Irakli Makharadze is a documentary film director working in a Georgia State TV film company in Tbilisi, Georgia (former Soviet Republic).

Irakli has a deep interest in the history of the American West, and has written numerous articles about Western films in local newspapers and magazines. Having had much experience in producing TV shows about this magnificent genre, Irakli has also published a book entitled WESTERN FILMS, which is the first book written on this topic in his country.

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John Wayne drawing by Irakli Makharadze

In 1993 several thousands of Americans were surveyed on the following question: Who is your favorite actor? To everybodys surprise, John Wayne received the second place. At the time the survey was carried out, the actor had been dead for 14 years. A similar situation happened several times. For example, 2 years later after the 1993 survey, John Wayne once again made it to the top of the favorite actors list. The list included only one other deceased actor, Clark Gable.

John Wayne is the real idol for millions of Americans and not only for them. He is also regarded as an idol by people of many different nationalities, different social backgrounds, living in a drastically different environments. Surprisingly, some of Waynes fans were born years after he passed away.
Over the 50 years of his movie career Wayne created many impressive images on screen, and mostly in western movies. His name became an integral part of the legend created about the western. As Wayne himself noted, westerns are closer to art than anything else in the motion picture business.

Compared to many great actors, he was not as talented. Together with this, he spoke little, but as John Ford once said to Peter Bogdanovich what he said meant something. According to Clint Eastwoods description: "Theres a lot of actors that do more variety, but no specific thing that is them. You can say that about Cary Grant, John Wayne. Whatever they did, they did it and nobody else could do it. People would try to imitate them over the years and nobody could imitate them.

For his own audience, John Wayne is much more than just a superstar, an actor, or an ideal Western hero, as the actor Richard Widmark once called him. Henry Fonda, for a comparison, was not a lesser ideal hero, however, he will always be remembered as a great actor in the history of the cinema.

John Waynes name, on the other hand, has become a symbol of faithfulness, courage, and infinite love for ones homeland. That is exactly why Wayne is a favorite hero for the people of many nationalities, including the Georgians as well. Despite the fact that the Soviet government continuously criticized and chastised John Wayne, calling him a reactionist, militarist and an anticommunist, Waynes popularity was not harmed at all. There were people in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia who had never seen any of Waynes movies. They had only seen his photos or had heard about him from radio station Freedom, which was banned at that time (By the way, the only movie starring John Wayne that was playing at our cinemas at that time was Stagecoach, with a translated title of The Journey Will Be Dangerous). Some people went as far as giving their children the first name of John, (Such a name is very uncommon in Georgia). The actor was so popular all around the world that many famous people tried to imitate him both on the screen as well as beyond it.

My compatriot, general John Shalikashvili learned English with the help of Waynes movies, (he visited Waynes every movie at least twice to improve his English). Waynes voice, which was compared to the sandpapering of the strings of a bass fiddle by Life magazine, became a golden mine for the imitators. As described by one of the writers, Looking up into the night sky, I asked my brother what he thought God looked like and he said 'God probably looked like John Wayne.'

John Wayne became a mythic figure during his lifetime. He knew what kind of a hero his spectators needed at that time and with this knowledge, he could easily manipulate his audience. The public always looked forward to his upcoming roles, although they knew from the very beginning, that Waynes hero would never take to the wrong path. Everyone wanted to have a righteous tough guy as an icon. It was always like that and thats how it will be in future. The heroes change, but the audience remains almost the same.

The fact that John Wayne started producing his own movies, helped him to establish and reinforce his image. However, this often led to conflicts with the directors. The director Don Siegel, for example, who made Waynes best and one of his last movies, The Shootist, asked Wayne to shoot his enemy in the back at the final shoot-out scene of the movie. After a long pause, Wayne refused, announcing, "Its unthinkable for my image."

"I found him impossible," said Don Siegel. "Dont let anyone tell you hes mellowed. I wanted to quit almost every day. But I think he gave the best performance of his life in it, but I wouldnt want to be in the same room with him ever again.

Together with his roles in Red River and The Searchers, Waynes role in The Shootist became one of the greatest roles in the history of western cinema.  (When John Ford saw Howard Hawks Red River, he exclaimed with a surprise, I never knew that big son of a bitch could act. Such astonishment was probably stemming from Waynes previous quote I dont act - I react).

Despite the love and respect of his colleagues and spectators, the film academy wasnt fair to him. Only in 1969, Wayne was awarded with an Oscar for the movie True Grit, which was more like an Honorary Oscar, because the image that Wayne portrayed was atypical for the actor and was almost a parody of all of his macho roles played in the past. Wayne made a joke while receiving the award: "Wow. If I had known that, I would have put that eye patch on thirty-five years earlier! The reason for this was that his hero in the movie - Sheriff Rooster Cogburn - is one-eyed and wears an eye patch.

John Wayne died at the age of 72 in 1979. He lived as his characters did. In fact the lines said by Hondo, one of Waynes roles, directly related to his life motto: A man outghta do what he thinks is right. For his enormous achievements for his country, the Congress created the 84th medal where together with his profile the following lines are carved John Wayne - American.

Copyright © 2004  Irakli Makharadze. No unauthorized reproduction or transmission by any means whatsoever permitted under federal criminal law.