Tonight Turner Classic Movies (TCM) airs a John Wayne doubleheader with two classics that bookend his iconic career. First up, at 8 p.m., it’s Stagecoach, from 1939. Then at 10 p.m. Wayne stars in the film that, 30 years later, at last brought him his first Oscar: True Grit, from 1969.
The former film, directed by John Ford, was the first of numerous Ford-Wayne collaborations. It was also their first film shot in Monument Valley. This is Wayne’s breakout role. The film would win two Oscars, including Thomas Mitchell for Best Supporting Actor. It was nominated for Best Picture in a year that many consider Hollywood’s all-time best.
As for the latter, here’s Wayne as one-eyed Rooster Cogburn in 1969. Upon winning the Oscar after having appeared in more than 140 films, most of them Westerns, but here for the first time as a one-eyed law man, Wayne crowed, “Wow! If I’d known that, I’d have put that patch on 35 years earlier.”
I have another question I wanted to ask this morning but forgot when I saw your new “format”. Is Bobby Knight dying? Is that why he finally came back to Indiana for a “visit”? He looked terrible. He’s only 79 but looked 89. How do YOU feel about both the school & the sports MEDIA treating it as a “hero’s return”? It personally made ME want to vomit. The guy was an egocentric, misogynistic bully when he coached & worked for TV & I doubt he’s changed one iota.
Great question, Susie B. I forgot to tackle that. Mind if I hold off and put it in a later post?