9 Famous Filming Locations Across The United States

Above, The Thumb (or a.k.a. John Wayne's Boot) in Monument Valley. It was
prominently shown in the classic western, The Searchers. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I have always been fascinated by filming locations, whether they were used for movies or television shows in the U.S. or in foreign countries.

Back in 2010, I published The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan that spotlights locations used (or depicted in miniature) in Japanese monster movies. (I still have some copies available. If you want a copy, go here.)

MSN posted a slideshow article on nine famous filming locations across the United States.

They begin it with:

From iconic city landmarks to remote natural wonders, these locations have played memorable roles in television and film. Each site, from bustling restaurants and historic buildings to dramatic landscapes, has become a destination for fans eager to connect with their favorite on-screen moments. Together, they showcase the diverse settings that have shaped American pop culture on screen.

 To read more and see the slideshow, go here.

63 Years of "Donovan's Reef"

I am surprised that I missed this one. But it's better late than ever!

Yesterday marked 63 years that the John Wayne, Jack Warden, Lee Marvin, Cesar Romero and Elizabeth Allen feature, Donovan's Reef was released. It was the last feature Wayne was directed by John Ford. 

I remember seeing it at the old Balboa Theater in the Vermont Ave./Manchester Blvd. section of Los Angeles with my parents and a couple of friends. It was paired with King Kong vs. Godzilla. 

Donovan's Reef was the first movie shown of the double-feature. We mainly went there to see the Godzilla movie, but we enjoyed the light comedy set in the South Seas. 

Here is the official trailer: 

The Searchers | Texas Rangers Hold Off a Charge

After a massacre at the Aaron Edwards ranch, a group of fellow settlers deputized as Texas Rangers head out to rescue the nieces of Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) led by Captain Samuel Clayon (Ward Bond). 

In this clip, the group is surrounded by Chief Scar's (Henry Brandon) braves. 

This is my favorite John Ford (director) and John Wayne movie. I met three of the actors in this movie: Henry Brandon, Hank Worden and Patrick Wayne. 

The movie takes place three years after the Civil War. Although a classic movie, there are some anachronistic firearms in the movie. See the Internet Movie Firearms Database.

5 Iconic Movie Locations For RVers To Explore

Above, yours truly in Monument Valley, famous for several John Wayne/John Ford movies.

Over the years, being a movie fan, I have been interested in movie locations. 

The movies can be of any genre or no genre at all. In fact, I published The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan that features movie locations and giant monster attractions. 

RV Travel has posted an article on five iconic movie locations for RVers to explore and nearby campgrounds.

They begin it with:

I love movies! I love visiting actual movie locations, too!

Here are five great movie sites to visit. You’ll also discover nearby activities and attractions that will make your RV “movie trip” well worth your time. Ready? Action!

To see what they are, go here.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With "The Quiet Man"

Above, the buggy from The Quiet Man at the John Wayne Birthplace & Museum. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

St. Patrick's Day is two days away (Tuesday) and many celebrate the holiday by popping in the John Wayne/Maureen O'Hara/John Ford classic The Quiet Man (1952).

The Quiet Man is one of Hollywood's most beloved movies. 

Here's a St. Patrick's Day clip:

@john.wayne.fans Happy #StPatricksDay! 🍀 The Quiet Man was said to be John Ford's love letter to Ireland & is one of the few Hollywood films where the native Irish language is spoken. 🍀 What's your favorite scene from The Quiet Man? #JohnWayne #MaureenOHara #JohnWayne #TheQuietMan ♬ original sound - John Wayne Fans

Goulding's Lodge Campground Movie Location

This evening while I was having dinner, I was watching the John Ford/John Wayne classic, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) when a scene came up that looked familiar.

It looked like the canyon outside of Monument Valley near Goulding's Lodge. It is now the site of Goulding's Lodge Campground. The lodge itself is beyond the canyon around the rock formation.

I took the below photo of the television screen showing the location from the movie in 1949:

Below is a photo of the same rock formations (on the right) I took during my stay at the campground in 2016:

Here's a blow-up view of the rock formation:

John Wayne On John Ford Directing Him In STAGECOACH

John Wayne On John Ford Directing Him In STAGECOACH video from the American Film Institute.

Summary:

In this clip from the documentary DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD (by Peter Bogdanovich) John Wayne talks about John Ford directing him in STAGECOACH.

