America fits into John Wayne’s filmography, and this does not make America small. It makes John Wayne huge. The coronavirus has brought us back to the Wild West. Lonely lives, deserted streets, looks of distrust, and whiskey for throat disinfection; the scientific community has not made an official statement as yet, but it seems unlikely that anybody would try to deny the benefits of whiskey in the fight against almost everything. John Wayne, who would be 113 years old this month, would not be shocked by social alienation and a life of isolation. They are part of his trademark. Once again, as on 9/11, John Wayne symbolizes everything you need to overcome this crisis and get back on your feet: individual initiative, freedom, old-fashioned values, and patriotism. In other words, everything that someone like Bernie Sanders — as the new CEO of the unemployment and poverty home-delivery company, Joe Biden, Inc. — can’t supply
Like anyone who cherishes freedom, John Wayne was a steadfast anti-Communist. Stalin, the American Communists, and finally Mao Zedong would all try to kill him, an unusual strategy for drawing him to their cause. It’s a testament to his heroism that John Wayne survived three attacks, particularly because the only thing the Communists excel at is killing. When Wayne was visiting U.S. troops at the Chu Lai base in Vietnam, in the summer of 1966, and signing autographs for them, a Mao hitman lined him up in his sights and fired several shots. He missed them all. Later, the Duke said he didn’t know about the shooting until he saw the soldiers diving for cover. Impossible not to be reminded of his J. B. Books character: “I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted. I won’t be laid a-hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”
Comments