RIP Sonny!

I will always think of you as Mississippi. 

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

It’s my favorite holiday!

I hope youse guys are enjoying it with your families!

Happy Memorial Day

When you think you are the Duke but you are actually Hank Worden.

While the handfasting was going on I was filming it with my phone. I happen to have a phone case with a painting of the last scene of the Searchers where the Duke stands in the doorway of the house holding onto his arm.

As soon as the ceremony is over this dude rushes up to me to tell me he teaches film at a college and that he saw my phone case. He tells me that he always teaches the Searchers and that surprisingly his students actually pay attention to it and enjoy it unlike some of the other famous films he teaches. He then askes me if I know the significance of the pose and of course I told him it was a homage to Harry Carey who was a mentor to the young John Ford. He was a little nonplussed that I knew but we had a nice discussion about film so there was that.

The other thing that happened was that there were two dogs at the wedding. One was the overweight bulldog owned by the bride who wandered around and followed me all the time because he thought I might be dropping some food. I guess he figured that us fat fucks had to stick together.

The other dog was a rambunctious puppy who was running around all over the place. Everybody was trying to pet it or play with it but he was dashing around non stop until he was exhausted. Of course at the end of the night he comes over at sits at my feet. Actually on my feet and under my chair to go to sleep. You see animals love me. They always come over to hang out with me. I tell my wife that it is my calm spirit. You see I am saintly. Like St. Francis of Assisi. I'm a freaking saint I tell you.

I was just lucky that Winston didn't decide to sit on my feet.

“Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.” ― John Wayne

I want to address Ed's epic post in segments because there is so much to talk about.


"There's something bigger than us."

There is a lot of truth in this. Most Westerns have the underlying theme of bigger issues under the surface of the story they are telling. Westerns started of course in novels and dime novels that were popular before the advent of movies and television. In these novels the story is often set against the backdrop of bigger issues that transcend the plot.

I trace the Western from the Leatherstocking Tales of James Fenimore Cooper. Hawkeye is the genesis of the heroic yet stoic frontiersman who was the precursor of the cowboy. The seminal novel "Last of the Mohicans" is the most famous but I prefer "The Pioneers" which was in fact the most popular of his novels during his lifetime. Natty Bumppo is the stoic hero who is the prototype of the cowboy played by people like the Duke, Gary Cooper and Clint Eastwood.

Movies that illustrate the thought that there are bigger issues include "Fort Apache" "The Magnificent Seven"
"High Noon" "Last of the Mohicans" "They Died With Their Boots On" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."

Here is the Duke addressing it directly.

WKRLEM: God Bless America

With all our troubles... with the liberals and the savages trying to destroy us...pulling down our statues....closing our businesses because of the bullshit of phony experts....to the lies of the fake news meda....remember one thing

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

The Spirit of the Season 2

T

I kind of hate to give gifts. The only thing I hate more is to get gifts. When we were first dating my wife was appalled that I didn't exchange gifts with my best friend. We never did. We both felt if we wanted something we would go out and get it. Who wanted to deal with the gift giving bullshit?

Well this year I got a gift that touched my heart. My little niece decided she was going to get everyone gifts. The kid is only ten but she is very thoughtful. She got her Grandma chocolate. She got her favorite Aunt Lisa gluten free dark chocolate. But she got her Uncle Jim some John Wayne Playing cards. Every card is a different photo of the Duke. I think that proves it.

I am her favorite!

Happy Veterans Day!

To AllenS and all of our veterans may you have a happy and healthy Veterans Day.



I am going to honor you by going out and punching a hippie.

Here's a stick to beat the lovely lady with......

The history of the depiction of the relationships of men and women and violence are as old as the history of the motion pictures. Tracy and Hepburn, Gable and Colbert, Stewart and Dietrich all were depicted in various famous movies engaged in hand to hand combat in the battle of the sexes. But my favorite pairing of all time is of course John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.

The famous liberal icon and all around nasty cunt Pauline Kael once disparaged Maureen O’Hara as portraying a “John Ford” woman whose main job was to keep the home fires burning and say things like “Be careful Matt.” As usual the incoherent feminist twat had no idea what she was talking about. The women of the John Ford films were tough enduring pioneer women who were creatures of their times but who were full partners with there men. Even the citified Claudette Colbert who moved to the rough Frontier in Drums along the Mohawk, toughed up and became a full partner with her husband in the fight for survival. And no one was tougher than Maureen O’Hara.

The first pairing of Wayne and O’Hara in Rio Grande has always seemed to be the best to me. They were originally meant to star in the Quiet Man but the Studio insisted on the cavalry movie first to pay for the quaint Irish tale. The themes of honor and duty and sacrifice recur throughout Fords work and he sets up the contrast between Colonel Yorkes stern dedication to his honor and Kathleen’s devotion to a genteel ideal past of the antebellum south. North vs. South. Yankee vs. Confederate. Man vs. woman. The continual battle of opposites that attract each other. It is a staple of all the movies that Wayne and O’Hara made together.

