John Wayne Scrapbook

You might get the idea that John Wayne only made black and white films when you first open and flip through this book, but perhaps I don't understand the bottom line of publshing color shots. With memories of The Searchers and The Horse Soldiers in vivid, almost other-worldly celluloid chromatics, it takes some getting used to. The rare and fascinating exploitation memorabilia included unfortunately suffers through this medium - tiny details are too fine and grainy to appreciate. Perhaps less entries and concentration on readability of larger reproductions might have worked. But let's get into a "labor of love" from a fan, Mr. Lee Pfeiffer. (Color publications came later for this fine arbitor of Duke Chronicles). By the way, Lee's intro. to the "Turkeys" is hilarious. Focusing in here on, if you will, the "best" and "worst" of Wayne, I would have preferred if Lee had listed the flicks in order of quality (or lack of), rather than their chronological place. ("Donovan's Reef" was a "turkey"? I added some extra stuffing and applied that good commercial gravy and enjoyed it). It's tough to call a Patriotic film a loser but Pfeiffer's commentary on "The Green Berets" is perfect, as far as I'm concerned. Wayne's sincerity is never in doubt, but his history and analysis was. David Janssen's over-acted scene in which he lays out an exhibit of Russian and Chinese weapons in front of a skeptical reporter, begs for any High School kid, who can't find Indochina on the map, to say, okay, but at what point did they intervene? After we escalated? Another political film fiasco, in my opinion, is "The Sea Chase" - an interesting idea, that World War II German nationals rebelled against the Third Reich by giving the appearance of complying, thus providing actual assistance to the fabricated enemy of the "master race", goes down due to some bad miscasting, and interminably downbeat direction, which make the viewer reach for that letter-boxed edition of "The Searchers", just waiting for a 19th home screening. This is a true Scrapbook, so don't look for any voluminous *lists* of films/tv appearances, etc. (Woulda been nice, though). This is a personal reflection on perhaps the most appreciated and unappreciated film icon. (Where's "The Fighting Kentuckian" with Duke and Babe, in the text?). Recommended.

This book has been in print consistently since the 1980's and has been a treasure-trove of information about the Duke and his films. It not only tells the behind the scenes stories of Wayne's best films, but doesn't avoid a fun-filled look at his "turkeys" as well, even if you don't agree with the author on every title. (I can't help liking "Hellfighters" no matter what the author says!) Each film is broken down in it's own separate section and there are hundreds of rare photos. The recently released edition finally updates a lot of outdated information. For example, there is a very in-depth look at the making of Wayne's "The Alamo"... this section brings up to date the fact that much of the missing footage has been found and restored. Best of all, the new edition has tons of glossy color photos featuring dozens of rare Wayne international movie posters from over the decades. There are also sections relating to Wayne collectibles, record albums and a funny section that shows "bloopers" in Wayne movie posters and ads. (To promote the movie "Cahill: U.S Marshall", Warner Brothers used a well-known photo from "Chisum" in their ads). All in all, even you have the previous version, this one is worth picking up for all the new material.

This book was just outstanding. I think any John Wayne fan who likes to read or learn anything, about The Duke will enjoy and value this book.