"Throughout the process, I'd get an earful about his dissatisfaction with Don Siegel and the way he was shooting it," Howard said.
Siegel offered Howard candid advice regarding the power dynamics between a movie director and a major Hollywood star.
"Siegel told me... 'After about two weeks, if you're the director and it's you or the star, you're gone.
They can't afford to go back and reshoot. I don't care how much they love what you're doing.
You're gone. And I like this script, and I like this movie, and I'm going to ride it out.'
I think John Wayne felt the same way," Howard said.
Observing the atmosphere on set convinced Howard that open communication could prevent professional disagreements from escalating into personal feuds.
"It was pretty intense, but I remember saying, there's a better way to deal with even superstars than this," Howard said.
This early realization ultimately led Howard to adopt a proactive strategy when handling creative differences on his own film sets.
"I felt that the key was that a lot of things were allowed to fester for a long period of time.
The strategy that I've followed over the years is that when there's a difference of opinion, go right into it.
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You don't have to make it a fight, but you're there to achieve something together and talk it through," Howard explained.
Newspaper Comment Escalated Conflict
According to Howard, a local newspaper article featuring comments from Siegel escalated the conflict with Wayne further during filming in Carson City.
