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John Wayne's America: The Politics of Celebrity
18 years after his death, John Wayne is still America's favorite movie star. He was less an actor than a symbol, the most popular pop icon of the 20th century, & one of the most important political figures in America. People shaped their lives or adopted political stands to conform to him as a template of authentic Americanism. Wayne became the lens which people saw their own & their country's history. In this groundbreaking study of the relationship between politics & popular culture, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wills focuses on the manufacture of "John Wayne" from the raw materials of Marion Morrison, the person born in Iowa who became a myth, his own reality swallowed up in his meaning as master directors such as John Ford crafted films that made him a personification of America's frontier myth.
Unlike other actors & actresses with whom we associate political views, Wayne embodied a politics of large meanings--a politics of gender (male), ideology (patriot), character (self-reliant) & personal responsibility. It was a politics of implicit dogmas often transcending his own views & behavior. Altho Wayne avoided serving in WWII, he became, thru screen roles, the model of the American soldier. Likewise, altho his popular image is that of a staunch anti-Communist, in reality he avoided taking a stand in the ideological war that raged in Hollywood until after the issue had been decided. He acquired his larger political meaning gradually, as he moved from one film role to the next: from the young, individualist cowboy hero (Ringo Kid in Stagecoach) to the middle-aged authority figure weighed down with responsibility (Sergeant Stryker in Sands of Iwo Jima) to the cool, determined patriot in the midst of Cold War dangers (Davy Crockett in The Alamo) to the elderly lone survivor of a past heroic time (Rooster Cogburn in True Grit). Wayne himself became aware of his larger political meaning only thru a progressive act of self-identification, in much the same way that his fans came to associate their ideals with his screen personae. In this work, the biography of an idea, Wills shows how Wayne & the Hollywood image factories distorted or ignored important facts of his life to create his myth. Wills shows how Wayne, thru his screen characters, spoke to the needs of his audience at crucial periods in history, & how in response Americans invested their emotions in that embodiment of their deepest myths. John Wayne's America traces the way Wayne's countrymen became "entangled in his story, by the dreams he shaped or inhibited in us or in others, by the things he validated & those he scorned, by the particular definition he gave to 'being American.'"
Unlike other actors & actresses with whom we associate political views, Wayne embodied a politics of large meanings--a politics of gender (male), ideology (patriot), character (self-reliant) & personal responsibility. It was a politics of implicit dogmas often transcending his own views & behavior. Altho Wayne avoided serving in WWII, he became, thru screen roles, the model of the American soldier. Likewise, altho his popular image is that of a staunch anti-Communist, in reality he avoided taking a stand in the ideological war that raged in Hollywood until after the issue had been decided. He acquired his larger political meaning gradually, as he moved from one film role to the next: from the young, individualist cowboy hero (Ringo Kid in Stagecoach) to the middle-aged authority figure weighed down with responsibility (Sergeant Stryker in Sands of Iwo Jima) to the cool, determined patriot in the midst of Cold War dangers (Davy Crockett in The Alamo) to the elderly lone survivor of a past heroic time (Rooster Cogburn in True Grit). Wayne himself became aware of his larger political meaning only thru a progressive act of self-identification, in much the same way that his fans came to associate their ideals with his screen personae. In this work, the biography of an idea, Wills shows how Wayne & the Hollywood image factories distorted or ignored important facts of his life to create his myth. Wills shows how Wayne, thru his screen characters, spoke to the needs of his audience at crucial periods in history, & how in response Americans invested their emotions in that embodiment of their deepest myths. John Wayne's America traces the way Wayne's countrymen became "entangled in his story, by the dreams he shaped or inhibited in us or in others, by the things he validated & those he scorned, by the particular definition he gave to 'being American.'"
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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249 people want to read
About the author
Garry Wills
153 books253 followersGarry Wills is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1993.
Wills has written over fifty books and, since 1973, has been a frequent reviewer for The New York Review of Books. He became a faculty member of the history department at Northwestern University in 1980, where he is an Emeritus Professor of History.
