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Whoa, pilgrim, have we got a video treat in store for you this week.
To honour what would have been the legendary John Wayne's 100th birthday, Warner Home Video and Paramount Home Entertainment are teaming up to offer 48 Wayne popular classics.
Lead titles are Rio Bravo in both a 2-disc special edition and Ultimate Collectors Edition, The Cowboys as a Deluxe Edition and True Grit as a Special Collector's Edition.
WHV also will debut the John Wayne Film Collection, a six-disc set (also available individually) featuring six films never before on DVD: Allegheny Uprising, Reunion in France, Tycoon, Without Reservations, Trouble Along the Way and Big Jim McLain. Warner now has 34 Wayne films available.
Paramount has 14 Wayne titles on DVD, led by a Special Collector's Edition of True Grit and three collections: The John Wayne Century Collection (which features 14 films including The High And The Mighty Special Collector's Edition and Island In The Sky Special Collector's Edition from Batjac Productions, Inc., The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Shootist and Big Jake), The John Wayne Western Collection (which features nine films including Hondo Special Collector's Edition and McLintock! Special Collector's Edition from Batjac Productions, Inc., El Dorado and Rio Lobo) and the John Wayne Adventure Collection (which features five films including The High and the Mighty Special Collector's Edition, Island in the Sky Special Collector's Edition and In Harm's Way).
George Feltenstein, Warner's Senior Vice President Theatrical Catalog Marketing, said the "unprecedented teaming of Warner Home Video and Paramount is a true testament to the power of Wayne's enduring appeal."
And Michael Arkin, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Paramount, said, "John Wayne continues to be an American icon and we're very pleased to be teaming with Warner Home Video to celebrate his film legacy in a way that is befitting of The Duke."
Some trivia on The Duke, who was born Marion Robert Morrison (his parents later changed his middle name to Michael) on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa. He died of lung and stomach cancer in Los Angeles on June 11, 1979. (Note: Trivia courtesy the Internet movie database and Wikipedia):
- His parents were of Scots-Irish descent. His father was a Civil War veteran and pharmacist.
- His family moved to Glendale, Calif., in 1911 and it was there he got the moniker "Big Duke". Local firefighters gave him the name because he went everywhere with his dog, Little Duke. Not surprisingly, he preferred to be called Duke, rather than Marion.
- Upon being cast by Raoul Walsh in Fox's The Big Trail (1930) the studio decided his name had to be changed. Walsh said he was reading a biography on General "Mad" Anthony Wayne and suggested that name. The studio liked the last name but not the first and decided on "John Wayne".
- Voted the 5th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly, the 4th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine and is 13 on the American Film Institute's 50 Greatest Screen Legends list.
- The inscription on the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to him in 1979 reads, "John Wayne, American."
And some quotes:
- "I'm an American actor. I work with my clothes on. I have to. Riding a horse can be pretty tough on your legs and elsewheres."
- (Accepting his Oscar for True Grit): "If I'd known this was all it would take, I'd have put that eyepatch on 40 years ago."
- "God-damn, I'm the stuff men are made of!"
- "I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please."