FIFTY YEARS AGO, WHEN THE COWBOYS OPENED AT THEATERS AND DRIVE-INS everywhere, many moviegoers responded with startled gasps — or angry howls of protest — when John Wayne’s heroic Wil Andersen was shot in the back by Bruce Dern’s despicable Asa Watts. But Ethan Wayne, The Duke’s young son, took it all in stride. Although he was not quite yet 10 years old at the time, Ethan already was enough of a Hollywood professional not to get too rattled by on-screen mayhem.
Even when his dad was on the receiving end of the gunfire.
