In Search of the American Dream - The films of John Ford

It would be an understatement to say that John Ford was focused. He was quite unique amongst film directors in having devoted his energies principally to a single genre, the Western. In many respects he created the genre, giving it a specific form, which thereafter no other director making westerns could ignore. He made over two hundred films of which fifty were Westerns. He was famously laconic and self-effacing. When once making a public speech, he introduced himself, "My name is John Ford. I make Westerns."

'John Ford doesn't make pictures about good guys or bad guys; he makes stories about people'.

Discuss, with close reference to three John Ford films.

 

When the first Westerns appeared, there were only heroes and villains, there were only good guys and bad guys, and the plots were simply good versus evil.  The good guys invariably won. It was what the public wanted from a movie - simple plot, uninteresting characters, and lots and lots of action. As far as they were concerned, if you wanted a deep and complex story, you could read a book. The cinema was the first place where you could really have an action story.

 

Then John Ford appeared. At first, he conformed to the old style of 'good versus bad' but he started to make the characters more obscure. The first example of this was the Ringo Kid in Stagecoach. He is misunderstood and trodden down on, being an outlaw, as opposed to being a Sheriff or Marshal like the previous protagonists of earlier movies. However, apart from the misunderstanding of him by the others, there are no further surprises from him.  He proves to be valiant and brave, acting nobly to defeat the brutal Luke Plummer, and redeeming himself.

 

Also in Stagecoach we see Dallas, a prostitute who is driven out of town by the Morality league. She is treated like dirt by the other women in town, referred to as a "creature" and never talked to directly. At first Lucy Mallory, wife of a General picks up on this attitude, never talking to her and generally ignoring her. Then, when Mallory gives birth, it turns out that Dallas is a good nursemaid, and a kind and selfless person. At the end Lucy Mallory apologizes and thanks her, saying, "If there's anything I can doÉ".   She treats her as a human being.

 

In My Darling Clementine, Wyatt Earp is slightly more interesting than the Ringo kid, and his main motive is revenge. He isn't outrightly brave, though he is courageous. In the end scene, instead of openly going out to face the notorious Clanton Gang out of cover and alone like Ringo does, he creates a smokescreen from the dust and stampedes horses to obstruct the Clantons' view. Wyatt also has two brothers and a friend backing him up.

 

The other character in My Darling Clementine is Doc Holliday. Although he is fighting for the good side, he is also an alcoholic and quite violent sometimes. We go through many changes in our understanding of him over the course of the movie. At first he appears to be your typical gambling hall owner, then turns out to be a criminal, then turns out to be a doctor, and finally reveals himself to be a compassionate person when he fights to avenge the murder of Chihuahua. He is in this way more complicated than the previously mentioned protagonists, and a hallmark on the way to a really complex and interesting character.

 

In My Darling Clementine, John Ford is symbolizing a lot about the west, in particular the wild and tame sides, portrayed by Clementine and Chihuahua. These are symbolic of the two sides of Doc's life, the civilized East and the wild West, and they jealously fight over Doc just the way Doc moved between the two places. This kind of using people as symbols is characteristic of a parable and eventually gives way to more realistic and complex characters that represent themselves, not a group of people or an idea.

 

In The Grapes of Wrath, John Ford moves from the times of the Wild West to the strangely similar period of the Great Depression.  Both had times of hardship and people moving West in search of the good life. The main character in Grapes of Wrath, Tom Joad, is a murderer. He killed a man who came at him with a knife, with a shovel. He is extremely impulsive, getting the family into trouble many times. Yet in spite of this, he proves to be a brave person, fighting against the oppressive authorities. 

 

Another person who fights is preacher Casey. In one scene, a man trying to shoot a supposed  "agitator", shoots a woman in the back instead, but before he could take his aim again, preacher Casey drops him in his track, 'poor boy'. However, all in all, the story of Grapes of Wrath is a story of people being swept along helplessly, by the times - not the ideal environment for heroes, because heroes are supposed to stand out. This story is in some ways truer than other stories, because in reality, it is not individual people who do great things, but large groups of people, like the unions. This is what Tom Joad becomes in the end, a collective force of all the people who can and will fight back against the tide that directs their lives.

 

Finally in The Searchers, we see Ethan Edwards. He is an extremely complex character, so very different from the goody two-shoes characters in the first Westerns. He is fighting for the "good" guys, but, unlike in any other hero in the movies, can actually be pointlessly cruel. This is not like the misguided temper of Tom Joad, or the shady crimes of Doc Holliday. This is plain unhidden, viciousness. He hates Indians to a depth unplummable by any line, which is only reinforced by the killing of his loved one Martha. He shoots the eyes out of dead Indians so that they don't go to their spirit world. And yet, again, like with all heroes, he has some trait that makes it forgivable. He is kind and loving to his family, and is incredibly faithful; searching for years in the hope that Debbie might be alive. This is interesting when you consider that John Ford was called a "heartless compassionate idiot genius son of a *****".

 

Another complex touch in The Searchers is the representation of the Indians. In both the old Westerns and the previous John Ford movies, the Indians were represented as a vast unstoppable, evil horde. In The Searchers, however, it is different. Ethan is just as bad as his nemesis, Scar, and indeed, many of the Indians are presented as real people. The kind and gentle Look is a side of the Indians never seen before. In this way John Ford had a far more modern look at other peoples.

 

John Ford always told inquisitive interviewers that his movies were a 'job of work', not an art form. In many ways it was. He used his movies to inform and encourage, and many of his movies were put into the library of congress for being culturally or historically significant. But, at the risk of sounding like a cliché, it was more an art form, because one of the objectives of art is to portray emotion, and John Ford did that with great style. His movies are great insights into the emotions and thoughts of humans. But more importantly, John Ford lived in his pictures, and so not only do they portray emotion, they portray HIS emotion.  Even the most complex character is not as complicated as the simplest human, and John Ford by the best definition, was a human. Perhaps he was trying to show, through his movies, that he too was a complex contradictory and feeling person.

 

Joel 8T

 

Some More Reflections on John Ford

 

In the John Ford Westerns all the Americans have a simple goal: to find a safe place and to live happily. This is the American dream. It was this very same wish that drove the caravans West across America, hoping that just across that plain would be a land where they could live safely, and have food. Three quarters of a century later, the Americans headed West again, this time with the unemployed looking for work in California, with the same basic need all over again, to be able to have food and a secure home.

 

 

In Stagecoach, Ringo and Dallas's only wish was to stay alive long enough to get to Lordsburg, contrasting with Gatewood's greed. This conforms to the first part of the American dream; staying alive.  In My Darling Clementine, Wyatt wants to get revenge against the people who killed his brother. However, soon he develops another wish: to lead a cultured and civilized life. This is the second part of the dream, to be cultured and educated. In Ethan Edwards' story, the only dream is of revenge, all else pushed aside in a tide of racism and hatred against Indians. He illustrates the last aspect of the American dream: defending what you have.

 

 

The American dream is never an easy thing to accomplish, and for many it has proved impossible. However, many outcomes, both good and bad emerge from the pursuit itself. John Ford knew this, so in his movies he included this. In stagecoach, again the outcome is good; on the journey he meets Dallas, whom he falls in love with. In My Darling Clementine, Wyatt is given a taste of a calmer life, but knows that it will never be his, while at the same time he is a civilizing influence on the town. The Searchers' outcomes carry within them a warning. Ethan fights against the Indians. He "just keeps coming", persisting for five baking summers and bitter winters. He fords rivers, trails buffalo, fights Comanche, crosses deserts, looks for news endlessly. Eventually he finds Debbie and brings her safely through the door, puts her down, and walks away, unable to live peacefully and happily, because of the hatred that ate him up from the inside.

 

Joel 8T

 

'A man on a horse riding against a background of harshness and beauty; that's a John Ford trademark. He doesn't just tell you a story; he writes a poem about it. He doesn't just point the camera; he paints a picture with it.'

What do you find to be the distinguishing features (trademarks) of a John Ford film? Your answer should include evidence from three films.

 

John Ford was and will always be remembered as the first director who filmed in Monument Valley but, more importantly, he will be remembered as, 'the man who could portray a sense of wilderness and tension in a frame'. If he had a background, a white man and some Indians, he would paint a scene onto a film full of dramatic action, adrenaline and excitement. Ford had hundreds of  trademarks, but the three main ones I would like to talk about are: a stagecoach or a man in the middle of Monument Valley, a group of Indians following white people, and music playing in the background during a scene.

 

His white man or stagecoach in the middle of Monument Valley trademark is very noticeable in several films, such as "My Darling Clementine" where, in one scene, we see Wyatt on a horse with a breathtaking background shot of Monument Valley. Ford captured the hero figure of Wyatt by picturing him from below, thereby attributing to him a sense of glory and authority. Another example is to be found in "Stagecoach" where, in one scene, we see a long shot of the stagecoach followed by the cavalry, again with Monument Valley in the background. In that picture, Ford shows us how small the stagecoach is, and how easy it is for it to be attacked by Indians in such a vast, uninhabited territory. But one of the most famous John Ford shots, with Monument Valley in the background, is the opening scene of "The Searchers", where at a certain point we see Ethan riding a horse against the stunning background of Monument Valley. With that scene, Ford leads us to understand that Ethan is coming in from the wilderness.

