The film is beautifully shot in black and white, using Ford’s trademark of great depth of field that visually displays the stunning geography, combined with chiaroscuro lighting by cinematographer Joseph MacDonald and edited by Dorothy Spencer. The film has a wonderful film noir quality, moody, and dramatic night shots. By dawn, the camera captures the magnificent desert landscape that seems tailored made for Ford’s romantic action western film. Enhanced by the musical direction by Alfred Newman and music score by Cyril Mockridge and (uncredited) David Buttolph blends well into each scene.
Ford “worked in many genres over a long career and he won six Oscars - including two that he won for his World War II documentary work - but he is best
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“Henry Fonda is considered one of Hollywood’s old-time legends and was friend and contemporary of James Stewart and John Ford” (IMDb, bio). “At the center of the film is Henry Fonda’s performance as Wyatt Earp“ (Ebert 306). He is usually shown as a mild, calm, quick-witted man who dispenses the law and order with or without a gun. Fonda marvelously portrays Wyatt Earp with ease; he becomes the new marshal in Tombstone, Arizona. A wayward town boasting to have the largest cemetery west of Colorado and a reputation of lawlessness. Much like Ford’s other excellent western, “in Stagecoach we are seduced by the excitement and personal nobility wrapped up in the American frontier myth” (Roberts & Wallis 107).
Earp smoothly maintains the peace in Tombstone and begins to build a romantic rapport with Clementine Carter played by Cathy Downs (1924 - 1976). However, “the most important relationship in the movie is between Earp and Doc Holliday” (Ebert 304) played by stage, film and television actor Victor Mature (1913 - 1999). The character of Holliday is stricken with TB and is slowly dying. Mature excellently plays him as a miserable ex-criminal doctor who gradually likes and respects Earp enough to help him in his fight against the tyranny of the
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He doesn’t talk much, but instead uses a great deal of body language throughout the film, even though his posture is a bit playful, Earp still manages to display his dogmatic determination, highly legal, and intellectual stance on crime fighting. This particular version of the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral is not so much about the deadly conflict to come, but more about the romance with Earp and Clementine.
In most of Ford’s western films, they are about principles, patriotism, and the interrelationships his characters have as they have to deal with while living in the outskirts of civilization during the great American Frontier movement of the 1800s. Ford was able to transport his filmgoing audiences into another realm and time period by picturesque images, staging actors in static poses, noble tough characters with morals, and designing worlds dominated by the western lifestyle. Truly a great film and by a director who knew how to translate a time in American history like no
...rnia. Wyatt Earp died on January 13, 1929, and his fame as a lawman has continued to grow since his death. Wyatt Earp literally shot his way into the hearts of Western America. He is familiar to the nation’s people, young and old. From Ellsworth, Kansas to Tombstone, Arizona, he cleaned the streets of desperadoes in town after town. He shot coolly, he shot straight, and he shot deadly, but only in self-defense. Like any other person whose reputation leaned on firepower, there were those who wanted to test, to see if their draw was a split second quicker or if they could find a weak spot. Wyatt put many of their doubts to rest. When the history of the western lawmen is placed in view, Earp’s name leads the parade of Hickok, Masterson, Garrett, Tilghman and all the rest.
Western movies have always been attempted and have strived for perfection. There has been a few that really captured the motion picture, history, and of course the actual story itself; but of course only one can take the cake. The movie, Tombstone is an action-filled film that is sure to entertain no matter what audience. Based on true events, the movie does an excellent job of portraying the correct history about the events that went on in Tombstone, Arizona. Everything from wardrobe, slang, props, and much more that was displayed in this outstanding movie couldn’t have hit the nail on the head any better. Just in case you may not have seen Tombstone, I believe it’s beneficial to know the plot, important details, history and information about
Arguably the most popular — and certainly the busiest — movie leading man in Hollywood history, John Wayne entered the film business while working as a laborer on the Fox Studios lot during summer vacations from university, which he attended on a football scholarship. He met and was befriended by John Ford, a young director who was beginning to make a name for himself in action films, comedies, and dramas. Wayne was cast in small roles in Ford's late-'20s films, occasionally under the name Duke Morrison. It was Ford who recommended Wayne to director Raoul Walsh for the male lead in the 1930 epic Western The Big Trail, it was a failure at the box office, but the movie showed Wayne's potential as a leading actor. During the next nine years, be busied himself in a multitude of B-Westerns and serials — most notably Shadow of the Eagle in between occasional bit parts in larger features such as Warner Bros.' Baby Face. But it was in action roles that Wayne excelled, exuding a warm and imposing manliness onscreen to which both men and women could respond.
I would like to inform everyone that the movie Tombstone began as an act of violence. At the beginning, Curly Bill and his boys shot and killed several people at a wedding, including the groom in Tombstone, Arizona. Shortly after, Wyatt, his brother, and their wives decided move to Tombstone and settle down and make money. Wyatt wanted to start a new life in Tombstone without partaking in law enforcement. Soon afterwards, Wyatt saw an old friend named Doc Holiday once he moved to Tombstone. Holiday was gambler and he developed Tuberculosis that was gradually taking over his health. Later, Wyatt was making money from gambling and he finally met with the bad boys and their leader Curly Bill. Even though Wyatt was not a part of law enforcement;
Ever since he was a sixteen year old boy, Grady longed to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps into becoming a cowboy. He lives life according to the code which is valuing honor and loyalty. He loves the ardency in horses and the cowboy lifestyle. Grady also valued the ardency that was in his grandfather. He was raised on his grandfather’s ranch, which his mother sold after his grandfather’s death. After the ranch was sold Grady felt the need to move because he no longer felt an attachment to Texas while still trying to be faithful to the cowboy code, so he went to Mexico to find what went “missing” in his hometown.
