In 1943, Didion was eight years old living at Peterson Field in Colorado Springs. She and her brother had little to do, so they went to the movies several times a week. She saw John Wayne act in a film, and she was instantly taken with his charisma; she describes how his presence on screen shaped her idea of a particular kind of mythic manhood that is invulnerable and finds peace in the bend of a river (contrasted with the real-life version of John Wayne in the hospital fighting the first of his two bouts of cancer).

Didion details Wayne’s fairly typical upbringing in Glendale and his meeting with John Ford, who was one of several directors who recognized the power of Wayne’s machismo. These directors made Wayne a star, and he spends his career “in search of the dream” (32).

Didion meets Wayne on location while he is shooting his 164th movie, The Sons of Katie Elder, and recovering from his cancer treatment. The stars of the movie, including Wayne and Dean Martin, sit around the commissary outside Mexico City drinking beer while Martin complains that he’s ready for the shoot to be over. The conversation turns to a man who is in jail for attempted murder, and someone asks Wayne what he’d do if the man came for him; Wayne portrays his signature swagger as he says he would kill the man.