My Favorite Actor & His Rifle

[bashaw]

Me and part of the cast from The Cowboy's 2022 50th Anniversary at the NFR 2nd pic Ethan Wayne John Wayne's youngest son, the boy that was kidnapped in Big Jake

 

[bashaw]

Me and part of the cast from The Cowboy's 2022 50th Anniversary at the NFR 2nd pic Ethan Wayne John Wayne's youngest son, the boy that was kidnapped in Big JakeView attachment 677437View attachment 677436

Ethan and I are the same age, a great guy to visit with I had a good day that day

 

[jreidthompson]

Don’t know if it’s tue or not but I always heard that John Wayne told Bruce Dern that America was going to hate him for killing him off at the end of “The Cowboys”

The Dastardly Bruce Dern

The Academy Award-nominated actor Bruce Dern is best known for one gasp-inducing moment — when he pulled the trigger on an unarmed John Wayne in The Cowboys.

www.cowboysindians.com

About half way down he talks about working with Wayne on The Cowboys

 

[NIGHTHAWK]

Great post. My grandfather was a big John Wayne fan and had all his movies on VHS...I watched most of them with him either on TV or with the help of a VCR in the 80's! I had no idea John Wayne was a big hunter. Makes sense. I knew he fished and had a great yacht.

Thanks for the memories...

 

[Datchew]

great thread @Hunter-Habib

We need more like John Wayne these days.

 

[SaintPanzer]

On the day that John Wayne died
I found myself on the Continental Divide.
Tell me where do we go from here?
I think I'll ride into Leadville and have a few beers.
I think of Red River, and Liberty Valance:
I can't believe the old man's gone...

 

[FlyGuy]

Great thread HH!!!
The first John Wayne movie I remember was called Hell Fighters.
I love the idea of starving a well fire by using explosives! LOL.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Speaking of the Cowboys movie I’ve met Clay O’Brien Copper at a Team Roping event. He and Jake Barnes were world champs for years.

 

[Tex .416]

Habib,

wonderful post.

John Wayne also is one of my favorite actors.

You really need to watch The Shootist. It is his most powerful performance, best work, and one of my two favorite movies of all time. It is one of a handful of movies worth watching every year or two.

 

[SETH RINGER]

FIRST DRIVE IN MOVIE I WENT TO AS A KID WAS "TRUE GRIT" JOHN GALLOPING ACROSS THE FIELD WITH REINS BETWEEN TEETH AND GUNS BLAZING WAS FOREVER ETCHED IN MY MIND.

 

[PerH]

Eastwood is a collector and shooter , and anti hunter sadly as Habib said first .

A Wby Fn or SL 56 A would be a excellent rifle to find . Price for a SL on .416 is about 6000 Us in Europe now , no idea what the .378 or .460 Wby is .


I don’t know where I would been without John Wayne movies and the fire for guns that he had .

But sad he didn’t make more modern detective ones like McQ and Brannigan they are very good , but Hatari js very high on list over favorite films , and the .458 M70 he uses there also

 

[Flbt]

@Hunter-Habib, nice write up, and thank you for this posting. I am a huge and proud fan and owner of many Weatherby rifles and calibers. Since I was a kid, I remember reading about Weatherby rifles or seeing the ads about Weatherby rifles and thought I would never be able to own or afford one. My favorite are the 300 & 257 Weatherby calibers, in my humble opinion I believe they are the best that came out of the Weatherby line.

I really like the 257.
I don’t like the 300 that much rather have a 338

 

[Altitude sickness]

Who isn’t a Duke fan? My JW buckle.

Howard Hawks has a handful made after they made Red River. He gave John one with his initials in the corner. John would not wear it with his own initials. So John and Howard traded buckles. John wore one like mine with Howard Hawks initials and Howard wore John’s buckle

If you look you will see the Duke wore this buckle in I think 7 more movies after Red River.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Red River D Belt Buckle - The History

Red River is a 1948 Western film which tells the story of the first cattle drive along the Chisholm Trail in the fictional framework of a cattle man who feuds with his surrogate son over ownership of their cattle in the middle of a drive

redriverdbeltbuckle.com

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

Wayne attempted to "serve" in other ways as well...

He was well known for showing up randomly at Ft. Bragg for years after he shot the film "The Green Berets" and bringing a case of beer and just sitting in the public area near SF HQ and "sharing a beer" with various special forces soldiers, hanging out, chatting, getting to know them, and letting them get to know him..

He went on multiple USO tours during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam..

I think he likely held a very warm place in his heart for veterans and active service members..

Not everyone can don the uniform and serve.. but everyone can support those that protect our freedoms... many choose not to.. Wayne, despite having fame, fortune, etc.. went out of his way to support and serve those in uniform... even when he didn't have to..

As a veteran myself, I have quite a bit of respect for his decisions...

John Wayne also paid his respects to one of our fabled U.S. Marine Corps legends,
LtGen Louis B. "Chesty" Puller.

 

[PerH]

 

[SaintPanzer]

Eastwood is a collector and shooter , and anti hunter sadly as Habib said first .

A Wby Fn or SL 56 A would be a excellent rifle to find . Price for a SL on .416 is about 6000 Us in Europe now , no idea what the .378 or .460 Wby is .


I don’t know where I would been without John Wayne movies and the fire for guns that he had .

But sad he didn’t make more modern detective ones like McQ and Brannigan they are very good , but Hatari js very high on list over favorite films , and the .458 M70 he uses there also

I did not know that, so I did some research. I'm assuming what I found on line speaks to that, and I have to admit, I did not find much on line. I'll keep looking, and if someone can point to some, thank you.

What I did find was an interview he did after he made "Whit Hunter, Black Heart". There, he said "I am sort-of anti hunting. I don't put down what anyone wants to do, but it seems to me that killing a creature for fun is not a progressive idea."

I'd like to think no one here kills simply "for fun".

I haven't found anything that says he is working to take away the ability for others to hunt.

It's seems like he's saying it's something he doesn't personally want to do.

I see other groups use that quote to show he's anti-hunting. It does make good press. When the truth becomes legend, print the legend, and all that.

If there's something more out there, please show me. I want to learn about it.

 

[franzfmdavis]

In a related note, if anybody ever wants to know what firearms are being used in the movie, there is actually a database for this:

Internet Movie Firearms Database - Guns in Movies, TV and Video Games

www.imfdb.org

 

[mark-hunter]

I haven't found anything that says he is working to take away the ability for others to hunt.

I didnt know either that Eastwood is anti hunter (if at all), but legacy of movie White Hunter - Black heart is generally negative for hunters.
Several times, I was told by acquaintances "white hunter - black heart!" when mentioning I was on safari. Knowing nothing about hunting in general, or safari, this is the first thing that comes to their mind. The movie has done its deed. Bad message.

He could make something like "the ghost and the darkness", or "mogambo" if he wanted to make a safari movie.

 

[jruby]

I grew up watching the Duke
I guess he is the closest I have came to having a role model. I remember when he passed. Even as a young teenager I knew it was the end of an era.

As far as his choice of a 300 weatherby. I am not a fan. I have four 300 magnums. In order of like comes my 300 H&H tied for second place is my 30-338 and my 300 Winnie My 300 weatherby is a distant last place. It's a jp sauer built mark V frpm the mid 60s and I hate that safety.