INSP will air a passel of John Wayne movies throughout the month.
Yes, John Wayne fans, it’s that time of year again — time for INSP to present the annual stay-at-home film festival known as The Duke Days of May. The action begins Sunday, May 1, and continues through May 29.
You can learn how to access INSP on the channel’s website. And you can check out the lineup for Duke Days of May here.
May 1
Rio Bravo (1959) — Howard Hawks directed dozens of diverse movies — everything from musicals to war stories, gangster melodramas to screwball comedies — throughout a prodigious and prolific career that spanned from the silent era to the early ’70s. But Rio Bravo (1959) stands apart from his other certifiable masterpieces as a uniquely revered cult fave, one that elicits rapturous praise from fans and filmmakers alike. (Quentin Tarantino famously declared: “When I’m getting serious about a girl, I show her Rio Bravo, and she better bleeping like it.”) John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson are improbably but perfectly matched as the outgunned good guys who, in the true Hawksian tradition, remain true to personal codes of honor and duty — even as they grapple with limitations, weaknesses, inner demons, and really nasty hangovers —while bound together for a common purpose (in this case, keeping a killer behind bars while trying to avoid being killed). 2 pm ET
Rio Lobo (1970) — Howard Hawks’ swan song as a director showcases Wayne as Cord McNally, a Civil War veteran who joins forces with two former Confederate enemies (Jorge Rivero, Christopher Mitchum) to battle land-grabbing varmints in the Texas town of Rio Lobo. If the plot of Rio Lobo seems a tad familiar, well, that’s because it is. As critic Roger Ebert noted: “We go to a classic John Wayne western not to see anything new, but to see the old done again, done well, so that we can sink into the genre and feel confident we won't be betrayed. To some degree Wayne movies are rituals, and so it is fitting that they resemble each other. El Dorado was a remake of Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1958), and Rio Lobo draws from both of them. (It is said that when Hawks called Wayne and offered to send over the script, Wayne replied, ‘Why bother? I've already made the movie twice.’)” Co-stars include Jack Elam, Jennifer O’Neill — and Sherry Lansing, who would later become the first woman ever to head a major Hollywood studio (20th Century Fox). 8 pm ET.
Rio Grande (1950) — The final chapter of John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy — after Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) — is also the first on-screen collaboration of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, a match made in movie heaven. 10:30 pm ET
Rooster Cogburn (1975) — John Wayne once again dons the trademark eyepatch to play the role that helped him win his first and only Academy Award as Best Actor. Directed by Stuart Millar (When the Legends Die), this True Grit follow-up boasts another kind of distinction: It’s the first and only movie ever to showcase Wayne and Katharine Hepburn as co-stars. The plot — which owes more than a little to The African Queen — pairs Wayne’s cantankerous lawman with Hepburn’s Eula Goodnight, an elderly minister’s spinster daughter who relies on Cogburn’s help after outlaws kill her father. Veteran character actor Anthony Zerbe (Will Penny, TV’s The Young Riders) also figures into the mix as Breed, Cogburn’s former scout, who’s now aligned with the bad guys. 12:30 am ET)
May 6
Dark Command (1940) — John Wayne and Roy Rogers: Together for the first (and only) time on screen! Loosely based on the Civil War rampages of Quantrill’s Raiders, director Raoul Walsh’s drama deals with William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon), a seemingly sedate Kansas schoolteacher who’s actually the leader of an outlaw gang. After his naïve brother-in-law Fletcher McCloud (Rogers) mistakes Cantrell’s band for Confederate guerrillas and joins them, he needs help from Union supporter Bob Seton (Wayne) to extricate himself from the situation and warn townspeople about an upcoming assault. 3 pm ET.
