The Searchers (63 page)

Read The Searchers Online

Authors: Glenn Frankel

“It was their lands”:
Ibid., p. 29.

Harry “just wandered in”:
Pat Ford interview (BYU).

Pat's father was entranced:
For the story of meeting JF, see Moon, p. 145–49.

about ninety seconds of the footage:
James D'Arc,
When Hollywood Came to Town
, p. 208.

It had a double bed:
Moon, p. 199.

“It gives me a chance to get away”:
Burt Kennedy, “A Talk with John Ford,”
Action!
September–October 1968, p. 6.

bad weather in Arizona:
Daily Production Reports, June 13, 1955, Box 6, F. 22 (JFP).

the Super Chief was the appropriate:
For a description of the Super Chief, see
www.american-rails.com/super-chief.html
.

“A shooting schedule”:
Cooper to Whitney, June 15, 1955 (CVW).

They carved roadways:
Warner Brothers Presents
, March 12, 1956, TV show, narrated by Gig Young (see
Searchers
DVD).

“The women were installed”:
A Turning of the Earth
(documentary).

“Wind was an enemy”:
Frank Perrett, C. V. Whitney Productions press release, undated, p. 4 (WB).

“adobe, whitewashed but with the bricks showing”:
JF Notes, February 10, 1955 (JFP).

Lana Wood recalled:
Finstad, p. 171.

The men earned $15 a day:
“AGREEMENT between C.V. Whitney Pictures and District Tribal Council (MHL).

“A lot of people came”:
Susie Yazzie interview with the author, March 24, 2008.

“When we first went into the Indian reservations”:
Bill Libby, “The Old Wrangler Rides Again,” 1964, in
JF Interviews
, p. 55.

“People have said that on the screen”:
Ibid., p. 71.

“We'll get it off”:
The Hosteen Tso story is from Moon, pp. 149 and 153–55.

“the valley was buried”:
Eyman, p. 207.

“At Monument Valley I have my own personal tribe”:
Ibid., p. 351.

“They were a very dignified people”:
Bogdanovich, pp. 94–95.

“My sympathy was always”:
Tag Gallagher,
John Ford: The Man and His Films
, p. 254.

like a horror movie:
Slotkin,
Gunfighter Nation
, p. 361.

“It was a job”:
McBride, p. 295.

“The Indian children looked on him”:
Chuck Roberson,
The Fall Guy
, p. 169.

a two-year-old Navajo girl:
CVW Productions press release, undated (WB).

he filmed eleven setups:
Daily filing from Shooting Schedule and Daily Production Reports of CV Whitney Pictures (JFP).

Ford also shot scenes:
Some of the few surviving outtakes contain this ride, which appears in
A Turning of the Earth
, Nick Redman's 1998 documentary.

“They had bodies like iron”:
Carey, p. 159.

“I like the cowboys”:
JF Interview, undated, audio file (MHL).

Lee Bradley … Frank McGrath … Jack Pennick:
See
A Turning of the Earth
.

“We were his personal soldiers”:
Roberson, p. 66.

“He never shot in continuity”:
Clothier interview, p. 15, Box 11, F21 (JFP).

The man who emerged:
For a physical description of JF, see Carey, p. 19.

“It was a feeling of reverence”:
Carey interview, p. 13 (JFP).

The two men had been partners:
See Carey's account of JF and Hoch, p. 18.

“Winnie, what do you think?”:
Ibid., p. 67.

“images that are so detailed”:
Ruthurd Dykstra, “The Search for Spectators,”
Kino
, p. 1.

“he avoided the temptation”:
Winton Hoch, p. 1, Box 12, F3 (JFP).

“Too many directors”:
Ken Curtis, p. 4, Box 11, F22 (JFP).

“He didn't want any rehearsing”:
Pippa Scott interview with author, March 24, 2009.

“The actors get tired”:
Bogdanovich, p. 99.

