Conflict [1936] Starring John Wayne

 

[Start with the boxing film review, stick around for the behind-the-scenes gossip. Trust me, it’s wilder than most any film the man made.]

John “The Duke” Wayne.

Should require no introduction, but if he does…well, I’m not really sure what to make of you.

For those who haven’t checked him out in a while or allowed the memory to dim, allow me to say, at his best he was a larger-than-life presence on the screen. He possessed a toughness mixed with a gentle charm.

Those who knew the man and worked with him said, what you saw on the screen wasn’t too far off from the truth.

Let us look to a little-viewed 1936 boxing picture titled Conflict. [aka The Abysmal Brute.]

A low-budget affair produced by Universal, Wayne may be the star here, but this is before he become THE John Wayne. He’s still a hopeful hand at this point.

Directed by David Howard, with a screenplay by Charles A. Logue and Walter Weems based on Jack London’s famous boxing story The Abysmal Brute.

The screenplay takes liberties with London’s story turning it into a wholesome tale of lumberjacks, befriending orphans, travelling boxers and issued challenges.

For old school fight aficionados, the film is of interest for several reasons.

·        Travelling boxing shows to lumberjack camps to challenge the local tough was a common occurrence in actuality. This is one of the few films to portray that world.

·        Jack London, the originator of the material, knew and played the boxing game himself; he wrote of what he experienced-- it always helps to have some authenticity at the foundation.

·        We see the Duke do some low-key speedbag work, nothing blistering but still competent.

·        We see the Duke do some nice punch evasion with an Old Boxer’s bet of “Toss your money on the floor, I’ll put my foot on it, you take a swing, if you knock me off of the money I’ll double it.”

·        This was indeed a game that was played in these camps—stay with me, we’ll come back to this. [See our instructional material of Lumberjack Fighting for much more on the subject.]

·        In the climactic fight we see an old method for hardening the wraps after inspection.

·        In this climactic battle we also see some nice old school milling to the body…

·        Use of the underhook clinch as opposed to the more common fight/action stalling overhook we see commonly today and…

·        At least three instances of what would appear to be poor form from the Duke as his rear foot comes off the canvas for rear straights.

·        Actually, not poor form at all, it is simply the movie version of a common tactic from the early days. Think of it as the forerunner of Patterson’s Gazelle Punch, or even earlier Dundee’s Leaping Hook .

·        See Street Dentist KO Combos Volume 2 for the complete breakdown and the hows, whys, and whens of this hard-jolting shot.

All in all a fine bit of Old School fun for the discerning eye.

Now, let’s get to the behind-the-scenes spice that makes this film match-up all the more fascinating.

Duke Wayne’s nemesis in the film is actor Ward Bond.

The two were lifelong friends in actual life and this was the first of a mighty handful of screen fights they would share.

The fights they had in real life? Too numerous to count.

The friends were both hard-drinking, hard-loving, brawlers in real life.

Their repartee was constant trash talk, bluster, cutting sarcasm and macho posturing that led many to think they would come to blows on a movie set at any moment.

The two men had known each other since the 1920s, brought together by legendary director John Ford and were frequent guests on Ford’s yacht Araner.

The famously prickly Ford would often provoke the men to trade blows for his mere amusement.

As much as they hurt each other in real life, none of this seemed to hurt their friendship.

They would both frequent the Hollywood Athletic Club where they would spar each other the boxing ring, lift weights, sweat out last evening’s booze in the steam bath then head for the Club’s lounge to get a jump-start on that evening’s booze.

Wayne and Bond were not the only hard-drinker’s sitting in the lounge, add to that mix, Johnny “Tarzan” Weissmuller, and actors Preston Foster and Bruce Cabot.

They jestingly called themselves: “The Young Men’s Purity Total Abstinence and Snooker Pool Association.” [TYMPTASPA.]

[By the way, I have a wild story of a personal encounter with Mr. Weissmuller. I’ll save it for another day. Let’s just say, it was INSANE. Again, another day.]

As the TYMPTASPA sessions grew later into the evening Wayne and Bond would often trash-talk themselves into a fight. Chase all club members out and get to swinging, tossing furniture and punching holes in doors. [Punching holes through doors was a common competition of theirs.]

After which, they would toss a stack of cash on the bar and exit together as friends once again.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

One fight was so uproarious they were suspended for a year.

Their scuffles were not confined to the club or the movie set, at a party at director Frank [It’s a Wonderful Life] Capra’s home, they destroyed furniture and mangled a carpet from their ground scuffle.

Bond tells a story of once betting Wayne that he could stand on a sheet of newspaper and not be knocked off of it. [Recall the similar scene in the film?]

Wayne took the bet.

Bond grabbed the newspaper, stepped to a door threshold, spread the paper, stood on it and closed the door and laughed like hell.

Bond reports that Duke Wayne punched him through the door connecting with his jaw and won the bet.

Is there more to this wild Hollywood tale?

Oh, hell yeah.

Again, like my Tarzan Weissmuller story, another day.

But, if you want the skinny on the actuality of lumberjack fighting, the details on how to really throw the short inside leaping punches, well, head over to our store and browse all the Old School products that feature these Hosses from the Days of Yore.

My Heroes.