1
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John Ford, in some ways,
was the most American of filmmakers.
2
00:00:08,977 --> 00:00:11,279
You know, this Irish immigrant...
3
00:00:12,614 --> 00:00:16,718
...who so captured
the best of America...
4
00:00:16,885 --> 00:00:18,786
...what we think of as
the American spirit...
5
00:00:18,953 --> 00:00:24,259
...the can-do attitude, the optimism,
the enterprise.
6
00:00:24,459 --> 00:00:25,793
And here, in The Searchers...
7
00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:29,864
...he really looks to
the dark side of America.
8
00:00:30,031 --> 00:00:35,069
This was, I think, an attempt of Ford's
to come to terms...
9
00:00:36,437 --> 00:00:38,540
...with something deeper
in the human psyche...
10
00:00:38,706 --> 00:00:40,875
...and, in particular,
the American human psyche.
11
00:00:41,042 --> 00:00:42,911
And I think that comes
from Ethan Edwards.
12
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He's not a villain.
13
00:00:45,914 --> 00:00:47,649
But at times, he's despicable.
14
00:00:47,849 --> 00:00:49,918
You know, and, yet...
15
00:00:50,084 --> 00:00:53,855
...you'll love him when he says,
"Let's go home, Debbie."
16
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What is that all about?
17
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He did bring her back, you know.
18
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And it's a very powerful thing.
19
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I think it really...
20
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...strikes us in that place in our soul
that needs to be justified.
21
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There is some meaning to our lives.
22
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I was 13 years old, and we had just been
graduated from elementary school...
23
00:01:36,598 --> 00:01:39,300
...St. Patrick's Old Cathedral
elementary school.
24
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And myself and two friends...
25
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...we felt we were adult enough to go
up to 42nd Street or 44th Street...
26
00:01:46,407 --> 00:01:49,310
...whatever it was, the Criterion Theater,
have dinner in a restaurant...
27
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...and then go to see this new Western
that was starring John Wayne.
28
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We were aware of Ford's name
from time to time...
29
00:01:56,217 --> 00:01:57,986
...in other Westerns that we had seen.
30
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We saw, actually,
a lot of them on television.
31
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And this, however, was different.
I mean, this was a different situation.
32
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There's no doubt, I think,
we went as young people.
33
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We went for the star, for Wayne.
34
00:02:09,597 --> 00:02:12,900
It was at a theater called The Sherman
in the San Fernando valley.
35
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The Sherman was a theater
that my family particularly liked...
36
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...because it was a second-run theater,
meaning it was cheap.
37
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And, in fact, kids of my age
could get in free.
38
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They would just wave you,
and you would duck under the turnstile.
39
00:02:26,981 --> 00:02:29,083
And I remember walking
into the theater.
40
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N that “me...
41
00:02:31,185 --> 00:02:34,055
was we did for Vertigo,
as we did for any major movie...
42
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...we just walked in, in the middle.
43
00:02:39,661 --> 00:02:42,664
The first time I saw The Searchers
was in the theater.
44
00:02:42,830 --> 00:02:46,267
And it was in Westwood Village.
45
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And I was completely blown away.
46
00:02:49,070 --> 00:02:51,472
I mean, I'd never seen a movie like it.
47
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I absolutely was convinced that
this was, you know, the real West.
48
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Somehow, whoever made the movie
was channeling...
49
00:02:59,347 --> 00:03:02,350
...an experience of the real West
directly to me.
50
00:03:02,517 --> 00:03:04,852
And, of course, you know,
that's what I wanted.
51
00:03:05,019 --> 00:03:07,255
I wanted to live
in the real West, you know.
52
00:03:07,422 --> 00:03:09,524
I didn't just wanna be
one of those characters.
53
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I wanted to be Scar,
is what I wanted be.
54
00:03:13,628 --> 00:03:16,431
And from the opening moment
where she opens the door...
55
00:03:16,631 --> 00:03:20,068
...and the camera goes out,
suddenly, we were all very moved.
56
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I remember it, because it made
such an impression on me.
57
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You know, it was...
58
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...so different...
59
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was a Western, you know.
60
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It was so dark and, in fact,
frightening.
61
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And, yet...
62
00:03:36,284 --> 00:03:38,786
...John Wayne was so engaging...
63
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...graceful, heroic,
but full of anger and violence.
64
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It always stays in my mind.
It's very disturbing.
65
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All this stuff, watching it even more
on a big screen, is very disturbing.
66
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Stand aside, Martin.
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He was frightening,
but that was attractive.
68
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It was, I think,
probably confusing to me.
69
00:03:57,438 --> 00:04:00,608
And yet I loved it, you know,
and wanted to see it again...
70
00:04:00,808 --> 00:04:04,011
...and again and again,
as I have through the years.
71
00:04:04,212 --> 00:04:06,114
I think I saw it four times in a row.
72
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,117
And then I didn't see it again
for many. many years...
73
00:04:09,283 --> 00:04:11,552
...until I was in cinema school.
74
00:04:11,753 --> 00:04:15,089
And I was convinced for all those years
that I had dreamed it.
75
00:04:16,357 --> 00:04:18,326
This is one of the most beautiful
films ever...
76
00:04:18,493 --> 00:04:21,696
...even if you see it in 35mm, which is
the only way you're gonna see it today...
77
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...if you ever see it projected.
Because it was shot in VistaVision.
78
00:04:24,665 --> 00:04:27,735
I cannot tell you what that Vistavision
looked like projected.
79
00:04:27,902 --> 00:04:30,071
There's nothing today
that can equal that.
80
00:04:31,105 --> 00:04:34,509
First of all, the extraordinary space
on the screen.
81
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Monument Valley has never been
photographed any better.
82
00:04:38,679 --> 00:04:41,149
John Ford introduced us
to Monument Valley.
83
00:04:41,315 --> 00:04:42,917
Us, movie fans.
