The Searchers

Resensi Film: The Searchers (***1/2/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1956

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: John Ford

Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Natalie Wood

Plot: Veteran tentara, Ethan Edwards, menghabiskan waktu bertahun-2 berkelana mencari keponakannya yang diculik suku Comanche; sementara motivasi sesungguhnya menjadi dipertanyakan (IMDb).

Berdasarkan novel karya Alan Le May yang bersetting dalam perang Texas-Indian pada pertengahan tahun 1800-an, John Ford sekali lagi menunjukkan keahliannya dalam menangani cerita yang panjang, jumlah karakter yang banyak, dan menjaga mood dan tempo film yang konsisten dari awal sampai akhir. Untuk ini, Ford patut menerima pujian -- sayangnya, penonton menuntut lebih dari dirinya. Dengan isyu besar tentang hubungan ras antara kulit putih dan Indian, film terlalu menitikberatkan pada Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) saja, sementara karakter-2 penting yang lain kurang mendapat porsi yang cukup untuk dieksplorasi; misalnya: Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), yang campuran kulit putih dan Indian, hanya digambarkan sebagai orang yang kikuk dan komik; Debbie (Natalie Wood), yang mula-2 tidak mau meninggalkan perkampungan sukunya, sama sekali tidak mendapat waktu untuk diekplorasi -- Wood hanya sempat mengucapkan beberapa kalimat saja dalam film ini, padahal karakternya menempati posisi yang penting dalam cerita ini. Selain itu, perubahan sikap Ethan dari marah ketika melihat Debbie berubah menjadi Comanche ke menerima dan akhirnya membawa pulang dirinya, juga kurang mendapat waktu untuk ditelaah, padahal transformasi mental ini menempati posisi yang crucial dalam cerita ini.

Cerita (****)

Screenplay (***1/2)

Karakter (***1/2)

Akting (***1/2)

Keseluruhan: ***1/2/4

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Fort Apache

Resensi Film: Fort Apache (***/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1948

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: John Ford

Cast: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple

Plot: Bertentangan dengan nasehat bawahannya, seorang letnan kolonel berusaha menghancurkan suku Apache sebagai cara untuk mendapatkan penghargaan yang dia percaya dia patut menerima (IMDb).

Fort Apache adalah film pertama dari "cavalry trilogy" John Ford, yang diikuti oleh She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) dan Rio Grande (1950). Semuanya dibintangi oleh John Wayne. Cerita dalam film ini secara bebas didasarkan pada George Armstrong Custer, perang Little Bighorn dan pembantaian Fetterman pada tahun 1866. Film ini tercatat dalam sejarah sebagai film pertama yang menampilkan pandangan otentik dan simpatik terhadap suku Indian di Amerika. John Ford terkenal dengan gaya penyutradaraan yang berpusat pada karakter-2nya, memberikan waktu yang cukup pada mereka untuk berkembang sehingga penonton dapat mengenalinya secara mendalam. Satu kelemahan dalam film ini adalah subplot yang melibatkan Shirley Temple -- penampilan Temple lemah dan ceritanya dengan mudah tidak perlu.

Cerita (***)

Screenplay (***)

Karakter (***)

Akting (***)

Keseluruhan: ***/4

Fort Apache dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

True Grit

Resensi Film: True Grit (***/4)

Tahun Keluar: 1969

Negara Asal: USA

Sutradara: Henry Hathaway

Cast: John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby

Plot: Tiga orang dengan kepentingan sendiri-2 mengejar seorang penjahat di daerah Indian (IMDb).

John Wayne adalah John Wayne. Kehadiran wanita (Kim Darby) yang nampak lemah, tetapi ternyata keras kepala -- sekeras karakter Wayne -- menambah dimensi cerita dan mengimbangi karakter Wayne dengan karakter feminin dengan dosis yang pas tanpa merusak atau menetralisir suasana Western yang ada -- menjadikan film terasa riel dan menciptakan dialog yang segar. Glen Campbell dengan mudah menjadi "titik lemah" dari trio yang ada.

Cerita (***)

Screenplay (***)

Karakter (***)

Akting (***)

Keseluruhan: ***/4

True Grit dapat anda temukan di eBay.com

The Big Trail

Movie Review: The Big Trail

Year of Release: 1930
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, El Brendel, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power Sr.

Plot outline: Breck leads a wagon train of pioneers through Indian attack, storms, deserts, swollen rivers, down cliffs and so on while looking for the murder of a trapper and falling in love with Ruth (IMDb).

The Big Trail is notable as John Wayne’s first starring role. While he radiates charisma, Wayne performance unfortunately feels wooden. His character talks too much and acts too little, a far cry from the laconic persona he would refine over the next nine years and bring to bear in the superior Stagecoach (1939). Still, Wayne’s performance in many ways mirrors the entire production, full of potential, but ultimately uneven. The Big Trail is a movie brimming with realism. The clothes, the equipment, everything is well researched. Throw in some jaw-dropping visuals, such as hundreds of settlers lowering their wagons by rope down the side of a cliff, or driving through a huge rushing river during a rain storm, and even Lawrence of Arabia (1962) can’t match its level of epic filmmaking. Unfortunately, the characters themselves seem to get lost amidst the spectacle. The cookie-cutter roles are almost universally forgettable, and the dialog comes across as awkward and stilted. While Wayne appears quite confident despite the size of the production and his relative inexperience, he’s not yet able to single-handedly carry a picture the way he could later in his career. (FML)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Rooster Cogburn

Movie Review: Rooster Cogburn

Year of Release: 1975
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Stuart Millar
Cast: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn

Plot outline: An aging U.S. Marshal and a minister's daughter join forces to catch a band of outlaws (IMDb).