 

From the examples listed in the previous paragraph about scenes that contain a Monument Valley background, we see that John Ford was not only captivated by the wild beauty of Monument Valley but we also understand that he uses the background to convey a subliminal message. He wants us to figure out why he shows us such a vast, strikingly beautiful background, and to understand why he places an insignificant stagecoach in the landscape of Monument Valley. He shows us the colossal nature of the open space and how vulnerable the stagecoach is, and how easy it is to attack and kill those traveling in it.  Usually, he uses the background to convey the seriousness of the moment, the great risk, the danger, the tension and other feelings the characters are experiencing, or to add greater drama to the scene.

 

Although some people might disagree, I think that a very important John Ford trademark, that deserves a look at, is that in many of his westerns, we see a group of Indians chasing either a stagecoach with people in it or a group of white people riding horses. I think Ford loved the pioneer life as well as the role of film director, because his shots of Indians chasing people are recognizable for their extreme action and for the tension in them. They are also highly recognizable because, for example, he could  depict the perfect moment in "Fort Apache",where we see an Indian falling from his horse, and even though most people don't remember many particular scenes about Indians, this one is surely unforgettable.

 

One very famous scene is to be found in "Stagecoach", where we see the Indians chasing the stagecoach.  Here, the first thing the eye notices is the clothing and weapons of the Indians, and how randomly John Ford placed them to create a sense of horror and chaos. Ford created the whole scene realistically and honestly and it is pretty unforgettable. In "The Searchers", we see a breath-taking scene, where the searchers are riding a horses in a straight line surrounded by two lines of Indian attackers. The scene goes on until they reach the river and the Indians decide to retreat. The whole scene makes us hold our breath until we know for sure that the heroes are safe.  John Ford is a master when it comes to creating impending horror; he has few rivals.

 

I have only seen three John Ford western films, but from what I have seen and read, I've tried to draw some conclusions. I concluded that Ford had a passion for pioneer life, and since he knew some Indians very well, he liked to include some of his friends in his action movies. I think that this is why a John Ford western that has Indians in it, stands out and is admirable, because he injects passion when he makes his films and doesn't just make a film for the money.

 

Another distinguishing feature of a John Ford film is that he always uses music in a scene in order to give either more information about the scene, or to create a particular atmosphere in the scene. Ford's use of music at the beginning of "The Searchers" isn't just background music.  It is the song called 'Lorena', which was very popular during the civil war and tells about unrequited love, which happened when soldiers didn't return to their loved ones who were waiting for them.  Martha waited for Ethan until she gave up hope and married his brother.  So in that scene, Ford tells us that Ethan and Martha had been lovers in the past but that something had prevented them from being together. Another example is in "Stagecoach", where just before the shootout, we see the Plummer boys coming from one side and they are walking very slowly. Throughout the scene the music becomes deeper with every second that passes and when Ringo arrives we hear the music getting louder until it rises to a high pitch and then stops suddenly. These are two simple examples based on the few John Ford films I saw.  Ford is a genius at placing music in scenes, because he doesn't use music all the time, but includes it only when it is necessary, and that's why we can't confuse this trademark with any other Western film director.

 

I've discovered that many film directors do have their own trademarks and special features, aspects that distinguish their movies from others, but John Ford is a special person. I think the reason that he was inspiring to many film directors, such as Martin Scorsese and George Lucas, is because he shows what he likes about the movies, not what he wants the audience to expect, and that is what is so recognizable in a John Ford movie.

 

Edwin 8F

 

  

‘A threat of fatality is always simmering under the ‘good life’ that the protagonists of John Ford’s films are trying to create. The innate moral tensions of pioneer life make the conquest of the West a perfect subject for high drama.’
Discuss.  Support your answer with evidence from three John Ford westerns.

John Ford is, and always will be, the legendary Western director. In his lifetime, he made more than sixty Westerns, each one unique and with an authenticity of its own. The West, the Wild West, the conquest of this West, was his inspiring muse. It’s not just a setting, it’s a whole world, a whole undiscovered life with its own morals and teachings. The secret of all his films is exactly that. The drama, the thrill that lies beneath the West comes from that threat of fatality, that ever present tension. The characters which populate Ford’s films are chased by it, it’s always in the back of their minds, no matter what happens. Everything always comes down to what’s right and what’s wrong and how much longer they are going to live.
     The people living in Ford’s West have impending dangers surrounding them, physical and social. There’s the Indians: the main adversity in the late 1800’s. They are the ones who originally owned the land, until the white men came and swept them away. However, they didn’t just disappear. They battled their way through, motivated by their primitive vendetta spirit. Ford shows us how they did it and what a danger they represented to the Americans of the West. They massacred entire villages, carried out murder raids, raped women and kidnapped children, and attacked passing stages. No matter what they do, the Western inhabitants have a constant fear of Indians. But that’s just where it gets started. In fact, they are not only afraid of outsiders, but also of local outlaws who keep entire towns under their control. They drink and gamble, have gunfights and shootouts, and perpetually hold people’s breath. Last but not least in the list of adversities and tensions is the social prejudice; something that may seem minor compared to the other issues, but is actually an engraved element of the Western scenario. When taken too seriously, it can lead to terrible consequences. People’s lives can be ruined just because of their social class.

The innate moral tensions, a constant background of Ford’s work, are a direct consequence of the fatality and fear of death. Distinguishing what’s right and what’s wrong is essential for survival. In these films, those who follow the right morals are redeemed. We all know what we should do and what we shouldn’t. What happens is that when we’re doing something wrong, we convince ourselves that it’s not, while we perfectly know we shouldn’t be doing it. That’s why behaviour that goes against the right morality is punished, because it means betraying our own senses. This is of infinite importance in Ford’s Westerns. And it always has to do with which side of the law you’re on. At some point, each character always has to take a stand, take a side. It all relates. The innate morale tensions are the ones that determine the danger and adversities the characters might have to face. Of course, it doesn’t always work that way, else it would be too simple. At times, some have to sacrifice themselves for another event to take place and for others to be saved. If the Edwards family in The Searchers hadn’t been killed in the murder raid, Ethan would have never discovered his devotion to family like he did. It’s all these elements that create grounds for the high drama. The drama that keeps us gripped, that reveals the characters, that redeems and punishes.

In Stagecoach, it seems like the main dramatic aspect is the fear of riding through Apache land. The characters of this film come from civilized towns and are very naïve when it comes to Indians.  They are opposite to those in The Searchers who are used to living with that fatal threat and are harshly practical about it. The nine stage drivers are in constant panic about being attacked and when they finally are, their reaction is highly dramatic, almost exaggerated. In the end, though, they are saved. This just shows how Ford presents life as unpredictable, always basing himself on people’s morals. Another source of turmoil in Stagecoach is Ringo Kid’s revenge against the Plummer Boys. Everyone wants to stop him from trying to go and kill them because they are sure the chances of him winning against all three of them are very low. Curley arrests him to put him safely in prison, while Dallas lures him to escape so that he doesn’t even go to Lordsburg. But they all fail. Despite all those histrionics, Ringo has to get that revenge. And because it’s his destiny, he succeeds. In Stagecoach, the most interesting aspect is that the elements of high drama are created by the actual characters. There’s no real disaster, it’s all in the characters’ minds. And everything ends in a very fairytale-like way. Following a series of strict morality rules, everyone gets what they deserve.

Just like any Ford Western, My Darling Clementine is different from all the others. Out of the three we watched, it is the only one that doesn’t deal at all with Indian attacks or dangers of the harsh outside. Because it is the life story of the great legend, Wyatt Earp, it follows a more epical plot, with grand events and memorable characters, all inside a small isolated town. The town of Tombstone, the town that strives to be civilized but is actually dominated by all sources of savagery. Alcohol, gambling, outlaws. This is the threat the people of Tombstone live under. The fear of walking out on the street and getting shot. The fear of their own town blowing up because of a gunfight. Ford shows us how dangerous it can be to live in the West; until Wyatt Earp walks in, and with him, a whole other series of themes and issues. Suddenly, it is all about relationships between people and how they can entwine dangerously. Chihuahua, Doc Holliday, these characters don’t die because of everyday alcohol-ridden gunfights. Their deaths have complex implications behind them. This is where the drama comes from. Love, hate, passion, death. Civilized and uncivilized. The romantic poet figure, who kills himself ever so slowly, silently enduring the pain. The Mexican dance hall gal, trapped in a reality she forever struggles to get out of. The hero, the man who makes a difference. These beautifully crafted characters are put in tragic situations, and the composition that is created is infinitely effective.