Somewhere out in the Old West wind kicks up dust off a lone road through a lawless town, a road once dominated by men with gun belts attached at the hip, boots upon their feet and spurs that clanged as they traversed the dusty road. The gunslinger hero, a man with a violent past and present, a man who eventually would succumb to the progress of the frontier, he is the embodiment of the values of freedom and the land the he defends with his gun. Inseparable is the iconography of the West in the imagination of Americans, the figure of the gunslinger is part of this iconography, his law was through the gun and his boots with spurs signaled his arrival, commanding order by way of violent intentions. The Western also had other iconic figures that populated the Old West, the lawman, in contrast to the gunslinger, had a different weapon to yield, the law. In the frontier, his belief in law and order as well as knowledge and education, brought civility to the untamed frontier. The Western was and still is the “essential American film genre, the cornerstone of American identity.” (Holtz p. 111) There is a strong link between America’s past and the Western film genre, documenting and reflecting the nations changes through conflict in the construction of an expanding nation. Taking the genres classical conventions, such as the gunslinger, and interpret them into the ideology of America. Thus The Western’s classical gunslinger, the personification of America’s violent past to protect the freedoms of a nation, the Modernist takes the familiar convention and buries him to signify that societies attitude has change towards the use of diplomacy, by way of outmoding the gunslinger in favor of the lawman, taming the frontier with civility.
The story is an Eastern take on the Hollywood western with a dash of satire,
Ford improved the story by adding reality through stereotypes creating a believable film. Though the stereotypes he added would be unacceptable in a movie made today, they were considered acceptable for some people in the 1950’s.
The film opens with an establishing shot of the Texas landscape of the wide open emptiness and the vast plains. A narration breaks the silence by informing you about the way things used to be. Tommy Lee Jones’ character, an experienced lawman, named Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. The sheriff pontificates on the easy, breezy times of lawfulness in the past, while
Ford now lives in New York City, NY. His work is held in an art museum in New York City. Ford puts together his scenes with criticism, cultural, and humor. His images often are layered regarding with meaning the relationship between the natural world and humans, and also seen in his monograph.
Few Hollywood film makers have captured America’s Wild West history as depicted in the movies, Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Most Western movies had fairly simple but very similar plots, including personal conflicts, land rights, crimes and of course, failed romances that typically led to drinking more alcoholic beverages than could respectfully be consumed by any one person, as they attempted to drown their sorrows away. The 1958 Rio Bravo and 1967 El Dorado Western movies directed by Howard Hawks, and starring John Wayne have a similar theme and plot. They tell the story of a sheriff and three of his deputies, as they stand alone against adversity in the name of the law. Western movies like these two have forever left a memorable and lasting impressions in the memory of every viewer, with its gunfighters, action filled saloons and sardonic showdowns all in the name of masculinity, revenge and unlawful aggressive behavior. Featuring some of the most famous backdrops in the world ranging from the rustic Red Rock Mountains of Monument Valley in Utah, to the jagged snow capped Mountain tops of the Teton Range in Wyoming, gun-slinging cowboys out in search of mischief and most often at their own misfortune traveled far and wide, seeking one dangerous encounter after another, and unfortunately, ending in their own demise.
All in all western films from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West to City Slickers and even Buck and the Preacher are made to be watched. Films are meant for entertainment. Yes sometimes they can be made to educate the viewers by showing action scenes, adventure stories, and lives of great people, as well as of successful men and women of all color. Still films are made for enjoyment. Viewers don’t want to see the history of the black soldier of US Army; they can watch that on the history channel. People go to the movies to watch action packed, adventure, comedic and love films.
Many people would say that the Wild West still had its heroes and villains, and that just because the cowboy didn’t engage in these activities doesn’t mean that others didn’t. This, to an extent, is true. I’m not denying the existence of Billy the Kid, or sheriffs, or even cowboys. But I am denying that fiction is fact. The media can over-dramatize, especially on the legacy and character of individuals. I doubt that William Wallace ran into battle with blue paint smeared over his face as if Mel Gibson had ran out of the makeup tent shouting “FREEDOM!” before the other half of his face could be
John Ford’s classic American Western film, Stagecoach (1939) shows many examples of political life and social behavior during it’s time. The plot is about nine travelers onboard a stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona to Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory. In the beginning, the passengers of the Stagecoach are unfamiliar with each other. However, their relationships grow as they get to know each other during their journey. Each character claims a different social position.
*Hunt for the Wilderpeople* builds on Waititi 's drama/comedy combination and further cements his auteur status. *Wilderpeople* is about an orphan boy who moves from one foster family to another, generally being a delinquent. This causes him to earn the title of "a real bad egg". The majority of the film takes place as Ricky Baker is on the run through the vast forest. While structurally different than *Boy*, both films deal with coming-of-age, parents, and loneliness. Unlike *Boy*, *Wilderpeople* is divided up into ten chapters and an epilogue. Despite this, *Boy* is the more episodic film. Since *Wilderpeople* relies more on a causal narrative, it seems more like a standard Hollywood film at first. But Waititi finds a way to make it his own.