All Too Human a Father![]()
~John Wayne as Steve Aloysius Williams in Trouble Along the Way (1953) John Wayne played many kinds of fathers. Most of them expressed their tough love in the saddle or on the battlefield. Popular imagination colors this actor as a combination war hero/cowboy, often causing us to forget that the actor, born Marion Robert Morrison, the son of a pharmacist, was playacting–albeit on a very high level–when he strapped on the six gun or the fatigues. By his own admission, the Duke was consciously building an image. “When I started”, he explained, “I knew I was no actor and I went to work on this Wayne thing. It was as deliberate a projection as you’ll ever see. I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up the drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn’t looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror.” Eventually, when he played a Dad on the screen, Wayne didn’t need to practice in front of a mirror to play a convincing paternal role. As a man who became the father of seven children, his real life apprenticeship in this important role began in 1934 at age 27 when the first of his three sons, Michael, was born. Michael was one of four children from the actor’s first marriage to Josephine Alicia Saenz. Wayne‘s brood was rounded out with the birth of his last child and fourth daughter, Marisa in 1966, when he was 59. Wayne’s third and last marriage to Pilar Palette Wayne produced three children. I do think he’s underrated as an actor, but when his long career took an occasional side route into modern dress, my attention was often more acute, appreciating his skill and his ability to project something genuine when he played a father in the movies.
Yet there is Wayne, showing up for less than a minute or two as a scared young Depression era Dad called “Smith” in The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933). In an early appearance by the raw-boned young man, it is his awkward appeal that is more poignant than the filmmakers’ intended in his brief scenes. The story involves the struggle of a fugitive (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) to eke out a living, in part by doing some amateur boxing. When John Wayne pops up unexpectedly as a minor character who has a brief conversation with the leading man, we know he’s going to get his brains bashed in by boxing against a pro to earn enough to get his wife and baby out of hock. A couple of decades later we might remember the withdrawal of Wayne‘s character from his wife (played by Maureen O’Hara) and daughters in Ford’s The Wings of Eagles (1957), when a spinal injury undermines an already strained marriage. This decision leads his character, based on screenwriter Spig Wead, to separate from them, pursuing military service and a writing career as opposed to . Often forgotten is the moment at the climax of William Wellman‘s adaptation of Ernest K. Gann’s Island in the Sky (1953) when the crew of a downed plane is rescued from the desolate northern wilderness. The stoic Wayne, the lynchpin who held his crew together physically and psychologically during their ordeal, after stoically keeping his worries to himself, is finally revealed as the husband of a worried wife and the father of several children. The pilot who saves the day in one of Wellman‘s other biggest successes was drawn from a Gann novel, The High and the Mighty (1953). This also reveals Wayne as a haunted character, who, years later, still recalls his own complicity in his son’s death, along with his mother’s, in a horrific crash that occurred prior to the events of the film, when he was at the controls of a plane. Still another modern dress story gave Wayne another opportunity to embody a troubled Dad in Otto Preminger‘s often lumbering action tale, In Harm’s Way (1965). Set in the early days of World War Two following Pearl Harbor, the movie faltered in its action sequences, but was almost redeemed acting in the few moments of intimacy allowed in the sprawling epic. The painful tension and anguish bristling between Brandon de Wilde and Wayne, as estranged son and father, holds a movie’s worth of untapped feeling, with just an echo of the earlier relationship between Wayne and Claude Jarman‘s character in Rio Grande (1950). (The film is also almost redeemed by the tersely adult love scenes between Wayne and Patricia Neal as the two actors create a small corner of beautiful as they created one of the more realistically mature bonds in American movies). While mulling over this Sunday’s celebration of Father’s Day, I started to think about a little movie that is usually given short shrift by reviewers and classic movie fans alike. Maybe it means more to me because I can remember that this was one of the few movies my own father watched with me. Dad didn’t like movies. He didn’t have time or the patience for them, and he certainly had little in common with John Wayne. However, as a graduate of a Jesuit college, and a former semi-pro baseball and football player, this father of three girls and one boy, this particular Wayne movie must have struck a chord with him.
