John Wayne: The Westerns

David Morrell isn't only an acclaimed thriller author and the creator of Rambo. He's also a former professor of American Studies who writes in-depth profiles about film and music legends who changed our culture.

Few film actors had the lasting popularity of John Wayne, especially in westerns. During his lifetime, Wayne was a top-ten box office star for twenty-four years. Three decades after his death, a 2012 Harris poll continued to place him among the top 5 most-liked film actors.

In this comprehensive essay, award-winner David Morrell analyzes Wayne's career in westerns and explores his fascinating personality, including his Latin studies in high school and his skills as a chess player. Even Wayne's most knowledgeable fans will be surprised by this insightful study.

Morrell's fascination with Wayne motivated him to use this iconic actor as the inspiration for the main character of a historical novel, LAST REVEILLE, which dramatizes America's 1916 invasion of Mexico, supposedly to pursue the Mexican bandit, Pancho Villa, but actually to practice military exercises for America's entry into World War I.

David Morrell is the award-winning author of First Blood, the novel in which Rambo was created. A former professor of American literature at the University of Iowa, he has written numerous New York Times bestsellers, including the classic Brotherhood of the Rose spy trilogy. The main character in Morrell's western novel, Last Reveille, was inspired by Wayne's career.