Wills has written over fifty books and, since 1973, has been a frequent reviewer for The New York Review of Books. He became a faculty member of the history department at Northwestern University in 1980, where he is an Emeritus Professor of History.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 12, 2011
The author, who normally writes about politicians, sets out to investigate what is it about Wayne that made him so iconic/political that he continued to be listed as one of the greatest American male movie stars long his death. A character accepted as definitively Male, and yet is usually overlooked by academics who specialize in gender-studies. The goal (according to the intro) isn't a biography written for fans so much as a critical analysis interested in the part Wayne plays in America's political myth of self. The book says its intent is only to consider who Wayne really was and his actual history, in order to compare those to the constructed (spun) image and the Hollywood myths surrounding him, in order to clarify that construction.
Please note that above I referred to the intent as described in the intro and title, not what the book actually does. This book reminds me of some of my very WORST papers, the ones where I write a great intro paragraph, get lost and confused along the way, never actually support any of my arguments, or have a clear central one to begin with, and then at the very end I come up with biggest 'grand' statement of utter bullpuckie I can, hoping the proff will get so confused in my grandiose conclusions as to forgive the mess that was the paper.
Additionally, there are parts of Wills' narrative that ring false, so for instance when talking about the director Ford, it feels like the author has his own 'narrative' that he's pushing so hard that it feels like listening to partisan politics. There's no nuance to it, it's too black or white and therefore untrustworthy. Now you might be saying to yourself, 'well Wills' very liberal and this reviewer must be a conservative' only I'm not, I'm also a liberal. However, it sort of puts my teeth on edge when authors are so busy trying to indoctrinate that they push their arguments to incredulity.
The final conclusion is out in L.A.-L.A. land, making comments about how our relationship to cities is different from the rest of the world, and that this is an extension of our separation of church and state....??? The author says that all cities are built around a religious point (rather than an economic one, as most are), and even gives St. Paul's in London as an example. Problem is, St. Paul was built on the site of roman temple, and London was never a religious center, not even in ancient times.
The book says its about the construction of Wayne, and spends a lot of time describing scene by scene various movies he was in, and what went on behind the scenes of the making... but rarely if ever does the author broach the central issue of the introduction of how did these movies ring in the national consciousness as part of the construction that is the political image of John Wayne the movie star.
The book is in fact over 300 pages, and if you whittled it down to just the bit where the author does do this, its maybe a 15 or 20 page paper .... double spaced. Now these 20 odd pages are very good.
Also, if your interest is not in the political image of Wayne but rather you're a film student interested in how the films were made, a shot by shot analysis, what was going on in the background and any petty squabbles on set, this book does go into great detail about that.
It does not however do what it claims it set out to do, at least not really. By the end of the book you're not really any more knowledgeable about the politics of celebrity of Wayne than you were at the start
Please note that above I referred to the intent as described in the intro and title, not what the book actually does. This book reminds me of some of my very WORST papers, the ones where I write a great intro paragraph, get lost and confused along the way, never actually support any of my arguments, or have a clear central one to begin with, and then at the very end I come up with biggest 'grand' statement of utter bullpuckie I can, hoping the proff will get so confused in my grandiose conclusions as to forgive the mess that was the paper.
Additionally, there are parts of Wills' narrative that ring false, so for instance when talking about the director Ford, it feels like the author has his own 'narrative' that he's pushing so hard that it feels like listening to partisan politics. There's no nuance to it, it's too black or white and therefore untrustworthy. Now you might be saying to yourself, 'well Wills' very liberal and this reviewer must be a conservative' only I'm not, I'm also a liberal. However, it sort of puts my teeth on edge when authors are so busy trying to indoctrinate that they push their arguments to incredulity.
The final conclusion is out in L.A.-L.A. land, making comments about how our relationship to cities is different from the rest of the world, and that this is an extension of our separation of church and state....??? The author says that all cities are built around a religious point (rather than an economic one, as most are), and even gives St. Paul's in London as an example. Problem is, St. Paul was built on the site of roman temple, and London was never a religious center, not even in ancient times.
