His name and the film genre that best represented him are one. The images, gazes and visions of the great epic of American cinema are linked to the face of the American actor. The great prairies, the assaults of the Indians, the guns and the herds of bison in the endless prairies of the Wild West of the United States have become granite icons of the big screen.
John Wayne began his career in the late 20s and has since collected over 200 titles. He immediately carves out his role as executioner, man of order and law, savior and protector of the oppressed, only to later become, especially in old age, a bellicose representative of the American ultra-right (he ends his career with Green Berets in '68). He became a friend of John Ford, collaborated with him for over twenty titles and became famous with the role of Ringo Kid in Red shadows of 1939. They will follow The Fort Apache massacre of the '48, The Knights of the Northwest the following year and Rio Bravo in the '50s. He will be with Wild trails in 1956 which will reach its peak of greatest expressiveness. He won the Oscar in 1969 with The Grit.
The Western genre is perhaps the most prolific and almost certainly the most established and well-known in the world. Its fundamental characteristics can be traced back to three elements: the great panoramas, the pistols (or the legendary Winchester rifle) and the horse. The historical location is between the end of the Civil War (1865) and 1890, the year of the Wounded Knee massacre, the last frontier war and considered the final point of the complete colonization of the territories owned by the native Indians. The protagonist is always the man, the cowboy, who is the hero, the conqueror of unknown territories, the prospector, the pioneer, and even if sometimes he is a negative figure then, in the end he finds the way to justice and convert to good. The panorama becomes an icon of this genre starting from John Ford which makes it the ideal stage where the whole narrated story takes place. The western was born in 1883 with the first stage performances in the circus by a legendary figure: Buffalo Bill. Only in the early years of the last century did cinema appropriate the epic of the conquest of the Wild West, which took place with the complete defeat of the Native Americans who, especially throughout the first historical phase of the genre, were always represented as savages and villains.
Having exhausted the entire epic cycle, around the 60s the Western genre changed its narrative timbre and turned towards new tracks. The heroes themselves take on more human dimensions, with all the limitations and difficulties of normal people. The native Indians themselves are now being portrayed in an entirely different light from the earlier period. They have a culture, a dignity, a strength often equal to and, in some cases superior, to the "whites". The so-called "revisionist western" takes shape with great titles such as Red Raven you won't have my scalp, Dances with wolves, Soldier blue signed by great directors who have had great success in this genre such as Sam Peckimpah, Clint Eastwood, Sidney Pollack. To remember, in recent times, Quentin Tarantino with his The Hateful Height.
Our personal ranking of the best titles of this genre sees, in first place, Red Shadows and, following without ranking: Once Upon a Time in the West, by Sergio Leone, High Noon (with the legendary Gary Cooper), The Magnificent seven, Wild Trails, Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (remember the Bon Dylan soundtrack), How the West Was Won (divided into five and signed by three directors: John Ford, Henry Hathaway and George Marshall), Unforgiven and, finally, Mucchio Selvaggio which, although referring to a "Mexican" drift, fits well into this list.
Orson Welles. Has been called one of the greatest directors of the 26th century and his most famous film, Citizen Kane still remains a milestone in the history of cinema. He created his masterpiece at the age of just 38, in the wake of the notoriety obtained with the first "fake news" ever released before him. In October XNUMX, from the radio studios where he conducted a broadcast, he announced the landing of the Martians on earth, unleashing panic throughout the United States.
Fourth power (original title Citizen Kane) is inspired by the real life of William Randolph Hearst, one of the richest and most powerful men, owner of publishing empires and was written, performed, directed and produced by Welles himself. With this film the classic canons of Hollywood cinema are completely overturned: it introduces the long shot as never before together with an innovative use of depth of field. Furthermore, for the first time, it overturns the narrative time which is not linear but based on continuous flashbacks of the story.
His other great masterpiece was L'infernale Quinlan from '58. He won six Academy Awards and two Golden Lions in Venice where, just this year, his last unfinished work was presented: Theother side of the wind.