The Searchers really is the dramatic masterpiece. It has everything that makes you never forget a film, that engraves it into your heart forever. The Edwards are truly representative pioneers, and the heroism they have is exclusive to them. They don’t live in a civilized town, they practically don’t know anyone else except the family in the next ranch. They are the ones who most feel the tension of fatality, they are the ones who have that extreme adversity right in front of them. And yet they are brave. When they know a murder raid is impending, they do what they can to delay it, keeping their head firmly on their shoulders. I wonder what the characters of Stagecoach would have done in that position? These are people who accept their miseries in a way that’s very sad to see from the outside. Not only the Edwards, the Jorgensens too. When the death of their son Brad is mentioned, they answer with a very moving spirit of resignation. Mr. Jorgensen says: the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. This is just to show their deep faith and courage, something we should all look up to. Ethan Edwards, instead, the main character, the sometimes-hero, is like them in some ways but different in so many others. He really embodies the western spirit. Complex, ambiguous, harsh but loyal. I believe he’s the only one so far who doesn’t try to create that supposed ‘good life’. Ethan sees reality with unveiled eyes; he lives reality. However, sometimes, he lives it too far. To a point where he has no heart, no soul. He becomes just a prosecutor of Indians, thirsty with revenge. Throughout the story he becomes that fatal threat everyone is afraid of. Martin is afraid of him, the Jorgensens are afraid of him. We all are. That’s when he pulls back for a moment, saving Debbie. But he never blends in with the family, he stays a free spirit forever. And even though the film ends in peace and harmony, there’s always that sour note. That threat of the past repeating itself. Because the Indians haven’t disappeared and the family still lives on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. And Ethan Edwards is still Ethan Edwards. In some ways, nothing has changed. But in others, so much has. Under this aspect, Ford’s ‘happy’ endings, are never really what they seem. With his stories, his characters, there isn’t an end. The audience is always left deep in thought. About that simmering threat, about the high drama and the conquest of the West.

It is evident why John Ford chose the West as a setting, and even more than a setting, for his magnificent films. The high drama he created has been emulated so many times since then. The simmering threat, the moral tensions we see in today’s movies is all owed to Ford. With his Westerns, he teaches us a way of living. He doesn’t just show us characters, but people, reacting in different situations. He gives us heroes to look up to. With these films, we can truly understand the conquest of the West. We realize how desperately those people are trying to create a ‘good life’. A life of civilization, love and happiness. The American Dream. But Ford shows us that the pursuit of that dream is unreachable. Because this is the Wild West. And the West is no place for dreams. It always comes down to some sort of compromise with complex implications. Dallas and Ringo end up together but who knows if they will live happily ever after. After all, they stay two people with very unfortunate backgrounds. The West is, however, a place for high drama. For tragedy, for searches, for journeys, for love. And that’s exactly what, in my opinion, makes Ford’s work a masterpiece.

Lavinia 8C

'A man on a horse riding against a background of harshness and beauty; that's a John Ford trademark.  He doesn't just tell you a story; he writes a poem about it.  He doesn't just point the camera; he paints a picture with it.'

What do you find to be the distinguishing features (trademarks) of a John Ford film?  Your answer should include evidence from three films.

John Ford presents several film making techniques in the three western films we have watched; Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine and The Searchers, and some of them became trademarks for his films. Some of these techniques he developed himself, and some are common in cinema. He uses framings, references, parallels, and music to get us to think about what is happening. 

Parallels are what get your mind to compare the characters, events or locations. When we discover the similarities, it makes us discover the differences too. There are different kinds of techniques to show parallels and John Ford used many, such as Parallels in openings and closings and parallels between characters.

Parallels in the openings and closings of a film are there to connect the story.  The Searchers begins with a door opening and a zoom of Monument Valley and Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) approaching from his absent years from home. The ending is almost the same, a door closing and an out zoom of the West and Ethan walking away into the unknown; just as the story had begun.  He is once again out in the uncivilized West and the events have gone full circle.

In My Darling Clementine, Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) rides into town as a cowboy/cattleman but rides out as a civilized man. The connection between these two scenes makes us compare the beginning with the ending and consider what has changed during the film.

What makes our minds compare and contrast the different characters in a John Ford film? When we get to know (in the Searchers) that Ethan and Aaron are brothers we start to compare and contrast their characters and their choices in life. We also compare Ethan and Martin when we understand that they have both lost their mothers in Indian attacks. They have been through the same experience but have responded to it differently; Ethan is revengeful and obsessed, while Martin is grateful for his new family and doesn't think so much about what happened.

In My Darling Clementine we discover several similarities between Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp.  They have heard of each other before they meet; they both have some sort of control in Tombstone and they both have a sense of ethics. This makes us compare and contrast the characters. Doc comes from a civilized life as a doctor but has turned towards an uncivilized way of life; Wyatt comes from a life as cowboy but is drawn towards a civilized life. In the Shakespearean scene we realize that Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp may be moving in opposite directions but meet on an equal level of civilization; Wyatt, the new marshal in Tombstone, watches Doc with admiration when he recites Hamlet.

The turning point in a film is a way of showing the viewers that an important shift of character or situation is taking place. It could be recognized through camerawork and sound, editing, dialogue and actions. An excellent example of a turning point is the last shot of James Earp before he is killed, in the film My Darling Clementine. The camera lingers on the shot of him for us to see its importance, while he says goodbye to his three older brothers who are about to go into Tombstone (a symbol of death). There is slow, dramatic music in the background and the shot fades away until the screen is completely black. We understand that a major shift has taken place, that this section of the film has ended, and a new one has begun.

John Ford never presents one single plot line; he shows us more than that. In the three Western films we have seen, there are several plot lines. In Stagecoach, everybody is heading for Lordsburg, but for different reasons, and different things happen to them on the way.  Dallas (Claire Trevor), a prostitute who is forced to leave town meets Ringo (John Wayne) on the way and falls in love with him. She also wins some respect after helping Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) deliver Mrs. Mallory's (Louise Platt) baby, and is shown as the most generous character. Her plot line ends when she is set "free" and together with Ringo leaves Lordsburg for a place in Mexico. This was a short description of her plot line through the story. While anyone else's story could look totally different, Gatewood (Berton Churchill) for example, a banker who has stolen money from his own bank, sees the trip as a getaway. Along the way he is presented as the evil and selfish one, even though he was one of the respectable ones at first. In the end he is arrested anyway. Every plot line in this story is different, but there the major one is Ringo, an outlaw, who goes to Lordsburg to get revenge by killing the Plummer Boys.

In My Darling Clementine, there are two major plot lines; Wyatt Earp's and Doc Holiday's. Wyatt's plot line is about finding the people who who killed his brother James and bringing them to justice. Doc on the other hand, tries to make it through with his sickness, which in the end, is killing him.  In the last film, The Searchers there are two main plot lines. The first one is of course Ethan's plot line, the searching for Debbie, to kill her because she has become a Comanche, and then returning to the Wild West. And then there is Martin's plot line; also searching for Debbie, but to save her from Ethan, and then to return to his home and family life.

The story about the Wanderer Cowboy is the same in the three films; Wanderer cowboy comes. Wanderer cowboy solves (by killing). Wanderer cowboy leaves.  Stagecoach: Ringo comes into Lordsburg, kills Plummer Boys, and leaves with Dallas. My Darling Clementine: Wyatt comes into Tombstone, solves problems with Clantons, (also by killing them), the town becomes civilized and he and his bother Morg leave. The Searchers: Ethan appears from the wilderness in the opening scene, finds Debbie, kills Scar and leaves for the wilderness again in the closing scene. There is also always someone who the Wanderer Cowboy loves (Dallas, Clementine, and Martha). So there are also two kinds of plot lines only for one person. In these three movies, there is also some kind of revenge to be settled before harmony is restored.

In the three films, Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine and The Searchers all the exterior scenes take place out in Monument Valley. In those scenes, we can see many extreme long shots, to show how incredibly vast the Wild West was, and this highlights the danger and the unknown, exposed world they live in. Everything in the exterior shots is natural and magnificent but still feels like we're out in nature. All the action scenes take place outdoors, such as the Indian attacks in Stagecoach and The Searchers, and the gunfight in My Darling Clementine also takes place there. When John Ford and his team were filming an action scene, such as Geronimo's attack in Stagecoach, they only shot it once which explains why it looks so realistic and alive. The landscape of the Monument Valley looks as if it is never-ending, and the light is of course natural.

The Interior scenes in John Ford's films are presented as very enclosed  by showing the roof and the floor for example. He uses dust and smoke to show the life indoors. The small cabins, which we, in the interior scenes are inside (except for Stagecoach where some of the interior scenes are inside the stagecoach) make us feel very protected from all the dangers outdoors. John Ford creates this by showing the roof and the floor, usually in the same shot, and by having the light produced indoors too; from the fire, from lamps, and candles. The light is often moving, such as a lamp hanging loosely from the roof, which creates moving shadows. But in The Searchers, the scene at Martha and Aaron's house when they suspect that the Comanche are going to attack them, all the light, an eerie glow of dusk, is coming from outdoors, meaning that the danger of the outdoors is coming indoors.

By using the technique of framing, John Ford concentrates our attention on the object he wants us to study, and emphasizes it. John Ford uses different framings, using colors and light, door openings, windows, etc. An example of a color framing is when we see a shot of the stagecoach against the white desert, or in the gunfight in My Darling Clementine, when Doc Holiday is shooting one of the Clanton brothers, everything around is relatively dark, so we are looking at the white scarf in his hand. Sometime he uses framings to emphasize people's expressions.

When we first meet the main character, he (not very often a 'she') is presented with a kind of zoom. In Stagecoach there is normal zoom of Ringo when we first meet him. In My Darling Clementine, the Earp brothers are presented one after another, opening with James and finishing with Wyatt. In The Searchers, Ethan is presented when he rides towards us. The in zoom, when presenting a character is a sign of being the hero in the story. The zoom is also a method of highlighting each of the characters in the film; you gradually see more and more who they really are. In the beginning John Ford presents the characters very clearly, it is like he is saying to us: "Ok, he's the thief, she's a prostitute, she's the respected one, he's the alcoholic and is very unrespectable and he's the outlawÉ".  But later, we discover who they really are. In Stagecoach, Dallas is at first a very typical character, a prostitute and therefore not respected by others, and she is kicked out of town. But by the end, she turns out to be a much more complex character, and also the most generous one in the whole story. John Ford also presents some of the information about the characters in this way. We do get to know a lot in the opening scene, but there are things hiding, and only some will come out, and the rest will be for our imaginations, such as; where was Ethan (in The Searchers) in the three years after the war?