Available on DVD and broadcast on TCM occasionally, this film, btw, can be enjoyed by people who have little interest in football, but it may interest you to know that it may have drawn some inspiration from common knowledge about the role of professionalism in amateur sports, as well as the gambling scandals that broke in the national news in 1951 over basketball games on a collegiate level. You can read more about that newsworthy brouhaha here. You might enjoy this little movie more than you expect–especially if it helps you remember your own father or if you’re lucky enough to be able to watch this one with your Dad. Happy Father’s Day. Sources: 0 Response All Too Human a Father
![]() I enjoyed reading your appreciation of John Wayne and “Trouble Along the Way”. Wayne, the actor never fails to impress me, and nobody makes me happier to see him on screen than Wayne, the movie star. In “Wings of Eagles” I found it particularly endearing that Duke was sans toupee when playing the later in life Wead. That certainly was commitment. The relationship between Kirby Yorke and his son Jeff in “Rio Grande” is one of my favourite features of that movie. The day after the soldier’s fight when the Colonel peeks through the window at Jeff receiving his medicine always chokes me up. All those years he missed with his son. ![]() The perfect post for Father’s Day, and I am so glad you wrote about this film. I am a major fan of John Wayne,As time goes by, and he is identified as an icon instead of an actor, the diversity of films he was in and the depth of some of his performances are being forgotten. And, Vincent Canby can take a hike — THE COWBOYS rocks. ![]() The perfect post for Father’s Day, and I am so glad you wrote about this film. I am a major fan of John Wayne,As time goes by, and he is identified as an icon instead of an actor, the diversity of films he was in and the depth of some of his performances are being forgotten. And, Vincent Canby can take a hike — THE COWBOYS rocks. ![]() Moira, it’s good to see John Wayne (father figure) in the spotlight. Of the films you mentioned no one could have done them better. I must admit though that I never got the chance to see “Trouble Along the Way” which I will now make it my business to see. Thanks. ![]() Moira, it’s good to see John Wayne (father figure) in the spotlight. Of the films you mentioned no one could have done them better. I must admit though that I never got the chance to see “Trouble Along the Way” which I will now make it my business to see. Thanks. ![]() I’m a big fan of “The Duke,” too, even if we pulled different levers on election day. I confess I’ve never seen Trouble All the Way either and I really appreciate the sentiments and the recommendation. That speech you highlighted at the top of the post is all too true for this newish father of two. ![]() I’m a big fan of “The Duke,” too, even if we pulled different levers on election day. I confess I’ve never seen Trouble All the Way either and I really appreciate the sentiments and the recommendation. That speech you highlighted at the top of the post is all too true for this newish father of two. ![]() John Wayne has always been close to my heart. Maybe it was because he bore a striking resemblance to my own father (at least in my eyes) or the fact he was a giant seemingly indestructible hero. I liked his war movies and westerns, but this movie was especially endearing. ![]() John Wayne has always been close to my heart. Maybe it was because he bore a striking resemblance to my own father (at least in my eyes) or the fact he was a giant seemingly indestructible hero. I liked his war movies and westerns, but this movie was especially endearing. ![]() I have always LOVED this movie. There is absolutely no way that anyone can watch this “gem” and say John Wayne can’t act, unless of course, they’ve made up their minds before watching it, or aren’t paying attention. He was INCREDIBLE in this movie! It was, and still is a great movie that shows JW’s range. It’s too bad it took so long to get it on DVD. ![]() I have always LOVED this movie. There is absolutely no way that anyone can watch this “gem” and say John Wayne can’t act, unless of course, they’ve made up their minds before watching it, or aren’t paying attention. He was INCREDIBLE in this movie! It was, and still is a great movie that shows JW’s range. It’s too bad it took so long to get it on DVD. ![]() I think most movie buffs know that John Wayne