John Wayne's Movies -- Part II Quiz

Answer: Rio Grande (1950)

In "Rio Grande", Wayne played Cpt. Kirby Yorke, commander of an outpost on the Rio Grande. His son joined the troops as a new recruit, whom Yorke had not seen since he was a child. Mom (O'Hara) showed up to take young Trooper Yorke home. The plot focused on the development of the relationship between father and son, the reunion of husband and wife, as well as fighting Apaches. Of course, it had a happy ending, with Mom and Dad reunited and father and son learning to care for each other. Maureen O'Hara appeared in five films with Wayne: "Rio Grande", "The Quiet Man", "McLintock", "Big Jake" and "The Wings of Eagles". O'Hara and Elizabeth Taylor appeared before a Congressional Sub-Committee in 1979 to testify on behalf of Wayne receiving a Congressional award in the form of a gold medal to be minted to honor him.

A tearful O'Hara told the Committee that he was a hero and there were so few left. The bill was approved unanimously. Wayne was already ill with cancer and did not live to see the medal.

Answer: Marlene Dietrich

Dietrich was great as the saloon owner who initially planned to steal Wayne's gold mine, but fell in love with him instead. In addition to "The Spoilers", Wayne and Dietrich did two more films together: "Pittsburgh" (1942) and "Seven Sinners" (1940).

The reclusive, German-born Dietrich attained fame with 1930's "The Blue Angel". After her movie career ended, during which she was always cast as a sex symbol, Dietrich continued performing in stage shows and cabaret acts untl she broke her leg in 1975. Claire Trevor appeared in several of Wayne's movies, including his break-through film, "Stagecoach" (1939). Elizabeth Allen appeared in only one Wayne film, "Donovan's Reef" (1963). Vera Miles was in "Hellfighters" (1968), "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962)and "The Searchers" (1956).

Answer: The Big Trail (1930)

Director Raoul Walsh noticed Wayne on the lot of Fox Studios, while he was having trouble casting "The Big Trail", an epic saga of pioneers going West on a wagon train. Tom Mix was Walsh's first choice for the role of the wagon master but Mix was committed to another picture.

His second choice was Gary Cooper but he was cast in "The Winning of Barbara Worth" while negotiating with Walsh, the movie which established Cooper as a top star. In the final preproduction schedule, Walsh was desperate for a star for his movie and picked Wayne off the lot. Wayne played a Frontier Scout leading 100 pioneers along the Oregon Trial 2,000 miles to the Pacific Northwest.

The distinguishing feature of the movie, which was shot on location, causing the critics to call it a "monumental" film rather than just another Western, was Walsh's realistic shooting of the hazards faced by the real pioneers' travels.

A scene crossing a dangerous ravine and a buffalo stampede were not staged but actually took place, endangering cast and crew. Walsh said, however, that his biggest problem in filming was that the cast and crew stayed drunk the entire time.

The other three movies were some of the B Westerns in which Wayne had small parts prior to becoming a star in "Stagecoach".

Answer: Dark Command (1940)

In "Dark Command", Wayne played a newcomer to town who rivaled Quantrill for the sheriff's job and his girlfriend (played by Claire Trevor). Roy Rogers played Trevor's brother in this movie. Wayne won both the sheriff's star and the girl. The other movies were B Westerns in which Wayne had only bit parts.

Answer: The Conqueror (1956)

Like "Jet Pilot", "The Conqueror" was an RKO film and was directed by Dick Powell. Wayne was definitely miscast as Ghenghis Khan, as was Susan Hayward as his love interest. Wayne was unable to shed his mid-Western drawl for the archaic English in the film and it was a very expensive box office flop.

Although the film was visually spectacular, it was thin on plot. When RKO was sold several years later, "Jet Pilot" and "The Conqueror" were withheld because they were both such bad movies. Wayne was reported to have said of the movie, "Hell, it's just a Western with different costumes".

He reportedly stayed drunk on the set throughout filming. Hayward refused to be filmed in disarray and in all scenes appeared perfectly coiffed with full makeup in place. "North to Alaska" was a very good movie about gold mining in Alaska, co-starring Stewart Granger, Fabian and Capucine. "The Barbarian and the Geisha", another out-of-character film for Wayne, was based on the real life story of Townsend Harris, the first U. S. Consul General to Japan.

