1969, USA, 128 min.<\/b><\/p>\n
Far sunnier than the bluntly poignant 2010 remake, this is still eminently watchable. John Wayne plays an alcoholic, one-eyed, US marshal hired by a precocious teen (Kim Darby) to find her father\u2019s killer in the vast Indian Territory. Released the same year as <\/span>The Wild Bunch <\/span><\/i>and a few years after Sergio Leone\u2019s spaghetti westerns, the film was already an anachronism. Though it is perhaps the last of the traditional, straight-ahead westerns (many of which starred Wayne), it\u2019s a rousing reminder of classic Hollywood swagger\u2014and that integrity and courage don’t dim with age. Wayne, that embodiment of rigid, matinee-idol machismo even in his 60s, is perfect in his only Oscar-winning role, which might be his most vulnerable performance. Dying is easy; aging is hard\u2014especially if you\u2019re a survivor in a lawless occupation.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Wayne plays an alcoholic, one-eyed, US marshal hired by a precocious teen (Kim Darby) to find her father\u2019s killer in the vast Indian Territory.<\/span><\/p>\n