John Wayne is back, pilgrim — in an acclaimed new biography by Scott Eyman and a marathon of his films running through Friday on Turner Classic Movies.
Just for fun, here’s a quick look at five of the beloved Duke’s worst and weirdest movies:
The Conqueror (1956)
In his absolute nadir, Wayne dons Asian drag to play Genghis Khan in this laughable fiasco sponsored by eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, who owned RKO Pictures at time. It was filmed near a nuclear test site, which may explain why Wayne, co-star Susan Hayward, director Dick Powell and several cast members eventually died of cancer.
Jet Pilot (1957)
Jet planes were a big deal when this Cold War romantic comedy with Janet Leigh wrapped principal photography in 1950, much less so when it was finally released seven years later, after RKO Pictures closed its doors. In the interim, former aviator Hughes ordered up endless reshoots of the aerial footage and Bob Hope released “The Iron Petticoat,” a flop with a virtually identical plot and Katharine Hepburn. Hughes sold off RKO’s film library, but bought back “Jet Pilot” and “The Conqueror” for his personal enjoyment, and they were out of circulation until his death.
The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)
Wayne is again colossally miscast as Townsend Harris, the first American counsel to Japan, in this 19th-century historical travesty directed by the great John Huston.
Big Jim McLain (1952)
Wayne’s company produced this ludicrous, Red-baiting melodrama in which he plays a two-fisted investigator for the House Un-American Activities Committee hunting down Communists in Hawaii. In Italy, it was dubbed to turn Wayne into a drug detective and retitled “Marijuana.”
The Green Berets (1968)
Right-winger Wayne was still fighting communism 16 years later, in this ineptly self-directed defense of America’s participation in the Vietnam War, inspired by a popular song. Though critically savaged — among other things, the sun rises in the west — this was a substantial moneymaker, unlike the others on this list.