Big epic Western which marvellously combines a been-around-for-a-bit star, John Wayne, who was just starting to play old men (he was a A minus star for most of the 40s, 1948 turned him into an A plus one) and an exciting new face, Montgomery Clift. They thrown in old reliable Walter Brennan, and an up and comer John Ireland... plus a surprising amount of juicy support parts (I'd forgotten because most analysis of the film concerns the leads but there's good support cowboys, like the bald dude from The Searchers; also Colleen Gray as Wayne's true love).
It's a very good story - Mutiny on the Bounty on the trail is a tremendous idea - very well developed, beautifully shot. It's full of Hawksian moments and/or homo-eroticism, with Clift and Ireland fondling their guns and making eyes at each other and Joanne Dru being hit by an arrow but not mentioning it and everyone being sassy.
The ending is maybe a little silly. It builds to this epic confrontation and sort of drifts into a shaggy dog treatment. I'm not sure how else you do it... I'm sure scholarship has been done on this but Ireland's death seems thrown away.
No comments:
Post a Comment