From Who the Hell’s in It: Conversations with Hollywood’s Legendary Actors
There’s a moment in Rio Bravo — which features, I think, Wayne’s most genuinely endearing performance — when he walks down the street of the jail/sheriff’s office toward some men riding up to meet him. Hawks frames the shot from behind — Wayne striding slowly, casually away from camera in his slightly rocking, graceful way — and the image lingers a while to let us enjoy this classic, familiar figure, unmistakable from any angle, Americ’as twentieth-century Hercules moving across a world of illusion he had more than conquered.
What an exerpt. That says it all-“America’s twentieth-century Hercules moving across a world of illusion he had more than conquered.” As I commented earlier, I think he has been wrongly underappreciated by many “experts”–some because they despised what he represented, and some because people don’t usually understand how hard it is to make something look easy. My thoughts about him tend to be emotion-based. He reminds me of my Grandfather, who I loved very much, and he reminds me of my country, which I also love. I respect and like Grant, Stewart, Tracy, and others who were better actors than Wayne, but he, more than the rest, gets me in a special place.
Beautiful.
Damn, DBW, you read my mind.
Love love love that movie.