1.Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.
In class we discussed John Ford’s movie “Stagecoach”. John Ford directed this movie in 1939 one of the greatest periods in American movie making. Ford was more interested in making serious and ambitious movies like "Citizen Kane", "Gone With the Wind", and "Wizard of Oz". As it was discussed in class "Stagecoach" is "a metaphor for society". The movie shows the viewers that people that look good and honest are not always that way. For instance, in the movie the banker stole money from the bank that he worked at. Now when one sees a banker the first thing that a person would think is that the banker is honest and would not do anything to jeopardize the company or their job. The movie basically tells its viewers not to judge a book by its cover.
2) Find a related article (on the film, director, studio, actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) You can use the library or the internet. Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/91227/Stagecoach/articles.html
In the article in the url above it got into things that were happening on the set while filming "Stagecoach". First, it started touching on the Breen Office which is the censorship office in Hollywood. The Breen Office did not like Dudley Nichols' treatment "because of the story's sympathetic portrayal of the prostitute Dallas, Doc Boone's constant drunkenness, the Ringo Kid's thirst for revenge and the marshal's involvement in some deaths." When the office rejected the treatment it hurt Nichols' but the production continued. The article also touched on how John Ford used the Navajo Indians in the film. As stated in the article "more than 200 were hired to film the climactic attack on the stagecoach alone". All of the Native Americans were treated fairly and paid fairly. They even called John Ford "Natani Nez" which in their language means "tall leader". As you will see in the film Yakima Canutt is the Indian that gets dragged underneath horses. In the article it goes into what they did to make Yakima Canutt's scene seem real. As stated in the article John Ford would also bully the actors on the set by saying things like "You big tub of lard. I don't know why the hell I'm using you in this picture." This insult from John Ford was aimed at Andy Devine who is the actor who plays the coach driver in "Stagecoach". "Stagecoach" made a million dollars in 1939.
3) Relate the article to the screening
When I read this article it surprised me that John Ford would treat the actors that way. Also, I was very impressed with the way that they used stuntmen and how they successfully made those scenes without someone getting hurt. I was also impressed at the fact that John Ford treated everyone fairly even though he would pick on them while they were on the set. Reading this article I also saw that the taunting from John Ford made all of the actors better for the movie even though it was a negative way to do it. Watching the movie, listening to the lecture in class and reading this article helped me realize that Ford was trying to let the viewers know that there are good people out there, even the ones that one would not expect.
4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal opinion, formed as a result of the screening, class discussions, text material and the article. I am less interested in whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part of this) than I am in your understanding of its place in film history or the contributions of the director.
After watching this film I appreciate Western films and I can now watch a Western movie and actually get the moral behind the story. Before watching this movie I would think that Western movies were all the same and that they all involved cowboys shooting eachother. The first time that I watched the movie I did not really get what the movie was talking about but after discussing it in class alot of the scenes started to make sense to me. Also, like I said before I was very impressed with the stunts in the movie and I would not expect that from a movie that was made in 1939.
