I have been thinking about this for a long time and wanted to share this with you. I noticed in Duke's Filmography that he has never made a movie as a family man. I know that some will say that he was in The Wings of Eagles and McLintock, but those movies he was not exactly in a family situation of being a family man.

Trouble Along the Way, was the same way with no wife and hopping around with his daughter. I am talking about a traditional family man with a wife and kids that he comes home everyday. We might mention Rio Grande, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Undefeated, The Cowboys, and Flying Leathernecks. But he is never seen with a wife and most of them he's separated/divorce.

Could John Wayne made a family movie? What are your thoughts.

Cheers :cool: Hondo Duke Lane

Hardly any leading men play characters who are married with families. Newman, Redford, Eastwood, Pitt, Cruise, if you look at their careers it's hard to find films with wives or children. I guess they aren't considered interesting and get in the way with action stars. Didn't someone say, "women slow down Westerns"?

Actually it has more to do with how we prefer our heroes. A hero has to have as few weaknesses as possible, and a family represents a weak point that can be exploited.

Or at least that's what I read somewhere.

That is a very interesting take from both of you. I want to research this a little to understand fully what you are talking about in your posts. But from what I read from you, a married family man shows weakness in men and makes for a boring plot in a movie and stands in the way for a good story.

I am not criticizing you, but only observing what I understand from your post. Again, I will do some research before I comment on this. More comments are welcomed.

Cheers :cool: Hondo

But from what I read from you, a married family man shows weakness in men and makes for a boring plot in a movie and stands in the way for a good story.

I am not criticizing you, but only observing what I understand from your post. Again, I will do some research before I comment on this. More comments are welcomed.

Cheers :cool: Hondo

Actually, it's not my opinion, I am only re-posting what I read in a film thesis somewhere.

I happen to disagree with that, because I think that having a family gives the hero something worth fighting for in his own life.

if the right story had happened alaong i think the duke would have had fun playing a family man

cheers smokey

I wouldn't say that JW is "never seen with a wife," as in Flying Leathernecks, he's married with a young son. The only reason we don't see them all the time in the film is that he's overseas fighting.

He DOES come home, and except for a new assignment with a bump in rank, he was to remain there - moving to Goleta, CA. Once his shoulder puts him out of commission, he's headed back to his family for good!

I understand the issue presented by the OP, but I don't fully agree that he was never a family man.

Look at The Quiet Man. He starts out as a lonely batchelor, but quickly settles into the wooing (and winning) of Maureen O'Hara. Yes, there are a few issues, and she leaves for a few hours, but they're a pretty happily married couple trying to make the land work for them. He LOVES being married to her, and the entire plot has to do with his willingness to please her, at the expense of himself...

Seems pretty family oriented to me...

Also, Duke was supposed to have a wife (played by Vera Miles) in The Green Berets. Her character wound up on the cutting room floor. It's an interesting question, though. Think about Duke playing the Jimmy Stewart role in Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation or the Spencer Tracy role in Father of the Bride. How about Duke playing the father role in an adaptation of Cheaper By the Dozen? He definitely had the comedy skills to pull it off. Maybe he was just too busy with other projects.

Also, Duke was supposed to have a wife (played by Vera Miles) in The Green Berets. Her character wound up on the cutting room floor. It's an interesting question, though. Think about Duke playing the Jimmy Stewart role in Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation or the Spencer Tracy role in Father of the Bride. How about Duke playing the father role in an adaptation of Cheaper By the Dozen? He definitely had the comedy skills to pull it off. Maybe he was just too busy with other projects.

That is what I am talking about, but could he be in movies like these or Spencer's Mountain?

Cheers :cool:

According to many folks (Ron Howard & Pat Wayne among them), JW commissioned a script right after The Shootist called Beau Jean (something close, anyway) that would star himself and Ron Howard, and JW would play the patriarch of a sizable modern family, wife included.

With his declining health, it never saw the light of day...

In his ......very early days, he always finished a movie riding off into the sunset witha woman.

I notice that often in classic Westerns there is a woman in the story, but the relationship good or bad, gets folded into the movie and eventually they get togeather at the end of the movie

According to many folks (Ron Howard & Pat Wayne among them), JW commissioned a script right after The Shootist called Beau Jean (something close, anyway) that would star himself and Ron Howard, and JW would play the patriarch of a sizable modern family, wife included.

With his declining health, it never saw the light of day...

Maybe as a younger man he hadnt actually come to grips with a lot of his own family story, family of origin, and marriages, and wasnt ready to commit that part of his life to screen

The wings of eagles does the job, a family situation with real problems, the story does focus mostly on wayne or are you wanting a leave it to beaver situation. Women mainly tame men and our hero couldn't kick tail with his wife threatening to leave if he bust heads!! LOL

i know what you mean hondo, but to me it seems that he plays a family man in a lot of films, its just that things seem to have happened to him. for example, in circus world he travels to refind his wife and win her back and in operation pacific, he is estranged with his wife and they end up happily back together again with an adopted baby. maybe they thought it might detract from his appeal if he was seen as being too domesticated. just a thought?

I think a family man needs to be home with the family. I don't know about you, but I enjoyed seeing Duke out, fighting the villains.

ET