John Wayne

And, finally, Ben Peek's "John Wayne" is a really curious story -- an alternate history, it seems, of John Wayne's life and death, featuring a meeting with Orson Welles and an encounter with Stalinist assassins. The story is certainly politically energized -- with Wayne shown fearing Koreans and Hispanics before finally meeting the real menace. But I confess it all seemed out of focus to me -- almost trivial -- Wayne simply doesn't have enough resonance to me to make the story really matter. That said, I did feel in the presence of an engaged writer -- which is always worth something.