Cowboys, Indians, Heroic Hounds, and a One-Armed Man
May 15 '01 (Updated May 23 '01)
The Bottom Line Some of the greatest western movies ever filmed, every one them is a classic.
My father was born in 1923 and grew up in “Bloody” Harlan County in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. On Monday morning December 8, 1941 he enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps, and spent the next four years island hopping his way from Guadalcanal to China. After World War II was over he returned home, got a job, and started a family. When I was a boy, my father worked with a construction crew that built and maintained bulk oil storage tanks all over the South and Mid-West. He was a master welder. He worked on the road from Monday through Friday, and was only home on the weekends. Saturday was our day, his and mine, we either spent it running the woods or at the Liberty Theatre watching cowboy movies.
The Liberty, like many American second and third run theatres of the fifties had a Saturday matinee featuring three full-length movies, two cartoons, and previews. Kids paid a quarter to get in, and adults had to pony up a half a buck. The place had lumpy seats, smelled really funky, and had sticky floors, but it was filled to capacity every Saturday. After the movies we would go to Slaughter’s Café, where we would engage in a lengthy critique of the films we had seen. We would talk for hours over cheeseburgers, cokes, and old fashioned crème pie. I have always suspected that those hundreds of Saturdays spent watching and talking about movies is where my love of film (and American diner food) was born.
My Father’s Ten Favorite Westerns (in order)
1.) Shane (1953) Directed by George Stevens. Alan
Ladd, Jack Palance, Van Heflin, Jean Arthur, and Brandon De Wilde
From the novel by Jack Schaeffer (Screenplay by A. B.Guthrie Jr.) This is the classic “sodbusters” versus cattlemen cowboy movie. Ladd plays a mysterious stranger, he’s put away his gun, determined to leave a life of violence behind. He finds peace working as the hired man on a small homestead owned by Heflin and Arthur. Brandon DeWilde plays their young son, who comes to idolize Shane. The local Cattle Baron wants the fences down and the farmers off his range. He hires gunfighter Palance to drive them out. The final confrontation between Ladd and Palance is a classic, as is the film’s bittersweet ending. This was my Dad’s “all time” favorite cowboy movie.
2.) The Searchers (1956) Directed by John Ford
John Wayne, Jeffery Hunter, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood.
This film was my Dad’s second favorite cowboy movie. Wayne (as an embittered civil war veteran) and Hunter (as his idealistic nephew) spend years searching the west for Natalie Wood, who has been kidnapped by the Comanches. Wayne is determined to kill her (“She’s been laying with a buck”) and Hunter is equally determined to rescue her, and bring her home. The tension that grows between Wayne and Hunter over the years of fruitless searching leads to a stunning and surprising climax. Many critics regard this film as John Ford’s best, and as the finest western ever made. John Wayne was my father’s favorite actor, and “The Searchers” was his favorite film featuring the“Duke”
3.) Stagecoach (1939) directed by John Ford. John Wayne, John Carradine, Tim Holt, Andy Devine
This was the first of John Ford’s movies to be filmed in Monument Valley. My father saw this film about twenty times at various locations in the Pacific during World War II. It was always a favorite with the Marines, and my Dad never grew tired of seeing it. Ford took the concept of an ensemble cast with the action built on bringing several divergent story lines together in a specific locale (he’d first seen this idea used in “Grand Hotel”—directed by Edmund Goulding—1932) and did a masterful job of transferring the idea from the confines of a depression era Berlin hotel to the old west and a single stagecoach. Ford filled his coach with a spectacular assortment of characters, each with secrets and a personal agenda, all trying to survive a violent Apache uprising and reach Lordsburg alive. In typical Ford fashion, it becomes quickly obvious that the survival of the group is dependent on their willingness to work together. “Stagecoach” made John Wayne (as the Ringo Kid) a major star.