84
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But many people have filmed Westerns
in Monument Valley...
85
00:04:47,121 --> 00:04:49,924
...and other spectacular locations.
86
00:04:50,124 --> 00:04:55,062
But, again, the way in which
Ford used those locations is unique.
87
00:04:56,264 --> 00:04:59,233
I've never seen figures in a landscape
that wide...
88
00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:01,235
...to have such
an emotional resonance.
89
00:05:01,402 --> 00:05:04,172
And the poetry of his language,
the visual language that he--
90
00:05:04,338 --> 00:05:05,907
They can say,
"Well, yes, the cameraman."
91
00:05:06,073 --> 00:05:09,877
Obviously. But it's the relationship
that he had with the cameraman.
92
00:05:10,077 --> 00:05:12,413
You know, you gotta speak
the same language.
93
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You know, you have
to really work together.
94
00:05:15,249 --> 00:05:17,051
Ford had the best eye.
95
00:05:17,218 --> 00:05:21,489
The visuals in Ford movies
have never been surpassed by anybody...
96
00:05:21,689 --> 00:05:26,227
...including Kurosawa or David Lean.
Certainly, none of the people today.
97
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Kurosawa absolutely said--
98
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They said to him, they said,
"How did you learn to--?
99
00:05:31,632 --> 00:05:36,003
Did you study particular painters'?
Were there Japanese painters?
100
00:05:36,170 --> 00:05:39,473
Were there European painters?"
He said, "I studied John Ford."
101
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A combination of, you know, Ford and
VistaVision and that three-strip color.
102
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VistaVision was the best format
ever created for cinema.
103
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What was great about it
was that it was...
104
00:05:52,453 --> 00:05:55,756
...not only just a widescreen,
which was also higher...
105
00:05:55,923 --> 00:06:00,194
...but had an extraordinary depth of
field, everything in crystal-clear focus.
106
00:06:00,728 --> 00:06:04,098
You could see the expressions
on the actors...
107
00:06:04,265 --> 00:06:06,300
...the faces, the body movements
much clearer...
108
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...than a normal widescreen film.
109
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And so...
110
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...two things happened:
111
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One, they didn't go in
for many close-ups.
112
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You could see from, usually, full figure,
below-the-knee up.
113
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And, somehow, it became
more of an actor's medium.
114
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You really appreciate the actor.
The actor could just move to the left.
115
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You say, "Wow, that was great.“
116
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Some of the
more extraordinary, deeper...
117
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...scenes are all done in medium shot
and wide shot...
118
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...so that when Ward Bond takes
that cup of coffee...
119
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...in the foreground
staring straight ahead...
120
00:06:41,235 --> 00:06:44,639
...and John Wayne comes out
and goes to say goodbye to Martha...
121
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...there's a slight hesitation.
He kisses her on the forehead.
122
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Ward Bond has never seen a thing.
He's staring ahead, drinking that coffee.
123
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But, clearly,
the moment is so charged...
124
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...with mutual longing.
125
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And, you know,
that's pure moviemaking.
126
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That's pure John Ford.
127
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He forces you to use
your imagination.
128
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When you think back
to how Ford told this story...
129
00:07:08,663 --> 00:07:12,566
...one of the things you realize
is that the violence in the movie...
130
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...is so dark and affecting...
131
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...partly because you don't see it.
132
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We see John Wayne come down
from the canyon...
133
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...where he discovered Lucy's body.
134
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And we're left to imagine
what he saw there.
135
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The raid on the farmhouse.
136
00:07:34,388 --> 00:07:38,659
Harry Carey Jr.'s suicidal attack
on the Indians.
137
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The killing of Scar
at the end of the movie.
138
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It's not about the violence.
139
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It's about the effects of the violence.
140
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- Was she...'.7
- What do you want me to do?
141
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Draw you a picture?
Spell it out'?
142
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Don't ever ask me!
143
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One of the most powerful moments
in the film...
144
00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:02,917
...and most violent moment
I remember ever in film...
145
00:08:03,084 --> 00:08:06,354
...is when they come
to the burning house.
146
00:08:06,554 --> 00:08:08,622
You know, here's the dress
with blood on it.
147
00:08:08,789 --> 00:08:10,191
This ragged dress...
148
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...meaning that she was nude
and that she was raped.
149
00:08:13,961 --> 00:08:16,297
And Wayne comes out.
150
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Jeffrey Hunter comes up, and he says,
"Don't go in there.“
151
00:08:20,668 --> 00:08:22,636
And he says,
"But is that Aunt Martha?"
152
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He says, "Don't go in there,"
and he hits him.
153
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Because he can't go in there again.
154
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They're just gonna let the place burn,
because he didn't wanna see it again.
155
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And whatever it is that's in there
is too much for the Duke.
156
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Well, I don't wanna see it either.
157
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It showed me right then,
as a filmmaker...
158
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...that it's often much better
not to see things.
159
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Ford created that language.
160
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He started when movies started.
161
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And it's a very refined
and sophisticated grammar.
162
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And as we grew and we watched
the film on television...
163
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...and I'm not talking about film critics,
I'm talking about, you know...
164
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...average guys, average kids,
average young men.“
165
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...who were basically filmgoers
and film lovers...
166
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...we would suddenly become aware
of more subtext...
167
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...and more subtext in the picture.
And once we caught on...
168
00:09:09,050 --> 00:09:12,453
...and Ethan Edwards's character,
what was really going on inside of him...
169
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...it became a whole different picture.
170
00:09:15,856 --> 00:09:19,493
There are so many things in the script
that are so specific and so brilliant...
171
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...the way it ties together
all the various themes...
172
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...the way it deals with religion...
173
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...in a conflicted way.
174
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John Ford's films are very Catholic.
This is another issue.
175
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And they deal with morality.