“He never let us get into the scene”:
Curtis Lee Hansen, “Henry Fonda: Reflections on 40 Years of Make-Believe,”
Cinema
, p. 15.

“Oh God, how the man would cheat”:
Ace Holmes, Box 12, F5, p. 20 (JFP).

“He had all his people there”:
Chuck Hayward, Box 12, F1, p. 2 (JFP).

18. The Valley, Part Two

The average film director:
For a discussion of master shots, over-the-shoulder shots and coverage, see
4 Filmmaking
website:
http://production.4filmmaking.com/cinematography1.html
.

“John Ford shoots a picture”:
Wingate Smith, Box 12, F15, p. 3 (JFP).

“If you give them a lot of film”:
Gallagher.

There were thirty-three drivers, five five-ton trucks:
Daily Production Report, June 13, 1955, Box 6, F22 (JFP).

Sonny Whitney … arrived by Cessna:
Whitney telegram, June 14, 1955 (CVW).

“Crockery flew”:
Eleanor Searle Whitney, p. 5.

“I would surely like to give her”:
Whitney to Cooper, May 3, 1955 (CVW).

The superrich … “look upon everything”:
E. S. Whitney, p. 122.

“Whitney had been a polo player”:
Pat Ford interview by D'Arc.

Sonny “came riding up and he was proud”:
Terry Wilson, Box 12, F19, p. 19 (JFP).

Smart Set column in the
New York Journal-American: October 14, 1955.

“We were scared to death”:
Pat Ford interview.

“Two things make Western pictures”:
George Stevens,
Conversations with the Great Moviemakers
, p. 243.

Two stuntmen went down:
Production Notes, June 22, 1955 (JFP).

“I don't think he was terribly well”:
Pippa Scott interview.

“he liked to push people”:
McBride, pp. 567–68.

Even Ford's beloved stuntmen felt his wrath:
Roberson, p. 160.

“When will you learn to ride”:
Ibid., p. 161.

“The whole relationship was something”:
Scott interview.

He lit one Camel after another:
Carey, p. 36.

“My father would say”:
Patrick Wayne interview.

“When I looked up at him in rehearsal”:
Carey, p. 170.

“Was she … ? Did they … ?”:
Nugent, Revised Final Screenplay, p. 41.

“He didn't say a word”:
Carey, p. 172.

“He was very sweet with me”:
Scott interview.

“I was his godson”:
Pat Wayne interview.

“He used no technical terms”:
Louis Pollock, “Alone–but Not for Long,”
Motion Picture
46:550, November 1956.

“When I crossed my arm”:
From
The American West of John Ford
, CBS documentary, December 5, 1971, p. 30 (JFP).

“Everybody thinks I'm crazy”:
Olive Carey, pp. 21–3 (JFP).

July Fourth, they took a break:
The description of the festivities is from the Carey interview and McBride, p. 555.

“More than having received the Oscars”: JF Interviews
, p. 71.

19. The Studio

RKO-Pathé Studio in Culver City:
For a description of the studio's history, see
www.seeing-stars.com/studios/culverstudios.shtml
.

“Captain, the Reverend Samuel Johnson Clayton!”:
Revised Final Screenplay, pp. 12–14.

“She slugged me”:
Pippa Scott interview.

“I remember being very unnerved”: A Turning of the Earth
(documentary).

He once told Fred Zinnemann:
McBride, p. 161.

some of the scenes “could have been shot”:
Bosley Crowther,
NYT
, May 31, 1956.

Some of the captives … “have been enslaved”:
JF Story Notes, February 15, 1955 (JFP).

“It's hard to realize they're white”:
Screenplay, p. 74.

“Helluva shot”:
Peter Bogdanovich,
Who the Hell's in It
, p. 289.

“‘I'm sorry, girl' he tells her”:
Screenplay, p. 111.

“I wonder, did they box themselves in a corner?”:
Author's interview with James D'Arc.

Ford had shot 187,402 feet of film:
Daily Production Report (JFP).

