” he said. “I know what that’s like.” His biographers took that surprisingly candid last sentence even further.
In the book John Wayne: American, Randy Roberts and James S Olson claim that the movie was practically autobiographical for the star. Wayne was well-versed in putting his work before his family, and guilt surrounding his absenteeism as a father no doubt played a part in his desire to make the film. The fact that he didn’t get the chance to air out his emotions because the pesky young actors took most of the dialogue was reason enough to be disappointed.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out John Wayne Newsletter
All the latest stories about John Wayne from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.