He died just over 30 years ago, but amazingly there’s one John Wayne performance that’s never seen the light of day – until now that is. Before he died he filmed a role in Thunder Riders of the Golden West, a sci-fi western about cowboy truckers who are looking for $3 million dollars of gold when an atomic bomb test takes place.
Although The Duke had completed his part years before he died, the movie wasn’t completed until 1984, and despite having that illustrious cast member (everyone else in the film is pretty much unknown), it never got released either in cinemas or on video.
Its lack of distribution doesn’t suggest we’re dealing with a hidden masterpiece, but it is surprising that no one before now has unearthed the movie before noe, even if only for the John Wayne interest. Cinema Blend is reporting that even now it’s not getting a full DVD release, with director Dave Burleson bringing out the movie himself. So if you’re a major Wayne fan, it still might be difficult to track down a copy.
Who would have thought that so long after such an inconic actor died, there’d still performances turning up that we’d never seen before?