Q 01/05

Which 1903 film, made for the Edison company, is usually cited as the beginning of the Western genre?

A) The Great Train Robbery

B) Stagecoach (1939)

C) The Virginian (1929)

D) Hell's Hinges (1916)

Answer · why

A) The Great Train Robbery

Edwin S. Porter's film set the 'crime, pursuit and retribution' pattern; a famous shot has outlaw Justus Barnes firing straight into the camera.

Q 02/05

Which 1939 film made John Wayne a mainstream star after a decade of B-Westerns?

A) Red River

B) Stagecoach

C) Fort Apache

D) Dodge City

Answer · why

B) Stagecoach

Producer Walter Wanger wanted Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich instead; John Ford refused to replace Wayne.

Q 03/05

Which landscape on the Arizona-Utah border did John Ford make his signature backdrop from 1939 onward?

A) Death Valley

B) Monument Valley

C) The Grand Canyon

D) Yosemite

Answer · why

B) Monument Valley

He used it from Stagecoach through Cheyenne Autumn in 1965, even when the story was set in Texas.

Q 04/05

What is John Wayne's escaped-convict character called in Ford's 1939 breakthrough film?

A) The Sundance Kid

B) The Waco Kid

C) Ethan Edwards

D) The Ringo Kid

Answer · why

D) The Ringo Kid

He has broken out of prison to avenge his father and brother, killed by the Plummer gang.

Q 05/05

What was John Wayne's real name?

A) John Wayne Morrison

B) Duke Ellington Morrison

C) Marion Robert Morrison

D) Marion Ford Wayne

Answer · why

C) Marion Robert Morrison

Born in Winterset, Iowa, in 1907; a Glendale fireman nicknamed him 'Little Duke' after his Airedale terrier, Duke.