The book says its about the construction of Wayne, and spends a lot of time describing scene by scene various movies he was in, and what went on behind the scenes of the making... but rarely if ever does the author broach the central issue of the introduction of how did these movies ring in the national consciousness as part of the construction that is the political image of John Wayne the movie star.
The book is in fact over 300 pages, and if you whittled it down to just the bit where the author does do this, its maybe a 15 or 20 page paper .... double spaced. Now these 20 odd pages are very good.
Also, if your interest is not in the political image of Wayne but rather you're a film student interested in how the films were made, a shot by shot analysis, what was going on in the background and any petty squabbles on set, this book does go into great detail about that.
It does not however do what it claims it set out to do, at least not really. By the end of the book you're not really any more knowledgeable about the politics of celebrity of Wayne than you were at the start
June 9, 2017
Whether you agree with Wills' assessments and or analysis of the iconic movie presence of John Wayne in motion pictures throughout the years, this is a good read. Wills' opinions sometimes go astray regarding directors and other actors that worked with Wayne, but it's always great to read another view from different eyes. Movies should make you think, especially in the era they were produced and how it relates to that time or politics or news events. This is a mix of cultural studies and movie criticism in many ways.
September 8, 2021
I was impressed with this cultural biography of John Wayne, more an examination of his star image and filmography than any kind of classical life story. It certainly added a lot of films to my watchlist. I was disappointed Wills chose to ignore Wayne's infamous Playboy interview, not because of my own political correctness, but because it's obvious the interview offered an unfiltered view into Wayne's mindset and how he regarded civil rights, welfare etc.
July 6, 2011
John Wayne is one of the great American iconic actors. His movies are entertaining, but what they say about America can be controversial even more than 20 years after his death. This book attempts to set a context in both Hollywood and the American cultural and political scene for Wayne's success. In general, the book successfully traces the arc of Wayne's career and explains the background behind his most famous movies. The sections on John Ford's famous "Cavalry Trilogy," "The Searchers," and "Stagecoach" describe the backstories behind the films, bring out interesting details in them, and dispel a few myths (It convinced me to go re-see "Rio Grande"). Some of the other chapters on "Red River" and "The Alamo" were interesting but got a little off-course (it was interesting that the "Red River" chapter was more focused on the "three-way love story" in "The Outlaw" -- which didn't even star Wayne -- than the interplay between "Method Actor" Montgomery Clift and the more traditional Duke). Nevertheless, if you like John Wayne movies, it's a worthwhile discussion of his films and career.
April 21, 2022
Disappointing. Wills spends far too much time and space dissecting the movies/roles themselves, and the relationship with John Ford, and not nearly enough on the connection between those movies, Wayne's stardom and "America." When he does get around to that analysis, especially in the superb closing chapter - which links Wayne's persona to "the myth of the frontier, the mystique of the gun, the resistance to institutions"- the book shines. But too often and for too many pages Wills allows himself to focus on the trees, missing the forest. I think the book may be an examplke of a brillianbt essay blown way out of proportion.
(That said, I share Wills' admiration for The Quiet Man, and appreciated the constant reminders of how Wayne avoided true military (WWII) and political commitments (Hollywood's Red Scare) to advance his career.
(That said, I share Wills' admiration for The Quiet Man, and appreciated the constant reminders of how Wayne avoided true military (WWII) and political commitments (Hollywood's Red Scare) to advance his career.
February 15, 2025
The low rankings for this book aren't a surprise. John Wayne is a legendary figure in American film and often described as "A great American hero". Those films of directors John Ford and Howard Hawks were instrumental in building a myth and image of the man of the Western plains. To this day Wayne is venerated among millions of (albeit aging) Americans as the archetype of that man.
And then, there's this book.
It's first and foremost, a cultural study that is blended with the biographies of Wayne and those directors and actors who impacted his life and career. It is fascinating, but it isn't light reading. and It is full of film analysis and the politics of Hollywood.
What it is NOT is a hagiography designed to place Wayne on a pedestal.
