Silly Little Country

John Wayne - 100 years

My sister gets it.

It is no trivial thing to get. I was impressed about haw hard Germany's die Welt worked on getting it - they had this largely sensible profile.

And so much should settle on 'The Searchers'. As Rondi said, it is a disturbing film, and John Ford meant it to be, and surely so did Wayne.

The article in die Welt cites Jean-Luc Godard (yeah, he made movies, few as interesting as those of John Ford).

"Wie Jean-Luc Godard in einem legendären Bonmot sagte: „Wie kann ich John Wayne hassen, wenn er Goldwater [einen rechten Politiker] unterstützt und ihn zärtlich lieben, wenn er im vorletzten Akt von ,The Searchers’ Natalie Wood plötzlich in seine Arme nimmt?“"

My translation : As Jean-Luc Godard in a legendary bonmot said : "How can I hate John Wayne, even as he supported Goldwater (a right-wing politician - ED: even die Welt has to do this stupidity) and was kindly disposed to him, when in the early denouement of 'The Searchers' he took Natalie Wood into his arms?".

Godard proved he could at least watch a John Ford movie and get the point but this man is pathetic. Something I think Godard never got, there are actors and there are roles. It is *Ethan* who picks up the Natalie Wood character, not John Wayne. And what Rondi finds disturbing, I will bet, is that there is no clear hero, nobody in the movie who seems to be right, and most particularly Ethan, who is an utter racist in many ways, a total outsider (look at what Ford does with doors), and who is largely driven by hate. In the end he does not act on this hate, but he also cannot fit in.
It *is* a very sad movie; that Ethan has to leave fits themes Ford confronted in many other films - "The Searchers" is the most out there but only a moron who watches all his films thinks these are what those who do not watch these movies closely are the cowboy movies they claim. But there is much stupidity in the world.
And I am so thankful John Wayne, one of the most implausible actors ever, was there to make those movies.

A happy 100th! (Well, as you know, I do not think he is there to enjoy it, bit *I* am!)

posted by Alan Adamson @ 8:32 PM