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Batjac
Batjac Productions is an independent film production company co-founded by John Wayne in 1952 as a vehicle for Wayne to both produce and star in movies. The first Batjac production was '' Big Jim McLain'' released by Warner Bros. in 1952, and its final film was ''McQ'', in 1974, also distributed by Warner Bros. After John Wayne's death in 1979, his son Michael Wayne owned and managed the company until his own death in 2003, when his wife Gretchen assumed ownership. About the company Wayne and producer Robert Fellows founded Batjac in 1952 as ''Wayne/Fellows Productions''. When Fellows left the company several years later, Wayne renamed the corporation after a fictitious trading company mentioned in the film '' Wake of the Red Witch'' (1948). The company name in ''Wake of the Red Witch'' was spelled Batjak, but Wayne's secretary misspelled it as Batjac on the corporation papers, and Wayne let it stand. Having his own company was intended to give Wayne artistic control over the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McLintock!
:''See also McClintock (other)'' ''McLintock!'' is a 1963 American Western comedy film, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. The film co-stars Wayne's son Patrick Wayne, Stefanie Powers, Jack Kruschen, Chill Wills, and Yvonne De Carlo (billed as special guest star). Loosely based on William Shakespeare's '' The Taming of the Shrew'', the project was filmed in Technicolor and Panavision, and produced by Wayne's company, Batjac Productions. In 1991, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. Plot The year is 1895. Cattle baron and town namesake George Washington "G.W." McLintock lives as a bachelor on his ranch on the Mesa Verde. His wife, Katherine, abandoned him with no explanation and became a socialite back East two years prior; his daughter, Rebecca "Becky" McLintock, is away finishing her college degree. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The High And The Mighty (film)
''The High and the Mighty'' is a 1954 American aviation disaster film, directed by William A. Wellman, and written by Ernest K. Gann, who also wrote The High and the Mighty (novel), the 1953 novel on which his screenplay was based. Filmed in Eastmancolor, WarnerColor and CinemaScope, the film's cast was headlined by John Wayne, who was also the project's co-producer. Wayne stars as a veteran airline first officer, Dan Roman, whose airliner has a catastrophic engine failure while crossing the Pacific Ocean. The film's supporting cast includes Claire Trevor, Laraine Day, Robert Stack, Jan Sterling, Phil Harris, and Robert Newton. Composer Dimitri Tiomkin won an Academy Awards, Oscar for his Academy Award for Best Original Score, original score, while his The High and the Mighty (1954 song), title song was also Academy Award for Best Original Song, nominated for an Oscar; it did not actually appear in the theatrical release prints, nor in its much later restoration. The film receiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hondo (film)
''Hondo'' is a 1953 Warnercolor three-dimensional (3D) Western film directed by John Farrow and starring John Wayne and Geraldine Page. The screenplay is based on the 1952 ''Collier's'' short story "The Gift of Cochise" by Louis L'Amour. The book ''Hondo'' was a novelization of the film also written by L'Amour, and published by Gold Medal Books in 1953. The supporting cast features Ward Bond, James Arness, and Leo Gordon. The shoot went over schedule, and Farrow had to leave the production, as he was contractually obligated to direct another movie. The final scenes featuring the Apache attack on the circled wagons of the Army and settlers were shot by John Ford, whom Wayne had asked to finish the film; Ford was uncredited for this work. Plot Homesteader Angie Lowe and her six-year-old son Johnny are doing chores when soldier Hondo Lane arrives with his dog, carrying his saddle bags and rifle. He was riding dispatch for the U.S. Army Cavalry, had an encounter with Native ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Alamo (1960 Film)
''The Alamo'' is a 1960 American epic Western war film about the 1836 Siege and Battle of the Alamo produced and directed by John Wayne and starring Wayne as Davy Crockett. The film also co-stars Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B. Travis, and features: Frankie Avalon, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Joan O'Brien, Chill Wills, Joseph Calleia, Ken Curtis, Ruben Padilla as Santa Anna, and Richard Boone as Sam Houston. Shot in 70 mm Todd-AO by William H. Clothier, it was released by United Artists. Plot Sam Houston leads the forces of Texas against Mexico and needs time to build an army. The opposing Mexican forces, led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna are numerically stronger as well as better-armed and trained. Nevertheless, the Texans have spirit and morale remains generally high. Lieutenant Colonel William Travis is tasked with defending the Alamo, a former mission in San Antonio. Jim Bowie comes with reinforcements and the defe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escort West
''Escort West'' is a 1959 American Western film directed by Francis D. Lyon, and starring Victor Mature, Faith Domergue, and Elaine Stewart. The movie is set after the U.S. Civil War, when a former Confederate officer, played by Victor Mature, and his daughter help some survivors of an Indian massacre. The film was released by United Artists on January 23, 1959. It was the second of two co-productions between Batjac and Romina Productions. Their first was ''China Doll'' (1957). The movie was filmed largely on the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, California, with additional footage shot on the nearby Bell Moving Picture Ranch. The site of the Bell Ranch location shoot remained a mystery for decades until it was discovered on an expedition by film location researchers in early 2015. The researchers found the location by using information from "Escort West" and the first Elvis Presley movie, '' Love Me Tender'', which filmed its climactic sequence at the same site, known as the " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gun The Man Down
