Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) heroic, macho, manly.

1961		(con. 1950s) C. Barbeau Ikon 55: Look at Hollywood with the John Wayne gun.
1977		(con. 1969) M. Herr Dispatches 20: All the mythic tracks intersected, from the lowest John Wayne wetdream to the most aggravated soldier-poet fantasy.
1979		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Short Timers (1985) 87: You got to write about our John Wayne lieutenant.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 157: You got to know that statue will be some dipped-in-shit, John Wayne crapola.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 103: Marines aren’t John Wayne types.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 71: This [i.e. shooting practice] was great, real john Wayne shit. [Ibid.] 229: I look into the manager’s eyes and know there’s gonna be no John Wayne crap to deal with.
2004		Fallacy [song title] John Wayne Swagger.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 108: All that ‘Oooh, I’m not doing it [...]’ – and then the fucking John Wayne turn-out inside the jug.