176
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And they deal with what's right and
what's wrong in a very powerful way.
177
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The Reverend
Samuel Johnson Clayton.
178
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Mighty impressive.
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Well, the prodigal brother.
180
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The constant thing is that...
181
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...the language reflects the Old Testament
throughout the whole movie.
182
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The reverend, played by Ward Bond,
is also a captain.
183
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Here, you have the double-edged sword--
Almost like a God of the Old Testament.
184
00:09:56,664 --> 00:09:59,767
Comments on religion are throughout
the picture, you know.
185
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It's Ethan Edwards's attitude
toward religion.
186
00:10:03,671 --> 00:10:05,973
When they find the dead Indian...
187
00:10:06,140 --> 00:10:10,077
...and he, shockingly, especially given
that it's John Wayne...
188
00:10:11,145 --> 00:10:13,848
...shoots the dead Indian
twice in the head...
189
00:10:14,048 --> 00:10:15,883
...shooting out his eyes.
190
00:10:16,050 --> 00:10:19,086
And Ward Bond,
who's not only the captain...
191
00:10:19,253 --> 00:10:21,856
...but also a preacher,
you know, says:
192
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- What good did that do you'?
- By what you preach, none.
193
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He doesn't say, "By what we believe."
194
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He says, "By what you preach.“
195
00:10:31,065 --> 00:10:32,633
But what that Comanche believes...
196
00:10:32,833 --> 00:10:35,069
...ain't got no eyes,
he can't enter the spirit land.
197
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Has to wander forever
between the winds.
198
00:10:38,038 --> 00:10:40,141
You get it, Reverend.
Come on, blanket head.
199
00:10:40,307 --> 00:10:46,113
He's knowledgeable about both religions,
but, clearly, does not embrace either.
200
00:10:46,313 --> 00:10:49,150
And there's even that wonderful moment
when Nesby, who gets shot...
201
00:10:49,316 --> 00:10:51,452
...Ward Bond gives him the Bible
to hold on to.
202
00:10:51,619 --> 00:10:54,421
Hold it. Make you feel good.
203
00:10:54,622 --> 00:10:56,524
And it's very moving.
204
00:10:56,724 --> 00:10:58,325
Well, also right in
that same sequence...
205
00:10:58,492 --> 00:11:01,095
was the Indians are about to charge
across the river, Mose says:
206
00:11:01,762 --> 00:11:05,833
For that which we are about to receive,
we thank thee, O Lord.
207
00:11:06,033 --> 00:11:07,301
The Mose Harper character...
208
00:11:07,468 --> 00:11:11,272
...played by Hank Worden, is some of
the more eccentric readings in history.
209
00:11:11,472 --> 00:11:15,743
Don't want no money, Ethan.
No money, Many.
210
00:11:15,910 --> 00:11:20,447
Just a roof over old Muse's head...
211
00:11:20,614 --> 00:11:22,783
...and a rocking chair by the fire.
212
00:11:23,484 --> 00:11:27,054
The fool who keeps coming in and out.
But winds up helping them find Debbie.
213
00:11:27,221 --> 00:11:31,125
He's got the most poetic
and the most fascinating language.
214
00:11:31,292 --> 00:11:33,227
And his mind works interestingly.
215
00:11:33,394 --> 00:11:35,829
Mose, how far is the river'?
216
00:11:36,730 --> 00:11:40,901
I've been baptized, Reverend.
I've been baptized.
217
00:11:41,068 --> 00:11:42,703
Shut up, you old fool.
218
00:11:43,137 --> 00:11:46,774
And it reflects the country, it reflects
what America was, at that time...
219
00:11:46,974 --> 00:11:50,411
...we think, or what the image that Ford
was giving of it, because he was born--
220
00:11:50,578 --> 00:11:52,379
Ford was born in the late 19th century.
221
00:11:52,580 --> 00:11:54,381
He still had aspects--
The roots were there.
222
00:11:54,548 --> 00:11:56,617
He probably knew people
who were alive in the 1860s.
223
00:11:56,784 --> 00:11:58,519
I always said about Ford and Hawks...
224
00:11:58,686 --> 00:12:02,356
...that they were closer to the West
than we were.
225
00:12:02,556 --> 00:12:04,992
I mean, when Ford was starting
his career...
226
00:12:05,159 --> 00:12:07,795
...there were still bandits
in the San Fernando valley.
227
00:12:07,995 --> 00:12:11,599
We see a world that was so rooted
in the Puritan way.
228
00:12:11,765 --> 00:12:15,269
And, yet, dealing out there in the West,
trying to create the civility...
229
00:12:15,436 --> 00:12:17,871
...the marriage, where they're wearing
their best clothes...
230
00:12:18,038 --> 00:12:21,442
...the way they move a certain way,
that's all disrupted by the fight.
231
00:12:21,642 --> 00:12:24,612
What's interesting is the nature
of the image that Ford creates.
232
00:12:24,812 --> 00:12:26,547
That is that Ken Curtis
and Jeffrey Hunter...
233
00:12:26,714 --> 00:12:28,882
...are just covered with red dust.
234
00:12:29,383 --> 00:12:31,852
Even when they go in the house
and start to fight again...
235
00:12:32,052 --> 00:12:34,855
...the red dust goes flying.
The authenticity and beauty of that.
236
00:12:35,022 --> 00:12:37,825
But the red dust is the earth.
It's what they're living on.
237
00:12:37,992 --> 00:12:40,594
They're settling on.
It's the nature of the conflict, itself.
238
00:12:42,229 --> 00:12:44,698
One of the things about The Searchers
is you get a sense...
239
00:12:44,898 --> 00:12:47,968
...of the unremitting power
of the land.
240
00:12:48,168 --> 00:12:54,108
That all of this drama is played out
against this vast landscape.
241
00:12:54,275 --> 00:12:59,413
It's this very, very harsh West,
where distances are great, you know.
