“I can remember seeing pictures in the Thirties that were wonderfully risqué. They were done with intimation.”The films he was particularly disgusted with, describing them as “perverted” were hits like Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider.Wayne added: “When you think of the wonderful picture fare we’ve had through the years and then realise we’ve come to this s**t, it’s disgusting.“If they want to continue making these films, fine, but my career will have ended. I feel the business is going to fade out from its own vulgarity.
“When the curious go to see gore and violence they make the bankers think that is what the public want.
“They seem to forget the one basic principle of our business … illusion. We’re in the business of magic. Perhaps we have run out of imagination.”
In another interview, just before his death in 1979 as a result of stomach cancer, with Playboy, Wayne outlined his frustration with censorship, noting film executives “know nothing about our business”.
The Oscar winner claimed they were “in it for the buck” and that he “couldn’t stand some of the old-time moguls”.
Wayne continued: “Today’s executives don’t give a damn.
“In their efforts to grab the box office that these sex pictures are attracting, they’re producing garbage. They’re taking advantage of the fact that nobody wants to be called a bluenose.”
And in a blunt remark regarding how suppressed some of the industry had begun, Wayne added: “We’ll have censorship in every state, in every city, and there’ll be no way you can make even a worthwhile picture for adults and have it acceptable for national release.”
Wayne’s last film appearance was in The Shootist, which was released in 1977.
It is among one of the greatest western films ever produced, according to the AFI, with director Quentin Tarantino also marking it out his favourite.
The director added: “There’s nothing in The Shootist you haven’t seen done many times before and done better… but what you haven’t seen before is a dying John Wayne give his last performance.
“And its Wayne’s performance, and the performances of some of the surrounding characters (Howard, Richard Boone, Harry Morgan, and Sheree North) that make The Shootist not the classic it wants to be, but memorable nonetheless.”
