John Wayne, the man inside the myth

John Wayne was larger than life. An unabashed conservative. Two-fisted. Macho.

He was also a superb craftsman who worked with some of the landmark directors of the 20th century, including John Ford, Howard Hawks, William Wellman and Don Siegel. Though he died in 1979 at age 72, his legacy looms large.

So large that USC's School of Cinematic Arts, collaborating with Visions and Voices: The USC Arts & Humanities Initiative, is offering a three-day scholarly examination of the Duke titled "John Wayne: Actor, Star, Icon, Trojan."

"When you have a conversation with people about John Wayne, the feeling is, 'Ah, well, he wasn't that much of an actor,' " says USC film professor Rick Jewell. "But if you have really seen most of his work, you know that is far from the case. He was an extraordinary actor."

"The icon has overtaken the actor in many people's eyes, I think," says film historian Leonard Maltin. "So it's high time the actor was reevaluated. There is nothing stupider than saying he was playing himself because I don't know what the real himself was like, but from what I gathered it wasn't that guy we saw on screen."

The retrospective, which kicks off tonight and continues through Sunday at USC's Norris Cinema Theatre/Frank Sinatra Hall, celebrates the famed USC alum through a series of classic films and discussions. The event also heralds the opening Sunday of a three-month exhibit of Wayne's life and career in the David L. Wolper Center, in the lower level of USC's Doheny Memorial Library, which features artifacts and memorabilia culled from Batjac Productions -- Wayne's production company -- the USC Film Archives and private collectors.

This evening's program features two of Wayne's landmark westerns: 1939's "Stagecoach," the John Ford classic that made Wayne a star, and 1948's sagebrush saga "Red River," directed by Howard Hawks.

"He had a marvelous range," Jewell maintains. "In certain roles, like in 'The Searchers' and "Red River,' he is just absolutely powerful. He commands the screen, and you can't imagine anybody else playing those roles. They are just the most captivating and powerful jobs of acting in screen history."

Jewell admits that Wayne's commanding presence does come through in roles so strongly that "you kind of fall back on that position that he never stretched. But he did stretch himself. He did play characters who weren't just the white-hat heroes he started out playing in the movies. He played characters who had depth to them and psychological angst inside of them and who were not that admirable in so many ways."