There is nothing more classical in film then the Western, and no one tackled the Western better than John Ford. Shawn Dwyer a classic movie expert states, “if there was ever a director-actor tandem that defined the Western genre, it was John Ford and John Wayne” (Dwyer 1). His film Stagecoach was the first of it’s kind in the film industry as being the first talking picture in the Western genre. The film included everything known to the classic Western, however, Ford wanted to question some aspects of the genre.What John Ford did to the plot and the character portrayals diverged from the classic Western and subverted some of the themes that were typical in Western books and earlier silent films. John Ford modified the conflict, bend the
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The pioneers in this film were somewhat less “virtuous and honorable people”(Cawelti 31) describes in his book. In the opening scene where Dallas (Claire Trevor) and Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) are being shooed out of town, Ford portrays the Temperance movement woman as snooty and unforgiving. The attitude they transmit to Doc and Dallas comes off as evil, not Christian by any means. Then there is the women, Lucy and Dallas. Lucy is the noble Easterner who through her animosity towards Dallas in the beginning, Ford conveys an unlikable quality to Lucy’s personality. Usually the woman in Lucy’s position are amiable and understanding. It is not until she delivers her child that Lucy relents in her attitude. She tells Doc after the delivery that Dallas, “fraid she sat up all night”, her face alive with guilt over her past judgement. Dallas is also an ironic character for the Western, she is the saloon girl that is supposed to be “a more fullblooded, passionate and spontaneous nature” (Cawelti 31). Dallas, however, seems shy and timid as she cowers in the stagecoach to hide the person she is and maybe no one will notice her past. She does redeem herself, even though Ford portrays her as not needing to. She is kind to everyone, she is polite in her mannerisms and “almost domestic” (Cawelti 31) like Lucy should be. John Wayne’s hero, Ringo, is a version additionally altered. He does not come riding in off the plains, he is walking in the desert, alone and without a horse. Ringo is portrayed as a man only after revenge, not a man that is a reluctant hero. What he becomes through reluctance is the peacekeeper and a sort of referee as the group travels through the
The pioneers in this film were somewhat less “virtuous and honorable people”(Cawelti 31) describes in his book. In the opening scene where Dallas (Claire Trevor) and Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) are being shooed out of town, Ford portrays the Temperance movement woman as snooty and unforgiving. The attitude they transmit to Doc and Dallas comes off as evil, not Christian by any means. Then there is the women, Lucy and Dallas. Lucy is the noble Easterner who through her animosity towards Dallas in the beginning, Ford conveys an unlikable quality to Lucy’s personality. Usually the woman in Lucy’s position are amiable and understanding. It is not until she delivers her child that Lucy relents in her attitude. She tells Doc after the delivery that Dallas, “fraid she sat up all night”, her face alive with guilt over her past judgement. Dallas is also an ironic character for the Western, she is the saloon girl that is supposed to be “a more fullblooded, passionate and spontaneous nature” (Cawelti 31). Dallas, however, seems shy and timid as she cowers in the stagecoach to hide the person she is and maybe no one will notice her past. She does redeem herself, even though Ford portrays her as not needing to. She is kind to everyone, she is polite in her mannerisms and “almost domestic” (Cawelti 31) like Lucy should be. John Wayne’s hero, Ringo, is a version additionally altered. He does not come riding in off the plains, he is walking in the desert, alone and without a horse. Ringo is portrayed as a man only after revenge, not a man that is a reluctant hero. What he becomes through reluctance is the peacekeeper and a sort of referee as the group travels through the