Lecutre 4 – Movies 1

Question 1

The Silent Film Era (1894–1927): Beginnings and Antecedents

Kidnapping by Indians (1899; Mitchell and Kenyon Film Company)

Answer 1

–as opposed to Porter’s 11 minutes, this short is of only 1 minute duration
– the film’s narrative depicts two young women of unspecified ethnicity in a camp who are attacked by Native Americans. The attackers set fire to the camp and a gunfight ensues during which one of the young women is rescued by cowboys
–it has been suggested that this may be a scene from a well-known show, which once again underlines the close connection between different kinds of spectacles
– early films were frequently “exhibited” in conjunction with other attractions, such as various live acts and “shorts”
– Captivity narratives have their origin in the 15th century and occur in different historical and geographical contexts. They are stories of (usually) individuals captured by enemies who are considered to be uncivilized and among whom they are forced to live. In the North American context, captivity narratives emerged in particular from the violent interaction with Native Americans. They frequently culminate in the liberation of the captive and their return to their own people and to civilization. Captivity narratives will be dealt with in more detail in a later lecture

Question 2

The Silent Film Era (1894–1927): Beginnings and Antecedents

The Halfbreed, dir. Allan Dwan (1916)

Answer 2

–an outcast encounters a young woman who is lost in the woods, defending her from danger and the harassment by Sheriff Dunn
–legendary lawman Wyatt Earp appeared as a face in the crowd in this film
– Wyatt Earp(1848–1929) served as a deputy marshal inTombstone, Arizona Territory and participated in the famousgunfight at the O.K. Corral

Question 3

The Silent Film Era (1894–1927): Beginnings and Antecedents

Basics

Answer 3

–following these early beginnings, popularity of Western films surged in the silent film era
–by the 1920s the pattern of sweeping landscapes, dramatic conflict, and suspenseful set pieces was already established (Peebles 2016)
–since the second decade of the twentieth century, some of the big studios adopted a policy of releasing different lines of films according to production cost and market appeal
–in this period, and into the 1940s, many Western films were produced with a low budget and following a formula appealing to popular taste

Question 4

The Silent Film Era (1894–1927): Beginnings and Antecedents

Examples

Answer 4

– The Covered Wagon, dir. James Cruze (1923); based on the 1922 novel by Emerson Hough
–The Iron Horse, dir. John Ford (1924)
–Riders of the Purple Sage, dir. Lynn Reynolds (1925); an adaptation of Zane Grey’s eponymous 1912 novel
–The Sagebrusher, dir. Edward Sloman (1920); based on the eponymous 1920 novel by Emerson Hough

Question 5

The Sound Film (1930s)

Answer 5

– with the advent of the sound film in the late 1920s, Western films were quickly abandoned by the major film
–in the 1930s emerged the new programming format of the double feature
–for the bottom half of the program, short and inexpensive films were produced which became known as B movies
–Western films quickly developed into the most popular B movie genre, sometimes as serials, like The Three Mesquiteers (51 films were produced between 1936 and 1943) and the Billy the Kid Westerns (42 films were produced between 1940 and 1946)
–in the late 1930s the Western experienced renewed popularity and commercial success
–films like John Ford’s Stagecoach and Michael Curtiz’s Dodge City, both released in 1939, re-established the genre as a main feature and proved to be huge box office hits

Question 6

The Sound Film (1930s)

Examples

Answer 6

– The Westerner, dir. William Wyler (1940)
–They Died with their Boots On, dir. Raoul Walsh (1941)
–Western Union, dir. Fritz Lang (1941)
–Nevada, dir. Edward Killy (1944)
–Fort Apache, dir. John Ford (1948)
–Red River, dir. Howard Hawks (1948)
–She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, dir. John Ford (1949)

Question 7

The Golden Age (1950s)

Basics

Answer 7

–in the 1950s, the popularity of the Western peaked in what has been called its “Golden Age”
– in this period, the number of Western films produced in Hollywood exceeded that of all other genres

Question 8

The Golden Age (1950s)