4.) Red River (1948) Directed by Howard Hawks. John
Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan
This is the first movie I ever remember seeing, (probably because Wayne’s character was so “mean”) I was seven or eight and I didn’t like John Wayne for a long time afterwards. Wayne plays an arrogant prideful man who wrests an empire from the Texas prairie. Wayne (and sidekick Walter Brennan) leave a California bound wagon train to start a ranch. The wagon train is attacked by Indians and everyone except a very young Clift is killed, Wayne adopts Clift, and builds the most powerful ranch in Texas. By the end of the Civil War, the ranch is in trouble, Wayne can’t find a market for his beef in Texas, but he can save the ranch if he can get his cattle to Missouri. “Red River” tells the story of the first cattle drive over the Chisolm trail. The trail drive is filled with non-stop action, a mutiny, a stampede, a dangerous river crossing, and the deadly growing tension between Wayne and Clift.
Hawk’s film shows that one man can’t really make it alone, he needs family, friends, and the help of others (whether he is willing to admit it or not) to survive and prosper. This was Hawks first Western (he set out to make a classic) and it’s generally regarded as one of the two or three best films the genre has produced. My Dad loved this movie, he never explained why, but I’ve always thought that Tom Dunston’s (Wayne’s character) way of looking at things was very similar to my grandfather’s world view.
5.) The Magnificent Seven 1960 directed by John
Sturges....Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, and Steve
McQueen. Charles Bronson, James Coburn
This film is Sturges re-make of Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai” with the action moved from feudal Japan to nineteenth century Mexico. Seven hired gunfighters take on a gang of ruthless bandits to free a poor Mexican village. Kurosawa was deeply influenced by the work of John Ford, so “The Magnificent Seven” works very well, as a metaphor for Ford’s oft repeated theme’s of old fashioned community values, and the violent efficacy of tough honorable American pioneer stock in a crisis.
My Dad was a master mechanic, he loved working on cars, and on the night we went to see “The Magnificent Seven” (at the drive-in) he just tossed me the keys to his treasured Midnight Black 1949 Ford Coupe with a 312 “T-Bird” V8. I had only had my license for a couple of weeks, I can’t remember a time when I’ve been more thrilled.
6.) Hondo (1953) directed by John Farrow (from a story by Louis L'Amour) John Wayne, Geraldine Page, & James
Arness
Louis L'Amour was my Dad’s favorite writer, and “Hondo” is based on his story "The Gift of Cochise" Wayne plays a half-breed Cavalry scout, a complete loner who travels with a dog as wild and uncivilized as he is. Hondo finds a young woman and her son living on an isolated ranch in middle of hostile Apache country. The woman and her young son have been abandoned by her “n’er do well” husband, whom Wayne is later forced to kill. The movie has a great story (Glen Ford was originally hired to play Hondo, but Ford and John Farrow couldn’t work together, so Wayne, who owned the movie rights to the story, stepped in to play the part) My Dad loved the interplay between Wayne and his dog (he loved dogs) and thought this was the best “Cowboys & Indians” picture ever made.
7.) True Grit (1969) directed by Henry Hathaway
(novel by Charles Portis) John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen
Campbell, Robert Duvalle, Dennis Hopper
Wayne plays U. S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn, an irascible old drunk hired by Darby to track down the killer of her father (Campbell plays a Texas Ranger, after the same killer) In the stunning climax, Wayne single-handedly takes on Duvalle’s gang. After ordering the gang to surrender (which they laugh off as the drunken ramblings of an old fool) Wayne shouts “Fill your hands, you son of a b*tch” and rides straight at them, reins clenched in his teeth, rifle in one hand and his six shooter in the other. Wayne won the “best actor” Academy Award for this film, his only oscar.
When I got out of the army in 1970, the first thing I did was use my “mustering out” pay for the down payment on a Pearl White 1965 Pontiac GTO, with a Muncie four speed. I drove the GTO up to see my Dad (the first time I had seen him in four years) and after a nice visit we decided to go see “True Grit” (which my Dad had already seen twice) as we were walking out of the house, I tossed him the keys to the “Goat” and got to see one of the biggest smiles ever on his face. He really liked the GTO, and I liked “True Grit” much more than I thought I would.
