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Review by Edward Morris
In spite of its portentous subtitle, Garry Wills's book works best as a behind-the-scenes look at one of America's most endearing and enduring phonies. Of course, it's the enduring part that intrigues Wills most. He wants to know why the actor, who died in 1979, continues to hold a special place in the American psyche. Structurally, John Wayne's America is a thick slab of biography and cinema history sandwiched between layers of social implications.
As Wills portrays him, John Wayne was first and always a careerist, even when making his grand political statements with The Alamo (1960) and The Green Berets (1968), both of which films he directed and starred in. Wayne liked being a star, and he did what was necessary to maintain the luster. But his self-serving posturing, Wills assures us, in no way diminished his enormous personal charm and considerable acting skills. Although Wills is unrelenting in illustrating the actor's character flaws, he never takes cheap shots or suggests that Wayne's rock-steady appeal is unmerited.
Even more than most actors, Wayne was his own invention. In evolving from Marion Morrison of Winterset, Iowa, into screen idol and "American Adam," Wayne assiduously rewrote his own history and created his own realities.
Central to Wayne's development were directors John Ford and Howard Hawks. Sadistic and Machiavellian, by Wills's account, Ford was nonetheless able to intimidate Wayne long past the time he was creatively useful to him. Still, it was Ford who in Stagecoach (1939) first conveyed to the world Wayne's understated magic. Hawks took Wayne to a higher level in Red River (1948) by transforming him into the unyielding authority figure he would continue to play throughout his career. The actor did not become politically involved until 1948, according to Wills, at which time he publicly joined in the red-baiting that was becoming so popular -- and safe. From then on, Wayne encapsulated America's views of its own rugged individualism and manifest destiny.
While it is clear that John Wayne reflects the country's lingering frontier values, Wills presents little evidence that "the Duke" actually led or shaped them.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.