Remember this

He lived next door to one of the branches of my family. He was quite kind and helpful. A family member did the art direction for Ford on the Searchers. He was 2nd set director. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Basevi

@thesquat I'm sure he wasn't. He may have been a complex individual, but I've heard he was quite gracious as well.

@tempomacdougall Fine. But there's no reason it can't be done well.

Sorry, The Green Berets was execrable as a motion picture. Nothing is going to change that.

@Waldorf Wayne movies will be playing long after today’s stars are long forgotten

@firenze5 Most of them will be, but don't be surprised if a few of the classics won't be -- at least not on broadcast TV. For instance, just the other day they were airing The Searchers on Turner Classic Movies. The Searchers is one of the best Westerns ever made, and it features Wayne's best performance by far.

The movie was preceded by a quick discussion between three TCM co-hosts. One of them, an attractive red-headed woman (I can't remember her name) was joined by Ben Markiewicz and some other guy. The redhead said that she wouldn't recommend The Searchers because the character of Ethan (played by Wayne) was outdated, racist, and not within the spirit of the movie, which she did find appealing with the exception of the Ethan character. Fortunately Ben M. and the other guy were able to explain that the very existence of Ethan was necessary because he created conflict within the movie that drove the entire narrative forward. Furthermore, racists like Ethan did exist in the Old West, and whether we like it or not they were the ones who were largely responsible for the West being settled. Lastly, Ethan was a complex character, and his views on Indians were not universally accepted by those closest to him. Ethan is destined to be alone, he has few close friends, if any, and his type is vanishing. The ending shot of The Searchers is one of the most iconic in all of movie history, foreign or domestic, and it speaks volumes about the movie and the Ethan character.

I think too many people are confusing John Wayne the man with The Duke of the movies. Maybe Wayne really was a racist, maybe not. If so, who cares? Hell, think of all of the movie actors of today and yesteryear who were assholes in real life. I couldn't care less as long as they produced memorable performances in memorable movies. If we're going to disregard movies based on the actors, or some ugly ideas, or unfortunate truths (in this case, the Indians were defeated by people who didn't like them, and they didn't like the White Man either), WTF kind of movies are we destined to see? Boring, safe, woke bullshit.

This isn't censorship, not yet. TCM can choose to never air The Searchers ever again, but I don't think they'd ever stoop that low. But this type of thing could be a slippery slope...could be. I do applaud TCM for having this discussion but deciding to air the show anyway, and ESPECIALLY for NOT editing it, like so many other institutions have done, particularly with public readings of various authors. We can't stop broadcasters from picking and choosing what they'll air, but once they start destroying negatives and masters and that type of stuff, we're fucked. That's why I collect physical media; I want to be able to see my favorites and not wait for someone else to decide if I can.

To that point, I say continue to air The Green Berets. It may be a complete piece of shit, but obviously a lot of people like it. It's still a free country, brother. But beware. Don't be surprised if they eventually edit parts of that movie, or disregard it all together. There's a scene in that movie where a VC soldier is tortured and killed without due process. He had previously killed a Green Beret, whose lighter was found on the VC soldier. The VC was toast, end of story. Even a journalist vehemently objected to this, but he was told by Wayne's character to essentially fuck off, this is how it's done out here in the bush. And I'm sure it was. But don't be too shocked if any cinematic approximation of the truth is edited or disregarded because the "truth" hurts too much.

@Coachemup! Two more lesser Wayne movies you should enjoy, Tall in the saddle and the 3 Godfathers. Add in Shepherd of the Hills too

@Coachemup! 7 Sinners with Marlene Dietrich is a must for John Wayne fans

@firenze5 Thanks. I also enjoy some of his final movies: The Cowboys, The Shootist, Big Jake and Cahill U. S. Marshall.

@firenze5 Yes, I'm sure the movie was, in no small part, unfairly criticized due to its politics. I'm judging it based solely on its cinematic merits -- its narrative flow, and its overall effectiveness with the tools of the medium. I just think it's clumsy as hell and incredibly cheesy. The action scenes look like low-budget WWII movies about fighting "Japs."

I also love how he and the kid walk into the sunset on the beach at Da Nang, meaning the sun set in the East. Being able to spin the Earth? Now, that's production value!

@Waldorf I agree it wasn’t a great movie LOL

@Coachemup!