Examples

Answer 8

–Broken Arrow, dir. Delmer Daves (1950)
–Rio Grande, dir. John Ford (1950)
–Rawhide, dir. Henry Hathaway (1951)
–High Noon, dir. Fred Zinnemann (1952)
–Shane, dir. George Stevens (1953)
–Apache, dir. Robert Aldrich (1954)
–The Searchers, dir. John Ford (1956)
–Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, dir. John Sturges (1957)
–The Big Country, dir. William Wyler (1958)
–The Bravados, dir. Henry King (1958)

Question 9

Decline and Revisionist Innovation (1960s and beyond)

Answer 9

– after its “Golden Age”, the Hollywood Western began to decline
– but it experienced a revival with the so-called Spaghetti or Italo-Western
– these films were cheaply produced and shot on locations outside the US which were evocative of the landscapes of the American West

Question 10

Decline and Revisionist Innovation (1960s and beyond)

Spaghetti Westerns

Answer 10

– Spaghetti Westerns are characterized by –>
* more violence than previous productions
* the erosion of the established moral code
* the absence of Native Americans
–some Spaghetti Westerns introduced a revisionist agenda and demythologized stereotypes of the American West

notable examples include:
–the so-called Dollars Trilogy (trilogia del dollaro) by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood:
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Question 11

Decline and Revisionist Innovation (1960s and beyond)

Spaghetti Western II

Answer 11

– originally influenced by the Hollywood tradition, the Spaghetti Western in turn exerted a strong impact on American productions
– it also reinforced a trend towards revisionist Westerns
– since the 1960s, the Western was increasingly perceived as a popular genre which afforded an opportunity of criticizing American society and values
– though no sustained engagement with the historical American West has characterized Hollywood film production after the Golden Age of the Western, the revisionist angle has supported sporadic ventures into the twenty-first century

Question 12

Decline and Revisionist Innovation (1960s and beyond)

notable examples include

Answer 12

– Ride the High Country, dir. Sam Peckinpah (1962)
– The Wild Bunch, dir. Sam Peckinpah (1969)
– Little Big Man, dir. Arthur Penn (1970)
– McCabe & Mrs. Miller, dir. Robert Altman (1971)
– Buffalo Bill and the Indians, dir. Robert Altman (1976)
– The Outlaw Josey Wales, dir. Clint Eastwood (1976)
– The Long Riders, dir. Walter Hill (1980)
– Dances with Wolves, dir. Kevin Costner (1990)
– Unforgiven, dir. Clint Eastwood (1992)
– The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, dir. Andrew Dominik (2007)
– True Grit, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen (2010)

Question 13

Decline and Revisionist Innovation (1960s and beyond)

revisionist Western

Answer 13

– a particularly intriguing instance of a revisionist Western which relates to Umberto Eco’s notion of an age of simulation is Westworld (1973)
– scripted and directed by Michael Crichton, the film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West-themed amusement park which features androids that malfunction and eventually begin killing human visitors to the park
– the film was partially inspired by Walt Disney’s audio-animatronics, a form of robotics animation registered in 1967 and used for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks
– in 1975, Umberto Eco noted that “the ‘Audio-Animatronic’ technique represented a great source of pride for Walt Disney, who had finally managed to achieve his own dream and reconstruct a fantasy world more real than reality.” (Eco 1975)

Question 14

Decline and Revisionist Innovation (1960s and beyond)

Revisionist Western — Robert Altman’s Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson of 1976;

Answer 14

–this challenge to the iconic figure of Buffalo Bill and the construction of the American West resulting from his show business was highly controversial when it was released at the bi-centenary of American independence
– Altman’s iconoclastic film takes its cue from one of the countless dime novels published about the (fictitious) exploits of Buffalo Bill

Question 15

The “Formula” Narrative: Genre Conventions

Basics

Answer 15

– if we describe the Western as a genre, the assumption is that it is a definable type of fiction which follows a certain formula or conventions
– in his seminal Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth(1950), Henry Nash Smith described the ideological tension between the myths of Garden and Desert as constitutive of the perception of the American West
– in 1969, Jim Kitses, expanding on Smith, proposed an influential model of conflicts between opposing forces which are negotiated in Westerns in individual ways

Question 16

What are Jim Kitses three additional sets of oppositions?

