I'm not that big of fan of AMC any more, because of their commercials, but they will be showing the John Wayne movie The High and the Mighty this weekend. 8 pm EST Sunday July 17th and Monday July 18th at 1:30 am EST. I'm not sure why but I understand this movie hasn't been shown too often because of legal issues.

My Mom was the biggest John Wayne fan in the world, and I think this was her favorite movie of his. It's about a passenger plane flying from Hawaii to San Fransisco that has engine problems. Wayne is the co-pilot and Robert Stack is the pilot. If you've ever seen any movie, or take off of a movie, that has a scene where one actor slaps another, who then says "Thanks, I needed that", this is probably the movie that started it all.

I highly recommend watching it if you get the chance.

DAMN< DAMN< DAMN I have always wanted to see that movie. One of my lifelong goals is to see every John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart movie. My cable provider 6 weeks ago decided to illiminate AMC for some network showing video games (sign of the times)

Any real kind soul....could you videotape it and send to me. I'll even send tape back after I see it.

Too bad Steve, you missed two really pretty good movies. It was a "John Wayne Weekend" on AMC and right before High and the Mighty they showed Island in the Sky. I had never even HEARD of this movie. It was also based on a book by Ernest Gann, who wrote The High and Mighty, and came out the year before. Island in the Sky is about a cargo plane that goes down in the great North, either Canada or Alaska. Wayne is the pilot and just about every character actor working in the 50s seems to have been in it. Lloyd Nolan, James Arness, (must have been his 2nd or 3rd movie after The Thing), Andy Devine, Harry Carry Jr, Sean McClory. Others in the cast had me saying, "Hey that's the guy from..." like one radio operator was trooper Duffy on F Troop. The real stars of the movie, to me, were the planes. They had a half dozen DC-3, C-47, R4D, call em what you will, Gooney Birds flying all over the north country. I think that's just about the most beautiful aircraft ever made. Some of the shots sent chills down my spine.

Now I've got to go see if either or both of these are out on DVD and not too expensive. If you ever get the chance watch both of these great movies.

EDIT: I just checked, both of these great movies are on ebay for pre-order. They're coming out on DVD August 2.

I had seen High and Mighty, it was marked off in my book. It's "Island in the Sky" that has elluded me. So far I've seen 99 out of 148 John Wayne movies. Most of those are those real real early pre "Stagecoach" flics. Now for Bogie flics I've managed to see 55 out of 75. Problem is, when they have Bogie or Duke film festivals they always show the big films and maybe one old rare one. It's hard to find out where and when they show those. Years ago before it became WTBS that network would show Bogie films all week, twice a day. That's where I got to see a lot of the early gangster and what-nots from 34 -39 he did. You could see the acting coming through even then on the man. Duke just did too many cheesy westerns early in his career. That series of 3 Mesquiteer flics were pretty stupid, but still, they are Duke flics and required watching ! Od course those movies before that are even worse where he wasn't the lead actor.