can act. As I recall, Barbara Walters asked him during an interview if he thought he could act and he replied, I KNOW I can act!” Moirafinnie, I wish you or one of the Morlocks would write a piece on Marie Windsor. I was watching her performance last night on my VHS tape of The Narrow Margin. She’s great in that and The Killing, by Kubrick. She also appeared in trash like Cat Women of the Moon and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. I don’t know anything at all about her and would like to know more. ![]() I think most movie buffs know that John Wayne can act. As I recall, Barbara Walters asked him during an interview if he thought he could act and he replied, I KNOW I can act!” Moirafinnie, I wish you or one of the Morlocks would write a piece on Marie Windsor. I was watching her performance last night on my VHS tape of The Narrow Margin. She’s great in that and The Killing, by Kubrick. She also appeared in trash like Cat Women of the Moon and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. I don’t know anything at all about her and would like to know more. ![]() Marie Windsor was hot! Al, have you seen her in The Sniper? Her, uh, shall we say character arc made me gasp out loud. ![]() Marie Windsor was hot! Al, have you seen her in The Sniper? Her, uh, shall we say character arc made me gasp out loud. ![]() Hi all, Hi Al and RHS: At the website “Modern Times” you can read an interview with Marie Windsor touching on everything from Kubrick, Force of Evil, Abraham Polonsky to how you work with short guys like Raft and Garfield when you’re 5’9″ tall. It is found here. Al asked “Did TCM ever interview her?” In 1999, TCM devoted an entire Summer of Darkness to Film Noir. One of the features of that period was an extended filmed interview conducted by Scott Glenn with four of the ladies who threw that genre its darkest curves: Marie Windsor, Audrey Totter, Colleen Gray, and Jane Greer. If you would like to read a transcript of that interview, please click here. I think that you might enjoy it enormously. I would also recommend some great books: “Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames” by Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner as well as “Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir” by Eddie Muller as great reads with some first hand info about Marie Windsor and other hardworking actresses. I hope our pal, author Alan K. Rode of the Film Noir Foundation may stumble on this mention of Marie and put some of his well-informed two cents in here too! Maybe we could figure out a way to do a profile of Ms. Windsor on the Morlocks someday soon. She always sounded like a great dame and played the role of John Wayne‘s ex-wife with great brio. I also suspect that she may have tried to approach the role with some sympathy toward her limited character’s lack of choices in life. The mother seemed to be a rather desperate woman grasping at straws, and one of those “straws” just happened to be her daughter. Too bad it was the fifties, and Marie wound up being a bit of a sketchier character than necessary. Btw, Al, I’ve run across many, many people who still dismiss Wayne‘s acting and when they do give him some credit, it is usually given in a left-handed way by ascribing his characterizations to the gifted director John Ford rather than anything he might have brought to a part. Some of that is political, of course, just as it colors the opinions one still runs across of Jane Fonda. ![]() Hi all, Hi Al and RHS: At the website “Modern Times” you can read an interview with Marie Windsor touching on everything from Kubrick, Force of Evil, Abraham Polonsky to how you work with short guys like Raft and Garfield when you’re 5’9″ tall. It is found here. Al asked “Did TCM ever interview her?” In 1999, TCM devoted an entire Summer of Darkness to Film Noir. One of the features of that period was an extended filmed interview conducted by Scott Glenn with four of the ladies who threw that genre its darkest curves: Marie Windsor, Audrey Totter, Colleen Gray, and Jane Greer. If you would like to read a transcript of that interview, please click here. I think that you might enjoy it enormously. I would also recommend some great books: “Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames” by Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner as well as “Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir” by Eddie Muller as great reads with some first