Answer 16

• individual/community
• nature/culture
• west/east

Question 17

The “Formula” Narrative: Genre Conventions

Kitses 3 categories

Answer 17

–Kitses describes these categories as “an ambiguous cluster of meanings and attitudes that provide the traditional thematic structure” of the Western (1969)
–this cluster of meanings is organized in a pattern of changing binary oppositions designated by Kitses as “shifting […] antinomies” (1969)
– values associated with any of these pairs of binary oppositions are not fixed, that is, they are neither positive nor negative per se

Question 18

The “Formula” Narrative: Genre Conventions

Western genre according to Kitses

Answer 18

– complex of ambivalent attitudes to the expansion to the West and as such offers a framework for challenging and conflicting explorations of the meaning of American history and identity
–Kitses arrived at this model by investigating a number of paradigmatic Westerns

Question 19

The “Formula” Narrative: Genre Conventions

Western genre according to Will Wright

Answer 19

– in “Sixguns and Society” (1975), Will Wright proposed a different approach, which focused on commercially successful Westerns
–as he argues, these demonstrate which “meanings viewers demand of the myth” (Wright 1975)
– Wright argues that the Western is a popular form which becomes “part of the cultural language by which America understands itself” and suggests a correlation between the popularity of particular Western plots and contemporary occurrences in American society
– historical Westerns, that is, connect to issues topical at the time of their production

Question 20

The “Formula” Narrative: Genre Conventions

Western genre according to John Cawelti

Answer 20

– in his “The Six Gun Mystique” (1971), John Cawelti made the first attempt to define the Western as a “formula” narrative which combines adventure, mystery, and romance
– he further suggested that “popular genres are essentially structures of narrative conventions that carry out a variety of cultural functions in a unified way” and that these genres may best be defined “in terms of paradigms for the selection of certain plots, characters, and settings of such a sort that these narrative elements not only create effective stories, but become endowed with certain aspects of collective ritual, game and dream” (Cawelti 1971)
– Cawelti argued that the Western is set on a frontier, “a place where advancing civilisation met declining savagery” (1971), at a time when the forces of law and criminality are in tension
–from this arises the basic Western narrative of an adventure story in which the hero must negotiate between opposing forces of good and evil
– Cawelti accordingly describes a “narrative pattern [which] works out and resolves the tension between a strong need for aggression and a sense of ambiguity and guilt about violence” (1971)

Question 21

The “Formula” Narrative: Genre Conventions

What are the 7 basic Western plots and character groups by Cawelti?

Answer 21

The Journey = railroad/stagecoach/wagon train vs. raiders/Indians

The Ranch = ranchers vs. rustlers or cattlemen vs. settlers or sheepmen

The Empire = an epic Ranch plot

The Revenge = the wronged man vs. the truly guilty

The Cavalry = cavalry vs. Indians

The Outlaw = (Southern) outlaws vs. (Northern) lawmen

The Marshal = lawman vs. outlaws

Question 22

The “Formula” Narrative: Genre Conventions

Western genre overall

Answer 22

• Western iconography is seen to arouse or confound expectations which have been established through the development of the genre itself
  – this suggests, moreover, that the Western genre is created through tacit yet common consent among the triangle of creators, the institutions they work in, and their consumers (see Ryall 1978)
  – the genre is accordingly defined by the common agreement among film-makers, audiences, and the institution of the cinema which joins them
  – at the same time, market forces demand innovation
  – Westerns need to be sufficiently similar to genre expectations to be recognizable, but also sufficiently different to raise further interest
  – as we will see in the examples discussed below, the Western exemplifies the constant negotiation of a genre between similarity and difference

Question 23

Paradigmatic Cinematic Engagements with the American West

Ambivalence

Answer 23

– it has been suggested that “[t]he popularity and the satisfaction of the Western in literature, film, music, and visual arts can be said to rely on many elements: the aesthetic and thematic appeal of open landscape; the drama inherent in the violent clash of cultures (whether Native American and white, outlaw and sheriff, homesteader and cattle driver, to name just a few iterations); and the historical/political resonance of the concerns of a nascent community in an area previously unknown to the settlers But especially in film, the Western is built on its climactic moment: the violent rendering of justice.” (Peebles 2016)

