POLITICS IN THE SADDLE - Part 1

Many film-goers view the western film genre as nothing more than a "shoot-em-up." Good guys vs. bad guys with the good guy usually winning in the end. Very little plot changes from film to film - only in character names and locale. You might say, "Isn't this why we go to them, because we know what we're getting?" In the case of the standard B Western this may be right - I still love to see a good Audie Murphy or Randolph Scott oater, compared to some of their expensive big-league relatives.
However, on another level, Westerns provide a great platform for their creators to expound on their political beliefs. Let me give you some examples from the great director John Ford.
Ford was a master at providing great entertainment while making a statement with his Westerns. In the 1946 classic "My Darling Clementine" Ford presented his version of the events leading up to and during the gunfight at the OK Corral. Flawed and historically inaccurate, Ford believed that when the "legend is more interesting than the truth, print the legend." Thus, one of the catalysts for the feud is the killing of James Earp. James would actually die of natural causes in 1926 many years after the October 26th, 1881 gunfight. But why nit-pick with minor characters to the event? In the film, Doc Holliday isn't a dentist but a surgeon. Victor Mature, save for coughing up a bit of blood in a handkerchief, looks like he just came from the gym and dies in the gunfight. Old Man Clanton, who actually had died two months before the gunfight, appears at the corral for the fight which lasts much longer then the 30 seconds it actually took. As far as the corral it is just that - a simple corral area on the outskirts of Tombstone - the actual shootout took place outside the OK Corral not in it. This is just a small dose of the legend Ford creates in the film - however he does make a point of the polital sense of the time through the conflict of the Earp clan and the Clantons for control of the town. No simple gunfight, but a fight for power-positioning in Tombstone, no matter how simplistic Ford makes the story.
Ford's terrific trilogy of calvary films, "Fort Apache" (1948), "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1949), and "Rio Grande" (1950), dealt with Indian uprisings in the west, but "Fort Apache," a retelling of Custer's last stand, with Henry Fonda's Lt. Col. Owen Thursday standing in for Custer, transposed the action to Arizona. The politics are clear. Thursday is a stubborn, arrogant leader who refuses to listen to reason. As a result, he leads his men into a trap in which they are killed through his bad judgment. It is through John Wayne's character, Captain Kirby York, the conscience of the film, that the message is brought home loud and clear. For moral and morale purposes, Thursby must be remembered as a hero who lead his men bravely. When all is said and done, York realizes that he must play the politician, however personally distasteful, and put a politically correct "spin" on the event - in this case "when the legend is important to save face, forget the truth and print the legend."
In 1956, John Ford tried to balance the scales in helping us to see both sides of the relationship with Native Americans in "The Searchers." If Ford used political manuvering to tell a good story in "Fort Apache," with "The Searchers" he brought home the fact that there are indeed two sides to this part of history. This time racism is brought to the fore-front in the hatred Ethan Edwards shows towards Commanches, for what they have done to his brother's family. It's a complicated story that evolves through many years. It has a strong message leading to a very tense reunion between Edward's and his niece - some say it may actually be his daughter, although it is never mentioned - as played by Natalie Wood and the Duke. The ending is the way it should be with Edward's story unresolved and evolving, as is the west and man's understanding of the changing times. No simple solutions other than he has brought his "niece" home for a happy reunion of sorts - but for how long?
Ford carried the political fires of racism one step further in 1960. "Sergeant Rutledge," is a comment on the racial turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s, disguised as a John Ford cavalry film. The story of a black soldier, 1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge (Woody Strode), accused of killing his commanding officer, and then raping and murdering the officer's daughter, is more a courtroom drama than a full blown Western. The familiar Ford theme of an Indian uprising is still apparent in the form of flashbacks shown during the trial. Ford's message rings loud and clear when Sgt. Rutledge remarks in his defense, "It was alright for Mr. Lincoln to say we was free. But it ain't so! Not yet! Maybe someday, but not yet," it's a clear and bold statement by Ford on racism - though not so much racism of the 1980s, but of the time the film was made. The truth and legend had now come closer together, but once again legend would take the forefront in Ford's next political Western, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," is a film whose reputation has grown with time. In 2007, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States Film Registry, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," (but then again, so was "My Darling Clementine")for it's portrayal of the old west. At the time of it's release, it was thought of by many as a very slow, black and white, studio bound, John Wayne western with a catchy title tune. This isn't fair to the film or Wayne. While film-goers had gotten used to the action of "Rio Bravo," "The Horse Soldiers," "North to Alaska," or "The Commancheros," "Liberty Valance," taken on it's own merits, is a well crafted character study and should not be judged along with the typical John Wayne westerns of the period.
The fact is that John Wayne is not really the prominent character in the film, yet it is his character of Tom Doniphon that is the dominent character that thrusts the story forward to it's bittersweet conclusion. This film really belongs to James Stewart and Edmond O'Brien, but it is the memory of Doniphon that takes the final bow long after his character has faded from view.
The ending returns to Ford's view that the legend must overcome the facts for the sake of the story and those involved. Thus, Senator Ransom Howard (Stewart) must live with the fact that not only his public but personal life is a lie. He has served as a congressman, a governor, and even ambassador to Britain, now as a Senator he is a potential candidate for vice-president of the United States. All this was made possible due to the belief that he is the man who shot Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). It is the ultimate dark joke of legend vs. truth as viewed by John Ford. Legend must prevail, because it is one man's reason for success at the expense of the truth - the very foundation of political "truths."
In 1964, Ford would make his final western film, "Cheyenne Autumn." It was as if Ford was trying to rectify any misunderstandings he had made about the noble Native Americans. As opposed to the simplicity of most of his Westerns, it is an epic with an "all-star" cast. Shot in his favorite local of Monument Valley, it tells the story of the long trek 300 Cheyenne took in 1878, from their relocated reservation in the Oklahoma territory to their home in Wyoming. Seen as an act of rebellion by the U.S. government, Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark)is ordered to lead his troops against the tribe. The press (yes, even back then the press was up to their tricks) misrepresent the reasons behind the trek which stirs up more animosity for the Cheyenne. Secretary of Interior, Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson), tries to stop any violence between the army and the Cheyenne, but politics abound on the frontier and in Washington. "Cheyenne Autumn," is ripe with political manuverings and thoughtful dialogue, but short on action. The very story has to be politically correct in order for both the Native Americans and the U. S. government not to appear in a bad light. There are two versions of this film, one includes a comical interlude featuring Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, played by James Stewart and Arthur Kennedy respectively. It doesn't fit well into the story, but either version gives us a film that meanders. "Cheyenne Autumn" is overblown and over-long. Ford would only make three more films after this one and none where Westerns.
As politically motivated as many of Ford's westerns were, there was one western film in particular that caused quite a firestorm in the early 1950s. Next time I will tell how one critically acclaimed Western was heavily influenced by the hunt for Communists in the film industry, and how this film begat another popular Western in angry response 7 years later.