The Horse Soldiers (1959) — Wayne plays Col. John Marlowe, a Union cavalry brigade commander who leads his men on a dangerous behind-enemy-lines mission during the Civil War, in director John Ford’s drama. William Holden co-stars as Maj. Henry Kendall, a regimental surgeon who’s often at odds with his commanding officer — but gradually gains Marlowe’s grudging respect by demonstrating uncommon valor. 8 pm ET
May 7
El Dorado (1967) — If the plot of El Dorado seems a tad familiar, well it should — director Howard Hawks more or less recycled it from Rio Bravo (1959), and then re-recycled it for Rio Lobo (1970). But never mind: As often is the case with John Wayne westerns, the storytellers, not the story, are what really matter here. As critic Roger Ebert noted in his original review: “Wayne plays a professional gunman who comes to town to take a job from a rich rancher who wants a poor rancher’s water (who says the plot has to be original?). But the sheriff turns out to be his old buddy, [Robert] Mitchum, and so he turns down the job. Then the rich rancher hires another gunman (Christopher George), and Wayne sides up with the drunk and disheveled Mitchum. Duke’s team isn't exactly made of heroes. Mitchum has been hitting the bottle for two months, his deputy (played with charm by [Arthur] Hunnicutt) is a windy old Indian fighter, Wayne has a bullet near his spine that causes a slight touch of paralysis now and again, and his sidekick ([James] Caan) is a kid who carries a shotgun instead of a pistol because he's such a lousy shot. Hawks fashions scene after scene of quiet, earthy humor from this situation. Without great care, the movie could have degenerated into a put-on, but Hawks plays it straight and never allows his actors to take that last fatal step in overacting.” Movie buffs, take note: Listen closely, and you’ll hear a sly reference to Shoot the Piano Player, the 1962 film by Francois Truffaut, the great French filmmaker who, during his days as a critic, championed Hawks’ films long before many U.S. critics did. (8 pm ET)
The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) — John Wayne, Oliver Hardy (yes, that Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and Hardy fame) and Vera Ralston are featured in director George Waggner’s 1949 period drama set during the aftermath of the War of 1812. Wayne stars as John Breen, a Kentucky solider determined to help French exiles who may be cheated out of their land grants after settling in Alabama. Ralston plays a French general’s beautiful daughter — who, of course, falls in love with Breen — and Hardy costars as Breen’s loyal comrade in arms. 11 pm ET.
May 8
In Old California (1942) — Wayne plays a pharmacist — no, really — named Tom Craig who relocates to Sacramento just in time to run up against a vicious land-grabber (Albert Dekker) and witness the start of the Gold Rush. Tom’s expertise comes in handy when there’s an outbreak of typhoid fever among a group of gold miners. 2 pm ET.
Big Jake (1971) — When we asked Ethan Wayne back in 2007 to name his favorite among his famous father’s movies, he didn’t hesitate: “For me,” he said, “it’s Big Jake, just because I was in it, my brother [Patrick Wayne] was in it, my other brother [Michael Wayne] produced it — and it gave me a chance to work with my dad.” Ethan played The Duke’s kidnapped grandson in the western drama, a gritty action flick directed by George Sherman that also featured Maureen O’Hara, Wayne’s longtime friend and frequent co-star, in a supporting role. “The crew that was on that movie, from the stuntmen and the caterers, they were all guys I grew up with,” Ethan Wayne recalled. “They were like my uncles. And the best thing about it was, I was there for just three weeks out of the filming — I was there for the entire filming. And it was the most fun a kid could have.” 8 pm ET.
McQ (1974) — Borrowing a few pages from Clint Eatswood’s Dirty Harry playbook, Wayne plays Lon "McQ" McHugh, a tough Seattle police detective on the trail of drug kingpin (Al Lettieri) he suspects was behind the killings of his longtime partner and two other cops. If you’ve ever wanted to see The Duke wielding a submachine gun instead of a six-shooter, well, this is the movie for you. 10:30 pm ET
The War Wagon (1967) — Call it a Wild West heist movie, and you won’t be far off the mark. When cowboy Taw Jackson (Wayne) is paroled from prison three years after being framed by greedy mining-company boss Frank Pierce (Bruce Cabot), he seeks revenge against the bad guy — and the return of his gold-rich land — with an audacious assault on the steel-plated, heavily guarded “war wagon” Pierce uses for cross-country gold dust shipments. Chief among Jackson’s co-conspirators: Lomax (Kirk Douglas), a flamboyant gunfighter who’s introduced in a saloon/brothel where he sports a dragon-bedecked silk robe while enjoying the company of two Chinese prostitutes. (When Jackson complains about the presence of the latter during a confab, Lomax grins and explains: “Can’t get more private. Neither one of them speaks a word of English.”) Slow-burning Wayne and live-wire Douglas develop a richly amusing give-and-take under the efficient direction of genre specialist Burt Kennedy, and are at their best when trading quips before, during and after gunplay. “Mine hit the ground first,” Douglas brags after they dispose of two would-be assassins. Wayne dryly responds: “Mine was taller.” The strong supporting cast includes Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr., Keenan Wynn and — briefly, as one of those would-be assassins — Bruce Dern. 1 am ET.
