Cormac Reading

Throughout this reading there were some very gruesome descriptive scenes. My understanding was that Sproule and Kid were survivors of a Indian massacre involving Mexicans. The two didn't seem to fond of each other, but were hanging on to each other for survival. The reading stated the Indians left these individuals tormented and scalped to death. There was one part that mention the hanging of infants. This was very disturbing as well as unimaginable. This reading gave insight to a side of the Indians that showed they didn't care much about harming the Innocent. It also seems as if they were retaliating from what had been to them by the whites.

Throughout the reading Sproule arm get worse and worse. The most disgusting part describes his arm being as large/swollen as his thigh, with yellow pus leaking from it and worms eating away at his flesh. Ouch !!!!

There was a part was Sproule and Kid gets into a wagon. This was little confusing for me at this point. I know it went on to mention that Kid was taken away and put into a dungeon. I could not figure out what happen to Sproule. I thought maybe he was dead. What really happen to Sproule?

Frayling Chases Sphaghetti Westerns

I enjoyed listening to the interview with Frayling. I learned a great deal concerning Leone clever ways/choices he made when putting these Italian western films together.

Leone
* He loved western films
*His films got little respect and therefore were given the name "Spaghetti Films."
*Leone made westerns in Italy because Hollywood ceased making them and Europe mainly Italy had a huge interest in western film/knowledge.
*Leone felt like other westerns contained to much talk and not enough action, to sophisticated
*He loved to make his westerns more visual than ideology
*He distrusted the over light image , and more of the live in conditions in his westerns
* The very very bad guys were revealed in his films by killing a child.
* Frayling stated the diff between Leone Italian /American westerns was that Italian westerns focused on a more Catholic genre whereas the American western focused on protestant view.
Music in Leone Films
*It was mixture of Italian folk music and rock music from the mid 1960.
* classic /import element

Once Upon a Time in the West

In this documentary, this movie is explained as being a remix of all Hollywood westerns. Shane and High Noon are two movies that has reference to this film. The gentleman talks about how the scenes are almost identical. He provides examples from High Noon such as the gun shooters waiting on the train as it slowly arrives . The example he gives for Shane is the scene with the boy and the gun. He speaks on music and image ans how they provide a distinctive atmosphere and the actors respond well this. The songs that are played serves as that actors "theme song." I liked how he described a traditional gun scene. He stated that they are usually two guys on opposite ends (one good,one bad) and when they meet up they usually circle around each other a if they were doing a 'two step." After he mentioned this I realized that that is true. It does seem to happen like that!

The Good, the Bad,and the Ugly

Part 1
The beginning of this films opens up by distinguishing the good, the bad, and ugly guys. It was interesting to see that the good guy played by Clint Eastwood, do somethings I thought a bad would do. For example, how he left the fugitive tied up in the middle of no where. The film does have some strong violent scenes. Take the scene when the bad guy places a pillow over an elderly man face and shoots him repeatedly. Overall it seems to be a good movie. I'm looking forward to see what happens next.

Part 2
We continued day two of this movie today in class 2/22/2010. The ugly found the good guy and begin to get revenge on him. For a moment I thought the good guy was dead. Unfortunately, he wasn't and tricked the ugly guy by telling him that he knew where some money was in a grave and he carried him to a hospital in hope to get this info out of the good guy soon. The ugly guy meet up with his long lost brother and they fight. We ended here I can't wait to see what happens next between the good guy and the ugly guy.

Part 3
Somehow Tuco and Blondie are captured, by what I think are union soldiers. However, Angle Eyes( the Bad) is a part of the army. Angel Eyes along with another soldier torches Tuco to get answers about some gold that is buried in a grave. He plans to kill Tuco after he gets the info he needs but this does not happen, because Tuco kills the overseer of Angel Eyes. Blondie and Tuco become partners. They go on a killing spree, killing all the followers of the Bad. Somehow the Bad escapes. Just when I thought they were out of trouble they are captured by more soldiers!

Part 4-Final Scenes
The end of the movie took place with Blondie and Tuco acting as if they "enlisted" in the service as soldiers fighting for the union. While in the service they blew up the bridge in which the soldiers would cross to fight. I didn't really understand why they did this but it ceased the war! It was interesting how the director made a three person shoot out instead of the normal two we usually see. To me this part sealed the uncertainties about the three characters bringing the movie to a good closure. I loved the way Blondie and Tuco left on the same note as they did in the beginning, with Tuco hanging and Blondie shooting him down. This really caught my attention because for a minute I thought Tuco was dead!

FIVE Quotes ....