All the characters are very different, none are really the same; they may have had the same experiences, but if so, they are probably handling it differently, such as Ethan and Martin in The Searchers.  The costumes can also be very important in defining the typical character that Ford creates for us at the beginning, which make it easy for us to see who s/he is, e.g. cowboy, maid, Indian, outlaw.

The sarcastic and kind of mocking humor in the films of John Ford is presented through the characters, dialogue or action and is a consistent feature in his films.  In Stagecoach, the scene between Doc and the Mexican is an example.  CHRIS: "I beat her with the whip and she never get tiered!" DOC: "Your wife?" CHRIS: "My horse! Find wife easy, yes, but not horse like that."

John Ford never makes a character to be all bad, or all good, he makes them as they would be in reality, three-dimensional characters. He always includes strong family feelings in his films and strong Christian principles. This was important to him as a person even though his own family life was troubled. In Stagecoach Mrs. Mallory's baby is born, In My Darling Clementine marriage is talked about between Chihuahua/Doc, James/CorySue. The Earp brothers are very close as a family and we are moved in the scene of Wyatt by James' graveside. In The Searchers, new families are created; Laurie/Martin, Debbie's new family the Jørgensens, and Ethan watches the door closing on Martha and Aaron's bedroom, knowing that he could never be a part of any family.

Composer Aaron Copland said that his music, "helps to fill the empty spots between pauses in a conversationÉ [It] must weave its way underneath dialogue". The music in John Ford films often acts as storyteller/narrator, or it often tells more about the story.  It shows us moods, such as danger, fortune, mystery, safety, fear and many others.  It is also used when a new character is presented, and it often clarifies for us who are the heroes and the villains. If the music has a lyric, it almost always has a meaning about the story. In The Searchers, the opening and closing song tells us about a man who is searching and asks us to consider why. My Darling Clementine uses the traditional ballad as its theme song. There is also a typical sound of music to indicate the approach of Indians.

John Ford uses different techniques of the camera to present characters in the story, and it could be helpful for us, because he presents heroes and villains in two different ways. In a John Ford film, there are never any 'real' heroes, they are not just good people, for example, they kill people. And they're not trying to be the hero.  They mostly do the things others are afraid to do, like confronting the Plummer Boys, the Clantons or finding Debbie and killing Scar, because of another reason, like revenge or wanting to make their society a safer one for people to live in.  The heroes are often presented with a zoom in, like Ringo in Stagecoach, and/or with a low-angle shot, which is when the position of the camera is below the subject, and tilted upwards. This kind of shot has the effect of making the character seem to be more powerful or important.

In Ford's films the villain is never only a bad character, just as the hero is never completely good.  When the old man Clanton's sons were killed, we got to see his good side, how he was praying and crying for them. And in The Searchers, we see the good side of the character Scar when we discover that Debbie is his wife, and she says "these are my people". We also discover that the reason for his attacks on white people is because his own family were massacred by whites. In My Darling Clementine the Clantons are presented as they enter into the frame so we can see them. In The Searchers, Scar is presented with a low-angle shot before the Comanche raid, because he dominates the scene.

There are not a lot of close-ups in the films of John Ford, but when there is one, it is very important and powerful, like the one of Lucy screaming in The Searchers, but there are a lot of medium-shots, which make the story more about people.  There are also many extreme long-shots of Monument Valley, such as the one where Ethan rides towards us, or walks away at the end.  This enables us to capture the magnificence and vastness of this breathtaking landscape.

John Ford also uses the camera to emphasize different groups of people, such as, respectable and not respectable. In Stagecoach, he films Dallas and Ringo alone in one shot, Mrs. Mallory and Hatfield in one shot. He makes it clear how different they are in their society.  When he is filming people, the camera stays there for us to study the person closely, or to watch the thing that is going to happen. In My Darling Clementine, the last shot of James is almost sacred because he is going to die, which we could almost suspect.

The references to real events and real people give John Ford's films a sense of authenticity of time or place, and his use of motifs from other films or art help to create a mood.  His use of the same actors like John Wayne, Henry Fonda and many others also make his films distinctive.  Some examples follow.

References to History  - Stagecoach: Geronimo, My Darling Clementine: Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday

References to Art - John Ford used famous paintings as models in scenes and costumes, e.g. the 19th century artist, Remington.

References to Films - He often refers to his own previous films; using the same actors and the same Monument Valley motif creates mood and expectations. He also uses the same shots, such as the shot in Stagecoach, when the stage goes out of Tonto.  This is used in My Darling Clementine too, in the closing scene when Wyatt leaves Tombstone.

The director John Ford uses all these techniques to make us think, which maybe some of us don't do when we watch a film, perhaps because we see them to enjoy ourselves, to relax, or to laugh. But a John Ford film is more than that, just as many films. If we study them a bit, we see that thinking about the film, what is happening, and what the director is trying to tell us, the still living techniques will help us to discover much more.

Vera 8T

'John Ford doesn't make pictures about good guys or bad guys; he makes stories about people'.

Discuss, with close reference to three John Ford films.

In John Ford's movies his characters are not just good or bad; he makes them interesting, complex people. His characters are not just one-sided people; he stuffs them with personality. Each character has special qualities that define him or her. Some start out the movie being baddies, but then throughout the movie it becomes clear that they are not so bad after all. In many of his movies the people who end up being the heroes are the underdogs at the beginning. John Ford was successful in the movie business because his movies make the viewer think more about the characters to figure them out. His movies also don't just show the 'wild' West; they show people pioneering in the West, and how the West was becoming civilized. The complex characters in Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, and The Searchers prove that 'John Ford doesn't make pictures about good guys or bad guys; he makes stories about people'.

At the beginning of Stagecoach [1939] Ford's characters, Dallas and Ringo are portrayed as bad people, but then during the movie Ford shows that they are really just nice people who want to help others. For example, on the way to Lordsburg, Hatfield the gambler, and Lucy Mallory the soldier's wife, are really rude to Dallas. They ignore her and treat her badly because she is a prostitute. Even though they do that, Dallas shows that she is actually a generous person, by taking care of Lucy Mallory's baby, and staying up all night helping her. The Ringo Kid is also portrayed as bad in the beginning of the movie. It is unfair that Ringo had to go to jail and be portrayed as an outlaw when he escaped. He was jailed unfairly because the Plummer boys, three nasty brothers, killed his father and brother. Then Ringo was put in jail because the Plummer boys said that he killed their foreman. Despite this, he helps and takes care of everyone along the way to Lordsburg. For example, when Hatfield offers Lucy Mallory a drink and not Dallas, Ringo interrupts and makes sure that Dallas gets a drink too. In many Ford films his characters change, but it seems that it is the main point in Stagecoach.

John Ford's Westerns do not just show the shootouts and Indian attacks of the 'wild' West. Ford also shows people and what their pioneering lives were like in the west. Even though in between the main scenes there are shootouts and Indian attacks, they are not the whole plot of his movies. He just uses them when they are necessary. He doesn't just show the West itself. For example, The Searchers, [1956], is not just shootout after shootout like many other westerns, it is a story about a pioneer man who goes searching though the deserts of the west. A main character who gets killed, Aaron Edwards, Ethan's brother, is one of the first to have a house in the deserts of the west, and in the movie the Indians massacre his family but take his two daughters because he is on their land. One of the daughters, Lucy, gets killed by the Indians soon after. That sends Ethan on a search for his surviving niece. While he is searching for Debbie, he must do some soul searching to figure out what he will do when he finds Debbie. His hatred for the Indians is so strong that it seems he might kill her because she grew up with the Indians for the five years that it took to find her. On the other hand, it seems that he might just bring her home. Ethan is a complex character because he is not just on a search for his niece; he is also searching for himself and his own peace of mind.

Ford also mixes civilization into his wild west. In My Darling Clementine, [1946], Tombstone is a civilized town. A main character in My Darling Clementine, Clementine Carter, is a major symbol of civilization in Tombstone. She goes to church, and always is polite and ladylike. The sheriff of Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, is a complex character because he is a person from the wild West, but when he meets Clementine he longs to be civilized also. He turns from wild to civilized when he meets the civilized life with Clementine. Other examples of civilization in My Darling Clementine are the church in Tombstone, and the fact that many people in Tombstone are very intelligent. For example, Doc Holliday knows the play Hamlet and is able to recite one of its most famous soliloquies. The biggest example of the west becoming civilized is when Wyatt Earp becomes the sheriff, and turns the town into a civilized, well working town. He keeps order in town and rids it of its wild reputation.

All of Ford's characters are intricate and not just one-sided, and that's why his movies are some of the best. Ford's westerns are about pioneering in the west, and Ford himself was a pioneer in the movie industry. Almost all of the techniques that he uses he invented himself. He inspired so many directors, that many of the great directors today started making movies because of Ford's movies. Ford has put many techniques into the movie making industry, and fine-tuned some great skills, but one thing that makes all of his movies great is that they are not just straightforward. He doesn't just make good guys or bad guys; he creates people, and shows the story of their lives.

