When I was youger I wasn't much of a fan but now with a couple yrs of life experience in the bag I see his legacy a little differently. I say first of all that there are no actors like him left in the world; he was an Icon. Now I know he is always described as a Non-actor who survived by playing himself in every movie. But to my mind that in itself is an accomplishment. If you watch him closely on the screen you can see he has a gift for using the story line to define his own personal beliefes. That may sound trite and i would agree except that is not so easy to do; I don't see anyone else doing that now on such a fundamental level as he does.
Look at the "Searchers", He starts out with those pure and ethical motives; his bitterness at the outcome of the civil war and his sense of outraged righteousness speaks eloquently to a portrait of a pent-up determination to make up for that devastating loss.
My favorite line after the most famous line; where Ward Bond asks him if he wants to give up the search and he says," That'll be the day."
Which BTW is the title of the Buddy Holley song that Buddy said he took from this movie.
The other line occurs when Ward Bond asks him;
Say; when did you get back; I ain't seen you since the surrender. In fact I didn't see you at the surrender."JW says this;
" I Don't Believe In Surrenders. Nope I still got my sabre Reverend; and I didn't turn it into no ploughshare either."
That line alone tells you everything about the guy. He is probably the only actor who could say that and mean it.
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