Movies - TV
Howard Hawks Had One Rule When It Came To Writing A John Wayne Romance
By TRAVIS YATES
Western superstar John Wayne was adored primarily for his unruffled nature and for being the toughest guy in every scene. Romance was, at best, a secondary concern for him, but when a woman had her mind set on wooing him, he didn't exactly shoo them away — he might've been stolid, but he wasn't made entirely out of stone.
Howard Hawks, who made five movies with The Duke, understood this well, which came in handy when they shot the classic "Rio Bravo" together in 1957. As Hawks explained in Scott Eyman’s "John Wayne: The Life and Legacy," the director had to adjust Angie Dickinson’s Feathers to Wayne’s Sheriff John T. Chance for their characters’ romance to flourish.
“'Wayne is better when the girl is forcing the issue,' said Hawks, comparing it to the way Clark Gable forced the issue in a love scene. 'If you've got a love scene in a Wayne picture, you adjust it to his personality. He just wouldn't be effective if he were aggressive toward a woman. Partly that's because of his size.”