Dan 8T

'A man on a horse riding against a background of harshness and beauty; that's a John Ford trademark. He doesn't just tell you a story; he writes a poem about it. He doesn't just point a camera; he paints a picture with it'.

What do you find to be the most distinguishing features (trademarks) of a John Ford film? Your answer should include evidence from thee films.

John Ford is a unique director. He is one of few directors in history that was able to create a perfect view of the Wild West and gives us a true picture of it. Thanks to his fine skills he is able to show us what the West was really like and how harshness and beauty contrast. On one side he showed us cruelty, hostility and how wild the West was. On the other side he showed us the West as a beautiful place full of love and joy between family members. This is essential because he portrayed that there was more to pioneer life than fighting off Indian attacks.  He was able to display the love between people, the family, the coming of civilization, passions, marriages, community life and much more.

The first trademark that we notice immediately in a John Ford film is the breathtaking scenery. He is able to create this sense of beauty by setting most of his westerns in the spectacular location of Monument Valley. This helped to create the sense of reality and beauty of the West. Monument Valley was perfect for John Ford because it symbolized the harshness of the West, but at the same time the natural beauty of the landscape.  The  scenes of cowboys riding horses against a background of a red sun going down remain with us long after we have watched the film. Monument Valley is used in the film 'The Searchers' and also in 'My Darling Clementine' and 'Stagecoach'.

The music in John Ford's films is another feature which distinguish his films from others. Using traditional songs such as, 'My Darling Clementine', he is able to make the past years of the West come alive.  The music is always an essential part in his films because it accompanies the story and often tells us more about the scene that is happening or the characters.  In 'The Searchers' Lorena's theme is used to suggest the struggle between Ethan and Martha who had parted because of the war, and whose love was never fulfilled.  The opening and closing song tells about a man who is searching his heart and soul but doesn't know how to find peace of mind, so he wanders alone, trying for the rest of his life to find a life that will satisfy him. This is exactly what is happening to Ethan Edwards because his relationship with Martha is sad because Martha, tired of waiting for him to return, married Ethan's brother Aaron.  Another example of music is in 'My Darling Clementine', where the theme song is My Darling Clementine. Music in John Ford's films is often used to create suspense in a scene, such as the dramatic moments before the Comanche raid in 'The Searchers' but also in romantic scenes, to add emotion to the film so the viewer experiences the film more intensely. This is the purpose of good music in his films.

Action scenes in John Ford's films are fantastic. These scenes are real. The stunts were not rehearsed and an action scene was usually shot only once.  It didn't matter to Ford how it came out because he wanted to shoot a scene that couldn't always be predictable but would become part of  film. These scenes created high suspense and excitement because they were, and looked very dangerous. In fact the stunts were real and this is evident in Ford's action sequences. A perfect example is in 'Stagecoach'. At the end of the film, when the stagecoach has almost arrived in Lordsburg, Indians attack the stagecoach. During this scene there is much shooting from both sides.  But when the Indians are shot they fall off horses which are galloping at high speed and the falls are quite spectacular and very realistic. As the Indians move towards the stagecoach even the camera is traveling fast with them and that adds to the drama and the speed at which they are traveling.  In some memorable shots John Ford placed cameras below the ground surface to capture the velocity from an even more dramatic angle. The stuntman that worked in a particularly risky scene in this film was Yakima Cannut.  In this unforgettable scene he jumps from a horse  onto the platform of the stagecoach and then when he is shot, falls under the fast moving stagecoach, whose wheels miss him by  a hair.  In 'My Darling Clementine' there are no Indian attacks but the Gunfight at the O.K Corrall created lots of excitement and drama. Finally as in 'Stagecoach','The Searchers' involves Indian attacks with fascinating stunts that contribute to the story by adding great excitement and a sense of reality.  In John Ford's action sequences there was no use of technology for special effects.  Everything had the human touch.

Another essential trademark is how John Ford used the paintings of the 19th century to recreate the characters of the past so that they were represented authentically and realistically, with costumes of the 1800's.  He observed the paintings of many artists of the period and he projected the images of these paintings into the film making it come alive. The painting by Frederic Remington of the Arizona Cowboy, for example can be seen clearly in 'My Darling Clementine' when Wyatt Earp appears as a cowboy in the opening scene.   The details of his costume, facial appearance and even his stance are taken from the Remington painting. In all his films Ford was able to recreate a sense of the past in a way that few directors were able to do.

Women in John Ford's films are always presented in a particular way.  He shows them as very strong, resilient and as having the most important role in the family.  They are often the ones who keep the family together and help to change the wild west to a civilized community. I admire the way Ford presented women but this was an ironic aspect of his film making. In his own personal life Ford he was not a good husband and father, but in his films he shows the opposite, showing us the perfect family with the perfect husband as strong physically and emotionally, caring about his family.

The lighting and color in Ford's films are something special. In his first western in color, 'The Searchers', we see the magnificent Monument Valley and the beauty of its colors. The interior lighting is important too because he portrays it in a special way. The use of lamp light or firelight only brightens one side of the room and the other remains in shadow. That is a John Ford trademark.  'My Darling Clementine' and 'Stagecoach' are in black and white  so the shadows create atmosphere but the lighting in color films like 'The Searchers' is equally effective.  Another trademark using light is the framing. Two examples I retain the best are firstly the closing scene in 'The Searchers', when Ethan is standing outside the door, and also in 'Stagecoach' when Ringo is walking down the corridor to go and talk to Dallas.

One of my favorite trademarks of John Ford is how he shows us the faces of characters in the film. Using close-ups he shows how a person is feeling, and I remember what John Ford said was the most important thing to observe in an actor; the eyes.  When a person is speaking for example Ford might have the camera focused on the other person's face rather than the speaker. He uses the camera angle also to say more about the character, such as when he shoots Wyatt Earp from a low angle in the opening of My Darling Clementine.  This tells us immediately that he is a hero, even before any words are spoken.  Dancing and singing are always a part of John Ford's films.  Pedro's wife sings in 'Stagecoach', Chihuahua sings in 'My Darling Clementine' and in 'The Searchers' Lorena's Theme is played whenever Ethan and Martha meet.

John Ford's films strike us because of the way they use music, framing, lighting, and action, but most importantly how the character of the West is portrayed so realistically. He shows us that heroes don't choose to be heroes but become heroes because there is a need for them to put things right.  They have good and bad qualities as normal people have. In 'My Darling Clementine', Wyatt Earp is forced to be a deputy and bring civilization to the wild town of Tombstone, Arizona. At the beginning of a Ford film characters are often one dimensional, but by the end we find them to be more complex and having more sides to understand. This is what makes a Ford film so fascinating! His films talk about people and people are those who really make the story dramatic, and he gives us characters that surprise us. These stories deal with human interactions and survival, with conflicts, love and suffering.  This is the essential high drama which makes a John Ford film so essential.

Dario 8C

 "John  Ford doesn't make pictures about good guys or bad guys; He makes stories about people." Discuss, with close reference to three of John Ford films.

In most of John Ford's movies there are normal people that aren't just good or bad, or just charming or tedious but there are stories about pioneer life and people. John Ford films aren't "just black and white, they are grey" as a film scholar pointed out. Grey is black and white put together. In Ford's films there isn't just good and bad, or black and white, but there is a fusion of all these elements, which create this 'grey', a story about people. My essay will discuss explore this idea using evidence from the three John Ford films we saw in class: "My Darling Clementine", "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers".

In Stagecoach as soon as we hear the name "Ringo Kid" and we see the people's expressions when that name is said, we feel that he is a bad person. But as soon as we see him on the screen we understand that he is not so bad. During the journey from Tonto to Lordsburg, Ringo shows a good and a bad side. The bad side is the one that wants revenge for his brother's death after being killed by the Plummer boys, and the good one is what we see almost always during the film. His bad side immediately disappears as soon as he meets Dallas, a prostitute with whom he falls in love.

Dallas, who is the first person we meet in the movie with Doc Boone, is considered not a person but a "creature" by the law and order league in Tonto. Everyone thinks she is unworthy of respect and treat her as one without dignity. She  is sent away to Lordsburg and during the journey we discover that she is a very sweet and generous woman who not only cares about the others, but takes special care of Mrs. Mallory and her baby as if it was her own responsibility.

Mrs. Mallory is shown from the beginning as a selfish, arrogant person who is not sociable and doesn't care about the others. She treats Dallas vary badly, making her feel inferior on a number of occasions.  Once when Dallas sits at the table where Mrs. Mallory is sitting, Mrs. Mallory changes places because she doesn't want to sit at the same table where a prostitute is sitting.  After the baby's birth however, Dallas, knowing the way Mrs. Mallory treated her, takes care of her and the baby and risks her own life for them.  This act of kindness helps Mrs. Mallory realize that she has been unkind and hurtful to a very generous, good person and is grateful to Dallas for the help and the support she has given.

In "The Searchers", Ethan Edwards has a good and a bad side. The good side is the one that loves Martha and all his family. It is his good side that pushes him to keep on looking for Debbie in the long years after she is taken by the Comanches. We can see his good side at the beginning when he kisses Martha on the forehead and looks at her lovingly every time they are in the same room, and when he lifts Debbie up and gives her the golden locket. His bad side is the one that hates and humiliates Martin Pawley, or that treats the others badly. For example he calls Mose a stupid goat and tells Marty to call him Ethan not Uncle Ethan. He also tells Mary that he didn't save him intentionally and that anyone could easily exchange him for an Indian.

