In his book “Shooting Star: A Biography of John Wayne,” entertainment journalist and biographer Maurice Zolotow asked Wayne what was the most valuable lesson was that he took away from the time in his career when he headlined “cheapie” westerns. Zolotow expected the American icon to reveal that he improved his physicality, gun work, or dealing with the harsh shooting locations he’d frequently have to endure. However, the writer was surprised to find out that the actor learned “how to speak lines” and how to deliver exposition convincingly on these movies:
“Most anybody can play anger or hysteria, but try to do a long borin’ speech … The biggest difference between a B Western and an A Western is in how they tell the story. The B-picture has to do it with stretches of talk, straight exposition. Every once in a while they stop the action and the hero or somebody explains the background or why somebody came to town. In a good picture, you get the stories and character across indirectly, and you build up characters and dramatic scenes with images and action.”
Considering that Wayne starred in over 100 of these lower-level movies, he definitely had a lot of chances to work on this part of his repertoire. And in the end, the practice paid off because Duke reached a level of fame where he’s considered one of the greatest movie stars of all time.