Swing Out, Sweet Land

This program is now available on professional DVD under the title "John Wayne's Tribute to America". The release date is July 31, 2007 but my copy arrived a few days early.

This video runs approximately 80 minutes. The only extras on the disk are the original sponsor commercials and a clip of JW on "What's My Line?". The picture quality is very good for a 37 year old show - crisp and clear (nothing like the faded, blurred quality of a VHS version I purchased on eBay a few years ago).

This is a production typical of the 60's & 70's musical comedy shows but that's what fun for anyone who regularly tuned in to watch Dean Martin, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, etc. It's hokey and as patriotic as a 4th of July special.

An internet search showed that several major book and/or DVD sellers have it. FYI, I have no connection to the company that put it out - I'm just happy to finally have it!

The fact John Wayne comes out and says these tales are "tongue in cheek" goes a long way in these vignettes about America. He admits that some times settlers did not behave correctly, which is nice. Some stereotypes are hard to watch, but we need to remember that 50 years ago what was acceptable may not be acceptable today. The jokes are funny/corny, the tales are fun to watch, and the songs are good to sing along to.

I find it interesting that in 1970 there were people protesting (some of whom are on this variety show) but they still came together with the conservatives like Wayne, Ball, and Ann-Margaret to celebrate America in song, dance, and jokes. Today, it seems people are too firmly identified as "pro" or "con" to come together to celebrate the idea of America. Yet this shows it can be done, there is room for moderates in this world.

We can still be proud.

I remember this from I was eleven years old watching it on TV. It would be great to have this available on tape or DVD. A very patriotic show - all historic figures were presented as larger than life, but it was all in good fun. Running across this entry has brought back some good memories.

"Swing Out, Sweet Land" is a very unusual TV special hosted by John Wayne. It's an uber-patriotic show, chock full of history (some woefully wrong), comedy, drama and music.

The context for this is important to keep in mind. In 1970, the USA was divided between conservative, patriotic-minded folks and liberal, hippe-types...or so it seemed at the time. As a result of protests about the Vietnam War, some became more conservative...and this show is a very conservative reaction to the hippie movement. It also shows a lot of the patriotism that would grow through the 1970s as a result of the upcoming Bicentennial.

Today, it just seems VERY dated and, at times, a bit painful to watch (such as Dan Blocker playing an American Indian and most of Bob Hope's jokes).

I think for non-Americans, they'll find this sort of film VERY confusing as this sort of overt patriotism is either unknown to them or held in disdain (such as by German viewers). I don't think there's much that's comparable.

For me, as an American, I still found this a bit passe and overly schmaltzy. No, I am not an America-hating commie...I just don't feel that comfortable with this much patriotism. Plus, as a US History teacher, I hated that much of the history in the show is wrong (such as the purchase of Manhattan, the importance of the Liberty Bell and a few other items from the show). But I DO recommend you see this if you want some insight into the USA circa 1970. You also might want to see it in order to see a who's who of conservative actors and singers...such as Jack Benny, Dean Martin and many others. Oddly, it also has a couple of Canadians (Lorne Green who later became a naturalized US citizen and William Shatner). It also features a few naturalized Americans...people who were born abroad but became US citizens, such as Bob Hope and Ann-Margret.

By the way, one of the participants in the show clearly was NOT a conservative. Tom Smothers was very anti-Vietnam War and was well known for his left-leaning views. Of course, he could have been very patriotic...but his conscience simply couldn't allow him not to speak out against the war. But I am surprised John Wayne let him be on the show.

Even those who aren't fans of John Wayne would probably still enjoy this series of vignettes that Wayne narrates almost like the Stage Manager in "Our Town," stepping from era to era through a few centuries of American history. Wayne had been burned in his earliest foray into television nearly two decades earlier: Making a guest appearance on a variety show in 1953 while his movie "Hondo" was in theatres, he was supposed to act like he didn't know why the audience was reacting, and then every time he turned around he'd press a button in his pants and a sign on his back would light up to say "Hondo." The indignity of the appearance embarrassed him enough so that, except for rare guest appearances on shows like "I Love Lucy," Wayne avoided television for most of the next 20 years. "Swing Out, Sweet Land" gave him a chance to show his unabashed red-white-and-blue sentiments and to feel far more comfortable in front of the television cameras.

Still, although it's an enjoyable and a somewhat tongue-in-cheek television special, sticking to many of the clichés of the American history genre, it's also very much a curio of its era -- when you could spend a couple of hours recounting those clichés as history, and also present them by featuring a raft of then-current celebrities often doing their own shtick as a counterpoint to the history -- Jack Benny (of course!) finding the silver dollar that Washington threw across the Delaware; Roy Clark as a banjo player at Andy Jackson's funeral; even Rowan and Martin as the Wright Brothers! You won't find the kind of insight that Ken Burns puts forth on his PBS series, certainly . . . and, as history, perhaps its most poignant feature is realizing just how many of the folks who were well-known at that time (like Wayne himself, Benny, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Greg Morris, and even Ricky Nelson) are themselves already gone.