‘John Wayne built my career:’ Durango prop guys and pistoleros with Chris Mitchum

“Now I’m cold and hungry and wet and tired and short-tempered…so get on with it…hell, get outta my way!” In a black Stetson and fall-inspired wool jacket, blue-eyed, 65-year-old John Wayne proves he can still cut the mustard when a group of vigilantes tries to forcefully intercept a quartet of prisoners accused of bank robbery and murder he is delivering to jail in “Cahill: U.S. Marshal.” The Duke’s fifth and final collaboration with director Andrew V. McLaglen was issued on July 11, 1973, and featured an underappreciated screenplay by none other than Harry Julian Fink and Rita M. Fink of “Dirty Harry” infamy. Photography by David Sutton / Warner Bros.

“John Wayne was more of a mentor and a father to me in the business than my own father was…Duke did nothing but give me support. He took me from a two or three-line role to costarring with him. He basically made my career…” Chris Mitchum, the second child of the masterful Winds of War naval commander emblazoned by the late Robert Mitchum, wound up good-naturedly sparring with Wayne in three westerns filmed consecutively in Mexico — Chisum, Rio Lobo, and the legend-embellishing Big Jake — before their relationship suddenly crumbled during a joint 1972 summit on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

So pull off your spurs for the third installment of an ongoing, exclusive conversation where Mitchum examines his mentor over 50 years since Chisum began production under the tutelage of gentle giant Andrew V. McLaglen. Previous segments in this “Next Stop, John Wayne Station” column uncovered the naturally reserved, intelligent actor’s startling encounters with Steve McQueen and Elvis Presley.

The Chris Mitchum Interview, Part Three

Did you know John Wayne before you worked with him in Chisum?

I didn’t meet him until I filmed Chisum in 1969 with director Andy [Andrew] McLaglen. Of course my dad had known Duke…