In the Quiet Man, they are transported to Ireland as Sean Thornton woos and marries Mary Kate Danaher despite the obstacle placed in their path by her brother the Squire. The comical fist fight between Thornton and Red Will Danaher is also a staple of most of Fords best work bring a measure of comedic violence to leaven the sentiment. You know he didn’t want it to be too mushy.

If Rio Grande and The Quiet Man were the work of the master, then McClintock is homage by lesser talent. Made by Wayne’s Batjack productions it was done at the time the studio system had fallen apart and stars had to finance their own projects. Wayne was able to get financing based on the fact that it was a Western and starred him and O’Hara which was considered money in the bank. Loosely based on the Taming of the Shrew the comic violence and conflict between the rough hewn frontier and the civilizing influence of a woman were also in place. Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, the son of Victor McLaglen who played Red Danaher as well as Wayne’s faithful sergeant in so many Ford Films. McLaglen had a long career directing Westerns but he is of course just a pale imitation of the Master. And he was constrained by Wayne’s sensibility as he had his pet writer pen this trifle of a home movie. Also starring Wayne’s son they basically copied the comic fight scene from the Quiet Man but made it between a Wayne and O’Hara with a lot of slapstick thrown in. So it is not quite fair to judge McClintock in comparison with the work of the master John Ford.

Still, it is miles better than the crap these assholes produce today.

KLEM TV

The night Trump won, 47 years ago:

link

WKRLEM: God Bless Ameica

Every Independence Day I watch this video. I look at all the stars who were in it who are dead.

Hope. Crosby. Dean Martin. Lorne Greene. Hossaroni. Michael Landon. Lucy. Jack Benny. Phyllis Diller. Just about the only one still around is Glen Campbell and he has Alzheimer.

Do you think they could get a bunch of big stars to do a video like this today? Who would do it? Clooney. Pitt. Damon. Meryl Streep. DeNiro. Kathy Griffin. Beyonce. Kayne. Not a chance.

Look at how far we have fallen. The people who are stars and big time Hollywood powers hate America and hate us.

The deplorables have to take their country back.

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." -Patrick Henry

God bless all of Lem's Lemmings and their familes. God Bless America.

Paths of Glory Two

Newspaper reporter: [speaking of Col. Thursday] But what of the men who died with him? What of Collingworth and...

Captain Yorke: Collingwood.

Newspaper reporter: Oh, of course, Collingwood.

Reporter: That's the ironic part of it. We always remember the Thursdays, but the others are forgotten.

Captain Yorke: You're wrong there. They aren't forgotten because they haven't died. They're living - right out there.

[points out the window]

Captain Yorke: Collingwood and the rest. And they'll keep on living as long as the regiment lives. The pay is thirteen dollars a month; their diet: beans and hay. Maybe horsemeat before this campaign is over. Fight over cards or rotgut whiskey, but share the last drop in their canteens. The faces may change... the names... but they're there: they're the regiment... the regular army... now and fifty years from now. They're better men than they used to be. Thursday did that. He made it a command to be proud of.

My Oscar Picks!

Best Picture: The Quiet Man
Best Actor:   John Wayne
Best Actress: Maureen O'Hara
Best Supporting Actor: Barry Fitzgerald
Best Supporting Actor: Mildred Natwick
Best Screenplay: Frank S Nugent and Maurice Walsh
Best Director: John Ford.

Of course you don't agree but that is fine. You see I pick the same people every year.

WKRLEM: What the Hell does a goober know about Westerns?

Happy Veterans Day to all who served. Thank you for your service

'The Quiet Man' was a short story first

 

 dukefanclub.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/9/9/10994017/the_quiet_man.pdf



The Quiet Man

"Red Will" Danaher: I'll count three, and if you're not out of the house by then, I'll loose the dogs on you.

Sean Thornton: If you say "three," mister, you'll never hear the man count "ten."

"Red Will Danaher" Not you and twenty Dolan's with yer.

(The Quiet Man, 1952)

How Did Everyone Else Miss This?

Richard "Duke" Wagner

The Duke explains what happened here in a chirbit:

Check this out on Chirbit

 h/t: Ron at Ambiance

Human Nature And Charity

If you take 20 dollars and give a dollar to every son-of-bitch in a room, and come back a year later, one of the bastards will have most the money. I mean it’s just human nature and you aren’t gonna whip it with a lot laws. I think when you make people conscious --as communication gets better -- of somebody in trouble--starving our something like that--the average person will help. But of course now you’ve got so damn many charities and there’s so much professionalism – you know -- if you have a charity you hire some professionals to work up the charity and by the time you get the money you get 4 dollars for the recipient and 400 dollars for the administrators.

I find something new every time I listen to that old recording.