Wstern Film Motion Picture Directors

Wstern Film

Motion picture directors have made numerous Western movies in the second half of the twentieth century until about the 90s when the genre had become a thing of the past among film fans. Most Westerns depicted the period subsequent to the Civil War, when people were migrating towards the west in large numbers with the belief that they would get rich there. A typical western involves a great deal of shooting done by renegade cowboys or by hero-like sheriffs.

John Ford's the Searchers follows the story of Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) as he had just returned from the war where he fought for the Confederacy. Early westerns frequently displayed Indians as being ruthless savages dedicated to stealing and killing innocent people. The Indians in Ford's movie follow the pattern exactly.

John Wayne's character, Ethan, is a convinced anti-Indian and cannot control himself as he finds out about Lucy's affair with Scar. Ethan is the archetypal white man from the late nineteenth century in the period subsequent to the Civil War. White people felt that they had to civilize all Indians and that they were rightfully entitled to rule over all of Northern America.

Ethan is not the only person in the film displaying explicit racist beliefs towards Indians. In spite of the appearance of her gentle nature, Laurie advises Martin not to intervene between Ethan and Debbie because she also considers that a relationship between a white girl and an Indian is something outrageous.

All of the Indians involved in the film show no expression of intelligence or of good-will. The movie has been produced in 1956 when people regarded Indians as being uneducated and there was a general movement that promoted white people as a superior race.

In contrast to the Searchers, Little Big Man is a Western that proves the fact that people have changed their way of thinking from 1956 to 1970. The 70s have been a period when people were rebelling against unjust wars and for freedom and equality for all.

All of the Indian characters involved in the movie are different from most Indians participating in Westerns. In opposition, white men are presented as being thieves that would stop at nothing from exploiting everything and everyone.

The story of Jack Crabb is followed as he undergoes a series of unfortunate incidents. In spite of following the Hollywood pattern, the Indians in the movie prove to be very wise and kind.

Even with the fact that Jack has mistreated Younger Bear, he receives assistance from him as the Indian saves his life.

The audience is presented with Jack's life as he is subjected to two different styles of living: that in the Cheyenne camp and that among civilized whites. Life among the whites is composed out of alcohol abuse, women that want to cheat on their husbands, and people wanting to deceive other people. When he stays among those in the Cheyenne tribe, Jack has a fairy-tale-like life, he learns about respect and about how to be at peace with the world.

Question number 4.

The Searchers is one of the most renowned Westerns mainly because it has John Wayne starring in it and because of its confusing, yet clever, plot which keeps the audience captivated. The movie is certainly representative for the genre because it complies with most of the rules that such films needs to conform to.

The movie is also believed to be characteristic for the United States from the period following the Civil War. Ford apparently tries to justify Ethan's racism through the fact that the character has been compelled to act accordingly because of the fact that Indians have destroyed his brother's family.

As he comes home, Ethan visits his brother, Aaron, and gives money and presents to him and to his two daughters, Lucy and Debbie. Just when Ethan leaves his brother's farm, a group of Comanche Indians raid the farm, murdering most of Aaron's family and kidnaping Lucy and Debbie.

Ethan is sworn to revenge his brother's family and joins the local rangers in chasing the Indian tribe in order to get Lucy and Debbie back. During a skirmish between the two belligerent camps, one of the rangers is hurt and the group decides to return. Ethan along with Lucy's lover, Brad, and Aaron's adopted son, Martin, decide to move on regardless to the fact that the rangers leave. Subsequent to a chain of events, Lucy is presumably murdered by the Indians and her lover follows her as he goes on a suicidal mission to get revenge.