Two Incredible Yakima Canutt "Stagecoach" Stunts

 Two Incredible Yakima Canutt Stunts From John Ford's "Stagecoach" (John Wayne, 1939)

Summary:

"Stagecoach" would be John Wayne's starmaking picture.

His friend, actor/stuntman Yakima Canutt, was the film's stunt coordinator.

Yakima personally performed one thrilling stunt in particular...

...which would famously inspire a similar one in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

And then there's the next one...

Yakima Canutt would win an honorary Oscar award in 1967. 

AZ Central's Guide To Monument Valley

Above, a sunrise view of the West Mitten. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park straddles the Arizona-Utah border. It was made famous by director John Ford in 1939's Stagecoach, starring John Wayne and Claire Trevor. It has appeared in many more movies since then.

I have visited Monument Valley several times. It is less than a half day's drive from home. I have camped at Goulding's Lodge Campground and at Monument Valley KOA.

Above, Goulding's Lodge Campground. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

AZ Central has posted an "ultimate guide" to Monument Valley listing the best things to do.

It begins with:

A boundless open sky greets travelers heading toward the Arizona-Utah border, with just a few red-orange sandstone monoliths reaching heights of up to 1,000 feet tall along the horizon.

The transcendental landscape at Monument Valley inspires visitors with its towering sandstone buttes so picturesque that it has served as a backdrop for many movies.

Monument Valley, the 91,696-acre tribal park on the Navajo Nation that spans parts of Arizona and Utah, was named by Arizona Republic readers as a finalist in the Most Beautiful Places in Arizona Poll, which was won by the Grand Canyon.

Monument Valley is a popular destination for travelers visiting northern Arizona and southern Utah. Here's how to plan a Monument Valley trip, including the best time to visit and what is the closest town.

To read more, go here. 

The Truth of John Wayne's WWII Military Exemption

Above, John Wayne with the troops in Viet Nam.

There have been many detractors questioning John Wayne's exemption from military service during World War II.

The official John Wayne Facebook page has posted the following to set the record straight:

Though many questioned John Wayne’s exemption from military service during World War II, the decision was not entirely his fault. Duke was classified as 3-A (family deferment) due to his age (34) and family status at the time of Pearl Harbor. Despite this, he repeatedly wrote to John Ford, asking to be placed in Ford's military unit, but Ford continually postponed it until after one more film.

Wayne did not try to prevent his reclassification to 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Pictures, where he was under contract, fought hard to keep him. President Herbert J. Yates even threatened Duke with a lawsuit if he left, and Republic intervened with the Selective Service to request his deferment.

During the war, John Wayne dedicated his time to supporting the troops, serving Thanksgiving dinners at the Hollywood Canteen, touring with the USO in the South Pacific, and portraying the American soldier with dignity and courage. After Christmas 1942, he began a three-month USO tour across Australia, New Britain, and New Guinea.

Decades later, Duke continued to visit troops on the frontlines, including in Vietnam, where he spent time with soldiers in the trenches. It was a way for him to engage with everyday soldiers on a personal level, offering morale and support during an active conflict.

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is St. Patrick's Day!

What is St. Patrick's Day? Well, here's the answer:

Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick, is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland.

Along with wearing green (or orange, depending upon one's persuasion) and having corned beef and cabbage, there's one other way to celebrate.

That is to pop a DVD (or VHS tape) of John Ford's beloved movie, The Quiet Man (1952), starring John Wayne, Barry Fitzgerald, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen and Ward Bond. That's what I'll be doing this evening.

Above, the wagon from The Quiet Man at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Here's trailer number one from 1952:

Lost 1915 Lincoln Movie Found

Above, the Gutzon Borglum bust of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Tomb. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Many films produced during the silent era have either deteriorated awayt due to their nitrate content or just lost. One notable movie considered lost is London After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney. 

A 1915 silent film on Abraham Lincoln, starring Francis Ford, the brother of director John Ford, was also considered lost. But, fortunately, has recently been found.

MSN reported:

NEW YORK — A 1915 movie about the life of Abraham Lincoln, previously thought lost forever, was found on Long Island.

“The Heart of Lincoln,” released by Universal, is a silent film about American life during the Civil War. It was directed by and stars Francis Ford — the brother of legendary director John Ford — as the 16th president.

The film was discovered by intern Dan Martin at Lauro’s Historic Films Archive in Greenport while he was going through boxes of material donated to the archive.

