21L011 The Film Experience
Professor David Thorburn

Lecture 14 - The Western (continued)

1. The Western Film
   • A quick history
     
     
2. John Ford (1895-1973)
   Robert Altman (1925-2006)
   
   
3. The Searchers (1956)
   • Damaged hero
   • Setting: Monument Valley
   • Plot: founding story, captive’s tale
   • A turning point
   • The title: ambiguity
     
     
4. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
   • “Ruin the Sacred Truths”
   • Plot vs. character
   • Sound and image: a new realism?
   • Hero/savior, clown or fool
   • Love story: gal from the East
   • Founding myth: Presbyterian Church
   • The ending: slapstick murder as the town is born
     
     
5. Major Western Movies: A Chronolgy