'John Wayne : America At All Costs' (2019, Documentary)

It's viewable on Prime Video, which is where I watched it yesterday.

While this is the Classic Film board rather than the Politics one, it's impossible to separate politics from the doc, as that's the prism through which it examines Wayne's life and career. Without being too pointed about them, the film draws apt parallels between Wayne, actor and man, and America, nation and ideal, and how heavily each has depended upon their respective - and sometimes merging - mythologies. 

Many performers have been known in private life to represent the antithesis of their screen image; others naturally infused their performances with characteristics for which they were well known offscreen; still others would create public personas that became integrated with their own personalities; Cary Grant comes to mind, having famously said, "So many people want to be Cary Grant; even I want to be Cary Grant." Wayne once said he wished his epitaph to be, "He was ugly, was strong and had dignity." In his case, the well-known line from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance may be even more applicable: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

The documentary form is such an interesting permutation of film making. Two on the very same subject can tell entirely different stories, yet be equally factual. It all comes down to what each chooses to include and exclude. Saying John Wayne: America At All Costs has an axe to grind would be overstatement, but it does present a discernible point of view.