Hollywood icon John Wayne created a personal treasure trove of films during a fifty-year career, spanning 1926-1976. Today, over twenty years after his death, scarcely an hour goes by without one of them appearing somewhere in the world's TV listings. Thankfully for the fans, only a handful remain unobtainable in an era of re-mastered miracles, and out of all the movies he made post 1939, just two are retained; the last remaining prints of both apparently damaged. For whatever reason, neither one has been made available since soon after their original 1950's distribution. ISLAND IN THE SKY and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY are an unusual 'pair' of aerial films, shot and screened when Wayne's westerner and war hero image were reaching their zenith. This book looks at both films in some depth and includes many fascinating photographs and production details. Director William A Wellman, a Hollywood legend in his own right; the rich array of stars of both movies; Ernie Gann, the writer of both the novels on which the films are based, and of course John Wayne's dual roles as producer and star of both movies are all investigated thoroughly. This is McGivern's second book concentrating on John Wayne. The first, A GIANT SHADOW (0954003101), looked at the man, this one at two films that most of his fans may treasure in their memories, but certainly won't have seen for many years. Gone, but not forgotten! It attempts to uncover the murky history of the films since the 1950's and takes a hopeful peak at a prospective future as more and more 'lost' films are re-discovered in Hollywood. Early next year John Wayne's two lost films, "Island in the Sky" and "The High and the Mighty", are being released on DVD. Leonard Maltin has called these two films "The Holy Grails of Hollywood" to be seen again for the first time in over 40 years.

Film and cinema.

The celebrated Hollywood icon comes fully to life in this complex portrait by noted film historian and master biographer Scott Eyman. Exploring Wayne's early life with a difficult mother and a feckless father, "Eyman gets at the details that the bean-counters and myth-spinners miss ... Wayne's intimates have told things here that they've never told anyone else" (Los Angeles Times). Eyman makes startling connections to Wayne's later days as an anti-Communist conservative, his stormy marriages to Latina women, and his notorious--and surprisingly long-lived--passionate affair with Marlene Dietrich.

John Ford and John Wayne, two titans of classic film, made some of the most enduring movies of all time. The genre they defined—the Western—and the heroic archetype they built still matter today. For more than twenty years John Ford and John Wayne were a blockbuster Hollywood team, turning out many of the finest Western films ever made. Ford, known for his black eye patch and for his hard-drinking, brawling masculinity, was a son of Irish immigrants and was renowned as a director for both his craftsmanship and his brutality. John “Duke” Wayne was a mere stagehand and bit player in “B” Westerns, but he was strapping and handsome, and Ford saw his potential. In 1939 Ford made Wayne a star in Stagecoach, and from there the two men established a close, often turbulent relationship. Their most productive years saw the release of one iconic film after another: Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. But by 1960 the bond of their friendship had frayed, and Wayne felt he could move beyond his mentor with his first solo project, The Alamo. Few of Wayne’s subsequent films would have the brilliance or the cachet of a John Ford Western, but viewed together the careers of these two men changed moviemaking in ways that endure to this day. Despite the decline of the Western in contemporary cinema, its cultural legacy, particularly the type of hero codified by Ford and Wayne—tough, self-reliant, and unafraid to fight but also honorable, trustworthy, and kind—resonates in everything from Star Wars to today’s superhero franchises. Drawing on previously untapped caches of letters and personal documents, Nancy Schoenberger dramatically narrates a complicated, poignant, and iconic friendship and the lasting legacy of that friendship on American culture.

Behold the history of a film so scandalous, so outrageous, so explosive it disappeared from print for over a quarter century! A film so dangerous, half its cast and crew met their demise bringing eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes’ final cinematic vision to life! Starring All-American legend John Wayne in full Fu Manchu make-up as Mongol madman Genghis Khan! Featuring sultry seductress Susan Hayward as his lover! This is the true story of The Conqueror (1956), the worst movie ever made. Filmed during the dark underbelly of the 1950s—the Cold War—when nuclear testing in desolate southwestern landscapes was a must for survival, the very same landscapes were where exotic stories set in faraway lands could be made. Just 153 miles from the St. George, Utah, set, nuclear bombs were detonated regularly at Yucca Flat and Frenchman Flat in Nevada, providing a bizarre and possibly deadly background to an already surreal moment in cinema history. This book tells the full story of the making of The Conqueror, its ignominious aftermath, and the radiation induced cancer that may have killed John Wayne and many others.

This extraordinary coffee table book details every film John Wayne ever made, along with behind the scenes stories, gorgeous photos, family memories and more.

In Lost Films, Frank Thompson examines twenty-seven classic movies made between 1911 and the end of the silent era, including such works of genius as Ernst Lubitsch's The Patriot, Raoul Walsh's The Conquerer, Victor Seastrom's Garbo vehicle The Divine Woman, and F.W. Murnau's Four Devils.

Here is an overview of Ford's life & work, by his grandson.

Decades after his death, annual Gallop polls reveal that Marion Morrison is still firmly implanted among the top-ten favorite motion picture celebrities and American heroes. Most of us know this box office star as John Wayne. This comprehensive volume covers his expansive film career, from 1926 to 1976. Listed in alphabetical order are entries on films such as Angel and the Badman and Noah's Ark that exemplify the more than 170 films that the actor worked on. Each entry includes the film's date, run time, cast and crew credits, reviews, and a synopsis. Also under each entry is a special section devoted to rare information and interesting details such as where the productions were shot, budgets, costs, salaries, box-office performance, alternate casting and what competition existed for the moviegoer audience. Also included in this reference work are over 650 capsule biographies of the talent that shared the screen with the actor and worked on the productions, and over 800 contemporary reviews and commentary from such diverse sources as The New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, and Life Magazine. There is a series of five helpful Appendices: Appendix A lists films by order of their release dates; Appendix B lists Wayne's fellow actors and colleagues and tells under which entry the relevant capsule biography may be located; Appendix C offers specific review information for the films; Appendix D provides facts on the biggest box office films; and Appendix E details the most popular films on television.

"John Wayne remains a constant in American popular culture. Middle America grew up with him in the late 1920s and 1930s, went to war with him in the 1940s, matured with him in the 1950s, and kept the faith with him in the 1960s and 1970s. . . . In his person and in the persona he so carefully constructed, middle America saw itself, its past, and its future. John Wayne was his country’s alter ego." Thus begins John Wayne: American, a biography bursting with vitality and revealing the changing scene in Hollywood and America from the Great Depression through the Vietnam War. During a long movie career, John Wayne defined the role of the cowboy and soldier, the gruff man of decency, the hero who prevailed when the chips were down. But who was he, really? Here is the first substantive, serious view of a contradictory private and public figure.