Poker & Pop Culture: John Wayne Keeps the Game Square

Poker & Pop Culture: John Wayne Enforces Order at the TableTall in the Saddle is a fast-paced and entertaining western from 1944 starring John Wayne. The film contains most of the elements one finds in "horse operas" of the era, with a complicated plot punctuated by stage coaches, saloons, shootouts — and poker.

Much like other early films we've been recently reviewing here like the silent comedy Dr. Jack from the 1920s and the crime drama Dead End from the 1930s, Tall in the Saddle uses poker to highlight larger themes of the film's story, in this case providing an opportunity for John Wayne's character, the independent Rocklin, to assert his authority as a keeper of order amid the lawless…