It takes real cojones to stand up to John Wayne. When Bruce Dern played The Duke’s primary antagonist in the 1972 western The Cowboys, he ended up receiving hate mail for decades even though he never said a bad word about his co-star off-screen. In real life, it’s now acceptable to criticise Wayne for his racism and full-throated defence of the US involvement in Vietnam, but for the most part, actors who worked with him have always been complimentary.
The Duke worked with his fair share of movie stars throughout his lengthy career, some of whom were so famous that they had no incentive to falsely praise the western star. So when famous liberals like Katharine Hepburn and Kirk Douglas proclaimed him to be a lovely man and a fantastic colleague, it’s reasonable to assume that they were telling it like it was. Wayne had a reputation for being supportive and kind to his co-stars, making him a well-loved figure in the industry. However, there was one actor who not only disliked him, but looked down on him.
James Caan worked with the star on Howard Hawks’ 1966 western El Dorado. At the time, Caan was still years away from playing his most famous role as Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. He was far from being a household name, and the movie was the biggest of his career so far. He had every reason to be deferential to Wayne, who was two decades into his reign as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but as his later reputation would come to prove, he wasn’t afraid of anyone.
During an interview with The Guardian in 1999, Caan revealed that he used to play chess with Wayne in between takes on set. Apparently, the Duke was a first-class cheater. “He was so lame,” Caan recalled. “He’d say, ‘Hey, Jimmy, what’s that over there,’ and shove the rook around while I gazed yonder like a schmuck.” It enraged the young actor so much that he threw a punch at his 59-year-old co-star. It didn’t matter that he was nearly a foot shorter than the western icon. As far as he was concerned, the man was beneath him.
Caan’s patience had already worn thin. Apparently, Wayne nicknamed him “Jiminy Cricket” because of the top hat he wore in the film, and he referred to him as “son”. Given the age difference, the latter could easily be seen as kind and fatherly, but Caan clearly took offence. He later alleged that he’d taken another swing at his co-star during a particularly frustrating moment on set and had to be restrained by co-star Robert Mitchum.
If Wayne had met Caan a decade later, chances are he wouldn’t have dared to cheat at chess or saddle his young co-star with a nickname pulled straight from a Disney movie. Although the young actor could give a colourful interview, his violent antics became the stuff of Hollywood legend. He didn’t have to act in many of his movies. He was a genuine tough guy. He was still in his mid-20s when he made El Dorado, but he clearly was not a man to be trifled with.