The centenary of John Wayne’s birth passed in 2007 with hardly any attention from the U.S. media, which shows both how out of touch the critical community is and how much more astute audiences are than the great majority of those who would presume to guide them. This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the death of the greatest movie star of all time, John Wayne, and his films still remain immensely popular on television and video, while critics grossly underestimate both his talent and his cultural significance.

Wayne surely wasn’t the most skilled actor ever, but he played a much wider variety of roles than is commonly acknowledged, and he brought his characters vividly to life with a force of personality very few, if any, other performers have even approached. A tall, powerfully built, former college football player, Wayne was a huge presence in the motion picture industry, and a superb actor whose skills were consistently underrated by the critics and still are.

Audiences, however, knew just how great he was, and they made his movies nearly automatic su