A Man to Match the Land

John Wayne had incrementally risen from three-day pictures to six-day pictures to ten-day pictures, with corresponding increases in salary but very little increase in prestige. “I kept nagging at [John] Ford,” remembered Wayne. “‘When is it my turn?’ He’d say, ‘Just wait. I’ll let you know when I get the right script.’ And he did.” Right after Wayne finished shooting Red River Range, Ford found the script for Wayne. It was Stagecoach. Ford and his partner Merian C. Cooper