May 13
Hellfighters (1968) — In this Andrew V. McLaglen-directed drama inspired by the real-life exploits of oil-well firefighter Red Adair, Wayne keeps his cool while taming blazes in Texas and Venezuela. Katharine Ross (fresh from her breakthrough in The Graduate), Vera Miles, Jim Hutton and Jay C. Flippen co-star. (1968). 3 pm ET.
Rio Bravo (1959) — 8 pm ET
May 14
Rio Lobo — 8 pm ET
Dark Command — 10:30 pm ET
May 15
Hatari! (1962) — Director Howard Hawks takes John Wayne far from the realm of the Wild West for an easygoing comedy-drama set in the wilds of the Tanganyika plains. The Duke stars as Sean Mercer, who leads African expeditions during the 1950s to capture wild animals for zoos and circuses while riding — well, no, actually driving — for the Momella Game Company. Hardy Kruger, Elsa Martinelli, Red Buttons and Bruce Cabot are among the supporting players, and Henry Manicini’s merry tune “Baby Elephant Walk,” written especially for the movie, will stick in your head for weeks afterwards. The title, by the way, is Swahili for “danger.” 2 pm ET.
Rooster Cogburn — 8 pm ET.
The Horse Soldiers — 10:30 pm ET.
May 20
In Old California — 3 pm ET.
Big Jake — 8 pm ET.
May 21
Hellfighters — 8 pm ET.
Stagecoach (1939) — Director John Ford’s must-see masterwork arguably is the first significant western of the talking-pictures era, the paradigm that cast the mold, set the rules, and firmly established the archetypes and conventions for all later movies of its kind. Indeed, it single-handedly revived the genre in 1939 after a long period of box-office doldrums, elevating the western to a new level of critical and popular acceptance. And, not incidentally, it made John Wayne a full-fledged movie star in the lead role of Johnny Ringo, the square-jawed, slow-talking gunfighter who’s willing to hang up his shootin’ irons — who’s even agreeable to mending his ways and settling down on a small farm with a good woman — but not before he settles some unfinished business with the varmints who terminated his loved ones. 10:30 pm ET
May 22
McLintock! (1963) — Aptly described by film critic and historian Leonard Maltin as a “slapstick variation of The Taming of the Shrew set in the Old West,” director Andrew V. McLaglen’s 1963 comedy-drama showcases John Wayne as G.W. McLintock, a swaggering man’s man who’s rich enough to accurately claim he owns “everything in this county from here to there,” and ill-behaved enough to drive his well-bred wife, Katherine (Maureen O’Hara), to establish residency back East. Two years after his wife’s departure — she suspected her husband of infidelity, and he never really denied it — Katherine returns to the territory, and to McClintock’s opulent home, to claim their Eastern-educated daughter, Becky (Stefanie Powers), and to start divorce proceedings. But Becky is in no hurry to leave after she discovers her father’s new ranch hand (Patrick Wayne, The Duke’s son) is appreciably more attractive than her Harvard-educated fiancé (Jerry Van Dyke). And Katherine reconsiders her options after falling in love with “G.W.” all over again — after he chases her through town during the movie’s climactic sequence, and none-too-playfully spanks her. 2 pm ET.
El Dorado — 8 pm ET.
The War Wagon — 11 pm ET.
May 27
McQ — 3 pm ET.
Rio Lobo — 8 pm ET.
May 28
Rio Bravo — 8 pm ET.
In Old California — 11 pm ET.
May 29
Big Jake — 2 pm ET.
The Horse Soldiers — 8 pm ET.
The Green Berets (1968) — Wayne tries to win the Vietnam War — with a little help from co-stars David Janssen, Jim Hutton, Aldo Ray, Patrick Wayne and Luke Askew — and comes pretty close to succeeding in this old-fashioned, flag-waving combat drama that ignited much controversy but made lots of money during its original theatrical release. 10:30 pm ET.
