The two classic movies John Wayne called “disgusting”
There are some actors who are quite simply inextricable from their American identity, with the likes of Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marlon Brando and Clint Eastwood brandishing their national heritage like a badge of honour. Indeed, whilst all these aforementioned names are titans in the history of Hollywood, they barely compare to the force of John Wayne, a star of the silver screen who came to reflect the changing ideals of the nation.
Rising to fame in the early 20th century, Wayne’s career would kickstart in 1930 following the release of his first western movie, The Big Trail. Throughout the following decade, he would work tirelessly in the genre, appearing in countless middling westerns in which he would establish himself as a powerful lead, often starring as an idealistic po-faced American who stands up to justice and takes little nonsense.
His efforts were rewarded at the end of the 1930s, collaborating with the iconic American filmmaker John Ford for the very first time in the form of the 1939 flick Stagecoach with Claire Trevor and Andy Devine. It was Ford who would help to elevate Wayne’s career, with the pair collaborating on several occasions, including for the 1956 classic The Searchers and 1962’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Yet, Wayne wasn’t without controversy, with countless stories of him clashing with co-stars and directors whilst voicing abhorrent opinions of his own. A staunch Republican for the majority of his life, Wayne was vocal in his support for the Vietnam War in the 1950s and 1960s, and wasn’t afraid to voice his flagrantly hateful opinions due to his over-inflated sense of self-worth in contemporary Hollywood.
In an infamous 1971 Playboy interview, Wayne criticised the 1969 ‘Best Picture’ winner Midnight Cowboy starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, calling the pair “fags” for their “love of those two men”.
With the benefit of hindsight, it would have therefore surprised few people that Wayne was so repugnant and homophobic towards the movies Suddenly, Last Summer from 1959, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Robert Rossen’s They Came to Cordura, which both featured minor gay sub-plots.
Speaking about the pair of movies that were both released in 1959, Wayne stated in a 1960 radio interview that they were “too disgusting even for discussion” and “too distasteful”.
In addition, he later added that such movies were “poison polluting Hollywood’s moral bloodstream”, decrying that such romance tales were “to be put on a screen designed to entertain a family, or any member of a decent family”.
Despite being one of Hollywood’s most iconic figures, there’s no doubt that Wayne was a troubled individual, with countless significant creatives criticising his industry dominance.
In 2018, director Spike Lee berated Wayne, stating: “I’ve never been a fan of John Wayne and John Ford and that cowboy bullshit. I hate them: Native Americans depicted as savages and animals…Fuck John Wayne and John Ford…The US was built upon genocide, stealing the land, and stealing Africans from their land to work the land they stole. Black people built America…A narrative was hijacked”.