Film homage, John Wayne, "True Grit," 1969, "Rio Lobo" greeting, Old Tucson, Arizona

Duke took home one million dollars for acting in the Howard Hawks' directed "Rio Lobo." So the producers couldn't afford Robert Mitchum for a post "El Dorado" rematch. While he was shooting "Lobo" he flew to Hollywood for the Academy Awards. The Academy probably felt that he was long overdue and gave him the statuette for "True Grit." (Most Wayne scholars feel his finest performance was as the embittered Ethan Edwards in John Ford's "The Searchers.")

 

When he returned from Hollywood to the "Rio Lobo" set he was greeted in front of this mission church by the entire cast and crew all sporting eye patches; even the horses wore one.

 

"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them."...John Wayne as John Bernard Books, "The Shootist"

 

Note: John Ford's last act as a film director was his documentary "Chesty," on the most decorated marine ever, Lieutenant General "Chesty" Puller; when he filmed John Wayne's "hosting segments" on the "Rio Lobo" set a week before Duke got his Oscar in April 1970. The old guard, with its roots in the silent era was coming to a close as "Lobo" was Hawks' final film. Wayne, in turned, soldered on making nine more films before hanging up his holster with "The Shootist" (1976). "In 1978 he underwent open heart surgery, and in 1979 he had his stomach removed." His last public appearance, at the Academy Awards was a gutsy one, (as he looked cadaverous) just weeks before his death on June 11,1979.

 

Note: Signed, numbered, limited edition, archival matte C-prints of this image can purchased on page 11 of my Etsy store: www.etsy.com/shop/davidleeguss

 

 

@2009 David Lee Guss "Arizona" mission church, Old Tucson, Arizona, 1980-2008

 

 

Done