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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
see where i see both directors at different ends is how the trope of the outdated cowboy in ford serves as a call to serve whatever institution for the greater glory of some sort of legal fiction with claims of immortality beyond the individual.
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Ford definitely sees the cowboy as serving a greater good (civilisation: law; government; church; family; towns) then disappearing once that greater good is in place. It runs through all his westerns. So while there's lots of blurring of boundaries, it seems that Peckinpah represents a modern vision (emphasising social alienation) while Ford represents a classical one (emphasising social harmony). For me, Ford's treatment of his subject is more profound than Peckinpah's, even though I'm probably more aligned with Peckinpah's politics. Although not entirely.