Max Steiner took over:
Steiner's biography is from Thomas Kiefner, “Max Steiner,” in
Film Music: The Neglected Art
, February 13, 2008.

“as a kind gesture”:
James D'Arc notes to
The Searchers
music CD.

“that is completely haunting”:
JF Story Notes, January 28, 1955, p. 2 (JFP).

Ford turned to Stan Jones:
Jones's bio is from Carey, pp. 91–94, and Stan Jones,
www.westernmusic.com/performers/hof-jones-stan.html
.

“You've got a guy alone”:
Bogdanovich commentary on
The Searchers
DVD.

“I am sorry you are not altogether satisfied”:
Whitney to Steiner, December 9, 1955, (CVW).

The Searchers
“goes down as my favorite”:
Whitney to JF, December 9, 1955 (CVW).

“The picture is brutal in spots”:
Walter MacEwen to Jack Warner, December 5, 1955 (WB).

Whitney was eager to get paid:
See Warner to Whitney, October 25 and November 11, 1955; Whitney to Warner, November 2, 1955 (CVW).

“Frankly I have been very disappointed”:
Cooper to Warner, March 10, 1956 (BYU).

20. The Movie

“a myth based on other myths”:
Tag Gallagher, “Angels Gambol Where They Will,”
The Western Reader
, p. 272.

“icons of savage violent beauty”:
Ibid.

“I wish Uncle Ethan was here”: Searchers
screenplay, p. 20.

“You speak good American”:
Ibid., p. 83. But in the screenplay Scar does not make his classic reply.

“These shots … are among the treasures”:
Roger Ebert,
“The Searchers
,” November 25, 2001.

“organic, not imposed on him”:
This and subsequent quotes are from Robert Warshow, “Movie Chronicle: The Westerner,” in
The Western Reader
, p. 36.

“The pictures … end with his death”:
Ibid., p. 40.

“What these apologists forget”:
Jon Tuska,
The American West in Film
, pp. xix, 61, 58, and 237.

Native Americans themselves:
JoEllen Shively's PhD thesis:
Cowboys & Indians: The Perception of Western Films Among American Indians and Anglo-Americans
.

“asking Indians to watch a John Wayne Western”:
Tom Grayson Colonnese, “Native American Reactions to
The Searchers
,” in Eckstein and Lehmann, p. 335.

Scar cannot let go:
Ibid., p. 342.

“Come along, Mrs. Pauley”:
Screenplay, p. 63. Martin's kick is in the script, p. 65.

“Do you know what Ethan will do?”:
Ibid., pp. 103–104.

“The film is not an aberration”:
McBride and Wilmington, p. 148.

“When Ethan picks up Debbie”:
Michael Munn,
John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth
, p. 176.

“Undoubtedly one of the greatest”:
Hollywood Reporter
, March 13, 1956.

“one of the greatest”:
Motion Picture Herald
, March 17, 1956.

“a rip-snorting Western”:
NYT
, May 31, 1956.

“strange but fascinating”:
Film Bulletin
, March 19, 1956.

“the lapses in logic” Time
, June 25, 1956, p. 60.

“Racism was so endemic”:
McBride interview.

“an unmistakable neurotic”:
Anderson, p. 156.

“How can I hate John Wayne”:
Lesley Stern,
The Scorsese Connection
, p. 38.

“You know, I just don't understand”:
McInerney, p. 55.

“Ethan Edwards … was probably the most fascinating character”:
JW voice-over in
The American West of John Ford
(documentary), 1971.

21. The Legacy

“It made a lot of money”:
McBride and Wilmington, p. 45.

“The worst piece of crap”:
Pappy
, p. 290.

“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
is a serious assault”:
Tara Brady, “In praise of an old Hollywood master,”
Irish Times
, June 7, 2012.

“Young people, including film students”:
Peary, p. ix.

“I am not a poet”:
Ibid., p. xvi.

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