In this Ford western, the Indians are opponents to be feared and everyone is afraid of them. They are shown as terrible people who bring only destruction and death.  They totally destroy Aaron's house, killing everyone in it, raping and kidnapping the young girls.  It is only near the end of the movie, when Ethan and Marty manage to find Debbie that we realize we have been seeing only the bad side of this population through Ethan and his hatred.  In fact the Indians had a "valid" reason for the violence and destruction they carried out. Scar, the much feared Indian chief had also had his family massacred by white men and just as Ethan was avenging the killing of his family members, so was Scar. Scar's daughter, so from that day, for revenge, he decided to kill all the white man.  Scar and Ethan were on opposite sides but they were as good and bad as each other.

In "My Darling Clementine", Doc Holiday is not portrayed as a good or bad person, but he is shown as an insecure person who is trying to escape from his past. From the beginning of the film we see Doc Holiday being a bad person who treats others badly and is drawn to the less civilized life. This is the bad side which he is trying to show so that everyone respects follows him.  It's his way of maintaining control in Tombstone. His good side is shown when he is with Chihuahua and Clementine. When he leaves Clementine I thought he was trying to be selfish and that he didn't love her anymore, but then I realized that he had tuberculosis and that he left her only because he didn't want her to suffer when he died. This was his good, unselfish side.  He was very civilized, drank champagne, and was cultured as we saw when Doc recited a soliloquy from Hamlet, but even if he had these qualities he loved the wild aspects of the west and was attracted to Chihuahua for that reason. 

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday came from opposing worlds. Wyatt a cowboy is driven to become a gentleman who brings law and order to Tombstone, and Doc Holliday was an educated gentleman from the east who is drawn to the wild side of life.  Each one admired the other and we the viewers can't help but admire both.

Teresa  8F

'John Ford shows us that there was much more to pioneer life than fighting off Indian attacks'.

Discuss, using evidence from three John Ford Westerns. 

Many people think that westerns are all about cowboys and Indian raids, but they're not.  John Ford makes them so much more. He makes his movies with the outline of a western often including Indian attacks but turns it into the life of his characters. He makes his characters fall in love, feel hurt, scared, happy. Ford creates stories about friendship and hatred and much more. In Ford's movies everything becomes significant because it's a part of the character's life.

In Stagecoach many emotions and life lessons emerge. Ringo and Dallas fall in love and in the end get married and start a family. Though Dallas loves Ringo she doesn't trust him completely because she thinks that when he discovers her past as prostitute he won't love her anymore.  But Ringo doesn't care about that, he listens to his heart. Lucy Mallory instead enlarges her family by having a baby on the way to Lordsburg. Mrs. Mallory is ashamed of having a baby in hiding but once it's all over she relaxes and feels happy for having a little human being to love. By having a baby Mrs. Mallory gives the chance to Doc Boone to prove himself as a doctor and not as an alcoholic.

Prejudice is a major theme in this movie. Dallas is judged by the Ladies of the Law and Order League as an unrespectable woman because she is a prostitute, even though during the movie we discover that she is the one who deserves the most respect. Doc Boone is judged because of his alcoholism even though throughout the movie we see he's a very gentle person, and Ringo because he is an outlaw, even though when we get to know him better we know he's a good guy.  The law features as one of the major issues of the story. There is always someone not obeying the law like Hatfield or Gatewood, many people would say Ringo but he is a good outlaw and that is why Curley tries to protect him as town marshal.  Friendship is present between all "bad" people of the story: Dallas and Doc, Doc and Curley, Ringo and Curley and Doc and Ringo. They care for each other because they share similar feelings about the situation in which they find themselves and they know that if they want to survive, they have to stick together.

In My Darling Clementine, civilization is the theme of the story but many other aspects of life come up. There is friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, familiar love between the Earps, love for Doc that comes from Chihuahua the prostitute and Clementine the educated nurse, both rivals in love. The Earps are very connected to each other and care a lot for each other.  Losing James was hard for all of them especially for Wyatt who was always there to protect him. Chihuahua and Clementine are rivals in love because they are both after Doc's heart but in the end neither of them gets it. Doc and Wyatt's friendship begins uneasily but as that tension melts, friendship begins to grow. Not all families are loving ones.  The Clantons care for each other but they base their world on violence, hatred, murder and robbing, that comes with their motto, "When you pull a gun, kill a man". The Clantons are the first sign of the uncivilizing forces that Wyatt wants to change, and with it, to have revenge for the killing of his brother James.

The Searchers is an explosion of contrasting emotions. We see there is a lot of love in the story. Martha and Ethan have this ancient love that is always burning inside them even though they will never be together. Even though Martha and Ethan are in love, Martha is married to Aaron who is Ethan's brother. Because of this Ethan and Aaron are harsh towards each other whenever something about the subject comes up. Laurie and Martin are young and in love, ready to get married and live happily.  Brad and Lucy are a little like Martin and Laurie but their lives ends too fast and tragically for them to ever get somewhere. Family has a big significance for Ethan. The fact that his brother has a happy family makes him suffer because he knows he will never fit in as the good uncle that stays with his family. It also breaks his heart to think that Lucy, Ben and Debbie could have been his children and losing them like he did was a harsh blow. Civilization seems to be the death of the characters because if the Edwards hadn't gone to live on Indian territory they probably would have survived, but maybe unhappily. Prejudice and violence in this film are connected. Ethan hates Indians because they destroyed his family and so he pursues them, with Martin, and violence because he unleashes of all his anger on Indians and animals even when he's only thinking about Indians.

John Ford therefore shows us all the aspects of life in the west. Life in the west wasn't much different from the eastern life. Civilization and behavior like violence and lawless cities full of robbers and criminals were the most normal towns for the west but life went on. People in the west had the same emotions as us, the same joyful and painful aspects of living which we have.  But it was where and when they lived their lives that was different.  They were still human beings. And this is what John Ford makes evident for us in his films.

Aurélie  8C

'John Ford doesn't make pictures about good guys or bad guys; he makes stories about people'.

Discuss with close reference to three John Ford films.

 I think that John Ford films are not just simple stories about simple and stereotypical men but stories about real people. There are various demonstrations of this statement in the four films that we saw, especially in Stagecoach. There aren't just bad or good characters except for some people such as the Clantons.  For example we can't really decide if Ethan Edwards, from The Searchers is a good or bad man. As we have discovered, in John Ford's films the characters start out as one dimensional, simple characters. But during the film we slowly learn about them, making the film much more than a simple western movie. Due to that I think that John Ford isn't very interested in narrating these stories and making his characters simple killing machines, he wants to show us how the people lived and acted in that period by creating real characters. Even though many of his films have connections to real and important historical figures, like Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine, the importance of the characters is not produced by their fame in history but by what Ford makes them do in his films. There isn't even a real bad and good side in the Indians and white pioneers, because some of his films are seen from the Indian point of view. John Ford himself wasn't a real good or bad guy because even though he was one of the best film makers in history, his own life was troubled as we learned from studying his biography. I will discuss some examples from four John Ford films to support the statement.

Stagecoach is the first film we saw.  It is also the oldest that we saw and probably the one which best supports my opinion. It was made in 1939 but it's still one of the best films in history. It's the story of nine travellers risking their lives to cross Indian territory and arrive in Lordsburg after leaving Tonto. The characters are very simple at the beginning when they are divided into outcasts and respectable citizens or, bad and good guys. But during the film their roles change. For example Mr. Gatewood, who is a respectable banker, robs the money from his bank where the Tonto residents keep their savings. Mr. Gatewood wasn't able to resist the temptation to steal. During all the film he acts selfishly towards everyone because of his greed.

Another example is the Ringo Kid who is considered an outcast by everyone and who is seen as a bad guy. As the story develops we understand that he isn't so bad after all because he falls in love with Dallas and he wants to protect her. His only problem is that he wants his revenge at any cost. Also Curley, the marshal, can be considered bad because he wants to capture the Ringo Kid and put him in jail but by the end he changes and he lets the Ringo Kid escape.

Dallas who is a prostitute is considered a bad person too. During the film she proves to be the most noble person in the stagecoach. In fact she helps Mrs.Mallory during childbirth more than everyone else. Doc. Boone who is a heavy drinker and therefore an outcast also proves to be a good doctor because he gives life to Ms. Mallory's child.  Even though all of these characters have some defects they behave as good people so Ford leaves it to us to decide if they are good or bad. We can say that at the beginning of Stagecoach there are good guys and bad guys but during the film this order is changed and by the end we don't have those initial opinions on the characters because most of the bad guys actually reveal themselves to be good.

The second and third films I would like to talk about are My Darling Clementine and The Grapes of Wrath. My Darling Clementine is a film made in 1946 and tells the story of Wyatt Earp, the famous marshal during the 1880's. The Grapes of Wrath is a film made in 1940 and it's the story of Tom Joad, taken from John Steinbeck's  novel. I chose to talk about them together because in both of them the main actor is Henry Fonda. An example to support the question is from My Darling Clementine when Wyatt appears to be a not very civilized cowboy and good man just like the Clantons.  But during the film we also see his more civilized and tender side emerge. When he is talking to his dead brother James, at the graveside, his love towards him is touching. We see his desire to become a civilized person when he goes to the barber and begins frequenting Clementine.     Doc. Holiday, who appears to be a more civilized and respectable man, is the one who runs the gambling in Tombstone. Even though we don't see him doing anything that is very bad, everyone fears him and he is said to be the one who 'runs the town', so he must have done something to earn this reputation.