Answer: Hondo (1953)

In "Hondo", based on a Louis L'Amour book, Wayne played a former Confederate soldier, Hondo Lane. Lane was an Army dispatch rider who came upon a woman and her son living alone in hostile Apache territory and stayed to become their protector. Wayne had killed her husband without knowing who he was.

When he discovered his idenitity, Wayne kept his death from Page and pretended to be her husband to prevent her from being forced to marry an Apache chief. Of course, he and Page's character fell in love, the boy idolized him and he remained with them on their ranch.

A television series of the same name ran for one season (1967). "The Wings of Eagles" was a biopic on the life of Frank W. "Spig" Wead, a Navy flier turned screenwriter, co-starring Maureen O'Hara. "The Quiet Man", one of Wayne's most famous movies, also co-starred O'Hara, telling the story of an Irish-American boxer who returned to his homeland of Ireland, after accidentally killing an opponent in the ring.

Answer: Stagecoach (1939)

"Stagecoach" was Wayne's breakthrough movie, making him an overnight star. It was his first of several movies with Claire Trevor. The supporting cast, which also included Andy Devine and George Bancroft, added a great deal to the movie's box office attraction. Wayne played the "Ringo Kid", on the run from the law; the plot focused on a stagecoach ride with the primary emphasisis being on character development of the passengers, not plot.

After successfully fighting off Indians, crossing rapids and nearly losing the stagecoach, they finally arrived at their destination, where the Ringo Kid challenged the man who falsely had him imprisoned and -- of course -- he ended up with the girl (Claire Trevor), a prostitute who had been run out of town by the Ladies' Morality League. Carradine played a Doc Holliday-type disgraced Southern gentleman who had fought in the Civil War.

This was also Wayne's first movie effort with John Ford, who would become his favorite director. The other movies were B Westerns in which Wayne had small roles prior to his breakthrough in "Stagecoach".

Answer: Tall in the Saddle (1944)

Wayne played Rocklin, who had been sent for by a rancher to be his foreman but when he arrived, he learned that the rancher had been murdered. Caught up among the suspicious townspeople and two beautiful women, both of whom sought his affections, Wayne had to solve the murder of the rancher.

The tension between the black-haired Western cowgirl and the blonde city girl, newly arrived in the West with her domineering aunt, was great plot material. Ward Bond played the crooked judge who was behind the murder.

In "Flame of the Barbary Coast", set in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, Duke played a cowboy turned gambler who opened a saloon, only to have it destroyed by the great earthquake. "Angel and the Badman" was one of the Duke's best known early movies, in which he fell in love with a Quaker girl and gave up gunfighting to become a farmer and marry the girl. Gail Russell co-starred in "Angel", one of two movies she did with Wayne.

In real life, she became an alcoholic, which contributed to her early death in 1961.

Answer: The Undefeated (1969)

Wayne played ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas, taking horses to sell to the Mexican government; Hudson was a Confederate officer moving his displaced family and troops to find a new life in Mexico. The two groups banded together to fight revolutionaries and bandits.

The interactions between the Southerners and the Yankees provided some great laughs. The movie had an excellent and large supporting cast, including Wayne regulars Ben Johnson and Harry Carey, Jr. In "Big Jake", a Wayne-Maureen O'Hara Western, Wayne, as Jake McCandles, followed bandits who kidnapped his grandson into Mexico to retrieve the boy.

In "The Train Robbers", Wayne was a gun hand hired by a young widow (Ann-Margret) to retrieve gold in Mexico which had been stolen by her husband.

Answer: The Searchers (1956)

In one of Wayne's darkest movies, he played Ethan Edwards, a man driven by hatred and bigotry to find his niece, who had been kidnapped during a Comanche raid, accompanied by his part-Indian nephew, played by Jeffrey Hunter. Over the years, Wayne's hatred for the Indians spilled over to his nephew and the missing niece, played by Natalie Wood.

The older daughter was murdered by Indians but they found the younger child (Natalie Wood), now a young woman, living with the Indian Chief Scar as one of his wives, and took her home. Ward Bond was excellent as the part-time Texas Ranger, part-time preacher. "El Dorado" was a remake of "Rio Bravo". "The Horse Soldiers" was a Civil War movie in which Wayne led a troop of cavalry through the deep South on a perilous mission, facing Rebel soldiers and carrying a Southern Belle captive.