''Gun the Man Down'' is a 1956 American western film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring James Arness and Angie Dickinson in her first leading role. The film was produced by Robert E. Morrison for his brother John Wayne's company Batjac Productions. It was the second theatrical feature directed by McLaglen, who was a prolific director of television westerns. Plot Three outlaws rob a bank, but one of them is wounded. His two partners kidnap his girlfriend, take his share of the money and run off, leaving him to be captured by the sheriff. One year later, after he gets out of prison, he goes in search of his double-crossing partners and his girlfriend. He finds them in a semi-deserted, run-down town, but instead of killing them right away, he decides to play cat-and-mouse with them first. Cast * James Arness as Remington "Rem" Anderson * Angie Dickinson as Janice * Emile Meyer as Sheriff Morton * Robert J. Wilke as Matt Rankin * Harry Carey, Jr. as Deputy Lee * Don Meg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China Doll (film)
''China Doll'' (a.k.a. ''Time Is a Memory'') is a 1958 romantic drama film set in the China Burma India Theater of World War II and starring Victor Mature and Li Li-Hua. It represented a return to films for director Frank Borzage who had taken a 10-year hiatus. The film's copyright was renewed. Plot In 1943, Captain Cliff Brandon (Victor Mature) is a cargo aircraft pilot supplying the Allied troops fighting the Japanese in Kunming, Yunnan, southwestern China. When he is not flying or training his new crew hard, he is usually drinking in the local bar. One night, while stumbling home drunk, he encounters an old Chinese man from Chongqing who offers him a girl, his daughter Shu-Jen (Li Li-Hua). Brandon pays him, but when he sees the young woman, he tells the old man to keep her. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds Shu-Jen there. After Father Cairns (Ward Bond), a longtime resident missionary in China, expresses his disapproval, Brandon tries his best to get rid of her, assi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Track Of The Cat (film)
''Track of the Cat'' is a 1954 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright and Diana Lynn. The film is based on a 1949 adventure novel of the same name by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. This was Wellman's second adaptation of a Clark novel; the first was '' The Ox-Bow Incident'' in 1943. ''Track of the Cat'' was produced by John Wayne and Robert Fellows for their production company Batjac Productions. Plot The squabbling Bridges family spend a harsh winter on their remote ranch in Northern California during the early 1900s. Crude, quarrelsome Curt Bridges bullies his modest, unassuming older brother Arthur, while youngest brother Harold endures Curt's abuse in silence. Their mother is a bigoted religious zealot; their father is a loquacious, self-pitying drunk. Bitter old-maid sister Grace is temporarily gladdened by the arrival of Harold’s fiancée, the spirited Gwen. The family's hired Indian hand, Joe Sam, alerts the family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood's Golden Age, especially in Western film, Western and war film, war movies. His career flourished from the silent film era of the 1920s through the American New Wave, as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television productions. He was among the top box-office draws for three decades and appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, greatest male stars of classic American cinema. Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa, but grew up in Southern California. After losing his Athletic scholarship, football scholarship to the University of Southern California due to a bodysurfing accident, he began working for the 20th Century Fox, Fox ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plunder Of The Sun
''Plunder of the Sun'' is a 1949 novel written by David Dodge about the hunt for ancient Peruvian treasure. It was adapted for the November 8, 1949 episode of the radio series ''Escape'' and later into the 1953 film noir of the same title, starring Glenn Ford and with the location changed from Peru to Mexico. Plot Adventurer Al Colby is persuaded by Anna Luz and her antiquities-collector husband Thomas Berrien to help them smuggle a parcel into Mexico where its true value can be ascertained. Warned that a man named Jefferson, who is traveling on the same freighter, might try to steal the parcel, Colby forms a partnership with Jefferson following Berrien's fatal heart attack aboard the ship. Jefferson betrays and shoots Colby, but Colby saves himself and the rare documents in time. They will be returned to a museum while he and Anna can enjoy a $25,000 reward. Cast *Glenn Ford as Al Colby *Diana Lynn as Julie Barnes *Patricia Medina as Anna Luz * Francis L. Sullivan as Thomas Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Jake (film)
''Big Jake'' is a 1971 American Technicolor Western film starring John Wayne, Richard Boone and Maureen O'Hara. The picture was the final film for George Sherman in a directing career of more than 30 years, and Maureen O'Hara's last film with John Wayne and her last before her twenty-year retirement. The supporting cast features Patrick Wayne, Christopher Mitchum, Glenn Corbett, Jim Davis, John Agar, Harry Carey Jr. and Hank Worden. Plot In 1909, near the Mexico-United States border, Martha McCandles runs a massive ranch with the help of her sons Jeff, Michael, and James. The Fain Gang (The Fain Brothers, the Devries Brothers, John Goodfellow, Kid Duffy, Breed O'Brien, Pop Dawson, and Trooper) attacks the ranch, slaying many members of the staff. Jeff kills the Devries brothers but is badly wounded; his son, Jacob "Little Jake," is kidnapped before the gang flees to Mexico, leaving behind a ransom note for $1 million. Martha places the ransom in a strongbox, and delega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wake Of The Red Witch
''Wake of the Red Witch'' is a 1948 American adventure film directed by Edward Ludwig, produced by Edmund Grainger and starring John Wayne, Gail Russell, Gig Young, Adele Mara and Luther Adler. It is based upon the 1946 novel of the same name written by Garland Roark. The film is one of the few A-level features produced by Republic Pictures, as it had a relatively high production budget. It became one of Republic's most successful releases. John Wayne stars as a sea captain in the early 1860s East Indies seeking revenge against a wealthy shipping magnate. Plot Two men of the sea carry an ongoing rivalry: Mayrant Sidneye, owner of the shipping company Batjak Limited, and Captain Ralls. Ralls is the ruthless captain of the ''Red Witch'', Batjak's flagship. He deliberately wrecks and sinks the ship and its cargo of gold bullion worth five million dollars. He escapes a charge of barratry when Batjak unexpectedly withdraws its complaint. Ralls and his first mate Sam Rosen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
