Enough of local political things, respect for unions and what they should be, etc. That was for earlier posts. This is a time for something entirely different. A light-hearted what's your favorite John Wayne film reflection. Cool, eh?
Mine?
Head and shoulders above True Grit, Green Berets, Rio Bravo.
However you say it, it was a classic. It is typical white hat, black hat western, the good guy in the white hat, the twisted troublesome community menace of a scoundrel, he always wears the black hat. And one way or another, good undoes evil. White hat triumphs. It is the lore of John Wayne, whatever the rightwing sickness his political leanings degenerated to later in his life aside, it is the lore.
First, Liberty Valence was bad. He was a menace to the community. Pushy, taking things that were not his due, bad to the bone. You can see it in his face, a poor mask of the dark heart and soul, pictured here, I believe outside the saloon or hotel lobby.
(note the hat color) And as you would expect, he hung around with a bad bunch of cronies, each a menace to the community, based on hubris, truth-bending, mayhem, whatever goes with the black hat. Just an entire pack of scum-sucking bottom feeders, each and every ... the kind that would rob stage coaches, shoot healthy horses, put together real estate deals -- slam the door, never wipe feet, wear a hat indoors --
Well, there were two good guys, James Stewart who you might not at first recognize, and, of course, the Dukester.
The Dukester is special. You can see that. He wears his hat indoors, and it's okay. And, so, with two good guys, which one of them took down the evil Liberty Valance, took him out of play so that the other could survive, prosper along with the rescued community, and go on to become governor after territorial advancement to statehood?
Well, if you want that answer, how it happened, how the weaklings in the community were nonetheless rescued from threat and risk --- Then go buy or rent the DVD.
I'm not going to spoil the plot for you. Would I be that crass? Never. It's not in my gentle nature to spoil an ending.
***
Bottom line, however, bless the fighting never-back-down spirit of John Wayne -- the mythic hero, the legend if not the actual man, standing up when you should not stand down. Dispatching evil. In a direct or indirect but necessary and conclusive way as best he could.
This is the quintessential American Hero. Shane, Bronson in Death Wish, Eastwood in the Dollar films, they all play on that same theme. It is JOHN WAYNE.