242
00:12:59,580 --> 00:13:02,883
They travel all the way
down to Mexico, you know...
243
00:13:03,050 --> 00:13:06,420
...and all the way back up
to somewhere else.
244
00:13:07,521 --> 00:13:09,490
There's an extraordinary sequence
of the letter...
245
00:13:09,657 --> 00:13:12,259
...where Vera Miles reads the letter.
And, interestingly enough...
246
00:13:12,426 --> 00:13:14,528
...for the master of this level,
John Ford...
247
00:13:14,728 --> 00:13:17,831
...where you think, "Well, in the old days
they used to do flashbacks...
248
00:13:17,998 --> 00:13:23,170
...with rippling dissolves and irises
in and out and zooming in and out."
249
00:13:23,337 --> 00:13:26,240
Watch this picture. She starts reading
the letter, and you cut directly...
250
00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:28,509
...to the action. it's a cut.
251
00:13:28,676 --> 00:13:31,478
This begins to intercut.
There's a story within a story.
252
00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:35,149
Talking about technique,
the intercutting of the flashback...
253
00:13:35,316 --> 00:13:38,185
...or the narrative
is very straightforward.
254
00:13:38,352 --> 00:13:41,322
The audience is not catered down to.
255
00:13:41,989 --> 00:13:43,857
And I think what was very effective...
256
00:13:44,024 --> 00:13:48,529
...I liked in that, was that
she starts reading the letter...
257
00:13:48,696 --> 00:13:52,333
...and then it goes into
Jeffrey Hunter's voice.
258
00:13:52,499 --> 00:13:55,402
So, you know,
if you think about that...
259
00:13:55,569 --> 00:13:58,605
...that's a sort of daring thing to do.
260
00:13:58,772 --> 00:14:01,842
But it works perfectly smoothly
because it's logical.
261
00:14:02,042 --> 00:14:04,044
The way the letter is used
in The Searchers...
262
00:14:04,211 --> 00:14:06,613
...is kind of a unique
storytelling device...
263
00:14:06,814 --> 00:14:10,050
...because it serves
in the sort of foreground...
264
00:14:10,217 --> 00:14:13,520
...to illuminate what's going on
back home, as it were...
265
00:14:13,687 --> 00:14:17,858
...and also, structurally,
is used to condense...
266
00:14:18,025 --> 00:14:20,994
...the enormous passing of time.
267
00:14:21,929 --> 00:14:25,132
The letter also lets us see
that Vera Miles...
268
00:14:25,299 --> 00:14:28,502
...while still yearning
for Jeffrey Hunter's return...
269
00:14:28,669 --> 00:14:32,639
...is getting increasingly angry
and frustrated.
270
00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,644
There's an innocence
to Martin Pawley and Vera Miles...
271
00:14:37,845 --> 00:14:40,848
...that plays out almost as children,
in a way. He's a boy.
272
00:14:41,014 --> 00:14:44,318
The women are around them,
she loves him. He doesn't get it.
273
00:14:44,485 --> 00:14:48,422
I think that is the counterpoint
to the truth...
274
00:14:48,589 --> 00:14:51,425
...to the truth of
what Ethan knows and--
275
00:14:51,592 --> 00:14:54,361
In the most dark way, you know.
276
00:14:55,195 --> 00:14:57,197
Interestingly enough...
277
00:14:57,364 --> 00:15:00,701
...she, later, turns in her wedding dress
and sounds just like Ethan Edwards.
278
00:15:00,968 --> 00:15:04,004
You're not going. Not this time.
279
00:15:04,171 --> 00:15:06,940
- You crazy'?
-It's too late.
280
00:15:07,107 --> 00:15:08,709
She's a woman grown now.
281
00:15:08,876 --> 00:15:11,912
We suddenly see
that she's a racist too.
282
00:15:12,079 --> 00:15:13,614
Fetch what home?
283
00:15:13,781 --> 00:15:16,450
The leavings of Comanche bucks,
sold to the highest bidder...
284
00:15:16,617 --> 00:15:22,055
Remember, she's saying these things
to Martin, who's part Indian himself.
285
00:15:22,322 --> 00:15:25,426
And not only does she say
that Ethan Edwards will kill Debbie...
286
00:15:25,592 --> 00:15:29,062
...but she says Martha
would want him to.
287
00:15:29,229 --> 00:15:32,499
The emotion over this issue
runs so deep...
288
00:15:32,666 --> 00:15:35,803
...that a woman would want
her own daughter killed.
289
00:15:37,271 --> 00:15:39,306
Ethan.
290
00:15:39,473 --> 00:15:41,842
What about Debbie?
291
00:15:45,045 --> 00:15:48,282
I think the reason, or one of
the reasons, that The Searchers...
292
00:15:48,449 --> 00:15:51,885
...is such a rich,
rewarding experience...
293
00:15:52,085 --> 00:15:55,355
...to have again and again
through life...
294
00:15:55,556 --> 00:15:58,592
...is that we all see ourselves
in this character.
295
00:15:58,792 --> 00:16:01,195
I think to a certain extent--
You can make a mistake and say:
296
00:16:01,361 --> 00:16:05,866
"Ethan Edwards is John Ford.“
But I think it's not that simple.
297
00:16:06,033 --> 00:16:09,102
By that time I think he was looking
for something more in himself.
298
00:16:09,269 --> 00:16:11,038
To express himself a different way.
299
00:16:11,238 --> 00:16:14,608
How far could he go as a filmmaker?
300
00:16:14,775 --> 00:16:17,678
And I think for this
he had to turn inward.
301
00:16:17,845 --> 00:16:20,714
He was a man like Ethan Edwards...
302
00:16:20,881 --> 00:16:23,817
...who also knew what it was like
to be an outsider...
303
00:16:23,984 --> 00:16:26,887
...a stranger from hearth and home.
