Stagecoach, based on
story by Ernest Haycox
Stagecoach is a classic.
However, on the other hand, it is
in a few ways passé.
Not because of the special effects, the
probable suffering inflicted to the horses involved in the production…
Although many things have changed in the seventy-nine
years since this western has been released.
Regarding animal wellbeing, We Are All Completely
Besides Ourselves by the marvelous Karen Joy Fowler states that the pretense
made in most movies that no animal has been harmed during the filming of this
motion picture might be technically correct, but only because the animals have
been beaten…Before the production.
Almost all the chimpanzees we see in various
features are babies, because once they grow a little, they are too powerful to
control.
Furthermore, most animals are treated heinously,
tortured with bats and sticks and when they are shown one on the set, they are
terrified.
Besides, the photos where chimpanzees seem to
smile from one ear to the other point to another emotion, not ecstasy, but
tremendous fear and when they were sent into space with that wide grin, they
have actually been horrified.
In Stagecoach, the good people from the prairie
wagon shoot and fight what were then called…”Indians”.
After such a long time, history begins to have
a different look at the celebrated Columbus and the oppressed Native Americans.
Only in this film, Geronimo and his people, the
rightful owners of America, are portrayed as villains.
This may make one think of…
Mark Twain
The now banished Louis CK was talking in his
stand up acts about the politically incorrect prose of Mark Twain.
Isn’t this an absurd paradox?
Louis CK complains about the fact that Twain
writes about “Nigger Jim” and the former has an excellent criticism on this
issue, but some time later, we find the comedian accused of outrageous acts
that he has confessed to.
In Stagecoach, the plot is rather simple; we
have a group of people that travel through dangerous territory.
At that time, they did not consider the moral
and the fairness aspect of taking land from the Native Americans.
The cavalry escorts the group, but only for the
first part of the journey, after which they need to vote to see if they
continue and when they do, they are vulnerable to attacks, which are rightful is
we look at who was the rightful owner of that and other portions of America.
There are some intriguing characters in the
wagon, maybe the most memorable is portrayed by the ultimate western actor, the
most loved artist for decades in the US, John Wayne aka The Duke, who is Ringo
Kid in this picture.
One woman is pregnant and treated with respect,
while sexist, retrograde men disconsider the other.
The likeable, amusing, friendly, if drunkard
doctor is a pleasure to watch and Thomas Mitchell has won the Oscar for Best
Actor in a Supporting Role for this film.
Stagecoach has been nominated for Best Picture,
Best Director, Best Cinematography, Art Direction, and Film Editing and won
another prize for Best Music.
The feature is mentioned in Cinema History and
documentaries about filming, such as American Cinema
Orson Welles has been watching this film many
times, in order to learn about how to direct action scenes.
One learns from Who the Hell’s In It by the
celebrated Peter Bogdanovich about the relationship between John Ford and John
Wayne.
The latter owes a lot, if not the whole career
to the phenomenal director, but there have been tensions between the two.
John ford would not talk to John Wayne for some
years and never said what, if anything was wrong.
In the same book, you can find many anecdotes,
including one with the Duke, Henry Fonda and…a giant snake…
Read the book and watch Stagecoach, but root
for the Native Americans.
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