She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

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Happy Fourth! A perfect Independence Day pick airs tonight on TCM

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July 4, 2019

It’s a little difficult to get your head around. Eight years ago when I suggested going to your video rental store to watch the ultimate Fourth of July movie–Jaws–we still had several video rental stores in every town. It’s very different now with streaming services (have you finished Season 3 of Stranger Things yet on Netflix?) and any Blu-ray you want available overnight for purchase from retailers like Amazon. To be fair, you can still rent movies, the plastic disc kind, at local Redbox machines, and Family Video still has a good footprint across the nation and a broad video selection (pretty much Blu-rays prevail, so sorry to people still with only VHS and plain ol’ DVDs). Back in 2011 when I listed some recommended viewing material for Independence Day here at borg, I mentioned some films including my pick for today.

Every audience, every moviegoer, is after something different. If you’re looking for action try on Captain America: The First Avenger, or even binge the entire Captain America series of films. The first Independence Day movie from 1996 has your dose of sci-fi, and it’s an easy choice to go to especially if you’re too young to have watched it before. Even Independence Day–the day, not the movie–means different things to different people. I would recommend to anyone films like Dave, The American President, The Post, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, All the President’s Men, Sergeant York, Far and Away, The Last of the Mohicans, Lincoln, Glory, and Dances with Wolves–each covers some aspect of what America stands for. Actually Frank Capra has more in the category, too, including Meet John Doe and State of the Union.

Four of my favorites are playing on Turner Classic Movies/TCM today. At 8:30 a.m. Central is John Ford′s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, followed at 10:30 a.m. Central by Ford’s Fort Apache. These are some of the famed director’s finest works, and high points for both Henry Fonda, John Wayne, and Maureen O’Hara, plus the stories tell other tales of the American experience (and both rate high on my all-time best Westerns list here). A recent anthology film fits the bill for today well–that’s the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, which we reviewed here at borg last year. It tells several stories of the pain, struggle, and sacrifice of peoples from throughout the world coming together to build a nation. But what’s that sure-fire Fourth of July movie that should appeal to everyone?

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Heritage to auction screen-used John Wayne wardrobe this week

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Con Culture, Movies, Retro Fix — Leave a comment

October 3, 2011

Heritage Auctions will feature 750 lots of personal property of western movie star John Wayne October 6-7, 2011 in Los Angeles. After Wayne died in 1979 all of his personal property was tagged and inventoried. In the 1990s John Wayne’s sons purchased costumes from Western Costume Company in Los Angeles, further building up the Wayne estate collection. Finally, ten years ago son Ethan began planning this auction.

Wayne used several hats, shirts, belts and props in several of his movies. His productions also owned multiples of each costume and prop, just as production studios do today. So what is featured are some of these costumes and props, and undoubtedly most if not all of them got screen use in one or more films. Several costumes come from Wayne’s final role as Rooster Cogburn from True Grit, including one of his eye patches.

Also being auctioned are John Wayne’s one-of-a-kind personal, hand-notated scripts, including the script to Stagecoach, Angel and the Badman, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Lobo, and The Sons of Katie Elder. Personal property being auctioned includes several stylized cowboy boots, used both in his personal life and in films, as well as countless belts and buckles, cowboy hats, and his own custom horse saddle, expected to garner between $40,000-60,000.

The vast majority of the auction will feature less exciting but interesting items, such as personal trunks and clothing, letters from other movie stars and presidents, and awards including Wayne’s Golden Globe award.

More obscure but also interesting is a collection of western prints created by Andy Warhol.

Although some of the best John Wayne costumes have been auctioned in previous Heritage, Profiles in History and other auctions, including the recent sale of Wayne’s iconic uniform from She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, this is the first time so many John Wayne items have been featured in a single auction.

Key lots include:

John Wayne’s blue “bib shirt” worn by Wayne as Tom Doniphon is John Ford’s classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, where Wayne played opposite James Stewart and Lee Marvin. Wayne made this shirt famous, featuring it in several of his classic westerns. He wore this style shirt in several other films including The Sons of Katie Elder, and he may have worn this shirt in one or more of those films as well. This shirt is expected to sell between $6,000-$8.000. Undoubtedly this is a very low estimate of the likely winning bid, which will easily exceed $10,000.

John Wayne’s marine uniform from Sands of Iwo Jima, where Wayne portrayed the tough as nails Sergeant John M. Stryker. “Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.” This costume is expected to sell between $20,000-$25,000.

A cavalry hat worn by Wayne in the films The Horse Soldiers, Circus World, The Undefeated, and Rio Lobo. Expected to sell between $30,000-$40,000.