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MONDAY, SEPT. 21st, 1998.
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PRESS RELEASE: August 18, 1998
TCM Rides the Range, Goes to War and Even Mines A
Few Laughs With John Wayne in September
While the realism of this summer's emotional Saving Private Ryan has lead some to question Hollywood's classic World War II movies and an American legend, John Wayne will stand tall on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) cable network this September in a month-long, 26-movie tribute. From early, low-budget Westerns like 1932's THE BIG STAMPEDE (Sept. 29, 5 a.m. ET) and WWII dramas THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1949, Sept. 8, 10:30 p.m.) and 1951's FLYING LEATHERNECKS (Sept. 8, 2:15 a.m.) through his silver screen farewell, THE SHOOTIST (1976, Sept. 29, 8 p.m.), TCM will present the breadth of the Duke's career during this in-depth film tribute.
TCM's festival features some of Wayne's signature films, including six made with his best friend and favorite director, John Ford. From the 1962 epic HOW THE WEST WAS WON (Sept. 22, 12:30 a.m.), a rare comic turn in 1952's THE QUIET MAN (Sept. 15, 8 p.m.) and the 1945 World War II adventure THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (Sept. 8, 8 p.m.), TCM's festival kicks off with two films from Ford's classic "Cavalry Trilogy": FORT APACHE (1948, Sept. 1, 8 p.m.), co-starring Henry Fonda, and RIO GRANDE (1950, Sept. 1, 12:30 a.m.), with Maureen O'Hara. Also featured is the 1946 screwball comedy WITHOUT RESERVATIONS (Sept. 15, 10:30 p.m.), which teamed him with Claudette Colbert.
At the height of his career, the Duke was the world's second most-recognized American around the world, behind Abraham Lincoln. But few would have looked at his inauspicious beginnings and suspected such glory lay ahead. Wayne only started in films, as a laborer and prop man, to work his way through USC in the late '20s. Early on he forged a close friendship with Ford, who helped him win small roles, then recommended him for the lead in one of the first epic Westerns of the sound era, THE BIG TRAIL (1930). When that expensive film proved a box-office disaster, the Duke was relegated to low-budget westerns, where he starred as a member of The Three Mesquiteers and even as a singing cowboy, with somebody else's voiced dubbed in.
After that grueling apprenticeship, the Duke got another boost from Ford, who cast him as the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach (1939). That feature made Wayne a star while returning the Western to prominence after years of box-office neglect. Through the '40s, Wayne built his reputation as one of the screen's top action stars, not only in Westerns, but in war films like 1942's REUNION IN FRANCE (Sept. 15, 12:30 a.m.), co-starring Joan Crawford, and BACK TO BATAAN (1945, Sept. 8, 12:30 a.m.), with Anthony Quinn. His popularity continued to grow through subsequent decades, during which time he was voted one of the nation's top 10 box-office stars an unprecedented 24 times, landing the list's top spot in 1950, 1951, 1954 and 1971. He capped his career with an OscarĘ-winning performance in True Grit (1968) and his final performance, as a gunfighter dying of cancer, in THE SHOOTIST (1978).
John Wayne Festival
Tuesday, September 1
8 p.m. - FORT APACHE (1948):starring Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple
10:30 p.m. - SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949):starring Joanne Dru and Ben Johnson
12:30 a.m. RIO GRANDE (1950):starring Maureen O'Hara and Ben Johnson
2:30 a.m. - BLOOD ALLEY (1955):starring Lauren Bacall and Paul Fix
4:30 a.m. - THE MAN FROM MONTEREY (1933):starring Ruth Hall and Luis Alberni
Tuesday, September 8
8 p.m. - THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945):starring Robert Montgomery and Donna Reed
10:30 p.m. - THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1949):starring John Agar and Adele Mara
12:30 a.m. - BACK TO BATAAN (1945):starring Anthony Quinn and Beulah Bondi
2:15 a.m. - FLYING LEATHERNECKS (1951):starring Robert Ryan and Don Taylor
4 a.m. - OPERATION PACIFIC (1951):starring Patricia Neal and Ward Bond
Tuesday, September 15
8 p.m. - THE QUIET MAN (1952):starring Maureen O'Hara and Barry Fitzgerald
10:30 p.m. - WITHOUT RESERVATIONS (1945):starring Claudette Colbert and Don DeFore
12:30 a.m. - REUNION IN FRANCE (1943):starring Joan Crawford and Philip Dorn
2:30 a.m. - TYCOON (1947):starring Laraine Day and Cedric Hardwicke
5 a.m. - THE MAN FROM MONTEREY (1933):starring Ruth Hall and Luis Alberni
Tuesday, September 22
8 p.m. - RED RIVER (1948):starring Montgomery Clift and John Ireland
10:30 p.m. - THE THREE GODFATHERS (1948):starring Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey, Jr.
12:30 a.m. - HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1963):starring Debbie Reynolds and George Peppard
3:30 a.m. - BIG JIM McLAIN (1952):starring James Arness and Nancy Olson
5 a.m. - RANDY RIDES ALONE (1934):starring Alberta Vaughn and George "Gabby" Hayes
Tuesday, September 29
8 p.m. - THE SHOOTIST (1976):starring Lauren Bacall and Ron Howard
10 p.m. - ROOSTER COGBURN (1975):starring Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Zerbe
12 a.m. - BRANNIGAN (1975):starring Richard Attenborough and Judy Geeson
2 a.m. - CAHILL, U.S. MARSHAL (1973):starring George Kennedy and Gary Grimes
4 a.m. - THE TRAIL TELEGRAPH (1933):starring Marceline Day and Frank McHugh
5 a.m. - THE BIG STAMPEDE (1932):starring Noah Beery, Sr. and Luis Alberni
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