No movie star ever had a better sense of what their audience wanted, and how to deliver it, than John Wayne. From his outstanding performance in John Ford's 1939 masterpiece Stagecoach henceforth, Wayne was considered one of the surest bets at the Hollywood box office because of his knack for making, generally, westerns or war pictures that had a bit more oomph in the writing and directing departments. Obviously, it helped that two of the greatest filmmakers of his era, John Ford and Howard Hawks, were frequent collaborators, but Wayne identified other directors and writers who could work efficiently and skillfully on programmers who followed up on themes near and dear to the heart of The Duke (eg family, patriotism and rugged individualism).

Were critics always impressed by Wayne's work? Absolutely not. Fortunately, the feeling was mutual. As Wayne once said of critics, “When people say that a John Wayne picture got bad reviews, I always wonder if they know that's a redundant sentence, but hell, I don't care. "People like my pictures and that's all that matters."

Wayne's connection with movie audiences seemed unwavering until the 1960s, when Baby Boomers began to reject his old-fashioned jingoism and retrograde views of other cultures. Although most of his films still managed to turn a profit, younger audiences were much more excited by the explosion of a spaghetti western with a conventional twist. Finally, as the 1970s began, Wayne was no longer a reliable draw, and, perhaps most poignantly for the Duke, the films began to feel like rehashes. Eventually it got to the point where he could no longer deny the decline in quality and, being open minded, he had to say something about it.

Directed by his frequent collaborator Andrew W. McLaglen, "Cahill U.S. Marshal" cast the then-66-year-old Wayne as a feature-length lawman whose very young sons (they're 17 and 12) help make a bank robbery possible by temporarily freeing a gang of outlaws from their father's prison while he is out of town for work. You might expect there to be hell to pay, but these kids are so young that the Duke decides to take a softer approach and reconcile with his sons (who feel neglected after their mother's death).

Despite this slight tweak to the formula, Cahill US Marshal is still a standard issue John Wayne Western. But given his age and his appearance (due to his health issues, Wayne looked a good 10 years older than he was), it all feels dated and weak.

And Wayne knew it. In a 1975 interview, two years after the film's release, the Duke stated Tony McLean of Film Legacy"It just wasn't a well-made picture. It needed better writing. It needed a little more care in the production." He's not wrong, but is that the worst western he's ever starred in? That distinction may go to "Rooster Cogburn," the aimless sequel to 1975's "True Grit." At least Wayne ended his career with a fine, melancholy western in "The Shootist." All that said, if he's only made a few really underwhelming ones, it's still an astonishingly great record.