hand info about Marie Windsor and other hardworking actresses. I hope our pal, author Alan K. Rode of the Film Noir Foundation may stumble on this mention of Marie and put some of his well-informed two cents in here too! Maybe we could figure out a way to do a profile of Ms. Windsor on the Morlocks someday soon. She always sounded like a great dame and played the role of John Wayne‘s ex-wife with great brio. I also suspect that she may have tried to approach the role with some sympathy toward her limited character’s lack of choices in life. The mother seemed to be a rather desperate woman grasping at straws, and one of those “straws” just happened to be her daughter. Too bad it was the fifties, and Marie wound up being a bit of a sketchier character than necessary. Btw, Al, I’ve run across many, many people who still dismiss Wayne‘s acting and when they do give him some credit, it is usually given in a left-handed way by ascribing his characterizations to the gifted director John Ford rather than anything he might have brought to a part. Some of that is political, of course, just as it colors the opinions one still runs across of Jane Fonda. ![]() Great stuff, as usual. I’ve not seen this film in years, but it is certainly a departure from Wayne’s usual films, and he plays it very well. Always liked the work of both Dabbs Greer and Tom Tully, both very solid supporting players. ![]() Great stuff, as usual. I’ve not seen this film in years, but it is certainly a departure from Wayne’s usual films, and he plays it very well. Always liked the work of both Dabbs Greer and Tom Tully, both very solid supporting players. ![]() Hi Moira! Excellent article on a little known film that hopefully will find new fans now. I only watched it for the first time when the DVD was released, though I had heard about it for years. It is one of the most unique of Wayne’s films, I can’t think of any other quite like it. It’s more the kind of film I’d imagine Cagney or Pat O’Brien being cast, or even Bing Crosby. Shows JW’s range alright. And yes, I too still hear constantly that Wayne only “played himself”. Usually from people who have seen only a handful of his films, and quite a long time ago. When you start to watch more of his work with an open mind, you come to quite a different conclusion. ![]() Hi Moira! Excellent article on a little known film that hopefully will find new fans now. I only watched it for the first time when the DVD was released, though I had heard about it for years. It is one of the most unique of Wayne’s films, I can’t think of any other quite like it. It’s more the kind of film I’d imagine Cagney or Pat O’Brien being cast, or even Bing Crosby. Shows JW’s range alright. And yes, I too still hear constantly that Wayne only “played himself”. Usually from people who have seen only a handful of his films, and quite a long time ago. When you start to watch more of his work with an open mind, you come to quite a different conclusion. ![]() I thought that I was the only person who knew about “Trouble Along the Way”. As a woman who’s also a college football fan and the daughter of a coach, I tried to watch this one whenever it was shown in the past, along with “Father Was a Fullback”, with Fred MacMurray as another losing coach. I agree that Wayne’s gifts as an actor showed up best under John Ford’s guidance, but he must have brought a bit of the Trojan from USC into his realistic acting in this one. He gives a fine, restrained, human scaled performance and his rapport with Sherry Jackson is really touching. Good idea, focusing on this one for Father’s Day. ![]() I thought that I was the only person who knew about “Trouble Along the Way”. As a woman who’s also a college football fan and the daughter of a coach, I tried to watch this one whenever it was shown in the past, along with “Father Was a Fullback”, with Fred MacMurray as another losing coach. I agree that Wayne’s gifts as an actor showed up best under John Ford’s guidance, but he must have brought a bit of the Trojan from USC into his realistic acting in this one. He gives a fine, restrained, human scaled performance and his rapport with Sherry Jackson is really touching. Good idea, focusing on this one for Father’s Day. ![]() Hi Jacqueline, Miss G. & Roberta, I often wish that John Wayne had made fewer, better written movies, (especially in the last years of his career). Despite this quibble, from the time he first appeared in Raoul Walsh’s failure, The