8.) Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) Directed by John
Sturges. Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin,
Ernest Borgnine, Dean Jagger
This film is beautifully photographed (in moody B&W), with tight precise editing, masterful direction, and at 81 minutes in length, has not a wasted scene, not one extra word of dialog, nor a single extraneous frame of film. Spencer Tracy really does have a bad day (the film covers just 24 hours) in Black Rock. This is the original “town with a dirty secret” story, the ideas were not stereotypes when first used in this tense and action packed film. Tracy plays a man of honor, determined to do what he believes is right, and willing to risk everything to find the truth. The local citizens are willing to do whatever it takes to guard their secret, including murder. “Bad Day at Black Rock” and “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” were the only “modern day” westerns on my Dad’s favorites list.
9.) The Wild Bunch (1969) directed by Sam
Peckinpah. William Holden, Robert
Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Edmund O’Brien, Bo Hopkins, Warren Oates
The opening credits sequence of this film is one of the most famous in cinema history. As a grizzled group of heavily armed soldiers ride into town, the action inter-cuts between their arrival and the actions of a group of children torturing scorpions by dropping them onto an ant hill, where the ants tear the unwitting invaders to pieces. As the children tire of their game and set fire to both ants and scorpions, the soldiers explode into action robbing the towns Railroad office. What the gang doesn’t realize is that they’ve been betrayed, the authorities knew they were coming, and had snipers hidden on every roof around the Rail Office to ambush them after the robbery. What follows is a slow motion cinematic ballet, a beautifully choreographed blood bath, strangely evocative of Kurosawa’s finest work, as the outlaws fight their way out of the trap. Most of the casualties are innocent townsfolk, expendable in the scheme to capture or kill the Wild Bunch.
Peckinpah’s lyrical horse opera is about the death of the frontier, and the refusal of those who love the wild life to accept the inevitability of progress and change. My Dad thought this was the last “classic” western ever made. The cast is almost entirely veteran actors, who make the characters and story come to life. Directors, critics, film students, and fans often mention the “Wild Bunch” as the finest action movie ever made, but they fail to understand that the action is not the reason for the movie, but rather the background canvas. Peckinpah paints his characters and the bloody violent world they inhabit not to glorify violence and bloodletting, but to clarify and explain his central themes. What is honor? What debts (responsibilities) do men of action incur to their comrades in arms? And finally, is death truly the only time we are able to make a personal statement about what our lives have meant?
My father was right, not only was this movie about the passing of an era (the death of the "Old West") but on a deeper level, the film is about the passing of a genre in film. “The Wild Bunch” was the last true classic western.
10.) Old Yeller (1957) directed by Robert
Stevenson. Fess Parker, Dorothy
McGuire, Chuck Connors, Tommy Kirk, & Kevin Corcoran
“Old Yeller” is based on the popular boy’s book of the same name by Fred Gipson. It’s about coming of age on the Texas frontier during the mid-nineteenth century. Tommy Kirk (as Travis) is left to take care of his Mamma and younger brother Arliss, when his father goes on a cattle drive with a group of small ranchers. It’s an awesome responsibility, and with Arliss as a full time adversary and general miscreant, it’s pretty much a thankless task. Arliss brings home an “Old Yeller” dog, and after many arguments, Travis (who believes the “thieving no account mutt” must go) is over-ruled and the dog stays. After several exciting adventures, “Yeller” saves the family from disaster, and Travis has to behave like a man and do the hardest thing he has ever done. My father went through four years of combat during World War Two, and this movie never failed to make him cry. The very best coming of age movie ever made. One of Walt Disney’s finest films.
Here are a few of my Dad’s favorites that didn’t make the Top Ten list:
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) directed by John Huston……Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim Holt (from the novel by B. Traven) My Dad thought Bogart was like a “regular guy” and that he was the best actor Hollywood has ever produced, always a “natural” in whatever part he played. “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” was his favorite “Bogie” flick.
