John Wayne: The Life & Legend (Book Review)

By Scott Eyman
Four out of Five Stars

I must first preface this review with the admission that I’ve always been a die-hard John “Duke” Wayne fan. So much so that a bust of Wayne sits in my home office and my Dad took to calling my “Duke” as a boy, which evolved into “Duker.” (With Dad having passed in 2011, no one has called me “Duker” in a long time, and I’d kill to hear him say it just one more time).

In reviewing a book about John Wayne, I suffer from the same problem I have reviewing a biography of The Beatles, either as a group or individually; I’ve read so many, that there really isn’t anything new the author can tell me. As such, while this was an easy read and informative, I was tempted to give it a three star rating, having enjoyed James S. Olson and Randy Roberts, John Wayne – American better. But, then, once I realized the world didn’t revolve around me, I gave this biography a deserved four out of five stars in that it is well written, necessary, and will provide insights about Wane to those who enjoy reading biographies, and who all ready have a preconceived notion of who John Wayne is.

John Wayne suffers from the same problem Elvis Presley, James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe suffer from – they have all reached iconic status since their deaths, and in that iconic designation, the real person, who they were, has been lost to myth. And this is where Scott Eyman’s biography serves a huge purpose; it brings John Wayne back down to earth and focuses on the man as opposed to the, often, much maligned image in this day and age.

What Eyman accomplishes is a respectfully and insightful biography telling Wayne’s story, from growing up poor in a household with a mother who favored his younger brother over him, even in later years when Wayne was the number one movie star in the world. We follow his struggles to succeed, working for ten years in the wasteland of low budget ‘B’ westerns before his friend, mentor and father figure, director John Ford rescued him from possible obscurity by hiring him to play the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach in 1939.

In telling Wayne’s story, Eyman keeps things balanced. In the 1960’s and ‘70’s, Wayne’s politics threatened to alienate him from a younger audience. What Eyman clarifies is that for one thing, Wayne showed courage in that he was willing to speak his mind and stand by his convictions, but he also respected others who did the same, even if their beliefs ran counter to his. The book is filled with quotes from certain individuals, who based on their beliefs, should have been gladly attacking Wayne’s character, but instead were defending him and talking about the respect they felt for the man after having met him. What you get is a very reasonable man who loved life, cherished friends and family, and just attempted to be the best individual he could be – and, really, that’s all any of us could hope to accomplish in life.

The only new aspect here is Eyman’s perspective on Wayne’s years during World War II; unlike a lot of other actors, Wayne didn’t serve in the armed forces, and that has been used to attack him by non-fans over the decades; we discover that Wayne actually attempted quite actively to join and participate, but may have been caught up in the fact that his films, as propaganda and patriotism, served a powerful purpose on the home front during that conflict as well.

John Wayne – The Life and Legend humanizes John Wayne, and I dare anyone to read it that is not a fan, to finish it without having a newfound respect for the man and actor. John Wayne was a lot more complex, educated, and articulate than he’s given credit for these days, and has created a body of work, with many true classics, that deserve to be discovered and celebrated by movie lovers.

For many, John Wayne – The Life and Legend will offer beautiful discovery, and for those of us, who all ready appreciate the man and his work, it’s a simple reminder of why we became fans in the first place. And, while Eyman hopes this will be a definitive biography of Wayne, I think that’s still to come, and is going to encompass a scholarly work like author Peter Guralnick’s two-volume, definitive biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley and Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. I look forward to reading something like that in the future.