304
00:16:27,054 --> 00:16:31,325
Having gone through the war...
305
00:16:31,492 --> 00:16:34,027
...the way he did.
Having seen the sights he saw.
306
00:16:34,194 --> 00:16:37,931
Having directed over 140 movies.
307
00:16:38,098 --> 00:16:42,035
This was a man who had a lot
of Ethan Edwards in him.
308
00:16:42,336 --> 00:16:47,107
This was a man who knew
what it took to keep going...
309
00:16:47,274 --> 00:16:49,209
...when everyone else wanted to stop.
310
00:16:49,376 --> 00:16:51,879
Who had the strength
and perseverance...
311
00:16:52,045 --> 00:16:55,682
...that must have been both intimidating
and also inspiring.
312
00:16:55,883 --> 00:16:58,986
So from what he did
with Ethan Edwards in this picture...
313
00:16:59,152 --> 00:17:02,222
...is take the Wayne
persona somehow...
314
00:17:02,389 --> 00:17:07,427
...start to give it a more interestingly
deeper psychological complexity...
315
00:17:07,628 --> 00:17:09,763
...and develop it in later films he made.
316
00:17:09,963 --> 00:17:11,598
I don't know if it was successful...
317
00:17:11,765 --> 00:17:13,867
...but he was trying to go
in that direction, to push himself.
318
00:17:14,034 --> 00:17:18,839
That is the man John Ford
changing over time.
319
00:17:19,006 --> 00:17:25,379
And it's also the culture changing.
And him being impacted by it.
320
00:17:25,579 --> 00:17:28,348
You certainly don't feel
he dealt with race...
321
00:17:28,515 --> 00:17:30,817
...the way he does in The Searchers...
322
00:17:30,984 --> 00:17:33,820
...because the culture was changing
and he wanted to make a hit.
323
00:17:34,021 --> 00:17:38,659
There's nothing about this decision
that seems commercial in its intent.
324
00:17:39,393 --> 00:17:43,497
All of this was deliberate.
It begins with Martin Pawley...
325
00:17:43,664 --> 00:17:47,200
...who is of mixed blood,
which he wasn't in the novel.
326
00:17:47,367 --> 00:17:50,404
And the first time we see him,
he rides up...
327
00:17:50,571 --> 00:17:53,807
...and jumps off his horse
Indian-style...
328
00:17:53,974 --> 00:17:58,211
...and Ethan Edwards
says to him very disparagingly:
329
00:17:58,378 --> 00:18:01,348
Fella could mistake you
for a half-breed.
330
00:18:01,548 --> 00:18:05,819
Not quite. I'm eighth Cherokee.
And the rest is Welsh and English.
331
00:18:06,019 --> 00:18:07,754
At least that's what they tell me.
332
00:18:07,955 --> 00:18:10,991
Questions of race run through
every minute of The Searchers.
333
00:18:11,959 --> 00:18:15,028
And we see the violence
and racism of our society...
334
00:18:15,195 --> 00:18:17,197
...from which none of us is immune.
335
00:18:17,397 --> 00:18:21,802
You speak pretty good American
for a Comanche.
336
00:18:22,002 --> 00:18:23,470
Someone teach you'?
337
00:18:23,670 --> 00:18:28,775
The similarities between Scar
and Ethan Edwards...
338
00:18:28,976 --> 00:18:33,847
...are so numerous that one feels Scar
is his alter ego.
339
00:18:34,047 --> 00:18:38,585
You speak good Comanche.
Someone teach you'?
340
00:18:38,785 --> 00:18:42,389
He was dealing with a subject
that was important to him.
341
00:18:42,589 --> 00:18:47,427
And undoubtedly
he had deep feelings...
342
00:18:47,594 --> 00:18:50,597
...about the way he had dealt with
this subject in the past.
343
00:18:56,737 --> 00:19:00,007
We're all used to hearing the sound
of the bugle...
344
00:19:00,173 --> 00:19:02,309
...and having a certain reaction to it.
345
00:19:02,476 --> 00:19:06,313
He comes the cavalry.
Here come the good guys.
346
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:09,182
John Ford celebrated this
in several movies...
347
00:19:09,349 --> 00:19:11,852
...most notably in
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
348
00:19:12,019 --> 00:19:15,589
But here in The Searchers
he turns this on its head.
349
00:19:16,089 --> 00:19:21,061
Ethan Edwards and Martin Pawley
hear the bugle of the cavalry.
350
00:19:21,261 --> 00:19:24,031
And what do they find
after the cavalry is gone?
351
00:19:24,631 --> 00:19:26,566
They find a massacre.
352
00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:30,470
This had never been seen
in a Hollywood movie before.
353
00:19:30,637 --> 00:19:33,674
And the very thing
that he's accused of, being a racist...
354
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:35,208
...is proof that he isn't a racist.
355
00:19:35,375 --> 00:19:38,078
That he does this movie
because he deals with this.
356
00:19:38,245 --> 00:19:41,848
He shows that the humanity
goes way beyond us.
357
00:19:42,015 --> 00:19:44,985
That he wants Martin Pawley
to have the tainted blood.
358
00:19:45,152 --> 00:19:50,090
He wants Ethan to look and say,
"She ain't white anymore."
359
00:19:50,257 --> 00:19:52,893
And then to save her at the end.
And this kind of thing.
360
00:19:53,060 --> 00:19:56,530
He wants to go beyond that.
He's anything but racist.
361
00:19:56,730 --> 00:19:59,800
This is 1956 when it came out.
It was shot in '55...
362
00:19:59,966 --> 00:20:02,769
...it was right around the time
of the Cold War...
363
00:20:02,936 --> 00:20:06,339
...it really was the breakdown
of censorship in Hollywood...
364
00:20:06,540 --> 00:20:08,842
...which was beginning to confront
and deal with these issues...