Big Trail, in the great Ford films, the Wellman movies of the early ’50s and several, but by no means all, of the Howard Hawks and Henry Hathaway movies, each of these gave the actor a showcase for his particular gifts, blending an almost feminine athletic grace with a raw earnestness that remains quite moving. Roberta, I haven’t seen Father Was a Fullback in some time, but remember it was pretty amusing. Perhaps it should be part of a football-inspired festival that could be composed of movies like this one, the MacMurray feature and other films devoted to the gridiron come September? Jacqueline, I’d also like to see one just devoted to the films of Dabbs Greer and Tom Tully too! Thanks for taking time to add your comments here. ![]() Hi Jacqueline, Miss G. & Roberta, I often wish that John Wayne had made fewer, better written movies, (especially in the last years of his career). Despite this quibble, from the time he first appeared in Raoul Walsh’s failure, The Big Trail, in the great Ford films, the Wellman movies of the early ’50s and several, but by no means all, of the Howard Hawks and Henry Hathaway movies, each of these gave the actor a showcase for his particular gifts, blending an almost feminine athletic grace with a raw earnestness that remains quite moving. Roberta, I haven’t seen Father Was a Fullback in some time, but remember it was pretty amusing. Perhaps it should be part of a football-inspired festival that could be composed of movies like this one, the MacMurray feature and other films devoted to the gridiron come September? Jacqueline, I’d also like to see one just devoted to the films of Dabbs Greer and Tom Tully too! Thanks for taking time to add your comments here. ![]() Moira - ![]() Moira - ![]() Bob - As someone who looks back on my father’s presence in my own life with a kind of wry affection, I know that this little movie captured something real between the two characters. I hope that someday your daughter can see Trouble Along the Way and appreciate that aspect of the story as well. Thanks for taking the time to share your observations. Moira ![]() Bob - As someone who looks back on my father’s presence in my own life with a kind of wry affection, I know that this little movie captured something real between the two characters. I hope that someday your daughter can see Trouble Along the Way and appreciate that aspect of the story as well. Thanks for taking the time to share your observations. Moira ![]() Thank you Moira. Nikki and I will make a date to watch it together. By the way, Charles Coburn may have been inexplicably cast as Father Burke, but I thought he played the part incredibly well. ![]() Thank you Moira. Nikki and I will make a date to watch it together. By the way, Charles Coburn may have been inexplicably cast as Father Burke, but I thought he played the part incredibly well. Leave a Reply |
As of November 1, 2017 FilmStruck’s blog, StreamLine, has moved to Tumblr. Please visit us there! http://filmstruck.tumblr.com/tagged/streamline-blog Streamline is the official blog of FilmStruck, a new subscription service that offers film aficionados a comprehensive library of films including an eclectic mix of contemporary and classic art house, indie, foreign and cult films. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
Actors
Alfred Hitchcock
Bela Lugosi
Bette Davis
Boris Karloff
British Cinema
Buster Keaton
Cary Grant
Charlie Chaplin
Citizen Kane
Comedy
Criterion
Criterion Channel
Dracula
DVD
Elizabeth Taylor
Film
Film Noir
FilmStruck
Frankenstein
Fritz Lang
Hammer Horror
Horror
horror films
Horror Movies
Humphrey Bogart
James Bond
Joan Crawford
John Ford
John Huston
John Wayne
Joseph Losey
Movie
movies
mystery
Night of the Living Dead
Orson Welles
Peter Lorre
Psycho
Roger Corman
Steve McQueen
TCM
The Exorcist
Warner Archive
Westerns
|
I enjoyed reading your appreciation of John Wayne and “Trouble Along the Way”. Wayne, the actor never fails to impress me, and nobody makes me happier to see him on screen than Wayne, the movie star.
In “Wings of Eagles” I found it particularly endearing that Duke was sans toupee when playing the later in life Wead. That certainly was commitment.
The relationship between Kirby Yorke and his son Jeff in “Rio Grande” is one of my favourite features of that movie. The day after the soldier’s fight when the Colonel peeks through the window at Jeff receiving his medicine always chokes me up. All those years he missed with his son.