I did not enjoy this. Not a little bit.
A few notes: First of all - John Wayne couldn't act.
Second of all: John Wayne couldn't act.
I could go on this tangent for a while, but you get the idea.
In the scene with the Cavalry taking the Comanche prisoners if you look close you can spot an automobile driving in the background.
But that's trivial. What's more to the point is that the movie introduces ideas that are genuinely interesting and complex, only to abandon them in the service of an entirely unworthy plot and absolutely banal character development. Politically incorrect in the extreme - how did this even fly then? I mean the scene where "One Who Follows" kicks his newly acquired squaw-bride down the hill, not funny. Not at all. Or the depiction of the Comanche as "children", and the "back story" given to "Scar" - he's on the warpath avenging the death of his sons, or John Wayne's character of an Indian Hating vengeful uncle, the implied horrors of Indian Captivity, the finding of the girl to discover that she wants to continue living with the Comanche - "her people now" - I mean, there were an abundance of morally complex themes that were brought up and then completely ignored. There were the ideas of the greatness - and vastness - of the undiscovered West, the final frontier, yet it was not filmed as such, moments of grandeur - such as when they reach the winter territories - are almost accidental, dialogue, irrelevant and frequently idiotic, characters, stock types every one. I could go on.
SO, for a movie with some reputation I was offended beyond measure, it certainly has a place in the history of American prejudice and bigotry but is more a model of how NOT to make a film.
That said, like James Cameron's "The Titanic", seldom has such a mediocre film so inflamed me. So there's something.
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So, in my quest to see all the great westerns, this, yeah, no, more cheese than I could bear.
I mean, really cheesy.
2 hours of movie leading up to an entirely predictable 3 minute gunfight.
It would be curious to take an audience from the day - 1953, specifically, and show them something a little more contemporary, say "John Wick", which has roughly the same level of emotional involvement but breaks it all up with a bit of action.
On the plus side I recognized Jack Palance, whom I remember as the stock villain from every childhood movie. Not "Every", but enough. Which made me laugh, he does it well. But all that means is I'm getting old. And the scenery from the Grand Tetons, which I had to Google to confirm, but, yep, that's where it all was shot.
Otherwise, well, you win some, you lose some.
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1940, Cary Grant. On the recommendation of a friend, curious, in that I've never watched a film like it, but I wasn't enamored. Although I had to laugh at the props, I own all of them, my last best life was definitely sometime in the 1940's...
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An array of South Asian Superstars in Jee-Woon Kim's homage to "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly".
Actually, ridiculously amusing, and the lead character - Song Kang-Ho - is recognizable from "The Parasite" & "Memories of Murder".
The plot: Bandits, a Bounty Hunter, Chinese Gangs & the Japanese Army all vie for a treasure map.
Available to stream for free on Tubi TV. No great meaning, just a good old-fashioned Saturday Matinee, like back in the day of Star Wars or Indiana Jones, before Disney got hold of them...
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