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Win a copy of McLintock! (1 Viewer)

Ronald Epstein

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Paramount Home Entertainment has provided us with several Blu-ray copies of McLintock! for giveaway.​
If you are interested in winning one of these copies, simply respond in this thread to this question....​
What is your favorite John Wayne western and why?
We will announce and reward the winners in a few short weeks.​
Edit to add fine print: Contest runs through 5/29. Must be over 18 and can have shipped to US or Canadian address.​
 

John Hermes

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My favorite John Wayne Western is The Sons Of Katie Elder. It has everything: action, humor, beautiful location photography, great Technicolor, widescreen Panavision, a fine Elmer Bernstein score, plus a great cast with including Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, Dennis Hopper, and Paul Fix. Excellent villains James Gregory and George Kennedy. The scene where Duke coldcocks George Kennedy is one of the great scenes of all of John Wayne's films. I saw this film when it first came out in 1965 after one of the neighborhood kids told me about the George Kennedy scene. I have seen it probably twenty times and never tire of it.
 

Robert Crawford

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John Hermes said:
My favorite John Wayne Western is The Sons Of Katie Elder. It has everything: action, humor, beautiful location photography, great Technicolor, and widescreen Panavision, plus a great cast with including Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, Dennis Hopper, and Paul Fix. Excellent villains James Gregory and George Kennedy. The scene where Duke coldcocks George Kennedy is one of the great scenes of all of John Wayne's films. I saw this film when it first came out in 1965 after one of the neighborhood kids told me about the George Kennedy scene. I have seen it probably twenty times and never tire of it.
Heh, heh, so did I at my neighborhood theater that doesn't even exist anymore. I always crack up when I see that scene in which the Duke shoots that guy in the ass during the ambush sequence.
 

clambake

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Does North To Alaska count as a Western? That would be my first choice if it does. Im a fan of Capucine, and I think they played well off of each other.

If not North To Alaska, my next pick would be Rio Bravo or McLintock! Rio Bravo is in the running as greatest Western of all time with me. Hawks is one of my favorite directors, and Rio Bravo just has all the elements needed.

McLintock! is high up on my list too because #1 Stefanie Powers, and #2 because that scene when Jerry Van Dyke busts out his fancy 'East Coast' dance moves has me laughing hysterically every time.
 

Robert Crawford

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As to my favorite John Wayne western, I'm going to go against the grain and pick one that is rarely mentioned by most people. It's "Tall in the Saddle". I loved the Gabby Hayes interaction between Wayne and him. Also, I fell in love with Ella Raines after seeing this film for the first time as a kid. Another sleeper Wayne western that I really love is "The Spoilers" which is a film that's been made several times before and after Wayne's film. It has a few similar plot points with North to Alaska.

However, my more conventional choices are The Searchers, Red River, Fort Apache and Rio Bravo as among my favorite Wayne westerns too.
 

RBailey

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"El Dorado" would be my favorite Wayne. Although I know "Rio Bravo" is the better movie, I saw "El Dorado" multiple times when originally released. The first time I saw it was with a packed audience and the crowd reactions were great. I'll never forget the gasp from the audience when Robert Mitchum fired his rifle near the bartender who ended up with a handful of splinters.
 

classicmovieguy

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"Stagecoach". The real beginning of 'Wayne the Legend', though the film is a drama-driven ensemble piece. You can see Wayne coming into his own in this landmark film. Another I absolutely adore, though not a western, is the Technicolor-drenched costume adventure story "Reap the Wild Wind", co-starring firebrand Paulette Goddard.
 

Robert Crawford

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RBailey said:
"El Dorado" would be my favorite Wayne. Although I know "Rio Bravo" is the better movie, I saw "El Dorado" multiple times when originally released. The first time I saw it was with a packed audience and the crowd reactions were great. I'll never forget the gasp from the audience when Robert Mitchum fired his rifle near the bartender who ended up with a handful of splinters.
That role happened to be Robert Mitchum's brother, John. Who later played Frank DiGiorgio in the Dirty Harry films.
 

jim_falconer

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Robert Crawford said:
As to my favorite John Wayne western, I'm going to go against the grain and pick one that is rarely mentioned by most people. It's "Tall in the Saddle".
"Touch that gun and I'll kill ya"...

Could be the greatest line ever spoken by John Wayne in a western. Tall In The Saddle is one of those incredibly great westerns, that just has flown under the radar.
 

Matt Hough

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I just reviewed my favorite John Wayne western: Red River.

It's very clear that Wayne for the first time in his movie career reached deep inside himself and came up with a darker version of an obsessed man that rings true throughout the film. Watching it many times over the years, I continue to be fascinated by the layers to his character that he builds throughout the film, and his camaraderie especially with Walter Brennan and his touching and considerate handling of the stuttering character played by Harry Carey, Jr. adds colors to the character that makes him one of Wayne's greatest performances in what also might go down as his best (or certainly one of his best) films. Only the film and his work in The Searchers can equal it.
 

John Maher_289910

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My favorite (in fact, one of my favorite films of any genre), is THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE. When it played theaters, I practically moved in. Not only is it the definitive John Wayne role (he even says "Pilgrim"), it features my favorite villain from any film, Lee Marvin's Valance. The entire cast is superb, and it packed to the gills with the most accomplished character actors. I love how the town's favorite son, is not really the hero. It's just a beautiful example of story-telling about the legends of the West.
 