The 65-minute movie had previously been listed by the Library of Congress as one of 7,000 silent films thought to be lost forever. Many silent films were lost because they were printed on highly volatile nitrate film stock, according to Newsday.

Film archivist Eliot Kissileff told NBC New York that he was able to digitize the 16-millimeter print.

“I guess it was just lucky the cans were sealed and had not decayed,” Kissilef told the station.

To read more, go here. 

Weapons of "The Searchers"

Since I saw the Internet Movie Firearms Database page on the weapons used in True Grit (1969) showing that several rifles were anachronistic to the era depicted in the movie, I decided to take a look at The Searchers (1956) and the weapons used in the movie after getting the movie in Blu-ray. 

Again, the weapons were anachronistic to the movie's era (c. 1868). 

The IMFDB summary:

The Searchers is the classic 1956 Western directed by John Ford and stars John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, an aged Confederate Civil War veteran who is determined to find his niece (Natalie Wood) who was kidnapped by Comanche Indians. The film takes place only three years following the Civil War, yet features several anachronistic firearms.

Here's one of them:

Above, Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) pulls his SAA.

Colt Single Action Army

Several characters use Colt Single Action Army revolvers as their sidearms in the film including Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) and Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter) which is anachronistic as the movie is set three years after the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Colt SAA did not appear until 1873.

Still, this doesn't detract my enjoyment of the movie.

To read more, go here.

The Restored "The Searchers" Blu-ray

The Blu-ray of the newly-restored The Searchers (1956) with John Wayne, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, Jeffrey Hunter and Vera Miles arrived two days earlier than expected. John Ford directed.

I have an older DVD version of The Searchers, but the new restored Blu-ray tops it by leaps and bounds. It is absolutely gorgeous!

The Blu-ray source was the original camera negative. Monument Valley, unless you're there, has never looked so good. I was able to see details in scenes I was unable to see before. 

Included are featurettes of the making of The Searchers in and around Monument Valley and the premiere in Chicago. There's also more to enjoy.

It was well worth the wait since the restored movie was premiered in Hollywood early last year.

Interestingly, I've met three of the actors of The Searchers: Patrick Wayne, Hank Worden and Henry Brandon.

If you are a fan of John Wayne or westerns in general, do yourself a favor and get this Blu-ray!

My grade: A+.

John Wayne's "Stagecoach" Rifle

Above, John Wayne in Stagecoach with his Winchester 1892 rifle. 

Ever wondered what lever-action rifle model John Wayne used in the 1939 western classic, Stagecoach? 

According to the Internet Movie Firearms Data Base:

Henry "The Ringo Kid" (John Wayne) uses a Winchester 1892 "Saddle Ring Carbine" with a large lever loop. It is the shorter "Trapper" model that was often the weapon of choice for the actor throughout many of his films.  

The large lever loop allows for one-handed reloading that the actor would make famous in numerous Westerns.

For more on the Winchester 1892 and other guns featured in Stagecoach, go here.

Restored "The Searchers" Coming December 17

John Ford's/John Wayne's The Searchers (1956) has been in my movie library for years in DVD. I was pleased to hear that the movie underwent 4K restoration and was premiered in Hollywood last April. 

At the time, I was hoping that the restored version would be available on Blu-ray.

Well, there's some good news! It will be available next month! Just in time for Christmas!

According to Blu-ray.com:

Perhaps the greatest collaboration between the legendary director John Ford and his famed leading man John Wayne, the 1956 Warner Bros. classic The Searchers will be arriving on 4K UHD Blu-ray disc, meticulously restored and newly remastered from its original VistaVision camera negative.

The film will be available as either a 4K UHD Blu-ray disc combo pack, including a newly remastered Blu-ray disc, or as a stand-alone Blu-ray disc. SRP for the 4K/Blu-ray combo pack will be $29.99, and the remastered Blu-ray will have an SRP of $21.99. Both iterations will contain over an hour of special features in HD on the Blu-ray disc, with the feature itself having an archival commentary from the late Peter Bogdanovich. The Searchers will release on December 17, and is available for pre-order at leading online media retailers.

The new 4K UHD Blu-ray presentation of the feature will be available with Dolby Vision and HDR10. Both the 4K and Blu-ray discs will contain the feature's original monaural audio track which was restored from the best available source materials to provide a clean and dynamic audio presentation.

