LRR - Matheson Article

Lamarre Rey

Blog on Matheson

9/21/10

This article by Sue Matheson reveals the depths of John Wayne films, which usually go unnoticed by a movie watcher, but when observed there is much to be learned. John Wayne is constantly shown in his movies against the landscape which is his true terrain. The image of John Wayne in his movies is heroic and it is said that “Wayne seems to become larger the farther away he gets” (Matheson, 888). Her article goes into many different aspects of his films, but most importantly dives into the realm of “Film Noir”. Her main points in this article are as follows:

- Wayne had an extremely large influence on American men

o Newt Gingrich, future speaker of the house tried to walk like him as a boy (Matheson)

- John Wayne tends to ignore his wife and kids a lot in his movies

o Because of his role, Wayne tends to ignore his wife and kids to tend to his “duty”, but at the same time he is able to prove his love and affection for both his wife and kids, which seems like a contradiction, but somehow it works together (Matheson 889).

- Through Film Noir, Wayne is able to give cultural information by portraying many different characters in the west.

- The Landscape can act as a metaphor in film noir such as in The Searchers where the landscape was supposed to represent the main characters hunt for vengeance (Matheson, 890).

- Only the strong survive in the western movies

o The Searchers, The War Wagon, The Man Who Shot Liberty etc.

- “The Dirtier the Face, the darker the heart” (Matheson, 892).

- Existentialism