High Noon (1952) directed by Fred Zinnemann…….Gary Cooper, Grace Kelley. My Dad loved Gary Cooper, he loved “Coop’s” bravery as Marshall Will Kane, and his determination to face the bad guys, alone if necessary, and defend his town.
My Darling Clementine (1948) directed by John Ford…….Henry Fonda, Victor Mature
This film is Ford’s version of the gunfight at the OK corral. My Dad didn’t like Henry Fonda, he felt Fonda always over-acted, but he liked this movie. Wyatt Earp (Fonda) and Doc Holliday (Mature) take on the Clanton gang in the most famous gunfight in American frontier history.
Classic Neo Westerns
1.) Dances with Wolves –----My Dad loved this one, he said “Makes you long to have lived in those days”
2.) The Unforgiven-----He didn’t like this one much, “Not a white hat in the bunch” is how he put it.
3.) Last of the Mohicans------ This is the last movie my Dad and I ever saw together. Michael Mann’s beautiful tale of the French & Indian War, love, loss, revenge, and survival. He loved it.
When inventor Thomas Edison perfected the motion picture camera, America gave the world its most singular, distinctive, and newest art form, the Movies. Edwin S. Porter, (the first movie director) worked for Edison, and directed many of the earliest movies. In 1907 Porter hired a disaffected actor named D. W. Griffith, and within a year Griffith was directing. Griffith was born and grew up in Kentucky, near Louisville, the son of a Confederate Officer. David Wark Griffith found his niche in life when he discovered motion pictures. He saw in film a new and fascinating popular medium with great potential for artistic expression. Having begun his career as an actor on the New York stage, Griffith realized that movies could be conceived and created in a totally new way, and presented to vastly larger audiences than had ever been possible with live productions. He was the first to see the new medium as something more than an amusing fad.
Griffith developed, refined, or invented almost every technique used in movies today. Cross-cutting, panning, the close-up, parallel action, non-linear time-lines, dramatic lighting, and editing for effect. Equally as important was his vision of motion picture actors, he coached actors to move away from the heavy handed physical action and over blown dramatics of the stage and work more naturally, for the camera (and director), rather than, as they had, for a live audience.
Griffith’s artistic vision took motion pictures from a novelty to the first mass media art form, and when “The Birth of a Nation” was released in 1913, the country flocked to see the film. A single movie changed perceptions about motion pictures overnight. “Birth of a Nation” was the first true movie, it was three hours long, had lavish sets, complex action, emotionally charged performances, and a real story. “Birth of a Nation” became the very first “Blockbuster” ever. It is popular and politically/ socially correct today to dismiss Griffith as a racist, but “Birth of a Nation” for all its faults, has more in common with the films of today than it does with the silent two reelers of its own era
In the years just before World War One, thousands of young people flocked to California to become a part of the new film industry. One of these starry-eyed youngsters was an Irish farm boy from Maine named John Ford. Ford, worked first as an actor for Griffith, and later as a technician. By 1917 he was directing films. John Ford went on to win the best director academy award four times. He also became one of the ten or twelve greatest directors, that film as an art form has produced. The western and film noir are the only truly and completely American genres in film and John Ford is the director who invented the western as an art form.
I loved spending time with my Dad, and after I was all grown up and moved away from home, I still went to visit him whenever I could. The two of us would often go see a cowboy movie, and then sit around his kitchen table, talking into the wee hours about favorite movies, books, politics, and the state of the environment. I got my love of movies from my Dad, and those wonderful long ago Saturday Matinees. My tastes have broadened in the intervening years, to include many film genres, but my father always loved western movies best; he often said that he had been born 100 years too late. He died three days after Christmas in 1996. Happy Birthday Dad, this one’s just for you.
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Member: Howard Creech
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 333
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About Me:
Photographer/Writer fascinated by Movies, Music, Books, American Diner Food, History, "Popular Culture", and Travel.
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