–“The Westerner at his best exhibits a moral ambiguity which darkens his image and saves him from absurdity; this ambiguity arises from the fact that, whatever his justification, he is a killer of men.” (Warshow 2004)
– in the earliest Westerns this ambiguity was largely absent; they featured the spectacle of violence rather than its ambiguities, as in Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery of 1903

–in most of the films we will discuss, it is precisely this ambivalence which comes to bear, though it is very much reduced, for instance, in Broken Arrow, yet not on the side of violence but its opposite

Question 24

Paradigmatic Cinematic Engagements with the American West

Michael Curtiz’s “Dodge City” of 1939 vs “John Ford’s Stagecoach” 1939

Answer 24

– both films and their commercial promotion indicate the continuities even two decades after the demise of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West with its spectacular representation of the American West
– at the same time both films, if in different ways, also demonstrate how the Wild West show has been superseded by the new medium and highlight its artistic and technical innovation and potential

Question 25

“Dodge City”, dir. Michael Curtiz (1939) — Basics

Answer 25

– starringErrol Flynn andOlivia de Havilland
– big commercial success
– original screenplay by Robert Buckner
– filmed in Technicolor

Question 26

Michael Curtiz’s “Dodge City” (1939) — plot

Answer 26

– the film narrates the story of Dodge City in Kansas as it develops with the advent of the railroad into a major center of the cattle trade
– the town is terrorized by the gang of Jeff Surrett
– Finally, a Texan cowboy, Wade Hatton, and two of his friends agree to act as sheriff and deputies to clean the town from crime and vice
– they eventually succeed, but as soon as it seems that Hatton will settle down for a quiet married life in Dodge City, he is asked to clean up another town in Nevada
– his new wife understands and follows Hatton on his calling

Question 27

Michael Curtiz’s “Dodge City” (1939) — reluctant hero

Answer 27

–the film promotes, with the hero reluctantly becoming a lawman and cleaning a town, a plot pattern that was to become very influential
–it moreover combines in its narrative elements which are similarly constitutive of the Western
–this is compounded by the commercial promotion of the film which celebrates precisely its Westernness and reveals the strategies employed to create the notion of this Westernness not only in the film itself but also in its promotion
–most significantly, the film and its promotion in this way claim continuity which is represented in the historical development of Dodge City to the present of 1939 as a clean town, the product of industry and civilization and a symbol of the “old” and the “new”, contemporary, West
– Dodge City emerges in this way as both a lieu de mémoire and the celebration of a way of life

Question 28

Stagecoach, dir. John Ford (1939) — Basics

Answer 28

–starring Claire Trevor and John Wayne
– film marks the beginning of Hollywood iconicity for John Wayne
–based on the short story “Stage to Lordsburg” by Ernest Haycox, published in Collier’s Magazine (1937)
–in this film, Ford for the first time used Monument Valley in the American Southwest as location, which he was frequently to revisit in later productions, such as The Searchers (1956)
– in 1995, the film was elected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress because it was considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”
– it serves as a milestone of cinema’s deepening interest in the intersections of heroism, justice, violence, and what different people deserve in the vast space of the frontier

Question 29

Stagecoach, dir. John Ford (1939) — What awards did Stagecoach win?

Answer 29

Stagecoach won two Academy Awards, for:

• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Music (Scoring)

Question 30

Stagecoach, dir. John Ford (1939) — Plot

Answer 30

– the plot is simple: in the 1880s, a group of strangers board thestagecoachfrom Tonto in theArizona Territory toLordsburg in New Mexico
–the film explores the social tensions of the travellers during the journey
–in terms of its dramatic action it culminates in the attack of the Apache on the stagecoach, which is repulsed with the arrival of the 6th US Cavalry

Question 31

The Grapes of Wrath, dir. John Ford (1939) — Basics

Answer 31

– is another, very critical construction of the contemporary American West
– Steinbeck’s realist novel is set during theGreat Depression (1929–39)
–focuses on a poor family oftenant farmerstrapped in the “Dust Bowl”
– Novel was awarded the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
– Adaptation is more optimistic than the original novel, but, while toning down some of the political objectives of the novel, it does not shirk its social criticism

Question 32

What is the Great Depression?