365
00:20:09,009 --> 00:20:12,012
...and here it is up on the screen.
366
00:20:12,179 --> 00:20:14,414
There's a kind of savagery in the film.
367
00:20:14,614 --> 00:20:16,983
You understand the hatred.
You understand why he's hated.
368
00:20:17,150 --> 00:20:19,920
You understand that we hate,
if we read the book or see the film.
369
00:20:20,087 --> 00:20:22,456
But you understand
why he's reacting that way.
370
00:20:22,656 --> 00:20:26,593
And the tragedy of the destruction
of the Native Americans...
371
00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:32,632
...the tragedy of the clash of one culture
and civilization taking over another.
372
00:20:32,833 --> 00:20:37,070
Tribalism, that's what the movie's about,
not race but tribe.
373
00:20:37,771 --> 00:20:39,639
They're so far apart.
374
00:20:39,806 --> 00:20:43,243
...that they look upon the Native
Americans as not even human...
375
00:20:43,443 --> 00:20:46,813
...or from outer space. Look at the scene
with the white “captives"...
376
00:20:47,581 --> 00:20:50,817
...at the fort, with that extraordinary
and very telling line...
377
00:20:50,984 --> 00:20:54,688
...where the soldier says,
"It's hard to believe they're white.“
378
00:20:54,888 --> 00:20:57,924
And he says,
"They not. They're Comanche."
379
00:20:58,091 --> 00:21:00,494
And as he's walking out of the room...
380
00:21:00,660 --> 00:21:05,098
...he suddenly pauses
and wheels around...
381
00:21:05,298 --> 00:21:09,703
...and the camera just dollies right in
on his face.
382
00:21:09,870 --> 00:21:11,805
And one of the great close-ups
in movies...
383
00:21:11,972 --> 00:21:13,473
...when the camera moves in
on Wayne's face.
384
00:21:13,974 --> 00:21:17,144
There's no light on his eyes.
It's just from here on down.
385
00:21:17,310 --> 00:21:19,846
And it's just unbelievable shot.
386
00:21:20,013 --> 00:21:24,918
And you just see this look
that you can read in contempt.
387
00:21:25,118 --> 00:21:31,458
You can read in loathing. And just the
coldest, hardest eyes one could ever see.
388
00:21:31,625 --> 00:21:34,327
And it's like looking
into the eyes of hell.
389
00:21:34,528 --> 00:21:37,197
And you see that he's twisted there.
By that point he wants to kill.
390
00:21:37,397 --> 00:21:42,969
Wayne does it so wonderfully, just
conveys so much with his expression.
391
00:21:43,170 --> 00:21:45,572
But it is also enhanced
by the camera move.
392
00:21:45,739 --> 00:21:51,978
And John Ford as a director is so spare
in his camera movement...
393
00:21:52,145 --> 00:21:54,815
...that when he moves the camera
it has a meaning.
394
00:21:55,649 --> 00:21:57,117
Also the language.
395
00:21:57,284 --> 00:22:01,488
Human rides a horse until it dies,
then he goes on afoot.
396
00:22:01,655 --> 00:22:06,827
Comanche comes along, gets that
horse up, rides him 20 more miles...
397
00:22:07,027 --> 00:22:08,595
...then eats him.
398
00:22:08,795 --> 00:22:13,934
Wayne's extraordinary cadence,
his pacing of the language.
399
00:22:14,100 --> 00:22:17,304
His security in the language,
which is very interesting...
400
00:22:17,504 --> 00:22:20,240
...because he was always underrated
as an actor.
401
00:22:20,407 --> 00:22:23,376
- Totally underrated as an actor.
- Only the Duke could do it.
402
00:22:23,710 --> 00:22:27,280
And I love the fact that people
actually have the audacity to say:
403
00:22:27,447 --> 00:22:30,217
"Oh, the Duke wasn't
a really great actor."
404
00:22:30,417 --> 00:22:34,287
Who but John Wayne actually could
say it the way he says it.
405
00:22:34,454 --> 00:22:38,625
"The turning of the earth.“
"As sure as the turning of the earth."
406
00:22:38,825 --> 00:22:41,127
It's just-- It's biblical.
407
00:22:41,294 --> 00:22:44,464
So we'll find them in the end,
I promise you.
408
00:22:44,664 --> 00:22:46,633
We'll find them.
409
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:50,203
Just as sure as the turning
of the Earth.
410
00:22:50,437 --> 00:22:52,572
It feels when we watch
The Searchers...
411
00:22:52,739 --> 00:22:56,309
...and watch John Wayne's
performance in this movie...
412
00:22:56,543 --> 00:23:00,380
...that we are seeing the truth...
413
00:23:00,547 --> 00:23:05,218
...and because the truth
is ugly and increasingly deranged...
414
00:23:05,385 --> 00:23:09,322
...and completely contrary to the
movie-star image of John Wayne...
415
00:23:09,489 --> 00:23:12,292
...it seems like an incredibly
brave performance.
416
00:23:12,459 --> 00:23:15,095
You watch the disintegration of this man
throughout the picture.
417
00:23:15,295 --> 00:23:17,530
He becomes crazier and crazier.
It's very shocking.
418
00:23:17,697 --> 00:23:19,499
This is what made the film grow.
419
00:23:19,666 --> 00:23:21,501
I think ifs really the character
of Ethan.
420
00:23:21,668 --> 00:23:24,004
His relationship ultimately
with Marty Pawley.
421
00:23:24,204 --> 00:23:27,607
The father-son relationship there,
how that develops.
422
00:23:27,774 --> 00:23:31,344
The relationship between
Ethan Edwards and Martin Pawley...
423
00:23:31,511 --> 00:23:34,848
...is clearly at the core
of The Searchers.
424
00:23:35,015 --> 00:23:36,816
The Searchers, it's plural.