1. He comes in his intent,and says we must pay him-pay him for our own-for the things we have from our God and our forefathers;for things he never owned,and never gave us.
- This describes the whites attempt perfectly as they tried to make Native Americans pay for their own possessions.
2. We owe him nothing; he owes us more than he will pay,yet says there is a God.
- This is true they have just as much right as the whites did. We were all created equal in Gods eye and no one person is any greater than the other. The whites can never repay the Native Americans for all the hurt and pain they endured.
3. He says his story is that man was rejected and cast off. Why did we not reject him forever? He says one of his virgins had a son nailed to death on two cross sticks to save him. Were all of them dead then when that young man died, we would be all safe now and our country our own.
- Charlot clearly defines his intelligence as he takes another religion and relates it back to the Americans and their doings.
4. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe them untamed and untamable creatures from he face of the Earth.
- This statement made me think the whites were a little intimated by the Indians and because of this they wanted them wipes away because they were considered a threat.

5. Will he tell his own crimes? No, no; his crimes to us are left untold.
- The whites did/do not tell the full story, only false portrayal of Natives Americans and they never got a chance to tell their side.

Essay Topics...

At this time I am a little uncertain about what I would like to write about ....

One of our first readings,Charlot, interests me a lot. I think it would be interesting to write about/learn more about the educated Indians and their way of life, which you never see in films about Indians.

Another topic that I might consider is the life of Indians and the way in which they were depicted in western films.

I like the topic Treatment of Christianity , positive or negative given by Dr. Griffiths. In the Searchers I feel like a great deal of negative treatment of Christianity was portrayed by the Rev.

On "Dear John Wayne/ About John Wayne

The beginning of On "Dear John Wayne I was little confused. At one point I it was talking about replacing John Wayne character with that of Charlie and having a the Indians kill the cowboys, then at the end I thought it was relating to John Wayne actually being in the movie. ??? I like the statement made about the John Wayne "disease". This is true. He did have a mind frame / idea to take everything that did not belong to him. And just like a contagious disease he spread the epidemic throughout the west.

About John Wayne was just that... About John Wayne. It was a reading about his accomplishments and his film history. It also mentioned his personal life and that he had been married 3 times and has 7 children. Even though he had a very successful career, he couldn't seem to make his family life work. This was just reitering things that I have read about him and heard about him.......sort of like in the Playboy interview.

John Wayne: Playboy Interview

John uses strong,intense,straight to the point language through out the interview. In the beginning he was talking about the ridiculous prices to see a movie. I can say I agree with him about this. The average family can not afford to go out as a family to see a movie because of such high prices. He goes on and talks about how perverted films are. This is true, in just about every film there is a multitude of sex and violence being portrayed. I do not agree with John when he states he do not feel wrong about taking the Indians land, he suggests it was done for a matter of survival. This was a harsh/inconsiderate statement. It sounds as if he held some sort of prejudice against Native Americans. It seems as if he thought very poorly of them as race. He also made a statement about we (whites) can't be blamed for what was done to the Indians, that's true but he didn't have to speak on it as if he didn't care or as if it never happened. He stated he didn't know why we owe them anything, to me we (whites) owe them because everything they owned was stolen from them, and not one time did Americans apologize to these individuals. I really wasn't to fond of his statements about Indians or Blacks. In my opinion he heavyly insulted both races.

This interview went in depth regarding John and his personal life, which was intriguing. After reading the interview I see/know John character a little better. I feel like he plays the role as (john Wayne) so well because in real life (from the interview) he seem to be just like his character, rough , tough, insulting, straight to the point about any and everything.

The Searchers

We are on day two of watching The Searchers starring John Wayne. This is pretty interesting film. John Wayne is playing the role of cowboy/hero and acting the way I imagined he would. I've witnessed several examples of Hollywood incorrectly portraying Indians. For example, there is one seen where the cowboys/hero (John Wayne) are in pursuit of the Indians and indeed as one would image, the Indians ride up immediately visible and not prepared to attack. It was sad how the Indians murdered John's family and kidnapped Debbie. I can understand that they are tired being tormented and treated unfairly so their retaliating. It continues to get interesting I can't wait to find out what happens in the end..

How to Play Indians

In Eco's essay "How to Play Indians" he list 28 ways to "Play Indian", which to me where all stereotypes of Native Americans. Take the first instruction for example: "Never attack immediately:make yourself visible at a distance a few days ahead of time,producing easily observed smoke signals,thus giving the stagecoach or the fort ample time to send word to the Seventh Calvary." Native Americans were illiterate yet Hollywood portrayed them to be. This essay is a prime example of why a majority of us have a image /look for Indians to behave this ways in "Indian" movies today.