Answer 32

The Great Depression refers to a global economic depression which followed a major fall in stock prices since September 1929 and thestock market crashknown asBlack Tuesday; it continued until the late 1930s

Question 33

What is the “Dust Bowl”?

Answer 33

The “Dust Bowl”refers to a period of dust stormswhich severely damaged the ecology andagricultureof the American and Canadianprairiesduring the 1930s; it was caused by heavydroughtand the failure to prevent erosion with the use of appropriate dryland farmingmethods

Question 34

Stagecoach and Grapes of Wrath

Answer 34

– The Grapes of Wrath challenges the idealistic and nostalgic conception of the West disseminated in so many Westerns of the period
– the social critical elements in Stagecoach may well originate in the same perception of a people betrayed by the bigotry and economic voracity of contemporary society

Question 35

The Grapes of Wrath, dir. John Ford (1939) — Contents

Answer 35

– the film has been said to offer “an ideal balance between social myth, historical reconstruction, psychological truth, and the traditional theme of the Western mise-en-scène” (Bazin 1971)
–it has moreover been observed, that “[i]n the end, Stagecoach asserts that there is no conflict between the moral individual and the demands of society, because moral authority will naturally subsume the legal” (Grant 2003)

Question 36

Stagecoach, dir. John Ford (1939) — film’s negation of Manichean dichotomies emerges in various situations

Answer 36

–when the apparently respectable banker Gatewood is exposed as an embezzler
– when the Ringo Kid and Dallas, both outcasts of society, form a strong bond and prove to be morally superior
– when Mrs. Mallory snubs Dallas, but later realizes that without her help she and her new-born may not have survived and invites her to see her
–when Hatfield, fearing for Mrs. Mallory and her violation at the hands of the savages, a fate considered “worse than death”, saves his last bullet to kill her, while the Ringo Kid has no such pretensions about Dallas but saves his last three bullets for the killers of his father

Question 37

Stagecoach, dir. John Ford (1939) — treatment of Native Americans

Answer 37

– others have acknowledged that the treatment of Native Americans in the film is more complex than appears at first glance (see Peebles 2016)
– it has been suggested that Ford interrogates ethnic identities and superficial determinations about others (see Telotte 2003: 114), for instance:
*when the officer at the beginning of the film ignorantly mistakes the Cheyenne scout for a renegade Apache
*when Dallas, faced with the dangers of the overland conveyance, says with reference to the ladies of the “Law and Order League”: “There are worse things than Apaches.”
*when Peacock sees the Apache wife of the host at one of the stage posts, he gasps: “A savage!” – the host, of Mexican descent, responds: “Sí, señor, she’s a little bit savage, I think … she’s one of Geronimo’s people. I think, maybe not so bad to have an Apache wife, eh? Apaches don’t bother me, I think.”

Question 38

Stagecoach, dir. John Ford (1939) — criticisms

Answer 38

– Joseph McBride and Michael Wilmington argue that “Stagecoach leaves the question of American imperialism, the cavalry vs. the Indians, tantalizingly unresolved” (1975)
–as Stacey Peebles observes: “Thus the very premise that drives the Western genre as a whole – that of Manifest Destiny, the imperative for white Americans to live in this space – is called into question. This revisionism may be subtle, but it anticipates a number of later Westerns like Little Big Man (1970), Dances with Wolves (1990), and Dead Man (1995)” (Peebles 2016)
–explicit criticism of American society and civilization is articulated by Doc Boone, when the Ringo Kid and Dallas leave Lordsburg to go to Mexico: “they’re saved from the blessings of civilization”
–what may seem ironic on the surface, is clearly meant to be extrapolated and to be taken seriously
–as Slotkin critically observes: “Our only hope is to project a further frontier, a mythic space outside American space and American history, for the original possibilities of our Frontier have been used up” (Slotkin 1998)

