At my sister's house taking care of her pups while she goes down south for a wedding. And I really wasn't feeling much about a movie I figured I got all my movies put together until July (this was June by the way) but then all a sudden I was browsing through HBO Max and found a John Wayne movie that I surprisingly have not seen ever, and for good reasons, I guess. Now when we think of John Wayne all we can think of his either him playing a Cowboy or playing a American Officer in World War II or a pilot, and I've been a huge fan of John Wayne's filmography ever since my father introduced me to The Son's of Katie Elder, but never in a million years did I ever imagine the Big Duke ever playing a German Captain set in beginnings of the second World War.
Karl Ehrlich (John Wayne) is the German Captain of a freighter stationed in an Australian port. Ehrlich, a fervent opponent of Nazism, receives word that World War II has commenced in Europe, and that he must his way to Germany while avoiding the pursing Allied ships. Aboard his ship is a German spy (Lana Turner), whose safe passage he must endure. Meanwhile, a British ship -- with Cmdr. Jeff Napier (David Farrar) at its helm -- is hot on their trail.
Watching this film for the first time, I still find it a mystery as to who was the one producer to convince John Wayne into playing a German Captain set in the second World War, but this wasn't any producer or director amongst my research that show no evidence of anyone convincing Wayne to play a German officer set around Nazism. And I never in a million years never expected him ever playing these types of characters because when you look at John Wayne, he's the All-American iconic actor of his era he was always playing a patriot or a Cowboy and this was one of those films that I never thought he would play. Granted the Duke, turned down roles from High Noon or All the Kings Men for many reasons Wayne couldn't stand the script (in All the Kings Men) that clashed with his political views. I think the bottom line in what I would assume to be his reason, was he just wanted to something to depart himself from all the patriotic roles he's used to play, which makes sense because when John Ford came along, he gave him a role of a racist cowboy to play in The Searchers. And the Duke is playing a German that's all against Nazism so, in all fairness he's playing a patriot when you think about it. For a film alone, the suspense and the action was really outstanding like, I was really on the edge of my seat through the course of the film from the dangers that happen or when one actor goes crazy with an axe or the hope that Wayne and Lana Turner would make it out alive, like all of the suspense is still in there but then at times it does feel a little on the boring side especially the drama between Wayne's character and David Farrar's character but still is entertaining to watch, especially when we get to the climax of the film. Not the most perfect of John Wayne's movies I've seen, but I still recommend watching this movie for all fans of the Duke mainly because the film does have its moments and does show some moments of compelling action throughout the course of the film. So, if you all have Hulu or HBO Max, I would highly recommend watching John Wayne as a German Captain and the accent doesn't even bother me none because the crew or even Lana Turner have German accent's so who cares, hell Tom Cruise never had a German accent in Valkyrie. So, to all you Woke's out there, just cry me a river and grow a sense of humor in your balls sack.
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