Not long after the John Wayne exhibit debuted at the Fort Worth Stockyards, The Cowboy Channel — a western sports and lifestyle TV network headquartered at the Stockyards — is celebrating the western film icon by dubbing this month “Duketober” and airing a marathon of his movies.
Some of the films airing as part of Duketober include “The Shootist,” “Sands of Iwo Gima,” and “Rio Grande,” all viewable on The Cowboy Channel and RFD-TV, as well as their respective streaming services, Cowboy Channel Plus and RFD-TV Now. The network reaches 42 million homes on cable/satellite systems on Altice, Charter Spectrum, DISH, DIRECTV, AT&T U-Verse, Cox, Comcast, Mediacom, Verizon FIOS TV, and many other rural cable systems.
“The John Wayne: An American Experience museum in the Fort Worth Stockyards has created a perfect synergy for The Cowboy Channel to highlight this incredible western film legend and showcase many of his classic films for our audience,” Cowboy Channel CEO Raquel Koehler Gottsch said in a statement. “Our fans absolutely adore John Wayne, and we couldn’t be happier to have a great relationship with his family and be able to share his movies with our audience and dedicate an entire month to such a western star legend.”
Concluding Duketober will be an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the film “Big Jake.” Taking place Nov. 3, The Cowboy Channel will host a live panel discussion with Wayne’s sons, Ethan and Patrick, who also starred in the film. Co-star Christopher Mitchum will also make an appearance, along with the “Big Jake” hat on loan from the “John Wayne: An American Experience” exhibit.
“[My father] would be thrilled to learn that so many people still cherish his films after all these years, and I know he’s smiling somewhere,” Ethan Wayne said in a statement.
