John Wayne

[jeremyp]

Ford never had Wayne's gravitas, but, like Wayne, he always played a stylized version of himself, just as Robert Downey does.

The modern hero is seen differently. Guys like Wayne wouldn't work today, because we're more cynical. A close Wayne type on TV these days is the captain on "Last Ship." Humorless, stoic, in on every piece of action. Very retrograde.

[Atticus]

Guys like Wayne wouldn't work today, because we're more cynical.

True Grit is arch-cynical. Hollywood had already arrived at that destination when Wayne was still thriving. Other 'modern' films of his:
The Shootist
Rooster Cogburn (TG2)
Brannigan
McQ
Cahill
The Cowboys

[no one]

bambam - I'll wait until this evening then give it my 'cheating' guess

[jeremyp]

True Grit is arch-cynical. Hollywood had already arrived at that destination when Wayne was still thriving. Other 'modern' films of his:
The Shootist
Rooster Cogburn (TG2)
Brannigan
McQ
Cahill
The Cowboys

Arch Cynical? I can't think of any role played by Wayne that was cynical.

[Atticus]

Say wha? The premise is that he is a grumpy old man who wants nothing to do with Mattie and helps her for the money.

[bambam1729]

Victor McLaglen? He was a boxer. I saw the Quiet Man. McLaglen and Wayne spent most of the movie fighting each other.

I would never compare the likes of Harrison Ford to John Wayne. Wayne was effective and very good at what he did. Favorites: The Searchers and Liberty Valance.

No - one of the producers of The Quiet Man was Lord Killanin, the IOC President from 1972-80

[no one]

bambam - my google cheat process yielded the same thing. I can't, in good conscience, take any credit, knowing what I didn't know. So I throw myself at the feet of the TFN message board trivia court.

[jeremyp]

Say wha? The premise is that he is a grumpy old man who wants nothing to do with Mattie and helps her for the money.

Oh! Faux Hollywood cynical.

[Atticus]

Oh! Faux Hollywood cynical.

??!! EVERYthing in Hollywood is faux. That's their reality!

[FrankS]

I wouldn't say for a minute that Wayne was a bad actor!
I believed every word he said!
Which can't be said of some lines delivered by Laurence Olivier!

[user4]

John Wayne was a mans man... he projected power and courage and well, true grit ! .. I cant find a comparison with him today.... the guy that most filled the void left by Wayne was Clint Eastwood. It is safe to say that Eastwoods characters were far more cynical and self serving than Wayne. Probably says more about the culture than either man.

[Atticus]

John Wayne was a mans man

If you mean he embodied Hollywood's cliche of a man, yes he did.
If you mean he stood for what a man should be, definitely not. The Hollywood cliche he embodied was chauvinistic, sexist, violent (perhaps psychopathologically so), and unable to express a wide range of honest emotions.

[user4]

If you mean he embodied Hollywood's cliche of a man, yes he did.
If you mean he stood for what a man should be, definitely not. The Hollywood cliche he embodied was chauvinistic, sexist, violent (perhaps psychopathologically so), and unable to express a wide range of honest emotions.

I think you meant to say Hollywood's former cliché of a man, that is about right, Hollywoods' present lexicon of clichés has no understanding of what a man is. They are self-creating unisex beings living in a fantasy future where the y chromosome is a relic of the past.

[Atticus]

Hollywoods' present lexicon of clichés has no understanding of what a man is. They are self-creating unisex beings living in a fantasy future where the y chromosome is a relic of the past.

No argument from me! ;-)
Women = strong empowered female with perfect face, hair and SMOKIN body.
Man = sensitive subservient arm-candy to the female, who just also happens to have washboard abs and Oliveresque delts.

[Pego]

No argument from me!
Women = strong empowered female with perfect face, hair and SMOKIN body.
Man = sensitive subservient arm-candy to the female, who just also happens to have washboard abs and Oliveresque delts.

You guys have got to be kidding me. How many examples of ultimate testosterone loaded machismo from recent movies do you want? Utter nonsense like Riddick for example? If anything, Hollywood is deviating more and more from reality if that's even possible.