On tonight's menu: Stagecoach and The Man from Laramie. Being the beginning of the long collaboration between John Ford and John Wayne, and the last western Anthony Mann and James Stewart made together, in other words.
Everyone raves about The Searchers, but I think I prefer Stagecoach. It transformed John Wayne from a B-movie actor (it was his 80th film according to the IMDb!) into a star, and his entrance is certainly iconic. When Ringo Kid appears, spinning that Winchester with the large loop lever, you can almost hear the movie switching gears. The ensemble cast is faultless and Monument Valley is, well, a monumental backdrop. It's a pity the European DVD release is so bare-bones - the Americans have two different special editions.
Stewart was an all-American hero onscreen and in real life (he was a decorated bomber pilot in World War II). But he wasn't always such a clear-cut nice guy in his post-war films. Laramie is one example of this. Will Lockhart is obsessed with revenge ("I came a thousand miles to kill you," he says) and doesn't let minor problems such as a crippling injury to stop him. The story feels like a majestic theater play which could be adapted to almost any era in history. The epic New Mexico terrain and the endless, vast sky are beautifully photographed. I have now seen two out of five Mann-Stewart westerns; the rest are waiting their turn on the shelf.
Is it already obvious that I like westerns?
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