Indeed, Wills doesn't spare Wayne. Indeed, he goes far in deflating the Wayne myth. Wayne was, essentially, a draft dodger who sat out World War II in the interests of his career rather than serving alongside other film stars like Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Tyrone Power, and Henry Fonda. He didn't enter the fray of the Hollywood blacklisting scandal until he thought it safe to do so, and then later misrepresented his role in ridding Hollywood of a suspected leftist. Wayne was a serial adulterer, but Wills doesn't go too far with this. He also doesn't mention Wayne's blatant racism, which may not have been known to Wills at the time of the book's publishing*.
Wills misses a few things. He describes Wayne's scene playing Davy Crockett at the Alamo, where Crockett, mortally wounded, takes a torch to the powder magazine at the Alamo, heroically blowing it and himself up. It never happened at the actual battle of the Alamo, and Wills notes this. What he missed was that Wayne stole the scene from an earlier Alamo film, 1955's "The Last Command" where Davy (Arthur Hunicutt) torches some cannon balls and powder and takes himself and several enemy soldiers out.
If you're a film fan and Hollywood history buff, you might enjoy this. If you're one who loves to see the slaying of Sacred Cows, pick up a copy.
If you're a die-hard Wayne fan, this is not the book for you. Myths and heroes are hard to let go of, and when legend yields to harsh fact, it's easier to believe the legend.
*Wayne's homophobia and endorsement of white supremacy resurfaced about six years ago from a 1971 Playboy interview. It has been largely forgotten after Wayne's death until Los Angeles named their airport after him.
And then, there's this book.
It's first and foremost, a cultural study that is blended with the biographies of Wayne and those directors and actors who impacted his life and career. It is fascinating, but it isn't light reading. and It is full of film analysis and the politics of Hollywood.
What it is NOT is a hagiography designed to place Wayne on a pedestal.
Indeed, Wills doesn't spare Wayne. Indeed, he goes far in deflating the Wayne myth. Wayne was, essentially, a draft dodger who sat out World War II in the interests of his career rather than serving alongside other film stars like Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Tyrone Power, and Henry Fonda. He didn't enter the fray of the Hollywood blacklisting scandal until he thought it safe to do so, and then later misrepresented his role in ridding Hollywood of a suspected leftist. Wayne was a serial adulterer, but Wills doesn't go too far with this. He also doesn't mention Wayne's blatant racism, which may not have been known to Wills at the time of the book's publishing*.
Wills misses a few things. He describes Wayne's scene playing Davy Crockett at the Alamo, where Crockett, mortally wounded, takes a torch to the powder magazine at the Alamo, heroically blowing it and himself up. It never happened at the actual battle of the Alamo, and Wills notes this. What he missed was that Wayne stole the scene from an earlier Alamo film, 1955's "The Last Command" where Davy (Arthur Hunicutt) torches some cannon balls and powder and takes himself and several enemy soldiers out.
If you're a film fan and Hollywood history buff, you might enjoy this. If you're one who loves to see the slaying of Sacred Cows, pick up a copy.
If you're a die-hard Wayne fan, this is not the book for you. Myths and heroes are hard to let go of, and when legend yields to harsh fact, it's easier to believe the legend.
*Wayne's homophobia and endorsement of white supremacy resurfaced about six years ago from a 1971 Playboy interview. It has been largely forgotten after Wayne's death until Los Angeles named their airport after him.
December 7, 2023
"John Wayne...you telling me John Wayne's a fag?".---Joe Buck speaking to Ratso Ritzo in MIDNIGHT COWBOY
"I gave my balls for the American flag. I gave them for John Wayne"!---Ron Kovik, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
Only John Wayne could evoke such passionate emotions from his public. Us Wayne fanatics who grew up watching his pictures on television reruns, I was particularly enraptured by BACK TO BATAAN and THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA, knew he was projecting our fantasies back to his audience and America's self-image, true or false, upon the rest of the world. Gary Wills, essayist extraordinaire (NIXON AGONISTES, LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG) here turns his gaze on how Wayne embodied four decades of American life, from his star-making turn in STAGECOACH (1939) until his death in 1979. Wayne taught whom to love, whom to hate, whom to fight (anybody to the left of Barry Goldwater) and whom to vote for. Wills rightly concentrates on Wayne and the politics of gender. The Duke taught taught multiple generations of young men, from gangsters to soldiers, how to be men. Yet, this image of masculinity was a Hollywood invention, just like much else in Wayne's persona. He was never a cowboy and felt ill at ease on a horse. Not only was he not a soldier, he craftily avoided military service during World War II, unlike screen to life heroes such as Henry Fonda, Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart. Wayne went along with his cinema mogul employers in first projecting and then assuming the image of a super-patriot, super-macho superstar, and we loved him for it. John Wayne is America. Where the image stops and the reality starts in a matter of taste, not truth or history.
