Rhapsodies

For this week’s I was initially planning to do a couple of westerns in general but as I found I couldn’t find a couple of the titles I had listed, I narrowed it down to one of the great teams of the genre, John Ford and John Wayne.

Stagecoach  from 1939 is one of those films that, while I always knew about in textbooks, I had never gotten around to seeing. I regret this now since this film is brilliant and is definitely on my list of favorite western.

In their fist collaboration Wayne plays the Ringo Kid (his real name’s Henry) who has been arrested and taken aboard a stagecoach through Indian country with an amazing ensemble cast.

It is easy to accuse this film of being shock full of cliches, the drunken doctor, southern gentleman, pregnant wife, hooker with a heart of gold, and the comic relief… I don’t how much these were cliches in the western beforere it came out for the most part a lot of this is like reading Hamlet. This was where all of the cliche’s came from. Either way this whole cast transcends these cliche’s and half the fun is learning more about them as they talk within the film’s most important set, the stagecoach itself.

Ford shows his  craft wonderfully. I was especially impressed with his editing the best bit being a blink and you’ll miss it bit with Dallas (the aforementioned hooker with a heart of gold.) Sa says that she has nothing left in the town she is leaving and the camera switches for about thirty seconds to a shot of the town’s moral guardians. After that the stunt work is amazing especially with the final chase of Apache’s on horseback. It looses a little bit by having the closeups of the stagecoach against a moving backdrop. (One of complaint is that the Apache’s are pretty much nothing more than just a natural obstacle)

The next film on my lis, Rio Grande was done  11 years later. It is the third of Ford’s so called Calvary Trilogy (which includes Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.)

Way plays Lt Colonel Kirby York of the US Calvary who is stationed in us the Texas/ Mexican border assigned to protect settlers from Apache tribes. It’s not an easy assignment. He is extremely understaffed only receiving 18 new troops. Things are complicated when one of his new troops is his young son. Soon his estranged wife (played by Maureen O’Hara) comes to retrieve him.

I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as Stagecoach. Wayne’s Though it was certainly up to Ford’s usual standards. Like Stagecoach there is some incredible stunt work the best bit is a couple of soldiers riding “roman style” which consists of standing on two horses for an entire lap and then jumping over a hurdle.

The Apaches are treated slightly better in this film… at least we’re shown they’re human by showing them perform their rituals before their attack.