Previously-
Yup! Another one!
Stumbled into this by accident on a Google rabbit hole.
Rod Serling vs John Wayne!
Yup, it happened.
Sorta.
Twilight Zone's "Showdown with Rance McGrew" (written by Serling) was meant to be a middle finger to Wayne.
The episode's about a fake TV cowboy who gets time-warped by the ghost of Jesse James to the real wild west, and gets he ass handed to him.
Serling served in WWII, and came away from it with PTSD.
Which is why there are so many anti-war Zones.
Most sane vets come back anti-war.
Show me the rare vet who thought war was a good time, and either they found a comfy niche, and avoided the shit, or that person is psychopath you need to get away from.
Speaking of comfy niches...
Wayne OTOH, dodged the war, and his film career flourished without competition.
Wayne made war propaganda films, but they were pretty vile. Especially the anti-Japanese ones.
Serling flat out said Rance McGrew was supposed to be Wayne in an interview in "The Twilight Zone Companion".
So, Rod Serling basically openly slammed John Wayne as a cowardly phony.
Good. Glad my hero pissed on Wayne.
I love Serling even more.
All this said, the episode isn't executed very well. Kinda goofy and corny.
You'd never know from the surface level the actor/character was supposed to be anyone real.
SNL/MadTV/Family Guy it ain't.
It's not one of the good ones. I'm familiar with it.
I've seen it pop up in marathons.
But! The story behind it is great, and I'll enjoy it all the more now.
Here's my other John Wayne blog as prequel.
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