Tonight the Film Society will make one nostalgic for the old days, as John Wayne lassos and shoots his way through the Wild West in John Ford's "Stagecoach" and Howard Hawks's "Red River."
"Stagecoach" whisks its audience into Western terrain with a bunch of misfits.
On a stagecoach are a loose woman, an earnest drunk, a balmy driver, a geeky businessman with a penchant for Sherlock Holmes hats, some others and, of course, John Wayne.
The colorful array of characters play off each other in humorous scenes. The drunk is as funny as any buffoon who has had too much to drink and needs to deliver a baby.
But "Stagecoach" is everything one would expect a Western to be. An outlaw, a gunfight, an inspirational score to heighten the emotions and so many stereotypes, that to modern audiences the film verges on farce.
"Red River," based on the book "Blazing Guns of the Chisholm Trail," follows the John Wayne and Montgomery Clift characters as they drive cattle to Missouri.
Replete with tough guys, emotional angst and cows, the film is brilliantly staged and photographed, showing off the Wild West at its harsh and beautiful best.
These films also inspired recent classics like Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" and Sam Raimi's "The Quick and the Dead."
Even if you are not a big fan of Westerns or if your idea of a Western is "City Slickers," these two films will sweep you into their stories. And isn't that what going to the movies is all about?
So lasso up the posse and kick up those heels at Spaulding tonight. Free beef jerky to the first 200.
