What is it about John Wayne? Big, craggy, always the same character, and most films are pretty mediocre (if not worse) from a film critics perspective. Politically the guy was just to the right of Attilla the Hun.....but you know, I LOVE John Wayne movies! I don't know why....there's something about his character portrayal that resonates. Maybe it's because I come from a southern family and upbringing. Some of the attitudes and behaviors from great Wayne films were observed in houses in which I was raised. Maybe it's the larger than life story telling, another staple of my upbringing. My folks could tell stories about events in their lives and stretch them for hours, eliciting comments like "yes....I knew Aunt Mabel was an official Ninja...I saw the paper that says so...." or "you know uncle Waldo once kicked Patton's ass in a bar fight, right? Not only that, but when Omar Bradley started to stick his nose into it, he got a taste of the Florsheims too