‘Big Jake,’ No and Yes

Peter Langham states that John Wayne’s best movie of the ‘70s was “Big Jake” (“Why the Duke Is Still King of Viewer Surveys,” June 11). Oh behave! Wayne’s best film of the western genre of the ‘70s was “The Cowboys.”

MARK BRACK

Los Angeles

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I too rank the Duke as one of my five favorite stars. And I also believe that “Big Jake” was one of his finest. The first shot of Wayne in “Big Jake,” a craggy face peering down the barrel of his Winchester lever action, is the perfect film shot of this immortal actor. His family corporation would be well-advised to have that shot made into a poster.

Jimmy Buffett said it best in his song “Incommunicado”: “Can’t believe the old man’s gone. . . .” John Wayne gone? To steal two classic lines from “The Searchers” and “Big Jake”: “That’ll be the day” and “Not hardly.”

RANDALL R. RUDDY

Chino