What did Hopper do to piss Wayne off?
Is that a true story with the gun or not?
shareI was wondering that too. Maybe Wayne didn't like Easy Rider?
What's the Spanish for drunken bum?
He was one of them damned pot smokin' hippies.
shareI've heard both Wayne and Hopper claimed it happened. Hopper was reaching his peak then as a counter culture figure and had let it go to his head.Showing up late to the set and having a "screw you" type attitude were the alleged tipping points that caused it all to go down.
The part of the story that gets left out though is they eventually made up and Hopper has said he had a huge amount of respect for Wayne. (In fact Hopper was more of a conservative himself as he got older.)
From an interview with Dennis Hopper in November of 2008:
Q: I heard that during the filming of True Grit that John Wayne chased you around Paramount with a loaded gun?
"(laughs) No, that’s not quite how it happened. He used to arrive on the lot via helicopter from his mine sweeper that he had moored in Newport Beach. He’d have a .45 strapped on his side, wearing army fatigues, and that’s the way he’d arrive to work every day. This one day he arrived, and he wanted to know where “that Pinko Hopper was hiding.” I was actually in Glen Campbell’s trailer, hiding from him. He was screaming “My daughter was out at UCLA last night and heard (Black Panther) Eldridge Cleaver cussing, and I know he must be a friend of that Pinko Hopper! Where is he? I want to talk to him!” So he wasn’t literally running around with a gun looking for me. He was walking around with a gun at his hip, but I think he wanted to have a political discussion, as opposed to committing actual manslaughter! (laughs) Anyway, nothing ever came of it. That was just Duke."
Also, from another interview with Hopper, also in November of 2008:
John Wayne — or “Duke Wayne,” as Hopper refers to the iconic actor — was a whole other story. The two worked together on “The Sons of Katie Elder” and “True Grit,” for which Wayne won the Oscar for Best Actor. “I’ll tell you this,” he says. “He was a hell of a finer actor than he was given credit for being while he was alive. I was and am good friends with his boys, so I became his very favorite pet ‘pinko.’ One time on the set of ‘The Sons of Katie Elder’ I had a bad case of athlete’s foot and put some powder on my feet before slipping my boots back on. I had gotten some on my pants and Duke noticed. He ambled over and put his arm around me and I am thinking ‘Oh Christ…what now,’ because this was a big man. ‘Kid, stay off that powder…it’ll kill ya.’ He was The Duke, and I loved working with him. ‘True Grit’ was a pleasure. And I never told him it was athlete’s foot powder.”
Dustinthewind25...Thanks for clearing that up.
share" This one day he arrived, and he wanted to know where 'that Pinko Hopper was hiding.' ”
Hahaha, this is great!
"I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film."