Destry Rides Again & The Searchers
Mar. 2nd, 2008 09:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zalenaI checked out a Jimmy Stewart Western 'comedy' from the library out of curiousity. Destry Rides Again is a late '30s social(ist) commentary on the Western genre, focusing primarily on the problem of justice. Destry, Jr., son of the sheriff who died cleaning up Tombstone, arrives in a corrupt down and tries to clean it up without the use of firearms. He gives the 'carrying weapons gives the other guy a reason to shoot me'* version of the Right to Bear Arms. But Destry also demonstrates he's a crack shot fairly early in the film. He's not a coward, or inept with firearms, he's trying to enforce the law in a new, socially coercive, way.
As one might guess, this is something of a challenge in a town where everyone, including the women and children, are carrying weapons except for the law. But Destry's charm (played by Jimmy Stewart) carries the day until the final shoot-out where he straps on his guns and an innocent is killed saving his life.
However, the most fascinating scene in the film is when the final shoot out between the goodies & baddies is interrupted by the town's women, who come between the two factions carrying lumber and beating the hell out of their men. No one dares shoot because they don't want to accidentally shoot one of the women, who are now inextricably involved. (Apparently beating up your woman is fine, but taking a shot at one crosses the line.)
It is an interesting film and surprisingly entertaining in that old time movie kind of way. The characters actor and weird background gags, not to mention the socialist commentary, reminded me of Preston Sturges (anyone who enjoyed the Coen Bros. film O Brother Where Art Thou! NEEDS to see Sullivan's Travels upon which it is based). Although, Jimmy Stewart's involvement might make people think Frank Capra. (It's neither. George Marshall directs this comedy, which is a remake of an earlier film starring Tom Mix.)
Young Jimmy Stewart is charming, lean, polite, and funny, with oddly sensual lips. His early work is so fresh (I also recently saw Philadelphia Story for the first time this year) it's strange to see his work before he became a caricature of himself.
Marlene Dietrich also stars in this film as a showgirl with the proverbial heart of gold. I love that she's called 'Frenchie,' speaks with an American accent, and sings with her typical Weimar German delivery in 1930s-style Western outfits. There is a fantastic girl-fight in this movie. And while her character falls to Jimmy Stewart's straight-man charm, part of me wanted to see her beat the crap out of him for telling her that 'somewhere beneath all that paint, there's a nice girl who knows how to do the right thing.'
Speaking of caricatures, I finally watched The Searchers to see if after almost a year of Westerns I could grok the Johns Wayne and Ford mystique. I've never been much of a John Wayne fan. He plays the white hat in a vindictive, biggoted, xenophobic way that has always made my hate Westerns. In my mind he IS the face of the Ugly American.
The Searchers is about a guy who goes looking for his niece whose been abducted by Indians. The plan is to get even and rescue or possibly shoot her depending on how infected she's become by the native taint. When I first saw this film I was horrified by the representation of the conflict. For years it has represented what I dislike most about Westerns, with some macho guy riding roughshod over the environment and everything in it. Worse, at least the Indians have a fighting chance: the women we'll just put out of their misery if they don't behave or if fate takes an unfortunate turn for them. I saw the film as glorifying Wayne's actions and attitudes.
However, upon seeing the film again I would say it is actually a complex commentary that works against Wayne's type, but so subtly that there's a little something for everyone on either side of the ideological divide. We're supposed to see him question his assumptions and emerge a changed man; but it's done so subtly and in such a context of relentless pursuit, that the reformed Ugly American is almost as awful as his vindictive one.
But there is also a subtle commentary on Wayne's character being a Confederate veteran that plays into the film. His impossible cause and his long (some might say ridiculous) search for his niece crossing ridiculous amounts of territory and five years is a kind of Odyssey on the impact of the war and how he will never be able to go home, again.
I have a sense that there is a lot more going on in the film than I am even picking up on now, which is probably why this is considered a classic. It's also not without its lighter moments. I was heartily amused by a scene in which two suitors fight and funny dialogue from the settlers along the lines of, "Wow! Two letters in one year!"
The film is shot in Ford's beloved Monument Valley, which is definitely NOT Texas, but looked pretty impressive on film. Many of the extras are Navajo (which is definitely NOT Comanche) but is a far cry from the spaghetti westerns.
I am still not a fan of Wayne; but I'm beginning to see a hint of Ford's gift and why this film is so influential. (I want to say that Outlaw Josey Wales takes part of its inspiration from The Searchers; but that was one of my first Eastwood films and I was only just beginning to be able to 'read' Westerns.)
*'Draw' is an important concept in the Western genre. If the other guy so much as touches his gun, you are considered within your rights to shoot him. Whether or not this is backed up by actual law in the West is less important than the fact that this is the central reason for the stand-offs in Western movies where two (or more) guys with guns are waiting for the other to make the first move, but are required to be quicker on the trigger to win the conflict.
One of my favorite illustrations of this point is in an early episode of Rawhide, (yes, the television show where Clint Eastwood got his start) called 'Incident with an Executioner' where an assassin is trailing the cattle drive which is sheltering someone he wants to kill. But he can't make a move until he unsettles someone enough for them to take the first shot. The episode is totally geared around this tension, and the mystery of who it is he wants to shoot.
