Don F., Wow! Pournelle and Niven, absolute top drawer in S-F. They actually have scientific backgrounds and they know how to move a story along. Crazy Eddy! As for The Postman, I had read David Brin's compelling story several years before the movie and so I was expecting good things but the inner-workings of the mind is a hard thing to portray on the screen. I have to admit my bias as I helped along the movie with prior knowledge. I thought it was a pretty good movie that ended on a bad leg. Check out Brin's Uplift Wars series. Really great stuff.

Back to John Wayne. Wayne was no great actor. He could only play himself. Whether it was Genghis Khan or Davy Crockett it was always John Wayne you got. But what was it about him that packed movie houses? He was always bigger than life and his roles always represented high ideals. Cardboard? Well, yeah, his acting was stiff. Two dimensional? Isn't that true of the entire medium? Cellulose? What actor isn't? And, he WAS an actor. I may detest George Clooney and he sure looked fine going down in that boat but I'll give him his due! He is a mighty fine actor.