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What a trip – iconic images before they were cliches, John Wayne’s star-making performance, a crisply compelling story. Legendary director John Ford’s first talkie Western warrants its status as one of the most influential movies of all time. Clocking in at a mere 96 minutes, it’s also tautly e…

In Old California is a simpleminded recreation of Old Sacramento in 1848 and then 1849, made in 1942. A quasi-historical tale, it mostly exists to showcase John Wayne looking quite-the-dandy, from Boston even. The settings are the thing now: pre-49er San Francisco and then up the river to Old…

Classic Westerns come no more accomplished than Winchester ’73. It ably weaves a tale around “The Gun that Won the West,” the Winchester 1873. This Precious changes hands almost as often as My Precious in Lord of the Rings, …

“Shane, come back!” could have been a Simon & Garfunkel lyric. Instead, the troubadours chose Joe DiMaggio, another icon of mid-Century American manhood. Yet, Shane endures as a cultural touchstone.

Thousands of baby boomers were christened with his clarion clear name…