TIP
OF THE HAT TO OUR WESTERN HEROES – Elizabeth Clements
Recently,
a good friend asked me to recommend some good western movies. I gave her the
names of a few that my husband and I enjoy. Then over the past couple of days
I’ve been in the mood to watch some of those favorite westerns again. There’s a
plethora to choose from on tv, but in the end I went back to favorites from our
DVD library.
Since
there are thousands of westerns made stemming back to the silent movies, I’m
going to touch on the ones that have had a lasting impression on me. There are
lots of westerns that are shoot-‘em-up action. Gunfights and posse pursuits are
expected, just like car chase scenes are mandatory in the action adventure
movies. What I’d like to focus on here are the ones that speak to the heart and
give a glimpse of what makes our western hero and heroine tick. We writers are
guilty, to a certain extent, of romanticizing westerns and that’s
understandable because life in the west was hard, sweaty and dirty, with few
amenities and mostly grinding work. To appeal to our fastidious 21st century
sensibilities, our hero and heroine must be reasonably clean and lean on the side
of honor, with good overpowering evil. I admit I’m not good at making my
villains utterly evil, nor can I put my hero through too much torture, because
I am, after all, a romance writer, but I admire the writers who can accomplish
both. Drama and conflict is what drives a good love story.
Of
the hundreds of westerns I’ve watched over the years, Dances With Wolves
is my all-time favorite western—and not just because of the fabulous scenery
when Lieutenant John Dunbar rides over a ridge and sees the majesty of the
western frontier spread out before him (South Dakota).
I’m
so glad I watched this movie for the first time in the theatre where the huge
screen gave justice to the magnificent scenery. The message in this movie hit
me between the eyes. Finally, Hollywood got it right, thanks to an excellent
novel written by Michael Blake and Kevin Costner’s vision in directing and
acting in this amazing epic that won seven academy awards, including Best
Picture and Best Director.
For
once the Native Americans were portrayed in a true light: not as murdering
savages but instead, a normal, peace-loving people who preferred a peaceful
family life and killed only to eat or in self-defense. There was humor and
laughter, wisdom and acceptance. Yes, there were rogues, too, as there are in
all races, but it particularly pointed out the ignorance and injustice
prevalent in the settling of the West. Oh how I despised the actions of those
soldiers when they reached Dunbar’s deserted outpost. And did they really have
to kill Two Socks for sport? One tiny little camera shot focused on an empty
tin can of beans carelessly tossed onto the prairie by the itinerant peddler. The
only other things littering the prairie were the sun-bleached heads of a cow or
a buffalo. (What legacy do we leave
behind with our overflowing landfills?)
I
later discovered there is more than one version of the movie, the full-length,
and the editor’s cut (where this scene was cut, along with a few others).
Another
Kevin Costner movie we’ve watched numerous times is Open Range.
This movie has the usual greedy, bigoted
scoundrel with his group of thugs and a noisy shoot-out climatic ending,
but what I like best about it is the characterization of two cowhands (Costner
and Robert Duval) on a cattle drive and a glimpse into the heart of a
trail-hardened cowboy. One scene shows how Costner’s character is aware he’d
tramped mud onto the heroine’s carpet and tries to scoop most of it up and put
it under the carpet. In another scene, he accidentally breaks her china tea
service and leaves money with the store merchant to order a replacement set.
There is also a touching scene involving a melted chocolate bar and how
precious the taste is to a cowboy when he’s used to eating dried jerky and
beans.
Lonesome Dove, written by Larry
McMurtry, starring Robert Duval and Tommy Lee Jones, is a fantastic movie and
mini-series. It gives a gritty view of life in a small dusty Texas town and
life on a long, 900-mile cattle drive. The most succinct word to describe the landscape
and the clothing is: beige. Everything is coated in dusty, boring beige. Even
the clothes are beige. It also shows that special bond between a man and a
woman down on her luck, as well as two old friends and promises kept (and was
actually inspired by a true story of two Texans, Charles Goodnight and Oliver
Loving who took several thousand cattle north on a 900-mile cattle drive from
Texas to Montana).
Legends of the Fall is a riveting and
heart-wrenching saga of a retired army colonel played by Anthony Hopkins and
his three sons on a ranch in Montana at the turn of the century. Not exactly a
western as in wild west, but unforgettable, set in Montana. All the actors are
great, but for me, Brad Pitt steals the show in every scene he’s in (ditto A
River Runs Through It). The brothers are torn apart by so many emotions
with a woman at the center of the unfolding drama. An unforgettable story of
love and hate, bigotry and revenge…plus amazing scenery.
John
Wayne starred in some great westerns, which could easily be a blog all about
him. Classic McLintock…we’ve watched it so many times we know key
passages let alone know what happens next. This movie has everything, big
rancher, big money, great chemistry between JW and Maureen O’Hara, and lots of
humor. It also shows good relations between the rancher and Native Americans
and how people want to be and need to be treated.
I
enjoy Rio Bravo for so many reasons, but probably mainly because
of the jailhouse scene where Dean Martin resides on a cot and warbles My
Rifle, My Pony and Me, accompanied by Ricky Nelson strumming his guitar.
And loveable Walter Brennan, with his famous toothless cackle, joining in with
his harmonica. Not something one would expect in the middle of a western, but
unforgettably entertainment, especially when juxtaposed between Martin’s
alcohol addiction and hired thugs terrorizing the town.
Three
days before I saw the movie in the theater, I quickly read the The Horse
Whisperer, a debut novel by Nicholas Evans. My biggest anticipation was
how would Hollywood create the scene where the horse rose up to fight off the
semi. I wasn’t disappointed. In fact the entire movie followed the book until
the last quarter of the movie. Then it reversed the story line, which annoyed
and disappointed me because it’s such a great movie with amazing scenery filmed
in Montana. Still, I have watched it several times and not just because Robert
Redford plays an amazing part. “According to
writer Nicholas Evans, Tom Booker is modelled after horse whisperers Tom
Dorrance, Ray Hunt and, in particular, their younger disciple Buck
Brannaman. Evans has said, "Others
have claimed to be the inspiration for Tom Booker in The Horse Whisperer.
The one who truly inspired me was Buck Brannaman. His skill, understanding and
his gentle, loving heart have parted the clouds for countless troubled
creatures. Buck is the Zen master of the horse world."