"I gave my balls for the American flag. I gave them for John Wayne"!---Ron Kovik, BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
Only John Wayne could evoke such passionate emotions from his public. Us Wayne fanatics who grew up watching his pictures on television reruns, I was particularly enraptured by BACK TO BATAAN and THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA, knew he was projecting our fantasies back to his audience and America's self-image, true or false, upon the rest of the world. Gary Wills, essayist extraordinaire (NIXON AGONISTES, LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG) here turns his gaze on how Wayne embodied four decades of American life, from his star-making turn in STAGECOACH (1939) until his death in 1979. Wayne taught whom to love, whom to hate, whom to fight (anybody to the left of Barry Goldwater) and whom to vote for. Wills rightly concentrates on Wayne and the politics of gender. The Duke taught taught multiple generations of young men, from gangsters to soldiers, how to be men. Yet, this image of masculinity was a Hollywood invention, just like much else in Wayne's persona. He was never a cowboy and felt ill at ease on a horse. Not only was he not a soldier, he craftily avoided military service during World War II, unlike screen to life heroes such as Henry Fonda, Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart. Wayne went along with his cinema mogul employers in first projecting and then assuming the image of a super-patriot, super-macho superstar, and we loved him for it. John Wayne is America. Where the image stops and the reality starts in a matter of taste, not truth or history.
January 14, 2019
Overall, I thought this was an interesting read, a behind the scenes look at the persona of John Wayne and some of the people he worked with, with focus on John Ford. It was very helpful that I am very familiar with the movies discussed. Many tidbits about the movies and people were interesting. Though I did not always agree with his opinions and commentary, I found his views thought provoking. I thought there would be more about American culture and politics throughout the book. As with many books, I did not appreciate the vulgar language, even if it was accurate.
June 7, 2022
Garry Wills writes this forwardly conservative essay on the most mythologized American celebrity. He compares the career, character and life-choices of John Wayne with the myth created through the characters he portrayed and explains how each of these characters contributed to the public's understanding of the man.
A quick read, but Wills really taps into the American ethos of the time period.
A quick read, but Wills really taps into the American ethos of the time period.
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March 18, 2022This book was a disappointment on re-read. I can see flaws in the author's approach which, it must be said, is far from academic and lacks a real sense of focus. Great films like Rio Bravo and The Searchers are also skipped over in favour of a long treatise on the source material of The Green Berets.
April 30, 2023
Gary Wills 300+ page book on John Wayne' Celebrity and IMAGE. Talk about making a mountain out of a mole-hill.
To reach 300 pages, Wills talks a lot about John Ford, and a lot about movies that didn't have John Wayne. Its a weird, disorganized journey. And Wills has nothing interesting to say.
I think this book was written purely for profit. WIlls probably thought a book on John Wayne - instead of James Madison - would double his sales. Plus, it gave him a chance to trash John Wayne and John Ford. One can imagine Wills smirking with disdain everytime he sees the name "John Wayne airport".
To reach 300 pages, Wills talks a lot about John Ford, and a lot about movies that didn't have John Wayne. Its a weird, disorganized journey. And Wills has nothing interesting to say.
I think this book was written purely for profit. WIlls probably thought a book on John Wayne - instead of James Madison - would double his sales. Plus, it gave him a chance to trash John Wayne and John Ford. One can imagine Wills smirking with disdain everytime he sees the name "John Wayne airport".