The film underwent an extensive restoration earlier this year, at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging and Warner Bros. Archival Mastering (for audio). This restoration was undertaken by Warner Bros. Discovery in collaboration with The Film Foundation and made its public premiere on April 21st of this year at the 15th annual TCM Film Festival.

It will be nice to see Monument Valley in 4K Blu-ray!

To read more, go here. 

John Wayne and The Draft

In recognition of the 82nd anniversary yesterday of the John Wayne movie, Flying Tigers (1942), the official John Wayne Facebook page addressed Wayne's draft exemption during World War II.

They wrote:

“Don’t try to win this war all by yourself.” —John Wayne as Captain Jim Gordon in Flying Tigers⁣​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Today marks the 82nd Anniversary of the release of Flying Tigers (1942). This was John Wayne's first role as a pilot. The New York Times called the film “a first rate aerial circus chock-full of exciting dog fights” adding, “Mr. Wayne is the sort of fellow who inspires confidence.”

Though many had questioned John Wayne's getting an exemption from military service during World War II, it was not entirely his fault. Duke was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status, classified as 3-A (family deferment). He repeatedly wrote to John Ford, asking to be placed in Ford's military unit, but Ford consistently postponed it until after he had finished one more film.

John Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Pictures was emphatically resistant to losing him; Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Duke with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract and Republic intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting his further deferment.

 

61 Years of "Donovan's Reef"

Above, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Allen and John Wayne in Donovan's Reef.

Yesterday, the official John Wayne Facebook page posted the following:

Today marks the 61st Anniversary of the release of Donovan's Reef (1963).​​​​​​​​​

“Yeah, well, frangipani and flamethrowers donʼt seem to go together, but thatʼs the way it was.” —John Wayne Michael Patrick “Guns” Donovan in Donovan’s Reef

This is the final film in which John Wayne appeared under the direction of John Ford. Duke worked on 22 films with John Ford over the course of his career. Duke began in the props department herding geese on the set of John Ford's film Mother Machree (1927).

It is hard to believe that 61 years have passed since June 12, 1963. My parents took two friends and I to see King Kong vs. Godzilla at the Balboa Theater in the Vermont and Manchester area of Los Angeles. It was the co-feature with Donovan's Reef, which played first. 

Fortunately, we weren't bored with it and found it enjoyable. I think this may have been the first John Wayne movie I saw theatrically. I was nine years old at the time. 

Monument Valley: It Should Be On One's Bucket List

Above, Monument Valley's West and East Mittens. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Monument Valley is one place that every American, especially film buffs, are familiar with.

It is best known through westerns directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne starting with Stagecoach in 1939.

It has appeared in non-western movies as well, such as Forrest Gump (1994) and, believe it or not, Godzilla Final Wars (2004).

A tour of Monument Valley (a Navajo tribal park) should be on everyone's bucket list. 

Only In Your State posted an article on making Monument Valley on bucket list of tours to take.

They begin it with:

Monument Valley is one destination that is rich in beauty, culture, and history. However, it is also a destination that is often overlooked and doesn’t receive the attention that many national and state parks in Utah receive. To help change that, there is one underrated tour that is an absolute must. It is the Monument Valley Historical Sightseeing Tour and it will change the way you think and feel about this remarkable and unique area in southern Utah. It’s a tour that every history buff, Utah resident, and out-of-state guest needs to put at the top of their bucket list.

Above, yours truly at Artist's Point in 2022.

I took the 2.5 hour afternoon tour in 2016 and the sunrise tour in 2022. Both were equally enjoyable. I camped at Goulding's Lodge Campground both times.

To read more, go here. 

"The Searchers" Limited Engagement

John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS in 70mm Limited Engagement Sun. Apr. 28 - Sat. May 4, 2024 Egyptian Theatre and Aero Theatre Newly struck 70mm print! THE SEARCHERS (1956) was filmed in VistaVision and released in 1.85. WB’s Motion Picture Imaging scanned the original 8 perf 35mm VistaVision camera negative in 13k with all restoration work completed in 6.5k, Jan Yarbrough, Colorist. The 70mm film print was created at Fotokem by filming out a new 65mm negative. WB’s Post Production Creative Services restored the original mono audio mix, with Doug Mountain as lead and assistance from Matt Vowles. Inventure Studios created the DTS encoded deliverable of the restored audio to playback flawlessly with the 70mm film print. The Film Foundation has given approval of this newly restored version. TICKETS