The Grapes of Wrath is the story of Tom Joad who became a symbol for all the poor people during the great depression. He especially symbolized resistance to oppression and demonstrated the capacity for men to live with dignity in those terrible conditions. But he wasn't a very good man when we consider that he killed a man and he went to jail, or that he is violent on some occasions like when he is trying to protest with Muley and he fights with the 'vigilante man'. He is also bad because he doesn't want his mother to share their food with the hungry children, he wants to keep everything for his family. Having so little belongings and food I would keep them for myself or my family too, so it's hard to blame him. His mother wants to share it, she appears a good person during most of the film even though she sometimes is actually bad.  In fact when they are crossing the border to California she lies and says that Grandma is sick and not dead just to cross the border. Once again we can't blame her for that as it was their dream and their only chance to live a better life. I think that most of the men during those times had done something bad because it was a very hard period and many people were driven by desperation to do anything just to survive. For example in Italian we read a book called 'Se Questo è un Uomo' by Primo Levi. In this book he explains his experience in the German concentration camps. In this story we can really understand what a man in those terrible conditions could do to survive and this can be compared to the great depression.

The Searchers is another film by John Ford made in 1956, in colour. It's the oldest film that we saw and probably the best in my view. It's the story of Ethan Edwards and his nephew Martin Pawley searching for Debbie, Ethan's niece and Martin's 'sister' . Ethan, the main character, is a person full of contradictions, so during the film we aren't able to really decide if he is good or bad. Some examples of his contradictions are the fact that he is very gentle with Martha but he isn't with Martin. He isn't very respectful towards Aaron but he is towards the rest of his family. The fact that he loves Debbie at first, in fact he gives her his golden locket, but he wants to kill her in the end also points to this conflict.  He loves Lucy but he isn't very sympathetic with her boyfriend; he hates Indians but when he sees Martin's 'wife' dead he feels sorry for her; he knows a lot about Indians but he hates them, even though with all his knowledge of their culture he could be mistaken for being one of them.

Ethan is a very mysterious character.  We know that he has been missing for three years but we don't know what he has done. This makes his character even more interesting and makes us think more about his bad and good side. Probably during that period of absence was when his exaggerated hatred towards the Indians began. Martin Pawley is one eighth Indian and this fact makes Ethan reject him while cares about the other members of the Edwards'family.  Even though five years have passed during the search, his cruel behaviour towards Martin never ends. Anyone else would have softened but Ethan doesn't until the very end. This shows how deep his hatred for the Indians was. When he shoots at the herd of bison needlessly, it's done to deprive the Indians of  food or when he shoots at the dead Indian's eyes, he does it so that the Indian will not find peace in the afterlife. 

Ethan's hate towards the Indians is probably his only defect that makes him a bad man.  It is this hatred which convinces him to try to kill Debbie and to hate Martin. It's also the reason why he always behaving in a brusque way with everyone. Martin is afraid that this anger will rule over him and that is why he wants to follow him and find Debbie. It looks as if Ethan isn't searching to find Debbie but to destroy Scar and the Indians. This results in his exclusion from society; both the white and the native population.  Ethan's character dominates in this film and he is juxtaposed with Martin in many scenes. Martin's character is less developed, but is shown mostly as a good character. He sometimes acts rashly, for example he is sometimes infuriated with Ethan but I think it happens because he is provoked by Ethan's character.

John Ford doesn't create films that can be understood only by thinking about them in his way.  He creates films to make us think about his characters, he doesn't guide our mind he gives us the events and the story but he never tells us what to think. We could almost say that the film depends more on us than on John Ford. Even though creating films like these is very difficult and it is necessary to be a real artist, I think that he keeps the message  hidden. In the rare interviews he gave he didn't want to explain what the message was.  Perhaps he felt that the effects of his films would be ruined if he told his opinion about them.   I think that John Ford can be considered the poet of the western saga. Not because of the action or of his battles between Indians and cowboys but because of his intriguing characters that make us reflect but still leave us lost, on the road.

Alessandro  8F

 'A man on a horse riding against a background of harshness and beauty; that's a John Ford trademark. He doesn't just tell you a story; he writes a poem about it. He doesn't just point the camera; he paints a picture with it'.

What are the distinguishing features (trademarks) of a John Ford film? Your answer should include evidence from three films.

 

When we watch a John Ford film we can easily tell by different trademarks that are always present in his films. His films are symmetrical because in his films the same elements are often presented in similar ways and give the films a certain order or structure. When it says that John Ford paints a picture with his camera, that's true because he takes shots that are very similar to the paintings of cowboys and landscapes which were painted in the 19th century.   In "My Darling Clementine", Wyatt Earp is shot from a low angle and this tells us he is a hero just like the Arizona Cowboy painting by Frederic Remington in 1901. John Ford uses the camera in a particular way and the colours are always clear and bright. John Ford shows us  the west as it was and he shows both the good and the bad sides.  One example of the bad side is the Comanche and Apache attacks that occur in The Searchers and in Stagecoach. In John Ford films there are always the same trademarks. The setting is wild but incredible; the harshness and danger are placed beside beauty. Nature is the master and it's extremely powerful.

 

One trademark that is always present in John Ford films is the music.  John Ford makes us understand many things with music and not only with words and facial expressions. The music is present in all three films, The Searchers, Stagecoach and My Darling Clementine. In Stagecoach the music tells us when there are the Indian attacks, and we can understand the war signals. In My Darling Clementine the music changes when the Clantons are on screen by becoming suspenseful and savage. In The Searchers, the music warns us when Indian attacks occur, but changes to nostalgic and gentle as Lorena's theme plays when Ethan Edwards and Martha meet. Music is not only present in all these three films but has a meaning in the story.

 

Another trademark that helps us recognize that a movie is made by John Ford is the use of the camera. When there is a low angle shot for a character, we understand that he is a hero, for example in My Darling Clementine when Wyatt Earp appears for the first time, he is shot from below so we sense that he is a hero.   Soon after, when the Clantons first appear, we see their backs and not their faces.  As soon they are shot the music changes, to a more sinister, savage sound.  When we see their faces at first we can see their anger and rage.

 

John Ford shows us Monument Valley as a setting in many of his westerns.   He uses a special kind of framing shot to highlight certain aspects of the setting or characters. In the opening scene of The Searchers, Ethan Edwards is pictured in the frame of the door.  We don't know anything about him as he is coming towards us from an unknown place that John Ford doesn't reveal. In the closing scene he uses the same frame to show Ethan Edwards walking away, this time we know much more about him but we still don't know where he is going.  The opening and closing scenes therefore have a kind of symmetry which leaves us wondering where Ethan comes from and where he is going.

John Ford gives a lot of importance to family values in his westerns.   He often shows the perfect family in his films even though his own life was troubled by poor family relationships. To create this harmonious family atmosphere, John Ford usually worked with the same crew so that they were more aware of each other and felt like a real family.

He also worked with the same crew and actors as much as possible and this helped create a sense of family during the making of a film.  Many people who knew him said that John Ford's real family was the film crew and his real home was the film set.

John Ford movies often feature the same characters; prostitutes, outlaws, lawmen, bankers. In Stagecoach the prostitute is Dallas, the outlaw is Ringo Kid, the lawman is the marshal, the banker is Gatewood.  This is another way Ford achieves symmetry in his films.  There is always a hero; usually a man, with both the good and the bad characteristics.  In the three films being discussed, the hero usually doesn't want to be the hero, such as, Ethan Edwards in The Searchers.  At the end of the story Ethan saves Debbie while we thought that he was going to kill her.  The aspect of Ethan Edwards which mystifies us is his intense hatred of Indians.  We see Ethan shooting at the eyes of a dead Indian.  We see Ethan humiliating Martin Pawley and provoking him.

 

One trademark that is present in all John Ford's movies is the way he uses light.  He creates lighting effects using a variety of methods such as, fire light and lamp light. He uses light to create shadows and so that, sometimes, we can't see the characters' faces.  He uses soft lighting especially for interior scenes such as in The Searchers, he creates shadows in the closing scene when Ethan Edwards is shown in a frame and we can't see his face.  In that scene John Ford uses two trademarks at the same time.

 

These are some of the trademarks that are always present in John Ford's films which make a John Ford film so fascinating. Other aspects that make us recognize a John Ford film are; he shows high drama and action scenes which are very realistic and look like they are really happening, he shows us the west, with its good and bad side.   The Searchers presents the good side of the pioneering days and he shows that there is love between families.  The bad part he shows is the frequently occurring Indian attacks, the violence and the lawlessness.

 

Riccardo 8C

 

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'John Ford doesn't make pictures about good guys or bad guys; he makes stories about people'.

Discuss with close reference to three John Ford films.

