The Lost Films Of John Wayne

Hollywood icon John Wayne created a personal treasure trove of films during a fifty-year career, spanning 1926-1976. Today, over twenty years after his death, scarcely an hour goes by without one of them appearing somewhere in the world's TV listings. Thankfully for the fans, only a handful remain unobtainable in an era of re-mastered miracles, and out of all the movies he made post 1939, just two are retained; the last remaining prints of both apparently damaged. For whatever reason, neither one has been made available since soon after their original 1950's distribution. ISLAND IN THE SKY and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY are an unusual 'pair' of aerial films, shot and screened when Wayne's westerner and war hero image were reaching their zenith. This book looks at both films in some depth and includes many fascinating photographs and production details. Director William A Wellman, a Hollywood legend in his own right; the rich array of stars of both movies; Ernie Gann, the writer of both the novels on which the films are based, and of course John Wayne's dual roles as producer and star of both movies are all investigated thoroughly. This is McGivern's second book concentrating on John Wayne. The first, A GIANT SHADOW (0954003101), looked at the man, this one at two films that most of his fans may treasure in their memories, but certainly won't have seen for many years. Gone, but not forgotten! It attempts to uncover the murky history of the films since the 1950's and takes a hopeful peak at a prospective future as more and more 'lost' films are re-discovered in Hollywood. Early next year John Wayne's two lost films, "Island in the Sky" and "The High and the Mighty", are being released on DVD. Leonard Maltin has called these two films "The Holy Grails of Hollywood" to be seen again for the first time in over 40 years.

With this issue of Lone Pine and the Movies we are diverging from our normal policy of presenting a variety of articles on Western films and personalities or Lone Pine as a major location for filming these Westerns, to devote the entire issue to one film, Republic Pictures' The Oregon Trail. Why this particular film, a B Western, not even a "stand-alone" but number four in a series of eight pictures scheduled for release in Republic's 1935-1936 season of Saturday matinee double features?

This revelatory biography shows how both the facts and fictions about John Wayne illuminate his singular life.

A rare behind-the-scenes look at John Wayne: the legend, hero, and Hollywood icon of numerous epic Western films, including an Academy Award-winning performance in True Grit. No legend ever walked taller than “The Duke.” Now, author Michael Munn’s startling new biography of John Wayne sets the record straight on why Wayne didn’t serve in World War II, on director John Ford’s contribution to Wayne’s career, and the mega-star’s highs and lows: three failed marriages, and two desperate battles with cancer. Munn also discloses publicly, for the first time, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s plot to assassinate Wayne because of his outspoken, potentially influential anti-Communist views. Drawing on time spent with Wayne on the set of Brannigan—and almost 100 interviews with those who knew him—Munn’s rare, behind-the-scenes look proves this “absolute all-time movie star” was as much a hero in real life as he ever was on-screen.

John Wayne worked on film sets around the globe. This book follows the trail, from his beginnings on the Fox backlot to his final filming in Lone Pine, California. Locations in Mexico, Normandy, Rome, Madrid, London, Ireland, Libya and Africa are covered, along with his favorite vacation spots in Hawaii, Acapulco, Greece, Monaco, and the Hollywood hot-spots he frequented. Anecdotes revisit his most famous scenes, including Rooster Cogburn's charge in True Grit (1969) and Davy Crockett's last stand in The Alamo (1960). Production details describe how San Diego stood in for Iwo Jima, how Old Tucson was turned into El Dorado, and how Genghis Kahn ruled over the deserts of Utah. Never before published photos present then-and-now views in this first of its kind guided tour for film location hunters and Wayne aficionados.

With more than 1,100 impeccably sourced quotes from throughout John Wayne's 172-film career, John Wayne Speaks: The Ultimate John Wayne Quote Book provides what has often been missing from other Duke Wayne reference books: accuracy, context, and comprehensiveness. These quotations offer a deep dive into Wayne’s films and acting persona—the iconic American man of action whose sense of values and decency are a veneer covering a boiling pot of determination, courage, outrage, and even violence. The quotes in John Wayne Speaks are at once inspirational, humorous, touching, and revealing. Author and veteran journalist Mark Orwoll has created an overlay of categories into which each quote fits, making the manuscript easy for readers to find the type of quote—or even the exact quote, footnoted to identify its film—they may be searching for. But John Wayne Speaks is more than just a collection of the actor's movie lines. Orwoll has researched and written an in-depth introduction to Wayne's film career to put the quotes in a broader context. Movie-lovers will also appreciate the author's opinionated capsule reviews and production notes from Wayne's complete filmography. John Wayne Speaks is the quote book that every fan of the Duke needs and a delightful addition to any cinephile’s library.

Behold the history of a film so scandalous, so outrageous, so explosive it disappeared from print for over a quarter century! A film so dangerous, half its cast and crew met their demise bringing eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes’ final cinematic vision to life! Starring All-American legend John Wayne in full Fu Manchu make-up as Mongol madman Genghis Khan! Featuring sultry seductress Susan Hayward as his lover! This is the true story of The Conqueror (1956), the worst movie ever made. Filmed during the dark underbelly of the 1950s—the Cold War—when nuclear testing in desolate southwestern landscapes was a must for survival, the very same landscapes were where exotic stories set in faraway lands could be made. Just 153 miles from the St. George, Utah, set, nuclear bombs were detonated regularly at Yucca Flat and Frenchman Flat in Nevada, providing a bizarre and possibly deadly background to an already surreal moment in cinema history. This book tells the full story of the making of The Conqueror, its ignominious aftermath, and the radiation induced cancer that may have killed John Wayne and many others.

By the time Stagecoach made John Wayne a silver-screen star in 1939, the thirty-one-year-old was already a veteran of more than sixty films, having twirled six-guns and foiled cattle rustlers in B Westerns for five studios. By the 1950s he was Hollywood’s most popular actor—an Academy Award nominee destined to become an American icon. This biography reveals the story of his early life, illustrated with rare archival images.