John Wayne's Historical Celebration Of America on DVD
With over two-dozen legendary stars John Wayne had his one and only TV special. Originally aired as Swing Out, Sweet Land on NBC-TV in 1970, this is a patriotic and poignant journey through American history with music, comedy and many famous friends.
As host and narrator, Wayne walks through pivotal moments in America's past. His guests include Jack Benny as a citizen asking George Washington (Lorne Greene) about that dollar he supposedly threw across the Potomac River; Bob Hope and Ann-Margret entertaining the troops at Valley Forge; printer Red Skelton discussing dissent with apprentice Tom Smothers; Lucille Ball as Miss Liberty; and Bing Crosby as Mark Twain, philosophizing with freed slave Frederick Douglass (Roscoe Lee Brown).
Also: Dean Martin as inventor Eli Whitney; Michael Landon as Peter Minuit, buying Manhattan Island from an Indian (Bonanza co-star Dan Blocker); brothers Rick and David Nelson fighting on opposite sides in the Civil War; Phyllis Diller as a 19th-century Presidential candidate; Dan Rowan and Dick Martin as the Wright brothers; Celeste Holm and Dennis Weaver as the parents of young Abraham Lincoln; Greg Morris as Crispus Attucks, a Negro who died in the Boston Massacre.
Also Features Some Of America's Greatest Songs
Musical highlights include Ribbon Of Steel by Johnny Cash, This Is A Great Country by Glen Campbell, Oh, Susannah by Roy Clark, Clementine by Leslie Uggams and God Bless America by the cast.
John Wayne's Tribute To America is a lavish and thoughtful timepiece of 20th-century television entertainment, presenting a parade of legendary stars in a humorous and hopeful celebration.
A Collectible Time Capsule Of Stars of Yesteryear
This DVD provides a perfect snapshot of American television in the year 1970. This Emmy-winning variety show was intended, in part, as John Wayne's personal response to growing protest against the war in Vietnam.
Three years after the hippie movement's "Summer of Love," the country was politically divided like never before, and this 80-minute special was Wayne's attempt to counteract the "anti-American" war protests with a rousing, patriotic, and unifying reminder of America's greatness.
FEATURES and BENEFITS:
- A Who's Who of Yesteryear Stars
- Filled With Music and Skits
- John Wayne's Only Variety Show
- Run Time: 80 minutes
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