As one might guess, this is something of a challenge in a town where everyone, including the women and children, are carrying weapons except for the law. But Destry's charm (played by Jimmy Stewart) carries the day until the final shoot-out where he straps on his guns and an innocent is killed saving his life.
However, the most fascinating scene in the film is when the final shoot out between the goodies & baddies is interrupted by the town's women, who come between the two factions carrying lumber and beating the hell out of their men. No one dares shoot because they don't want to accidentally shoot one of the women, who are now inextricably involved. (Apparently beating up your woman is fine, but taking a shot at one crosses the line.)
It is an interesting film and surprisingly entertaining in that old time movie kind of way. The characters actor and weird background gags, not to mention the socialist commentary, reminded me of Preston Sturges (anyone who enjoyed the Coen Bros. film O Brother Where Art Thou! NEEDS to see Sullivan's Travels upon which it is based). Although, Jimmy Stewart's involvement might make people think Frank Capra. (It's neither. George Marshall directs this comedy, which is a remake of an earlier film starring Tom Mix.)
Young Jimmy Stewart is charming, lean, polite, and funny, with oddly sensual lips. His early work is so fresh (I also recently saw Philadelphia Story for the first time this year) it's strange to see his work before he became a caricature of himself.
Marlene Dietrich also stars in this film as a showgirl with the proverbial heart of gold. I love that she's called 'Frenchie,' speaks with an American accent, and sings with her typical Weimar German delivery in 1930s-style Western outfits. There is a fantastic girl-fight in this movie. And while her character falls to Jimmy Stewart's straight-man charm, part of me wanted to see her beat the crap out of him for telling her that 'somewhere beneath all that paint, there's a nice girl who knows how to do the right thing.'
Speaking of caricatures, I finally watched The Searchers to see if after almost a year of Westerns I could grok the Johns Wayne and Ford mystique. I've never been much of a John Wayne fan. He plays the white hat in a vindictive, biggoted, xenophobic way that has always made my hate Westerns. In my mind he IS the face of the Ugly American.
The Searchers is about a guy who goes looking for his niece whose been abducted by Indians. The plan is to get even and rescue or possibly shoot her depending on how infected she's become by the native taint. When I first saw this film I was horrified by the representation of the conflict. For years it has represented what I dislike most about Westerns, with some macho guy riding roughshod over the environment and everything in it. Worse, at least the Indians have a fighting chance: the women we'll just put out of their misery if they don't behave or if fate takes an unfortunate turn for them. I saw the film as glorifying Wayne's actions and attitudes.
However, upon seeing the film again I would say it is actually a complex commentary that works against Wayne's type, but so subtly that there's a little something for everyone on either side of the ideological divide. We're supposed to see him question his assumptions and emerge a changed man; but it's done so subtly and in such a context of relentless pursuit, that the reformed Ugly American is almost as awful as his vindictive one.
But there is also a subtle commentary on Wayne's character being a Confederate veteran that plays into the film. His impossible cause and his long (some might say ridiculous) search for his niece crossing ridiculous amounts of territory and five years is a kind of Odyssey on the impact of the war and how he will never be able to go home, again.
I have a sense that there is a lot more going on in the film than I am even picking up on now, which is probably why this is considered a classic. It's also not without its lighter moments. I was heartily amused by a scene in which two suitors fight and funny dialogue from the settlers along the lines of, "Wow! Two letters in one year!"
The film is shot in Ford's beloved Monument Valley, which is definitely NOT Texas, but looked pretty impressive on film. Many of the extras are Navajo (which is definitely NOT Comanche) but is a far cry from the spaghetti westerns.
I am still not a fan of Wayne; but I'm beginning to see a hint of Ford's gift and why this film is so influential. (I want to say that Outlaw Josey Wales takes part of its inspiration from The Searchers; but that was one of my first Eastwood films and I was only just beginning to be able to 'read' Westerns.)
*'Draw' is an important concept in the Western genre. If the other guy so much as touches his gun, you are considered within your rights to shoot him. Whether or not this is backed up by actual law in the West is less important than the fact that this is the central reason for the stand-offs in Western movies where two (or more) guys with guns are waiting for the other to make the first move, but are required to be quicker on the trigger to win the conflict.
One of my favorite illustrations of this point is in an early episode of Rawhide, (yes, the television show where Clint Eastwood got his start) called 'Incident with an Executioner' where an assassin is trailing the cattle drive which is sheltering someone he wants to kill. But he can't make a move until he unsettles someone enough for them to take the first shot. The episode is totally geared around this tension, and the mystery of who it is he wants to shoot.
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Date: 2008-03-03 12:20 am (UTC)Lost America: Roadside Gallery (http://www.designshed.com/lostamerica/roadside.html)
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Date: 2008-03-03 12:37 am (UTC)Thaddeus
http://luciditysuitcase.org/home.html
My thoughts on Flamingo/Winnebago, the second of his Americas trilogy
http://zalena.livejournal.com/tag/thaddeus