John Wayne: America at All Costs (2019) User Reviews

Awesome and informative portrayal of John Wayne

[guisreis · 8/10 · 11 May 2022]

Very good documentary, with a nice text, showing well John Wayne, born as Marion Morrison and eventually renamed for a short time to cinema as Duke Morrison, and his remarkable path: his early steps as stage assistant of John Ford (his "Pappy"), his first roles as an extra and clumsy performances in early major productions, his success in B Westerns, his insecure decision not to enlist and opportunities in Hollywood while the biggest stars were in the World War II, his improvement as a more versatile artist and also his rise as a patriotic icon, his role as a right-wing propagandist and agent in the cold war (McCarthyism, Vietnam War), his Christian, militaristic, racist, sexist macho persona, and his last days and latest almost biographical (and very best, in my opinion) movie...

Bias

[galahad58-1 · 1/10 · 25 March 2024]

A terrible documentary that was a constant attack on John Wayne's character. The director/producers obviously had strong resentments towards John Wayne and went out of their way to make Wayne look like a villain.

Getting veterans to put down Wayne was also tasteless. I am a veteran and I do not dislike or disparage an actor for making a military movie. The show displays Wayne's appreciation of veterans and his work in supporting veterans and then the producers (and only two veterans) try to belittle Wayne for The Green Berets. That is like hating Ben Affleck for the extremely false look at Pearl Harbor.

I was looking for a quality documentary about John Wayne. I would have entertained some negative views if it did not feel like a smear campaign of Wayne's character the entire production.