MovieChat Forums > 7 Men from Now (1956) Discussion > I'd love to have seen Wayne in this

I'd love to have seen Wayne in this

posted 15 years ago by m-j-mooney
15 replies | jump to latest

So, John Wayne wanted to do it, but couldn't due to being busy with "The Searchers". Well I would LOVE to have ssen him do it (not at the expense of John Ford's classic, of course!), because Randolph Scott is what lets this one down.

Yes, it's taut, well shot and all that, and Lee Marvin is simply magnificent. But Scott? Well, my Dad was one of his biggest fans, but when I was a boy I couldn't see the appeal - he just looked so OLD. That was true of virtually all the old movie stars I saw on TV in the 60s, but when I see them again now I realise how young they actually were. Not Randy Scott though - he still looks too old in this film. That would be OK in itself, but it's his acting. "Wooden" doesn't begin to describe it. I know Clint Eastwood based his style on this sort of performance, but he managed to carry it off, where Scott (in my opinion) didn't.

Just watch it again, and imagine John Wayne (whom some claim couldn't act) delivering some of Scott's lines, the way he did in "The Searchers". It could have been a masterpiece. As it was it was merely a very good B-western.

[–] Robbmonster 15 years ago

I like Randolph Scott in this film, and I hope to get my mitts on the other films he made with Budd Boetticher.

I think Scott's "woodeness" helps the film. It makes his determination more internal than I think Duke would have played it. Incomparable actors, however. Scott very understated, while Duke was more blustery.

The only Scott films I have seen are this and Ride the High Country, which I highly recommend if you havn't seen it.

"It's just a movie" is no excuse for treating us like idiots!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwRqc0KSkJ0

[–] wildbillharding 15 years ago

Go for it, Robbmonster. You will not be disappointed by any of the Scott-Boettichers, though Decision at Sundown is tied a mite too much to its interior town location and lacks the expansive feel of both Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station. I've just heard the BBC here in England is showing Seven Men From Now for the first time in 40 years, though if you're in the US I presume it's been available there all this time.

I saw The Tall T again recently and it's a classic. Scott's up against the underrated Richard Boone, Mr Paladin himself, and the corner Boone finds himself corralled in brings tears to the eyes. You're spot on about Randolph Scott. He was born to ride the Lone Pine Hills under Budd Boetticher's superlative direction and to deliver Burt Kennedy's sparse dialogue in his own, as you say, internalised manner.

[–] Crimpo2 15 years ago

Just saw this on the BBC - and it is a corker. It would have been a very different film with John Wayne but I think Wayne would have been delighted if it had turned out as well. Ironically, Wayne gave quite a Scott-esque performance in The Searchers which is, of course, about the best Western ever made. I'm a fan of both Wayne and Scott. Both are seriously under-rated as actors. Their range may have been limited but they were perfect at what they did do well.

The comment about Clint Eastwood is interesting and, once someone had mentioned it, obviously true. Clint is no fool - Randolph Scott made a fair few formulaic movies (as did Wayne) but his best ones (mentioned above) are right at the top of the Western genre.

[–] beresfordjd 15 years ago

Wayne only made one good movie and that was The Searchers-I would even go so far as to say he was good in it. Otherwise he was always rubbish. Scott was always better.

[–] JuanMacready 15 years ago

Scott was too old and wooden.

[–] mrobbins 15 years ago

I can't believe the negative, uninformed comments of those wanting to see John Wayne in this. Scott & Boetticher made films that were in many ways far better than much of Wayne's formulaic stuff. Don't get me wrong, there are many Wayne films I love but Scott's best westerns, of which this in undoubtedly one along with my fave, The Tall T, are right up there alongside & above Wayne's. True, neither could be called a great actor but in many ways I enjoy Randolph Scott's work more because he plays the character. But John Wayne never played anyone but himself, & even did that poorly sometimes

[–] stephenebrey 15 years ago

John Wayne was a favorite of great directors like John Ford and Howard Hawks, Randolph Scott was a favorite of the equally great directors Budd Botteicher and Sam Peckinpah. You really can't criticize either of them.

Yes, John Wayne played himself, but a good director knows how to use an actor who plays himself. Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo, starring John Wayne, is one of the most fun Westerns of all time.

This is like asking whether John Wayne or Clint Eastwood is better...

[–] wtl471629 15 years ago

Wayne would no doubt have been good in this but Scott did an excellent job in it for sure.

[–] sockscats 12 years ago

Scott was not too old and he was not wooden. That's just dumb! He is the most believable western actor there ever was. The idea is not to appear to be a man pretending to be a man of that time but just to be one and he does that better than anyone. You never realize he is acting he seems so natural whether he is handling a gun or riding a horse.

That said i would have loved to see Wayne in this only to see how he would have done in that type of role with Boetticher directions and Burt Kennedy's script. This film so much fits the mold of the other Boetticher films with the Kennedy script like Ride lonesome and Comanche station.

I love John Wayne westerns and i love Clint Eastwood westerns but my 2 favorite western actors are Randy Scott and James Stewart. True professionals.

[–] trprt77 9 years ago

Really? Only one?

At the very least, check him out in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. His heartfelt portrayal of a soldier 20 years older than he actually was in real life was superb.

[–] stephen-morton 14 years ago

I love John Wayne, and I think he made several masterpieces (The Searchers, Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Rio Bravo, They Were Expendable, Fort Apache, The Shootist). But Randolph Scott was excellent in this, and I think John Wayne would played it very different and made it a different movie. I don't know that that movie would have been bad, but I like it the way it is.

Randolph Scott is a stern man of few words, and I like that about him. I think Wayne would have seemed more talkative and more imposing. I liked the hero as a slight but tough man who could just stay quiet and avoid showing his feelings. He wasn't a man who emotes or lets others know what he's thinking, and that suited the character and movie perfectly. I felt Scott showed us exactly what he wanted to show us, and not a bit less. Excellent movie.

[–] sockscats 13 years ago

Randolph Scott and Jimmy Stewart are my 2 favorite western actors. I wouldn't trade out any of theiur performances with anybody else.

I can say that without bashing Wayne and the films he did which were also great. To say that the only good film he did was the searchers is rubbish. He did about 9-10 great westerns.

[–] Unfrzncavmnlwyr9 13 years ago

Scott was a great actor with an undeniably strong presence. Wayne is one of my all time favorites but Scott and Boetticher were a perfect match.

[–] phillipsdan83 10 years ago

Wayne's production company made this in the first place. A recent book suggests that Ford would've let him back out of THE SEARCHERS to do this if Wayne really thought that this was a better opportunity. And Ford rarely would have done this.

[–] 10 years ago

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