John Wayne is a special case. In the Adaptation class this week, we saw Stagecoach, the movie that made Wayne a star after a considerable early career in which he had already appeared in something like 70 movies. Stagecoach, directed by the unassailable John Ford, is one of my very favorite westerns, along with The Wild Bunch and High Noon (but not Ford's influential The Searchers), and it contains one of Wayne's best, most sensitive performances. But it's hard for people who remember "the Duke's" heyday to really see his work for what it is. Wayne's legend was too large and his politics too conspicuous. Is he underrated, overrated or, somehow, both? Someday, someone will sort it all out. In the meantime, pilgrim, I'll be interested to hear what my students have to say next week.
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