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Originally Posted by Murmer99
Saw Stagecoach last night as it was recommended by demonrail. Well-acted film, nearly every shot seemed to be framed very carefully, and my personal favorite scenes were the dark and shadowy visuals in the opening and a few times later on. Not the most entertaining movie for me, but I get this feeling that I can watch it over and over and not mind at all. I always love when a director can successfully combine a sense of danger while also leaving the viewer with hope and (in this case) a sense of renewal for the characters. This definitely compelled me to watch The Searchers next.
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Awesome. It's a cliche to say so but Stagecoach is one of those films that definitely takes a few viewings to really appreciate. But either way, I love the characterisation in Stagecoach maybe more than I do in any other Ford Western. The whiskey salesman, the war veteran, Dallas, Ringo Kid, the driver with his Mexican wife. They're like Dickens characters transplanted to the wild west. The final shootout at the end between Ringo and the Plummers has a lovely old fashioned feel to it. But my favourite scenes are the ones where Ringo is the only one who'll sit with Dallas at the dinner table and then when they both agree at the end of the film to find a place to settle down together.
Try and see My Darling Clementine before you see The Searchers. Besides being (for me) Ford's greatest Western it further builds on ideas laid at in Stagecoach that'll eventually feed into The Searchers and Liberty Valence. In a sense, all the Ford Westerns are trying to examine the idea of the outlaw's place in the founding of a 'new' America. Ringo has to kill the Plummers because they represent the same old uncivillised West that Ringo (and Dallas) are a part of but where the Plummers represent the dead end of that world, Ringo and Dallas want to transcend it (just as Wayne has to kill Liberty Valence in order to make way for the civillisation represented by Jimmy Stewart and his wife - the wilderness/garden thing again.) It's the argument that figures like those played by Wayne weren't just obstacles to be overcome during that period (as is suggested in Valence when Wayne lets Stewart take credit for the killing) but were instrumental in creating a 'new world', which is solidified in MDC and then reaches epic, almost mythical proportions in The Searchers. It's all a bit cliched and deeply dubious from a historical/political standpoint but Ford was all about creating these mythical figures, doing mythical things for some mythical greater good. Sort of like Clash of the Titans (or even Nolan's Batman films).
Sorry, I tend to waffle a bit when it comes to Ford. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of them.