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What is the origin of the line, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"?

John Wayne is often credited with saying this in "Stagecoach" but what he actually said (I checked the screenplay at dailyscript.com) is "Well, there's some things a man just can't run away from."

Wayne is also reported to have said this line in "Hondo" (1954). Nope, his line there is: "A man ought'a do what he thinks is best."

Many people think the line came from "Shane" (1953). Wrong again. In that film Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) said:"I couldn't do what I gotta do if I hadn't always knowed that I could trust ya" and later, Shane (Alan Ladd) says: "A man has to be what he is."

Charlton Heston is also claimed by some to have uttered the famous line in the 1956 movie "Three Violent People." Close but no cigar. What Heston says is: "A man must do what he must do."

Several websites say a variation of the line appeared that same year in the novel (not the film version) of THE GRAPES OF WRATH: chapter 18 reportedly has the line "I know this man -- a man got to do what he got to do."

Reportedly by 1962 the line was already a cliche and was used mockingly in an episode of "The Jetsons." George Jetson says: "Ha, 'a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do'. I should've won three space Oscar awards."

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13y ago
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13y ago

In his last movie The Shootist his character was explaining to his young friend played by Ron Howard that he had a code by which he lived. I can't get it word for word but the gist of it was as follows:"I won't be wronged." "I won't be laid a hand on." "Treat people like I want to be treated." He said, "I don't do these things to others and I expect the same from them." His version of The Golden Rule. I think this sums up the man, not just the actor saying the lines.

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14y ago

"The Shootist" to Ron Howards roll as an impish, rash youth

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14y ago

It's not from a movie. That is a quote from a book by John Wayne's 3rd wife, Pilar, (John Wayne: My Life With The Duke. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987 p. vii).

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14y ago

That is a quote from a book by John Wayne's 3rd wife, Pilar, (John Wayne: My Life With The Duke. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1987 p. vii).

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12y ago

the cowboys or may be big Jake

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10y ago

Hondo.

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Q: What movie is john Wayne quote a man's got to do what a man's got to do?
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