Question 39

Broken Arrow, dir. Delmer Daves (1950) —Basics

Answer 39

–starring James Stewart
–offers a dramatization of the peace negotiations between the Chiricahua-Apache chief Cochise and the US Army in 1872
–based on Elliott Arnold’s novel Blood Brother (1947)
–early revisionist film, portraying Native Americans sympathetically
–Apache from the Whiteriver Agency on the Fort Apache Indian Reservationwere employed to play the Native Americans
–Geronimo was portrayed by the Canadian Mohawk actorJay Silverheels
–the representation of Cochise (portrayed by the white actor Jeff Chandler) eschews the traditional use of broken English for Native Americans and thus suggests equality

Question 40

Broken Arrow, dir. Delmer Daves (1950) —Goal

Answer 40

–Broken Arrow sought to foster understanding by attempting to portray Apache customs, such as the Social Dance and the female puberty rite (Girl’s Sunrise Ceremony)

Question 41

Broken Arrow, dir. Delmer Daves (1950) —Historical Context

Answer 41

–various bands of the Apache had long been fighting in the borderlands of Mexico and the US against invaders from both sides, but the fight intensified from the 1830s
–short periods of truce were mostly broken by the white aggressors
–Cochise emerged as a leader not only of his own band of Apache (Chihuicahui) but was recognized also by others (Chiricahua) as their principal leader
–in 1861, the Bascom Affair triggered the final war of Cochise against the US Army
–Lieutenant George Bascom, inviting Cochise for peace negotiations, lured the Apache into a trap
–while Cochise was able to escape, members of his family remained in captivity
–in turn, Cochise took white hostages who were killed when Lieutenant Bascom refused an exchange of prisoners
–Bascom then hanged Cochise’s relatives
– this provoked a new war between the Apache and the US Army
– in 1872, General Oliver Otis Howard negotiated a new peace treaty with Cochise, following the mediation of Thomas Jeffords
–as a result of the negotiations, a reservation was established, but this was revoked already in 1876, two years after Cochise’s death
–the Apache were relocated to the San Carlos Reservation where they were dependent on US support
– under the leadership of Geronimo a small number of free Apache continued a guerrilla war against the US Army
–in 1886 Geronimo surrendered to General Nelson Appleton Miles, whom we have encountered already in our discussion of William Cody’s historical film projects

Question 42

Broken Arrow, dir. Delmer Daves (1950) —Native Americans

Answer 42

–offers a revisionist perception of Native Americans
– it humanizes the Native Americans, seeking to elevate them to an equal footing with white Americans
–focusing on the historical precedent of a peace agreement between Native Americans and white Americans, it envisages a peaceful co-existence against the resistance of stalwarts on either side
–but, as in the later Wild West shows and in Buffalo Bill’s “Wars for Civilization” film project, ultimately the rapprochement is predicated predominantly on the Native Americans changing their way of life
–concluding the film’s narrative before the historical disappointment of the hope for peace and mutual respect projects this hope into the present

Question 43

Summary of Lesson on movies 1

Answer 43

–the commercial promotion of Dodge City, which – together with Stagecoach – was one of the films to reinsert the Western into the A category, shows continuities with the construction of the American West in Wild West shows
–Stagecoach is also inspired by the iconography of the Wild West show but, like Dodge City, adds a coherent narrative thread that is indebted to a romantic dimension
– in the films we discussed, women appear in subordinate roles, the landscape of the West is mostly male dominated, while women are confined to the home
–women taken captive by Native Americans are in danger of being irredeemably lost, though every attempt is made to recover them from those who abducted them
–in Stagecoach, as in Dodge City, the male hero finds a female companion, while in the later films, he re-enters his previous state of loneliness
–with the exception of Stagecoach, in which the return is to a ranch beyond the frontier, the harshness of the landscape is not only a testing ground for the hero, but also a refuge
–the landscape of the American (South-)West is charged with semantic potential, its beauty and starkness offer a contrast to its harshness: Monument Valley becomes an iconic symbol of the West
–in the early period of the Western sound film, Native Americans are still frequently portrayed as savages, although this stereotype is implicitly and – in Broken Arrow – explicitly interrogated