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A number of Hollywood actors were granted deferments during World War II for various reasons, Wayne among them.  Despite recent criticsm that he purposely avoided military service, he actually tried to enlist several times in the U.S. Navy but was rejected due to his age at the time as well as an old injury sustained on his college football field.  A government order regarding the drafting of Hollywood actors also went into effect effect in 1942, which to Wayne meant that his talents could best be used to build morale via the screen; his war films during that period showed him as the quintisential fighting man to great commercial success as well as boosting the war effort.   

A number of Hollywood actors were granted deferments during World War II for various reasons, Wayne among them.  Despite recent criticsm that he purposely avoided military service, he actually tried to enlist several times in the U.S. Navy but was rejected due to his age at the time as well as an old injury sustained on his college football field.  A government order regarding the drafting of Hollywood actors also went into effect effect in 1942, which to Wayne meant that his talents could best be used to build morale via the screen; his war films during that period showed him as the quintisential fighting man to great commercial success as well as boosting the war effort.   

Established by war's end as a major star, Wayne further defined his image acting in films directed by Ford and Howard Hawks, his best known work from the postwar period being the so-called “Cavalry Trilogy” for Ford – ''Fort Apache'' (1948)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/]; ''She Wore A Yellow Ribbon'' (1949)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041866/]; ''Rio Grande'' (1950)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/] – in which Wayne played calvary officers in the Old West, with ''Yellow Ribbon'' being interesting in which Wayne plays a colonel facing his own sunset.  Indeed, his films with Ford show an honor of the mythological aspects of the Old West, yet in many ways undermines it.  In his critically-acclaimed ''The Searchers'' (1956)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/] Wayne's character is obsessed with the search for his niece kidnapped by renegade Commanches, but his heroism is negated by his bigotry of the Indians to the point he is willing to kill his niece upon learning she had become an Indian.  Wayne would again visit a darker version of the western in Ford's ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' (1962)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056217/], in which the philosophy related to “truth vs. legend” is severely questioned.  But he also did several other, albiet non-western, films for Ford, among them the sentimental favorite ''The Quiet Man'' (1952)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045061/], in which he plays a Pittsburgh steel worker who returns to his boyhood home in [[Ireland]]; his screen pairing with close friend Maureen O'Hara is among the classics in romantic film.  

Established by war's end as a major star, Wayne further defined his image acting in films directed by Ford and Howard Hawks, his best known work from the postwar period being the so-called “Cavalry Trilogy” for Ford – ''Fort Apache'' (1948)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/]; ''She Wore A Yellow Ribbon'' (1949)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041866/]; ''Rio Grande'' (1950)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/] – in which Wayne played calvary officers in the Old West, with ''Yellow Ribbon'' being interesting in which Wayne plays a colonel facing his own sunset.  Indeed, his films with Ford show an honor of the mythological aspects of the Old West, yet in many ways undermines it.  In his critically-acclaimed ''The Searchers'' (1956)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/] Wayne's character is obsessed with the search for his niece kidnapped by renegade Commanches, but his heroism is negated by his bigotry of the Indians to the point he is willing to kill his niece upon learning she had become an Indian.  Wayne would again visit a darker version of the western in Ford's ''The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance'' (1962)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056217/], in which the philosophy related to “truth vs. legend” is severely questioned.  But he also did several other, albeit non-western, films for Ford, among them the sentimental favorite ''The Quiet Man'' (1952)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045061/], in which he plays a Pittsburgh steel worker who returns to his boyhood home in [[Ireland]]; his screen pairing with close friend Maureen O'Hara is among the classics in romantic film.  

His films with Howard Hawks differed in some degree from Ford's, but featured Wayne in the role of an individual who intends to do his duty against overwhelming odds.  In ''Red River'' (1948)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040724/], Wayne played a cattle baron determined to complete a drive despite the growing antagonism between himself and his adopted son; Wayne's character is shown as a megalomaniac who's attempt at total control causes a loss of control, resulting in another criticaly-acclaimed performance.  Among his personal favorites, Wayne thought so much of this film that the image of the D-Bar Ranch brand penned into the dirt in the final scene would be crafted into a belt buckle he would wear in many of his later films.

His films with Howard Hawks differed in some degree from Ford's, but featured Wayne in the role of an individual who intends to do his duty against overwhelming odds.  In ''Red River'' (1948)[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040724/], Wayne played a cattle baron determined to complete a drive despite the growing antagonism between himself and his adopted son; Wayne's character is shown as a megalomaniac who's attempt at total control causes a loss of control, resulting in another criticaly-acclaimed performance.  Among his personal favorites, Wayne thought so much of this film that the image of the D-Bar Ranch brand penned into the dirt in the final scene would be crafted into a belt buckle he would wear in many of his later films.