John Wayne is my all-time favorite actor.
No, I do NOT think he is the all-time BEST actor.
That’s one of the reasons I like him so much. You never saw him try too hard in his movies (whatever you do, DO NOT GOOGLE “JOHN WAYNE AS GENGHIS KHAN”).
He was always either a cowboy, a soldier, or…well, unfortunately, Genghis Khan (correction: PLEASE GOOGLE “JOHN WAYNE AS GENGHIS KHAN”).
Then again, Khan was a soldier/warlord/conqueror, so there’s that.
You never saw Wayne try something as highbrow as Shakespeare (just imagine the Duke in Macbeth: “Why do you dress me in borrowed robes, pilgrim?”), and that’s part of what makes him fun to watch.
Of course, seeing as how Wayne came from an older Hollywood generation, a lot of his lines in movies come across today as wildly inappropriate, especially when taken out of context.
For example, there’s this gem from Sands of Iwo Jima:
“I’m gonna ride ya til ya can’t stand up!”
(…”Thatswhatshesaid!”)
Or this doozy from The Cowboys:
“All right! We’ve seen what you can do with a boy. How are ya when they come a little bigger?”
(…😳…)
Or this winner from Big Jake:
“You gonna take down your pants or do I have to do it for ya?”
(…😳…😳…)
I’m sure there are countless other examples, but it is, in fact, 6:30 a.m. currently, and I have to get ready for work.
I know what I’m doing this weekend, though. Count-the-number-of-inappropriate-when-taken-out-of-context-comments-in-John-Wayne-movies marathon!
By myself, because I would never subject my wife to that 😊
yonkaholic 