July 22, 2022
You may disagree with some of Wills film opinions (especially his not so positive view of late career Hawks and Hawks in general) but overall this a very interesting blend of film criticism, cultural criticism, history, and biography
March 7, 2024
Will's expose was quite enlightening, particularly with the back stories behind Wayne's films. I have been a fan of his and his films since I was a kid. The one thing that was particularly interesting was Wayne's evolution as an actor and eventually an American institution.
August 21, 2018
Fun to read account of how John Wayne and his image fit into American politics and culture. Talks a lot about specific films and directors, especially John Ford.
January 12, 2022
fun read, but a little messy for a such a precise writer
December 20, 2023
Average.
July 13, 2012
My rating is probably closer to three and a half stars. This book was not a biography of the life of John Wayne (aka Marion Morrison) but more of a critical examination of the evolution of the 'John Wayne' persona (or, rather, the icon), and, to a lesser degree, how this reflected American politics of the time. The book contains some brilliant passages of insightful writing about Hollywood, specific films, US politics and American culture and literature, but is also somewhat incoherent at times, and the gossamer-light central thread of the book is often hard to see among the critical virtuosity. Wayne started out as a B movie actor and was a late developer - while he became famous in John Ford's seminal 'Stagecoach' (a departure from most Westerns before it, and a tour de force of deep focus), he was really moulded by Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail, argues Wills. Even then, the real persona of Wayne, as the American (Alpha) male incarnate, of a certain rugged political disposition (associated with the solitary Western hero of lore) and indomitable will, was not really formed until his performance in Howard Hawks' great Red River, in which he played the first in a series of grouchy, hard-faced tough guys. Thereafter he was associated mainly with John Ford and made some of his greatest films with that director - Wills is excellent at recounting his difficult relationship with the irascible director ('Coach' to Wayne), who, allegedly, taught him his famous John Wayne rolling walk and spent a lot of time vilifying him on set (and everyone else, to be fair). The description of the Ford cavalry trilogy, in particular, is superb and the book is generally very good on analysing the films, but I was less convinced by the book as a whole, which seems to spend very little time examing the title's promise re the 'politics of celebrity'. The Conclusion goes some way to redressing this imbalance, but Wayne is only mentioned in the last few pages after a long disquisition on the sources of American culture (i.e. the importance of the frontier and distrust of cities), which reminded me of Greil Marcus. It is a fine piece of writing overall but I think it could have gone into more depth about the relationship between Wayne's position as the leading icon of his time (the 50s in particular) and what this said about US culture.
February 24, 2025
Garry Wills, though conscious of his singular commitment to writing about Marion Morrison's screen persona, is not fond of him. Wayne is but one symptom of the basic hollowness and irresponsibility which Wills finds throughout 20th-century American culture. Readers familiar with the "sour fear" whooped up at American Independent rallies, the eclectic religiosity on display at the Whittier, CA strip club and the oedipal struggles within the Kennedy clan will recognize a similar authorial ethos in Wills. If you like that ethos, or are sufficiently wowed by Wills' prose style, it's worth a read.
Wills spends the first three fifths of the book in an exact debunking of the Wayne mythos, highlighting inconsistencies in the memories of Wayne, John Ford, and others to draw out an irreverent vision of Wayne, not so much an icon of American masculinity than the son of Edwardian neurosis, not so much a patriot as a Basil Zaharoff, not so much an independent, daring genius as the reprisal of his artistic predecessors.
This, though a source of many entertaining paradoxes, seems to me unnecessary, like searching the New Testament for historical inaccuracies. You can do it, but it kind of misses the point. Mythology can be critiqued in an analysis of its features, relations to other myths, and its purported effects, and leveraging the putative connection of myth with biography is a metaphysical error. I don't care that Wayne wasn't the cowboy he played on screen in real life, and I think I can be counted on to know that. Any social criticism of art is rooted at the interaction between object and audience. This is a long book on John Wayne, but America is largely missing.
That's a personal opinion.
