Westerns Movie Log Journal & Recommendations

This is the second in director John Ford's cavalry trilogy. The trilogy wasn't planned, it just kind of happened. But in all three films (Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Rio Grande) the subject is the lives of the U.S. cavalry men and their families who are stationed in a remote southwest fort, surrounded by hostile Apaches. And all three films have a fair amount of personal interactions and drama, with a liberal dose of comedy (ha, sorry John Wayne)...and of course a climax with a big battle.

This one is shot in technicolor which should be a plus. But on the DVD I watched the colors were all faded out, leaving mainly oranges, reds and yellow. Which is lucky as the single girl being courted by two young troopers, wears a yellow ribbon, the troopers do too, well not ribbons but they do wear yellow. To me the script felt unfocused and I never felt like I was involved with the story or it's characters. Maybe it was just me, I was distracted.

Third in the so called Cavalry Trilogy. Unlike the first two that were shot in Monument Valley, this was shot mainly in Utah. One can still see mesas in the distances but unlike Monument Valley there's trees around and even a river. I liked this one, it embodies John Ford's style of film making with an emphasis on family, friends, community and loyalty. The film's focus is on Lt. Col. Kirby York (John Wayne) who's a life long solider with a lonely past. At the start of the film we learn that Wayne had some kind of personal loss 15 years earlier. Then he's informed his estranged son has failed a course at West Point and was dismissed. Then the young son now grown turns up as a newly joined trooper under the command of John Wayne. Well, you can see the possibilities there. Wayne plays a man who is likeable in this film and we see him being domestic more often than we see him in battle. This in not an action film, except the last act. It's a case study of life on the frontier for the cavalierly and their families.

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Who would ever have thought that a movie that combined John Wayne, Kim Darby and country singer Glenn Campbell would be so good! A lot of this goodness falls to the impetuous performance by young Kim Darby. Darby was born for this role and make the perfect foil for John Wayne's crusty Rooster Cogburn. And Glen Campbell makes for a perfect Texan side kick to the trio. There's of course a story here, a good one too about Kim Darby seeking to find the man who killed her father...and she's hell bent on finding him! The on-location scenery shot in the mountainous terrain of Colorado is a thing of beauty. But mostly this is a fun movie!

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After watching the refreshingly different True Grit, this ill attempted sequel fell flat on it's cog-burn. If it wasn't for the historic paring of two huge stars: John Wayne & Katherine Hepburn, this movie would have long ago been forgotten. The plot is about as serious as an old made-for-TV movie and the actions that the various characters in this western take are laudable.

Character actor Richard Jordan plays a bad guy that's so over the top that one wishes this had been a comedy western. But despite it's sojourn into silliness, Rooster Cogburn the movie, isn't meant to be a slapstick comedy. Now Rooster Cogburn the character was meant to be humorous with his old cantankerous, boozing grouching ways. John Wayne is good as Rooster Cogburn and he pairs well with equally cantankerous Katherine Hepburn...but the script stinks.

If you watch How the West Was Won chances are you won't be seeing that above, curved image...unless you have a blu ray copy and large screen TV capable of reproducing 3d mapping technology. Even then you still won't be seeing the film like it was originally intended to be viewed. How the West Was Won is only one of two feature length, fictional movies made in the Cinerama process. The other was The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962).

When seen on a conventional screen the movie is still very different looking than any other movie made. That's thanks to the three camera Cinerama system that was used to film the movie. The result is an ultra wide angle look with huge amount of depth and sharpness from the front to back of the composition. It does stretch images...and horizontal lines that are close to the camera's lenses gets bent into what photographers call 'barrel distortion'.

As far as the story goes, this is one of those sweeping epics that cover several generations and is loaded with brand name stars some have mere cameos. Nothing to deep or dramatic in the scenes but the overall story is rewarding. The scenery, the location and especially the very unusual Cinerama cinematography is all well worth watching.

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