Peter Apruzzese

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Very tough choice, but I think I'd pick "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". There's a tone of melancholy and sadness that runs through it that is brought together at the end: "Who put the Desert Rose on Tom's coffin?" and then followed by that strange handheld shot of the train moving into the distance. Great stuff.
 

lark144

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John, I have always appreciated your love for THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER. When I was in my late teens, I was on the way to my first day of work as a messenger at a company that was on Sixth Ave & 42nd street. (This would have been September of 1969.) I was walking past all the theaters on 42nd between Eighth Ave & B'way at 8:30 in the morning when I noticed that THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER was playing at the Lyric and just starting. So I kissed the job goodbye and spent the morning watching THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER twice. (It was on a double bill with NEVADA SMITH, another terrific and severely underrated western directed by Henry Hathaway, though with Steve McQueen instead of John Wayne.) So what's my favorite John Wayne western? Hmmmmmm! In terms of the number of times seen, It would probably be RIO BRAVO. The most unusual (if not the most evocative) screening of the film that I have ever experienced was in Fred Camper's class at NYU in the early 70's when we analyzed the film frame by frame on the flatbed movieola. But I must say that whenever I try to watch just a scene or two at home and focus on the lighting or editing, I always end up watching the whole movie.
 

lark144

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I see that in my prior post, I neglected to say WHY I loved RIO BRAVO so much. Of course, loving a film is its own excuse. But I think one reason is the intimacy that Hawks achieves by placing his camera at eye level, and never really cutting away (except in the opening scene, where, highly unusual for Hawks, one is given a low angle shot of a glowering Wayne towering over Dean Martin which wouldn't be out of place in a film by Nicholas Ray). But basically, Hawks creates this oddly-matched family that one not only roots for but loves being with. And Hawk's "invisible" artistry is of a piece with Wayne's remarkable performance which appears as if he is simply being himself.And yes, I'll go out on a limb and say that RIO BRAVO, in my view, is, in its formal brilliance, one of the great American works of art of the 20th Century, and Wayne's performance is the personification of that aesthetic achievement, which is both simultaneously intimate and yet completely abstract, but totally personal (and autobiographical) in that abstractness. And by abstract, I mean paring all gestures and meaning down to the bone, to the pure essence of being in the moment.
 

SAhmed

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For me it would have to be "Rio Bravo" as it was the first John Wayne movie that I had ever seen in color on our brand spanking new Philips Color TV in England. Great fun movie anyway but it's as simple as that. Brannigan was the first on the big screen at the local cinema when it first came out - I will be picking up the release for Twilight Time in due course !

Regards,
 

David Weicker

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Favorite John Wayne? That is a toughie.Although I have several favorites, I'm going to go with True Grit. It was the first one (and possibly only one) I saw in its original release (also my first drive-in).It also had one of the unintentionally funny Oscar moments of all time. They were doing a tribute to greatest movie dialogue, and the chose the Ned Pepper fight. They show the clip and the Duke says "fill yer hands, you son of a bleep". I mean, why choose the line if you are going to censor it. Hilarious.
 

smithbrad

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Too many to choose from to pick just one, so I'll just list one from each decade knowing I won't win for ignoring the rules (btw: I just received the new McLintock in the mail today, so just responding to provide my favorite Wayne westerns).

1930's
"Stagecoach" for all its brilliance, with honorable mention going to "Winds of the Wasteland": Of all the earlier "B" westerns this one fits just right for me. The stagecoach race at the end is excellent to watch. Sure would like to see Olive (or somebody) release this one on blu-ray.

1940's
"Tall in the Saddle" has that feel/plot to me of the earlier "B" westerns with Gabby Hayes, but also has Ward Bond (a favorite) and a much higher production quality to it. Another I would like to see a blu-ray of.

1950's
"Rio Grande" is a great movie and I enjoy the connection between Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, Since i can't choose "Quiet Man" I will go with this one.

1960's
"El Dorado" just works better for me than "Rio Bravo", maybe it is just Mitchum and Caan vs. Martin and Nelson that swings the vote this way. Honorable mention to McLintock! (more Maureen O'Hara).

1970's
"Chisum" or "Rooster Cogburn", I can go either way at this point.
 

Dave B Ferris

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smithbrad said:
Too many to choose from to pick just one, so I'll just list one from each decade knowing I won't win for ignoring the rules (btw: I just received the new McLintock in the mail today, so just responding to provide my favorite Wayne westerns).

1930's
"Stagecoach" for all its brilliance, with honorable mention going to "Winds of the Wasteland": Of all the earlier "B" westerns this one fits just right for me. The stagecoach race at the end is excellent to watch. Sure would like to see Olive (or somebody) release this one on blu-ray.

1940's
"Tall in the Saddle" has that feel/plot to me of the earlier "B" westerns with Gabby Hayes, but also has Ward Bond (a favorite) and a much higher production quality to it. Another I would like to see a blu-ray of.

1950's
"Rio Grande" is a great movie and I enjoy the connection between Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, Since i can't choose "Quiet Man" I will go with this one.

1960's
"El Dorado" just works better for me than "Rio Bravo", maybe it is just Mitchum and Caan vs. Martin and Nelson that swings the vote this way. Honorable mention to McLintock! (more Maureen O'Hara).

1970's
"Chisum" or "Rooster Cogburn", I can go either way at this point.
Stagecoach is on Blu, from Criterion, no less.

Sorry, I guess it is "Winds of the Wasteland" you want on Blu.
 

smithbrad

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Dave B Ferris said:
Sorry, I guess it is "Winds of the Wasteland" you want on Blu.
Yes, I picked up several of the other John Wayne "B" westerns from the earlier 30's that Olive put out on blu-ray. Unfortunately, Winds of the Wasteland is still a no show and if not done by Olive will probably remain a no show. The just so-so quality DVD will just have to do. Hopefully, Tall in the Saddle will have a chance someday. Otherwise, I think the majority of the later and better known Wayne movies will all get a blu-ray release eventually.
 

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