425
00:23:37,017 --> 00:23:40,487
And you see through
the course of the movie...
426
00:23:40,654 --> 00:23:43,356
...this character grow up, literally.
427
00:23:43,523 --> 00:23:46,326
He has blossomed into the one...
428
00:23:46,493 --> 00:23:50,330
...that we look to,
to in fact stop Ethan Edwards...
429
00:23:50,530 --> 00:23:53,566
...from the horrible act
that he's contemplating.
430
00:23:53,733 --> 00:23:57,304
It ain't gonna be that way.
She's alive. She's gonna stay alive.
431
00:23:57,470 --> 00:23:59,906
John Ford for many years...
432
00:24:00,140 --> 00:24:04,077
...was in fact Ethan Edwards
to John Wayne's Martin Pawley.
433
00:24:04,244 --> 00:24:09,049
The stories that you hear of the way
that he would tease him.
434
00:24:09,215 --> 00:24:11,184
The way that he would
sort of abuse him...
435
00:24:11,351 --> 00:24:15,055
...and yet the way that he would
also give to him...
436
00:24:15,221 --> 00:24:18,658
...in the way that Ethan Edwards
gives to Martin Pawley.
437
00:24:18,825 --> 00:24:21,328
Everybody has told me how hard Ford
was on John Wayne...
438
00:24:21,494 --> 00:24:24,331
...but I don't think that was so
by that time.
439
00:24:24,497 --> 00:24:27,100
You get a sense-- They hadn't done
a film in a while.
440
00:24:27,267 --> 00:24:30,737
And so you get a sense that maybe
they didn't know...
441
00:24:30,904 --> 00:24:33,306
...how many of them more
they were gonna be able to do.
442
00:24:33,506 --> 00:24:37,110
The collaboration
between John Wayne and John Ford...
443
00:24:37,277 --> 00:24:41,815
...is one of the great actor-director
collaborations in movie history.
444
00:24:42,015 --> 00:24:46,353
And every once in a while,
we'll see a picture...
445
00:24:46,519 --> 00:24:49,556
...where an actor-director
collaboration...
446
00:24:49,723 --> 00:24:55,061
...produces both a performance
and a movie...
447
00:24:55,228 --> 00:25:00,533
...where we feel that the truth
before us...
448
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,904
...that the actor's delivering
in his performance...
449
00:25:05,071 --> 00:25:07,707
...is so raw and so real...
450
00:25:07,874 --> 00:25:09,943
...that for the first time...
451
00:25:10,143 --> 00:25:14,647
...we're actually seeing
the essence of that man.
452
00:25:15,181 --> 00:25:19,919
And in fact the essence of the filmmaker
with whom he is working.
453
00:25:20,086 --> 00:25:22,455
From Stagecoach, 1939,
when Johnny Ringo...
454
00:25:22,655 --> 00:25:25,058
...played by the American
Western hero...
455
00:25:25,225 --> 00:25:30,663
...the mythological hero-- The gunfighter
who's really a good guy. --to the cavalry.
456
00:25:30,830 --> 00:25:34,267
And this is John Wayne's progression
as an actor, to playing Captain Brittles...
457
00:25:34,434 --> 00:25:37,470
...the older man, to finally
The Searchers...
458
00:25:37,637 --> 00:25:40,673
...was the arc
that he took this young actor.
459
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,144
And went with him and used him
as, in a way, his device...
460
00:25:44,310 --> 00:25:46,513
...to explore himself changing.
461
00:25:46,713 --> 00:25:50,150
I think Brittles to a certain extent
had a lot to do with Ford himself too.
462
00:25:50,316 --> 00:25:52,018
From She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
463
00:25:52,185 --> 00:25:53,620
You can also see a change
in America.
464
00:25:53,787 --> 00:25:58,925
You can see the change--
His perception, I should say, of America.
465
00:25:59,125 --> 00:26:00,660
He couldn't understand today.
466
00:26:00,827 --> 00:26:04,197
He couldn't understand the whole
concept that we have everything...
467
00:26:04,364 --> 00:26:06,066
...and we don't know
what to do with it.
468
00:26:06,232 --> 00:26:10,203
The biggest thing to him was not
this movie or not any other movie.
469
00:26:10,370 --> 00:26:12,906
The biggest thing to him
was World War ll.
470
00:26:13,073 --> 00:26:15,408
Was being in the OSS
and being an admiral.
471
00:26:15,575 --> 00:26:17,310
That was much bigger
than being a director.
472
00:26:17,477 --> 00:26:20,780
There's no amount of Oscars
that even came close...
473
00:26:20,947 --> 00:26:23,850
...to what it was for him
to serve his country.
474
00:26:24,017 --> 00:26:26,186
That generation
that fought World War ll...
475
00:26:26,352 --> 00:26:29,255
...and the generation that was raised
in the Depression and everything...
476
00:26:29,422 --> 00:26:33,726
...they had that attitude, that sort of
stoic John Wayne kind of thing.
477
00:26:33,893 --> 00:26:36,496
You never crowed
about anything you did.
478
00:26:36,663 --> 00:26:40,033
You just walked away.
That was John Wayne in The Searchers.
479
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,669
He'd walk out the door at the end.
480
00:26:42,869 --> 00:26:45,638
I've done what I did, now I'll go
on to what's next.
481
00:26:45,805 --> 00:26:47,907
It's like a generation has passed.
482
00:26:48,074 --> 00:26:49,742
There was no more room.
483
00:26:49,909 --> 00:26:54,013
The generation that was necessary
to defeat the Indians...
484
00:26:54,180 --> 00:26:57,817
...the generation that could carve out
this homestead on the frontier...
485
00:26:57,984 --> 00:27:00,687
...was now no longer applicable.
486
00:27:00,854 --> 00:27:05,525
The next generation would have children
and raise cattle and oil.
487
00:27:05,725 --> 00:27:09,262
It is sad at the end.
