Three Great Western Movies
These Westerns from the 1940s & 1950s Are Considered Classics Today
It was not just great casts, directing, or scenery that separates these films from others. It was also their underlying themes, all of which are still relevant today.
The Ox-Bow Incident, High Noon, and The Searchers were not the typical Westerns that movie goers were used to seeing in the mid-20th century. All were allegories based on the events of their day and, as such, conveyed meaningful messages to their audiences. Two of the Westerns were nominated for best picture, and the third, arguably, should have been.
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Two cowboys (Henry Fonda, Harry Morgan) ride into a seedy frontier town and become involved in a "posse" seeking to find three men (Dana Andrews, Anthony Quinn, and Frances Ford) who allegedly murdered a popular rancher and stole some of his cattle. When the three men are caught, the mob, led by a tyranical ex-Confederate officer (Frank Conroy), refuse to listen to Fonda and other voices of reason. Declaring the men guilty, the "avengers" lynch the three men. Afterwards, it is discovered that the victims were completely innocent.
A bleak and claustrophobic, low budget movie that received a nomination for best picture, The Ox-Bow Incident was an indictment of mob violence and more. The movie was based on Walter Van Tilburg Clark's book, written in the late 1930s as Nazi Germany was spreading its tentacles across Europe. His work, and the movie adaptation, take a hard look at what results when the rules of civilization are usurped by a few tyrants.
High Noon (1952)
Sheriff Will Kane (Gary Cooper), on the day of his wedding and retirement from law enforcement, learns that a revengeful gunfighter he has helped send to prison is returning to town with his gang. Despite his own fears and self-doubts, Kane knows that he and the townfolk have no choice but to stand up to them. However, there's a hitch. The people of the town, for various reasons, refuse to support him. Depessed and confused by their reactions, he realizes that he must fight alone.
High Noon, which received a best picture nomination, was made at the height of the McCarthy era when many Americans, particulary Hollywood figures, were accused of being Communists. Producer Stanley Kramer and writer Carl Foreman used the film as a criticism of the "silent majority" who refused to stand up to what they correctly felt was, in many ways, a witch hunt.
Shortly after the movie was released, Foreman was branded a Communist and blacklisted for many years. Ironically, Cooper, a staunch conservative, was one of those who strongly condemned the action.
The Searchers (1956)
Two years after Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education and two years before the integration of Little Rock's Central High, director John Ford approached the subject of bigotry in his movie, The Searchers. The result was a film which John Wayne considered his favorite picture and role.
Ethan Edwards (Wayne) is an ex-Confederate soldier with an implied shady past. Shortly after arriving to visit his brother's family, most of the family are killed in a Comanche raid and their young daughter kidnapped. Thus, begins a years-long search by Ethan for his niece. Accompanying him on several long journeys is his adopted nephew, Martin (Jeffrey Hunter). Over the course of time, Martin begins to wonder what his uncle's real intentions are. Does he want to rescue the girl or does he want to kill her because she's been "tainted" by her life among the Indians?
Wayne's role is complex. Ethan is a brave and determined man, but he is also a racist of the highest order. He considers Native Americans (and perhaps blacks?) to be no more than savages, worthy only of death. He dislikes Martin because the young man is one-eighth Cherokee. He declares two women that they come across as no longer being "white," because they were raped by Comanche. Although partially redeemed as a person by the end, Ethan rides off knowing that he can never be part of a changing society.
These three movies can hold their own against Westerns that have won best picture Oscars.
