Keeping up with the Duke

My wife Holly and I were watching John Wayne's "Angel And The Bad Man" last night, and it occurred to me that it might be Wayne's second best early movie, following "Stagecoach." We've turned into big fans of western movies, and I've collected several anthologies featuring Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, the Cisco Kid, Hopalong Cassidy, and others.

I have several modern TV westerns, including "Conagher," "Last Stand At Saber River," "Crossfire Trail" and "Monte Walsh." Sam Elliott, who plays Conagher, and Tom Selleck, who stars in the three other movies, are two of my favorite western actors. Along with Robert Duvall, they're probably the best current western actors (although Duvall is getting old for that genre).

I have several Wayne westerns on DVD, including "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence," "The Searchers," "The Shootist," "Hondo," "The Sons of Katie Elder," "El Dorado," "Rio Lobo," "Rio Bravo," and "Rio Grande." Oh, I also have "Red River," "Tall in the Saddle" and "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon."

I also have some of Wayne's non-westerns like "The Quiet Man" (my favorite Wayne movie), "Hatari!", and "Donovan's Reef"; I watch each of those two or three times a year. And I occasionally drive my wife crazy by watching the not-so-great "The Hellfighters."

Oh, before I forget, on a non-John Wayne note, I also have a DVD of "Lonesome Dove", which stars Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones. That may be the best western ever made; certainly, it's the best long western ever done. And I think Duvall's Augustus MacRae might be the most likeable character I've seen. In any form.

CONTACT: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing