John Wayne's 1970s

Of the ten films in which John Wayne starred during the 1970s all but two of them were Westerns. Ranker.com lists 7 of these movies on its list of Top 45 Westerns of the 1970s – only ‘The Train Robbers’ (1973) failing to make the cut. According to this list, the highest ranked Wayne Western is, of course, ‘The Shootist’ at No.4. Flickchart.com has only four of John Waynes’s 1970s Westerns on its list of The Best Westerns of the 1970s, with, again, ‘The Shootist’ ranked highest, this time at No.9. Filmsite.org, which lists movies alphabetically rather than by rank, has only two of Wayne’s 1970s Westerns appear on its list of 100 Greatest Westerns – ‘The Shootist’, inevitably, and, surprisingly, ‘Chisum’ (1970). Time Out’s list of 50 Greatest Westerns has five John Wayne Westerns on its list, but none – not even ‘The Shootist’ – from the 1970s. Most-Wanted-Western-Movies.com has the same mix as does Time Out, minus ‘Rio Bravo’ (1959), so, again, the 70s go unrepresented. PasteMagazine.com has the largest selection of Wayne Westerns on its list of The 100 Best Western Movies of All Time. Fourteen of John Wayne’s Westerns appear on this list, with two, ‘The Shootist’ and ‘The Cowboys’ being from the 70s. More than the largest representation, however, this last list has ‘The Searchers’ (1956) ranked as the No.1 best Western of all time.
Roscoe Lee Browne was advised by friends not to work with Wayne on ‘The Cowboys’ because the two had such differing political views. Wayne’s ultra-right-wing politics are well known and must have had some influence on the roles he chose or refused. Famously, he refused the lead in ‘Dirty Harry’ (1971) because he believed Harry to be a rogue cop. But, just like Wayne and Browne, let’s not discuss politics here.
In fact, Wayne was pretty honest in his explanation of refusing the ‘Dirty Harry’ role:

They offered it to Frank Sinatra first, but he’d hurt his hand and couldn’t do it. I don’t like being offered Sinatra’s rejections. Put that one down to pride. The second reason is that I thought Harry was a rogue cop. Put that down to narrow-mindedness because when I saw the picture I realized that Harry was the kind of part I’d played often enough; a guy who lives within the law but breaks the rules when he really has to in order to save others. (Retrieved from: http://www.manlymovie.net/2014/10/john-wayne-resented-young-upstart-clint.html)

The inescapable reality is that the 1970s saw Wayne’s lock on the box office jimmied by the changing times he so assiduously failed to notice. His two attempts at playing catchup, 1974’s ‘McQ’ and ‘75’s ‘Brannigan’ failed in their objective, if that was to keep Wayne up there with the young ‘uns. Six years after that car chase in ‘Bullitt’ (1968), Wayne, at 61, just couldn’t pull off a Steve McQueen impersonation – as much as the title of the film and that car chase would indicate his desire to. His riff on ‘Coogan’s Bluff’ in ‘Brannigan’ didn’t really fare much better.
It wasn’t just a case of blinkered vision, however. Wayne was perfectly well aware of the changes that were occurring in his industry. He simply didn’t agree with them and stuck by his principles, just as you’d expect him to. In a 1971 interview with Playboy, Wayne made very clear his feelings for recent developments in the film industry:

There was no need for rated pictures when the major studios were in control. Movies were once made for the whole family. Now, with the kind of junk the studios are cranking out—and the jacked-up prices they're charging for the privilege of seeing it—the average family is staying home and watching television. I'm quite sure that within two or three years, Americans will be completely fed up with these perverted films.

When asked to clarify what films he thought perverted, Wayne identified ‘Easy Rider’ and Midnight Cowboy’, both from 1969. Both these films were significant contributions to ‘New Hollywood’ and therefore all that helped to make the movies of the 70s so special. (Not every movie, obviously. It’s worth keeping in mind that 1970 saw the release of ‘Hercules in New York’, while at the other end of the decade we have 1979’s ‘1941’ proving even Spielberg fallible.) From a man in his sixties, though, Wayne’s views are not too surprising or shocking, for that matter.
With his health the way it was, Wayne knew he wasn’t going to be around for much longer. It cannot be without significance that 1972 saw something of a passing of the torch with Wayne’s character dying in ‘The Cowboys’, thus leaving it up to the youngsters to ensure justice be done. Roger Ebert may put the death of Wayne’s character down to a violation of a Western convention, all the same, it seems – certainly with hindsight – that the moment was rather more significant than just a poorly crafted movie – even if, in fact, that might well be the case.
This reading of ‘The Cowboys’ is somewhat supported by Wayne’s two 70s cop films, neither one of which is a match for ‘Dirty Harry’. Just the fact that, so late in his career, Wayne finally made a cop movie has to have been influenced by both the success of the Eastwood/Seigel film and the realisation that the movies were heading towards a place Wayne would never feel comfortable. This probably partly explains the inherent weakness of ‘McQ’ and ‘Brannigan’ – they weren’t really John Wayne movies. They were nothing more than imitations - and not very good ones at that.
Ironically, Wayne’s best movie of the 70s, ‘The Shootist’ (1976), was directed by none other than Don Siegel, the director who had helped cement Clint Eastwood’s star to the sidewalk, most notably, for our purpose, with ‘Dirty Harry’, that albatross weighing heavy on the Duke’s broad shoulders.
It is hardly surprising that there be, well, let’s say, artistic differences between director and star. Despite giving Wayne “one last shot before the final farewell”, Seigel’s more 70s oriented approach was always going to clash with that image so many years in the making. It matters not what the real American West was actually like, in Wayne’s West good guys didn’t shoot bad guys in the back.
This is more than John Wayne feeling superior. It goes to the very heart of the change that will see the Duke happily off to those hunting grounds in the sky. Wayne belongs to that breed of men which would include the likes of Gary Cooper in ‘High Noon’ (1952), Alan Ladd in ‘Shane’ (1953) and Van Heflin in ‘3:10 to Yuma’ (1957). All men with a sense of honour and dignity. That he’d lasted as long as he had and was able to bow out with ‘The Shootist’ as his last film is testament to that Wayne j'ne sais quoi. If ever there is an appropriate time to pass along the trail and leave the round-up to the young ‘uns, Wayne was certainly fortunate in so far as he would not have to debase his long built up image any further. While not terrible films, ‘McQ’ and ‘Brannigan’ don’t belong in the Wayne canon and, for his sake, we should all be thankful there was no need for more.