John Wayne, who’s name is inseparably attached to the Classic Western, once said that he thought that the 20s and 30s (pre-classic) Western heroes were all too clean and perfect.
They never drank or smoked. They never wanted to go to bed with a beautiful girl. They never had a fight. A heavy might throw a chair at them, and they just looked surprised and didn’t fight in this spirit.
John Wayne
While he wanted to create a new kind of hero. The one who isn’t that clean and plain and who responses in an adequate way.
If someone throws a chair at you, hell, you pick up a chair and belt him right back.
John Wayne
The fundumential difference between Wayne’s and Eastwood’s film characters is this line of John Wayne’s quote:
I was trying to play a man who gets dirty, who sweats sometimes, who enjoys kissing a gal he likes, who gets angry, who fights clean whenever possible but will fight dirty if he has to.
John Wayne
Basically Wayne’s characters retained the internal principle of a fair fight. Clint Eastwood had to take it a step further:
Classic Western Movie Genre 