 

John Ford is a director who gives us a perfect view of the western period, but also elaborates on the characters themselves, showing all aspects of the character leaving nothing undiscovered.  His film techniques are unique in the way he uses the camera in shots like those of Wyatt Earp in "My Darling Clementine". The low camera angle shows the importance of the character or the importance of what he is saying in that scene. Films like the ones that we have seen in class give us the opportunity to examine each character and discover that his films are not about good people versus bad people, but stories about common people with real problems - like the ones that we can see in our society today. However, Indians are seen as savages in all three westerns that I would like to discuss: Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, and The Searchers.     

      

Ford's films all start off giving us different clues about the characters, placing them in a particular surrounding, in the pioneer society of the late 19th century. The film 'Stagecoach' shows exactly this. Each character enters the movie as a seeming stereotype but by the end they have become complex characters, sometimes taking a stand for what they believe is right. Straight forward examples are, Doc Boon and Dallas. Doc Boon is a well known doctor, but crumbled and broken down when having to face his society, after falling into the habit of drinking. What makes him take a stand for what he has to do is the love he rediscovers for his profession; medicine. This gives back the purpose that he had for life and makes him feel needed and respected again. As for Dallas, working at the cat house has made her an unwanted member of the town and she is forced out of the Tonto, against her will, but hopes to start a new life in Lordsburg. These characters are nothing like good or bad but just common people who are judged unfairly and made miserable by others in the community. 

 

The situation in My Darling Clementine is different although it has to do with the way characters change from what they seemed to be at first to what they really are. Characters like Wyatt Earp, a legend for many, and the Canton's, adversaries of the Earp family for life, are examples of what I would like to talk about.  Even, the so called, 'bad characters` in this movie; the Clanton boys, are not mean after all, but have become so under the influence of their father's brutal treatment. An example is when the father says, 'When you pull a gun, kill a man', shows the kind of education that he has passed on to his sons, leaving us wondering if that is really how they are or  just the way that their father had trained them. A different case is the situation of Wyatt Earp, who is now a legendary hero. He did not choose to become a hero but it was an act of fatality caused by his brother's death that made him take a position which no one else was prepared to do. His only real intent was to bring civilization to the town of Tombstone, and justice for what had happened to his brother. Other characters like Doc Holliday joined Wyatt Earp to make a stand for what they believed. At the end of the movie Doc Holliday dies bravely for justice, although the way he had been portrayed at the beginning was as a tough man who liked living life dangerously and by his own rules.

 

Often in his movies, John Ford, incorporates strange characters who have a difficult nature to understand. In the movie, 'The Searchers', a good example is Ethan Edwards and he is a complex character we are shown from different angles. A tough and even cruel man when confronted or when he talks to Martin Pawley about his Indian origins.  In contrast though he shows a very sensitive and hurt side, when he faces the loss of his family, especially the double loss of Martha and Lucy. Ethan also has an ironic side that he only reveals when wanting to humiliate someone, for example when he talks to Martin Pawley. His character at the end of the movie has to make a drastic decision; to kill poor Debbie, whom he sees as a grown woman under the influence of Indians, or to keep her alive. Fortunately he makes the right decision standing up for what is really right. This decision gives the viewer a clue about his true character; that he is not heartless and mean, as suggested at the beginning and through much of the story, but on  the contrary, that he is so full of heart and understanding that he keeps Debbie alive.  

 

These three different movies portray characters who change and react in different ways at various times throughout the films.  We change our minds frequently about what we think about the characters. The one thing that links all these characters is the way they face their problems such as the death of family members, society, their turbulent pasts or their relationships.  John Ford allows the viewers to understand the complexity of these characters and where they stand.  He shows us that characters have different experiences and that from these experiences, some turn out good and others bad.  John Ford demonstrates this and gives us lessons on people.   Folks are never just good or bad, but in some way they are always influenced and changed by others, unless they can stand up for themselves.

 

Cecilia 8C

 

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'John Ford doesn't make pictures about good guys or bad guys; he makes stories about people.'

Discuss, with close reference to three John Ford films.

 

"Ford's characters are almost always stereotyped, but then he gives them life and realism by stuffing them with a thousand details, a thousand original or singular nuances which burst the seams of the ready-made clothing the characters wore at first, when it was necessary to define them ad situate them dramatically."

In the same way, at the beginning, John Ford's characters seem very much the way they appear to be, but as the film goes on he shows us the various aspects in the character, which make us see that the character is not right or wrong, or good or bad. Each character has reasons for what he or she does. Ford may give his characters a pleasant or unpleasant appearance but then slowly presents the actual kind of person inside of them.

 

A good example of this juxtaposition of good and bad is the one we see in Doc Holliday's character. At first he seems to be the bad guy who controls the town of Tombstone. This is true to a certain extent. He drinks lots of alcohol and smokes regardless of the fact that he is at a serious stage of tuberculosis. These actions indicate that Doc Holliday is self-destructive. He is probably trying to kill himself like this for a reason. He is running away from a truth he does not want to face. This may be a sign that he's a very weak character and not a powerful man at all. He seems like a bad character when we see the way in which he deserts Clementine. But when he does this we perceive a hesitation in his voice and actions. This might be because he thinks he is too good for her or it may be his way of showing that she deserves someone like Wyatt Earp, who is more likely to keep her happy throughout her lifetime. He hesitates maybe because he doesn't want her to discover why he is deserting her. We see that leaving Clementine comes with his decision to be with Chihuahua. We see this as a negative aspect of his character, but actually he is attracted by the West.  Chihuahua is someone who fully presents the typical characteristics of a woman from the West. She is also part of what attracts Doc Holliday to the West. Doc Holliday comes from a civilized background but yet wishes to be part of this wild place.

In 'My Darling Clementine' another example of this comparison is between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Throughout the film these two characters act like opposites. Wyatt Earp is presented as a typical cowboy from Arizona who, while spending time in Tombstone, wishes to make the town more civilized.  On the other hand Doc Holliday is a man with a civilized and educated background, yet he wishes to be part of the West. He is attracted to its wildness. He perceives a kind of freedom in it, where he can lose himself. This is what he wants to do.  He is attracted to Chihuahua because she hails from this wildness. In both characters we see a transition between the western man and the civilized one.

An example from 'Stagecoach' is Dallas's character. We first find out she is a prostitute and we think that she is not a very pleasant person. But then John Ford proves to us that the way someone is seen from the outside does not necessarily reflect their inner personality and nature. It is certainly not the fact by which we should judge them. Later we find out the  conditions which determined her path to prostitution. Her parents died leaving her with no one to turn to. We must remember that at that time women did not have the privileges they have today, nor the career opportunities. Other than being a prostitute Dallas is a very sincere and gentle person. We see this in the way she treats Lucy Mallory and how she handles Lucy's baby with care. Ringo loves her for this very reason. He is the first person who first judges her for what kind of person she is, and not according to what everyone thinks about her.

Tom Joad, from the Grapes of Wrath, seems like a hero in the beginning of the film. He does prove to be one, but when we observe the scene in which he kills the policeman our opinions change. Even though Tom Joad hits the policemen in self-defence, he still commits a murder which is against the law.  In this way he can also be seen as a negative character.   

In 'The Searchers' Ethan Edwards gives us some perfect examples which clearly distinguish his good and bad characteristics. On one side we see the way in which he is tender towards Martha, giving her a kiss on the forehead. We think of him as a good character when we find out that he had rescued Martin after an Indian raid and that his own family raised him. But on the other hand he is sarcastic with Martin Pawley, calling him names like 'blanket-head'. When Ethan shoots the eyes of a dead Indian and rips the scalp of Scar, we see that Ethan is just as cruel as Scar.  At the same time though, he feels sorry for Look when he sees what the Comanches have done to her. His negative side is also evident when he plans to shoot Debbie after finding out that she does not intend to return with them. However, this is contrasted with the scene towards the end of the film in which he picks Debbie up and just when we think he is about to harm her, he says, "Let's go home Debbie".

In 'Stagecoach' we first see Ringo as a character who is somewhat harsh to some people and we are told that he has been in jail. This automatically makes us think of him of someone who has committed a crimeand may be dangerous. But Ringo is actually a very understanding person. We see this in the way he treats Dallas in a very fair and gentle way, unlike some of the others. Ringo proves to be the most sensible and wise amongst the lot travelling in the stagecoach. Ringo, who is determined to confront the Plummer boys for revenge, is redeemed at the end, because the Plummer boys had murdered his brother so he had a right to challenge them in the closing gunfight.

Lucy Mallory in 'Stagecoach', doesn't seem to be such a pleasant person at the beginning of the film. She is very reserved and seems disturbed in some way. What disturbs her, we discover, is her pregnancy, which she keeps a secret. At the time, being pregnant was considered a condition to be guilty and ashamed about.  At times in the story we observe her avoiding Dallas because of the difference in social status. She acts rather insensitively and unkindly with her, but by the end she has seen Dallas in a different light. So Lucy Mallory does understand people's differences after all.

Doc Boone is also a character with poor status in society but who is very warm-hearted.  Doc Boone's negative aspects are not highlighted, but knowing he is an alcoholic gives us the impression of someone who is not very responsible and considerate. But these negative aspects contrast with the way he supports Dallas when they are forced out of town and during the delivery of Lucy Mallory's baby.

What I find particularly engaging is the way John Ford's characters prove to be neither positive nor negative. But also the way he gives the characters human characteristics by keeping the good and bad aspects balanced. This is very effective because even in actual life no one is perfect or has only positive qualities. Everyone has some positive and negative qualities in them.

 

 

Shyla 8T