488
00:27:09,729 --> 00:27:12,098
And yet it's more than that...
489
00:27:12,265 --> 00:27:16,769
...because I do feel
that he has progressed...
490
00:27:16,936 --> 00:27:21,774
...to a place, the beginning at least,
of a kind of peace.
491
00:27:21,941 --> 00:27:24,410
It's not a quote “happy“ ending.
492
00:27:24,577 --> 00:27:27,714
He didn't come through the door, and
he's not going to live there at the house.
493
00:27:27,881 --> 00:27:31,851
But who would ever believe that.
He's not one of those people.
494
00:27:32,051 --> 00:27:33,319
And he walks away--
495
00:27:33,486 --> 00:27:36,789
And of course John Wayne
had the most beautiful walk in movies.
496
00:27:36,956 --> 00:27:39,792
He walks away
with that incredible grace.
497
00:27:39,959 --> 00:27:43,196
And you feel that there
is a kind of peace.
498
00:27:43,363 --> 00:27:48,034
At least the beginning of it, about him,
an acceptance of certain things.
499
00:27:49,769 --> 00:27:54,307
I think, ultimately, besides the visual
power that his pictures still have...
500
00:27:54,474 --> 00:27:56,509
...and his ability to throw images
on the screen...
501
00:27:56,709 --> 00:27:59,479
...that are just so stunning...
502
00:27:59,646 --> 00:28:03,316
...and to know intrinsically
how the people should be moving...
503
00:28:03,483 --> 00:28:07,854
...in the frame, within those images, to
give you the point of view of the story...
504
00:28:08,021 --> 00:28:11,958
...to tell you what's happening...
Ultimately, I think the reason...
505
00:28:12,125 --> 00:28:14,360
...why he'll always be remembered
as a great artist...
506
00:28:14,527 --> 00:28:16,663
was a filmmaker,
is that it's about the people...
507
00:28:16,829 --> 00:28:18,331
...and how he dealt with the people...
508
00:28:18,498 --> 00:28:21,834
...that he really loved the people.
And he has a lot of heart.
509
00:28:22,001 --> 00:28:25,838
And it's the way the people overlap.
It's the family at the table.
510
00:28:26,039 --> 00:28:27,740
It's the overlapping of dialogue.
511
00:28:27,907 --> 00:28:29,909
And it's just one shot.
The camera doesn't move.
512
00:28:30,076 --> 00:28:33,580
But watch and study what each
of those actors is doing in that frame.
513
00:28:33,746 --> 00:28:35,014
Wait a minute, sister.
514
00:28:35,181 --> 00:28:38,818
I didn't get any coffee yet. Just--
Oh, doughnuts. Thank you, sister.
515
00:28:38,985 --> 00:28:40,920
I'm sure fond of them doughnuts.
516
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:43,189
I started to get moved
just watching that scene...
517
00:28:43,356 --> 00:28:45,091
...because I lived that way.
I saw that way.
518
00:28:45,258 --> 00:28:46,960
Everybody would come
into your apartments.
519
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,095
In the summer the doors were open.
520
00:28:49,262 --> 00:28:51,364
If there was a party,
you go into the other person's--
521
00:28:51,531 --> 00:28:53,366
If there was an argument,
you'd stop them.
522
00:28:53,533 --> 00:28:56,970
All this is going on, and that's the kind
of thing that affected the work I do a lot.
523
00:28:57,136 --> 00:28:59,239
When we were growing up
and looking at those films...
524
00:28:59,405 --> 00:29:03,176
...we said, you've got to do that. You've
gotta use the things in your own life.
525
00:29:03,343 --> 00:29:05,311
You've gotta use your own feelings
about things.
526
00:29:05,478 --> 00:29:07,647
You've gotta go back to them
again and again.
527
00:29:07,814 --> 00:29:10,283
You could tell how much
he loved that.
528
00:29:10,450 --> 00:29:13,152
And that's what we tried
to put in all of our films.
529
00:29:15,455 --> 00:29:18,758
The inspiring thing
about seeing a movie...
530
00:29:18,925 --> 00:29:20,994
...like The Searchers again
or thinking about it...
531
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:22,895
...or talking about it...
532
00:29:23,062 --> 00:29:27,567
...is it takes one back to all the reasons
that one wanted to be a filmmaker.
533
00:29:27,734 --> 00:29:33,239
And while I don't see
a direct influence...
534
00:29:33,406 --> 00:29:37,443
...on me, stylistically certainly,
from John Ford...
535
00:29:37,644 --> 00:29:41,914
...what is unquestionably
an influence on me...
536
00:29:42,081 --> 00:29:44,317
...is the example he set.
537
00:29:44,484 --> 00:29:47,720
The courage he showed
in making this movie.
538
00:29:47,887 --> 00:29:52,659
And that's a great thing to be reminded
of in this era of focus groups...
539
00:29:52,825 --> 00:29:56,095
...and all the importance
that's put on the opening weekend.
540
00:29:56,296 --> 00:30:00,199
Here you have this movie,
50 years later we're looking at it...
541
00:30:00,366 --> 00:30:03,536
...and we're talking about it
and we're finding relevance in it...
542
00:30:03,703 --> 00:30:07,674
...and new meaning in it.
And yet at the time it was made...
543
00:30:07,874 --> 00:30:12,545
...overlooked by the critics
for the most pan.
544
00:30:12,712 --> 00:30:16,983
Overlooked by the Academy,
no Academy recognition.
545
00:30:17,150 --> 00:30:20,653
It tells us once again,
if we needed to be reminded...
546
00:30:20,820 --> 00:30:24,390
...that time is on the side of the artists.
547
00:30:24,557 --> 00:30:29,295
And time is the only true criteria
by which a work of art can be judged.
548
00:30:31,230 --> 00:30:33,900
Let's go home, Debbie.