Wills spends the first three fifths of the book in an exact debunking of the Wayne mythos, highlighting inconsistencies in the memories of Wayne, John Ford, and others to draw out an irreverent vision of Wayne, not so much an icon of American masculinity than the son of Edwardian neurosis, not so much a patriot as a Basil Zaharoff, not so much an independent, daring genius as the reprisal of his artistic predecessors.
This, though a source of many entertaining paradoxes, seems to me unnecessary, like searching the New Testament for historical inaccuracies. You can do it, but it kind of misses the point. Mythology can be critiqued in an analysis of its features, relations to other myths, and its purported effects, and leveraging the putative connection of myth with biography is a metaphysical error. I don't care that Wayne wasn't the cowboy he played on screen in real life, and I think I can be counted on to know that. Any social criticism of art is rooted at the interaction between object and audience. This is a long book on John Wayne, but America is largely missing.
That's a personal opinion.
June 26, 2014
Unmentioned in this book is that its title repeats one given over its subject's name, viz. John Wayne's America: Why I Love America. Unlike its predecessor, Wills' submission is at once about myth-making (the myths of the USA, the myths of 'the Western', the myths of Hollywood, the myth of John Wayne himself) and about the means by which such a fiction was created--in this case, primarily by commercial film-making. While not a biography of its subject, much of Marion Morrison's (Waynes' birth name) life is detailed. While not an overview of Wayne's entire career, all of his most famous films are treated in considerable detail. And, finally, while ostensibly about 'the politics of celebrity', politics, even the politics of film studios and film marketing, are not actually discussed very much, Wills' focus being primarily on actors and directors, most particularly on John Ford and Wayne himself. Consequently, the book may be represented as itself a kind of mythical creature, neither this nor that but a melange of elements, a Manticore or Hippogriffe. Still, given Wills' capacities as a thinker and writer, the beast occasionally flies.
November 8, 2010
Wayne's movie persona is detailed. The book is not so much a biography per se but of how he was shaped by first-rate directors, namely Raoul Walsh, John Ford and Howard Hawks. Movies that Wayne both directed and acted in turned out not so good -- The Alamo compounded an already large historical myth and Green Berets, though a commercial success, was widely ridiculed by critics. Wayne's later successes (True Grit and Big Jake) came amid clinkers and absurdities, but overall he was the epitome of the American frontier spirit.
October 23, 2015
I was hoping for more discussion of what brought me to this book: Wayne's controposto poses and their refiguring of classical sculpture, etc. but this is just mentioned in the intro and the picture captions. Still, this is an amazing analysis of one actors visual and bodily manifestations, as well as the ways in which events and films converge to make him an iconic star. The book also sheds light on the political nature of his later work, and why that all came to be. There's some gorgeous prose in here too, especially in the introduction and conclusion--I almost want a poster of them.
July 29, 2008
Apparently most Americans still believe John Wayne embodies the most what it means to be the Ideal American. This is a thorough examination of that premise, how Wayne's screen persona fed that view whilst his non-film life did anything but. It's by no means a hatchet job and restrains for the most part from judgement (unless Wayne has invited it).
August 27, 2008
As a professional film critic I sometimes get annoyed when other writers go "slumming" by writing about the movies, but not here. Wills, who has written brilliantly on politics, religion, and history, offers solid knowledge and insight into Wayne's signature films.
September 5, 2014
as a fellow Morrison, I have always been fascinated by John 'Marion Morrison' Wayne. This book reaches pretty far to represent Wayne's characters as the archetype reflection of Americana/politics/social thought. Although interesting, it seems pretty forced.
May 16, 2008
This is fun to read & argue with.
July 30, 2011
I concur. It's a great read, especially the portrayal of Wayne's special relationship with director John Ford.
November 5, 2011
John Wayne was an outspoken American patriot. The author has profiled the actor's political views and how he used his status to project them.
July 29, 2012
What would have made for a fascinating magazine article is padded out to book size by the author. Dull.
September 26, 2015
Very good analysis of Wayne's great movies which made me go back to see them again on DVDs.Good too o n the social context and his relationship with John Ford.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews