Oh man, was this ever fun. The Fox Theater is the oldest theater in Tucson. A few years ago they completely restored it. It looks amazing inside.
So we get there and they have displays of stuff from John Wayne's estate. Including his hat and boots from this movie. He also wore this hat in Rio Bravo and that's when he "retired it."
The whole shindig was catered. They had BBQ on biscuits and nachos and all kinds of stuff that I can't eat. Smelled great though.
Then before the movie was aired 5 people were introduced and they sat on chairs on the stage and talked about the restoration of this movie. Leading the discussion was John Landis whose most famous films are "Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers." Also present was Ron Shelton who is most famous for "Bull Durham" and "Tin Cup." Also present was Mick Garris who is most famous for the TV movie of Stephen King's "The Stand." A guy named Mark Sennet who produced HBO series "K Street" and Stephen King's "Desperation." Finally Gretchen Wayne. She is the widow of John Wayne's oldest son, Michael.
Also present in the audience were two of John Wayne's children, Aissa and Christopher.
This is the first of 20 John Wayne movies that they are bringing to the Fox Theater in 2008. Patrick Wayne, a Cowboys fan who is being invited to join this site, is coming for one of the future films. I'm not sure which yet. They are also doing this around the country so you might want to watch for them near you.
Also coming in 2008 will be...
"The Big Trail" (1930) John Wayne's first starring role.
"Stagecoach" (1939)
"The Fighting Seabees" (1944)
"Fort Apache" (1948)
"The Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949)
"Rio Grande" (1950)
"The Quiet Man" (1952) The next in the series, showing March 16th, the day before St. Patrick's day.
"The Searchers" (1956) Shout out to DallasCowpoke, you are invited if you want to come.
"Rio Bravo" (1959) The movie that revived Old Tucson as a film location.
"The Alamo" (1960)
"McLintock" (1963) Shout out to Chief, you are invited. I know it's your favorite.
"El Dorado" (1966)
"The Green Berets" (1968)
"True Grit" (1969), His only Oscar winning performance though he was nominated 3 times.
"The Cowboys" (1972) My absolute favorite. Great title isn't it?
"Rooster Cogburn" (1975)
"The Shootist" (1976) His last film before he died.
Hot damn, what a night. The 3D stuff was great. It was kind of funny to hear the people's reaction to so much in this movie that was not Politically Correct. That's why it's a great movie, it's authentic.
The 5 special guests shared stories about the restoration of movies, Hollywood, and some great ones about John Ford. One that I can't share with the forum, though it was classic.
John Landis called John Wayne "the epitome of a great actor because he just dominates a film." He said his performance in "The Searchers" is the greatest ever for any character in a Western.
Seeing John Wayne on the big screen was a rare privilege. One I hope to have 19 more times this year, as long as Dallas isn't playing at the same time.
Oh yeah, I got my tickets from Shannon Black, a DJ on the local country station, KIIM FM 99.5. She just happens to be a Cowboys fan and has been invited to this site. She told me today she'll get me tickets to anything I want to go to as long as I keep her informed on the Cowboys stuff. She is beyond cool to do that for me.
