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In one scene Wayne clapped Kate's shoulder and shoved her so forcefully to the ground that she scraped her knee against a stone. In a moment a Band-Aid was applied, her hair rearranged, and she uncomplainingly reshot the scene. Wayne developed a cough from the dust. Between camera takes he hacked fitfully and drank endless glasses of water. He was also a bit woozy from having been knocked cold by his seven-year-old daughter, who had accidentally clobbered him on his right temple with a nine iron a few days before.
Before the film began, Kate warned Director Stuart Millar, "I have a mean streak a yard and a half wide." Millar, directing only his second film (his first in 1972 was called When the Legends Die), soon knew she meant it. Several workdays began with Kate royally telling him how she and Duke thought a scene should be shot. Moaned Millar: "A hell of a way to start the day." Kate countered: "A sharp knife cuts the quickest and hurts the least." The open secret on the set was that Duke and Kate pretty well directed themselves. More than once, Wayne stormed at Millar for overshooting scenes. "Goddammit," Duke boomed, "we can say these lines just so many times before they stop making sense." When the flustered director tried to proceed, there was a momentary lull and confusion. "Hey," Wayne shouted, "Mister Director, you're supposed to say 'action,' aren't you?"
Icy Water. After working long morning hours under a high desert sun Wayne would retire to his mobile-home dressing room for a siesta. Kate dunked herself in the icy water of a nearby mountain stream. "Spencer Tracy and John Ford also took lunchtime naps," she said. "My God, it must be exhausting being a strong man." Apparently it is not exhausting being Kate Hepburn. The grips, sound men and other technicians on the set have been doing Wayne pictures for years and are devoted to their man. Most of them display bumper stickers on their cars reading: GOD BLESS JOHN WAYNE. On a VW minibus belonging to one of Wayne's propmen, a penciled notation was added; it read: "And Sister Kate Too."