Young Wayne Blazed a Big Trail
Discussing John Wayne's first major film, The Big Trail, with Richard Schickel.
Categories: Westerns
By: Henry Cabot Beck 06/01/2008
The best documentarian for a job of that sort would have been Richard Schickel, who knew and filmed Raoul Walsh as part of his series “The Men Who Made the Movies” in the early 1970s, which also included segments on Howard Hawks, King Vidor and Alfred Hitchcock.
Since that time, Schickel has written innumerable reviews and essays on film for Time magazine and The Los Angeles Times, and has authored books on Walt Disney, Marlon Brando, Clint Eastwood and, more recently, Elia Kazan.
This fall, Mr. Schickel’s multi-part history of Warner Brothers, You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story, narrated by Clint Eastwood, will be seen on PBS as part of the “American Masters” series.
Schickel also provided commentary for the latest DVD edition of The Big Trail. The two-DVD set also offers short pieces on Walsh, Wayne, the Grandeur Process and the two separate English-language versions of the film, in widescreen and 35mm.
True West interviewed Mr. Schickel for his insights into The Big Trail, John Wayne and Raoul Walsh.
TW: Reading Walsh’s autobiography (Each Man In His Time: The Life Story of a Director), he seemed like a great guy—
RS: Raoul was a wonderful man, a fabulous character and a delightful human being.
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