'John Wayne and the Movies', ©1976 by Allen Eyles, is the most extensive and hardest work an author has done for a biography. Whether your opinion of John Wayne is negative or positive, the works of this book and it's structure stand out no matter who the biography was written about. It has a great start by obtaining actress Louise Brooks to write an Introduction. Eyles then begins his work with a general biography of the life of John Wayne, going into the actor's personal life, and what other actors and fans saw meant to them. The section ends with a quote from Steve McQueen, "Sometimes kids ask me what a pro is. I just point to the Duke". The next and heart of the biography goes into the actor's career, detailing behind the scenes of over 200 movies as well as gives personal information between movies. The author reveals the feelings about the movies made, the relationships with other actors and the atmosphere during filming. Each movie plot is also gone into depth. Not just the main subject of the book but also others involved. It contains a large amount of off set photos as well as behind the scene images of each movie the actor was in. Eyles ends with a hope the book revives memories and thanks the actor for providing them. Interesting placed is the Acknowledgement afterwords. It's an extensive list of people and studios that contributed. That all alone would be good for a book. However, Eyles goes even further by getting acknowledged help in adding a Filmography with the credits of each film. If there was a template for other authors on how to do a biography of a movie or television star, this is it. Since this biography entailing the actor and their movies, the author did well by leaving out politics, television appearances and intricate family life. But that can be found in other biographies specifically centered on just the actor alone. ( )

John Wayne and the Movies is precisely what the title suggests: A career-spanning look at one of Hollywood’s iconic stars, with a chapter on every film Wayne made, from forgotten (and forgettable) B-Westerns to enduring classics like Red River and The Quiet Man. It’s a book more for fans—of Wayne, the Western, and classic Hollywood—than for film scholars, and Eyles commentary on the films serves them well.

Wayne was a capable actor, but he was a world-class star. Beginning with his star-making first-among-equals role in Stagecoach (1939), every part he played was (in some sense) a variation on the same basic screen persona. Eyles shines when considering the subtle evolution of that persona, and the ways that Wayne adapted it to changing times and the conventions of different genres. The book’s detailed coverage of films that most critics and film historians dismiss allow Eyles—and so, through his eyes, the reader—to see things that more “serious” film books have missed. Eyles’ analysis of Wake of the Red Witch (1942), a dull 19th-century maritime adventure, highlights the first glimmerings of Wayne’s ability to play dark, troubled characters like Ethan Edwards of The Searchers (1956). His exploration of the violence in El Dorado (1967) makes a convincing case for Wayne struggling to adapt his persona to an age when action films (and their heroes) were growing rougher and grittier. Any competent film writer can make Wayne’s performance in (say) Fort Apache seem interesting; Eyles, to his credit, can do the same for Wayne’s formulaic late-career cop drama McQ.

Wayne’s career was already fading by the time my cinematic horizons started to extend beyond Walt Disney. I discovered his work in retrospect, on film-society screens, Turner Classic Movies broadcasts, and DVDs. Reading Eyles made me realize how much of his career was still waiting for me to discover. ( )

I was looking to find out why people liked the John Wayne character in movies. Now I understand why, but I don't like the news. As a growing geek, I discovered the crowd leading, schoolyard bully...Marion Morison was the classic example, or was willing to portray him, for money. The American public continued to curry favour with the bully, by going to John Wayne movies. I was more likely to admire the lone hero, the crowd defying man of principle, like Randolph Scott, or Clint Eastwood. Still do. ( )