{"id":46540,"date":"2025-03-07T12:30:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T17:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=46540"},"modified":"2025-03-07T14:12:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T19:12:52","slug":"the-bootleg-files-john-wayne-great-western-savings-commercials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/07\/the-bootleg-files-john-wayne-great-western-savings-commercials\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: John Wayne Great Western Savings Commercials"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 899:<\/strong> \u201cJohn Wayne Great Western Savings Commercials\u201d (1978 series of television advertisements for a California financial institution). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: <\/strong>None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> It fell between the proverbial cracks.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely.<\/p>\n

John Wayne fans know their beloved actor made his final big screen appearance in the 1976 film \u201cThe Shootist,\u201d but that was not his final performance before the cameras. In 1977 and 1978, Wayne received $350,000 per year from the Los Angeles-based Great Western Savings and Loan to promote its financial institutions to California television viewers.
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At this point in time, the 71-year-old Wayne was in failing health and had few requests for acting gigs. One prominent role that he rejected was in Steven Spielberg\u2019s \u201c1941\u201d as Major General Joseph Stilwell \u2013 he felt the script was unpatriotic. Robert Stack, who co-starred with Wayne in \u201cThe High and the Mighty,\u201d took the role. He did a one-shot television commercial for the aspirin substitute Datril in Monument Valley, but it made little impact with the public. <\/p>\n

For the Great Western Savings and Loan commercials, Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler was hired for direction. None of the commercials were filmed in the savings and loan\u2019s branches. Instead, each commercial \u2013 which lasted roughly one minute \u2013 was shot in an exterior setting that would have been perfect for a John Wayne Western, with the star attired in his big screen cowboy clothing.<\/p>\n

In the first commercial in the series, Wayne rides a horse directly to the camera while the soundtrack swells with an appropriately majestic symphonic score. \u201cI sure love the West,\u201d he drawls. \u201cI guess I could have lived anyplace I wanted to, but I chose California.\u201d Wayne and his horse are then seen on a cliff overlooking the Pacific and later riding through a forest, with the star pondering the varied topography of the snow \u2013 \u201cPlaces where you\u2019ll never see snow and places where it\u2019s 70-feet deep.\u201d For the commercial pitch, Wayne leans over his saddle and tells the viewer, \u201cThere\u2019s an outfit called Great Western Savings that shares my feelings. They live here, too \u2013 helped to build it. They have over 100 offices all over the state. I bet there\u2019s one in your neck of the woods. Great Western Savings \u2013 pretty nice outfit to do business with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Wayne\u2019s pitch dropped the \u201cand Loan\u201d from the \u201cGreat Western Savings\u201d name \u2013 which makes sense, as most people are more attracted to savings rather than having to take out a loan. <\/p>\n

In another commercial, Wayne tells the viewer that \u201cI\u2019ve decided to throw in with an outfit that I can be proud of\u201d while driving a hot branding iron with the Great Western logo into the side of a horse-drawn wagon \u2013 the horse is out grazing in a field with a grand view of the mountains while Wayne admires the \u201cBig GW\u201d brand. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the series, Wayne is at Sutter\u2019s Mill, the site of the gold discovery that sparked the great Gold Rush to California. He recalls how most people trying to strike it rich during that time went broke while admitted he also \u201cspent a little money trying to get rich quick \u2013 but never again.\u201d Wayne then pulls out a savings passbook, which he refers to as \u201cthat\u2019s my kind of a gold mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wayne was alone in his commercials, except for one commercial where two of his young children are on a camping trip \u2013 it is dawn and the youngsters are in sleeping bags while the actor watches them and tells the viewer how he is using Great Western for savings accounts for them. \u201cSave a little for your kids \u2013 it\u2019s a nice way to start the day,\u201d he declares.<\/p>\n

Wayne’s rugged individualism, peppered with light self-deprecatory remarks, made him the best possible spokesperson for selling the strength and integrity of a financial institution. Wexler’s direction of Wayne brought out the finest in the actor and his gorgeous cinematography was uncommonly beautiful for this medium.<\/p>\n

The impact of the commercials exceeded expectations \u2013 Great Western reported an influx of $21 million in new deposits within the first two months of the commercials\u2019 airing. The commercials also won several regional and national advertising awards, and their popularity convinced Wayne to push ahead with a new script called \u201cBeau John\u201d that would pair him with Ron Howard, his co-star from \u201cThe Shootist.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, into 1978 Wayne\u2019s health began to deteriorate as cancer returned to devastate his body. After completing work on the commercials, he stayed out of the spotlight, only venturing before the cameras in January 1979 for a Barbara Walters interview and three months later at the Academy Awards ceremony. He passed away on June 11, 1979, at the age of 72.<\/p>\n

Great Western continued its television commercials with other notable Hollywood icons including Wayne\u2019s frequent co-star Maureen O\u2019Hara plus Glenn Ford, John Huston and Dennis Weaver, but none of their efforts had the same impact. In 1984, Great Western paid tribute to its finest spokesperson by erecting a full-sized bronze statue of Wayne by sculptor Harry Jackson to stand in front of its headquarters.<\/p>\n

Several of the Wayne commercials can be found on YouTube, uploaded by Californians who had the prescience to videotape them during their original airing. And while this was an unlikely sign-off for Wayne, he brilliantly surpassed the goals of the commercials. Indeed, there is a story of a man showing up at Great Western branch with $500,000 in cash in a suitcase seeking to open an account \u2013 the new depositor declared, \u201cIf it\u2019s good enough for John Wayne, it\u2019s good enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n