A major issue with Rooster Cogburn is that the storyline is seriously uninteresting and is almost a stock storyline. Watching Rooster Cogburn and Eula Goodnight go after a bunch of cowboy criminals is not the most exciting idea in the world and it plays at such. There are various stock elements to the story: the shoot outs, the arguments and so on but it also pulls in other elements. The scene where Cogburn and Goodnight float down a river on a raft feels like a slim imitation of a scene out of Hepburn's The African Queen, just one of various scenes which seem to pull from both Wayne and Hepburn's back catalogue of movies. It has to be said that when it comes to the storyline there is little, if nothing, which you could class as original or unique. But the entertainment in Rooster Cogburn is not the storyline but the casting of two strong legendary actors opposite each other. Watching the antagonistic relationship between Cogburn and Goodnight is brilliant because the characters are both strong minded and willed. You get a sense that perhaps there was a semi antagonistic relationship between the stars as well and it shows on screen to great effect. The banter between them is first class as they battle each other over their way of life, from Cogburn's drinking to Miss Goodnight's religious fervour. But there is also the nice softer side to it as well, and you also get a sense that although Wayne and Hepburn may not have always seen eye to eye there was also a respect for each other. The pairing is great and it is what makes the movie. Elsewhere though the performances are not so good and Richard Jordan as Hawk the leader of the dangerous cowboys goes for over the top drama in every single scene. It is one of the least convincing bad guy cowboys I have ever seen and really spoils things. Maybe he realised that he would be over shadowed by Wayne and Hepburn so went for an over the top performance to try and stand out. (AW)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

Donovan's Reef

Movie Review: Donovan's Reef

Year of Release: 1963
Country of Origin: USA
Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Allen, Jack Warden, Cesar Romero, Dorothy Lamour

Plot outline: A war veteran in the South Seas tries to salvage a buddy's reputation when the man's daughter comes calling (IMDb).

The movie was shot on extremely photogenic Kauai, Hawaii - where an icy Boston heiress has gone to search out her seemingly errant father. That staid lady not only discovers the beauties of the palm-studded island but also romance in the guise of John Wayne, an erstwhile heroic hand on a Navy destroyer who decided to stay on after the war and is now the owner of the island saloon of the title, among other properties. Mr. Ford and his devoted team are not overlooking that movies should move even though the dialogue is colloquial, funny and manly. Everyone, from Elizabeth Allen, as the starchy Bostonian whose reserve melts after being exposed to the amorous assaults of Mr. Wayne and the charms of the happy folk around her, to Miss Lamour, is constantly involved in physical action: Mr. Wayne belts Mr. Marvin; Mr. Wayne and Mr. Marvin good-naturedly take on an Australian Navy crew; the kids go water skiing; Mr. Wayne is forever tearing around the island in a jeep; and Miss Lamour is tossed into a pool. Miss Allen gets a watery greeting at the outset when she lands in the lagoon on missing her step off the schooner that brings her to her destination. She is never the proper Bostonian after that. Mr. Ford, to summarize, is kidding, but he also has his viewers in mind and he does not shortchange them. Everything ends as happily as a trite travelogue, and his cast behaves in customary but satisfying style. Miss Lamour's contribution is slight, but she obviously appreciates the free-and-easy spirit of the whole wacky affair. Jack Warden is merely serious as the dedicated doctor, and Jacqueline Malouf, Cherylene Lee and Tim Stafford, as his happy, half-caste offspring, are winning youngsters. (NYT)

My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars

The Spoilers

Movie Review: The Spoilers

Year of Release: 1942
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Ray Enright
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, John Wayne

Plot outline: An Alaskan prospector fights a crooked federal agent to save his gold claim (IMDb).

Having pinched the muscles of Randolph Scott and John Wayne and found them solid, Ray Enright has leaped to a safe perch on a camera boom and let them slug it out for Marlene Dietrich's well-manicured hand. Naturally, a row of the dimensions that Enright has sent hurtling across tables, balconies and through windows in the last reel of the movie requires some sort of excuse. It has been doubly provided. Not only does Mr. Scott, that smooth-talking villain, try to rook Mr. Wayne of the Midas Gold Mine, but also he makes a few impolitic gestures in the direction of Miss Dietrich, who understands it when she sees one. As Cherry Malotte, a lady saloonkeeper, Miss Dietrich carries on in the rough-cut diamond tradition of Mae West and wears beruffled costumes about as concealing as the fins on a fish. In short, Miss Dietrich has left behind the subtle nuance, the languorous murmurings of love. No doubt that was the reason why they returned so often after jail breaks, train wrecks and free-for-all battles over a jumped claim. But Cherry, good woman, remained true to one man. She turned down Bronco Kid, otherwise Richard Barthelmess, who used to win the girl himself regularly not so many years ago, and when a frail young lady in the person of Margaret Lindsay momentarily threatened the theft of Mr. Wayne, Cherry shed only one tear before going on the warpath. Perhaps Cherry's complex affections seem a bit amusing at this distance, and thank Mr. Enright and Miss Dietrich's witty playing for keeping them so. Sprinkled with double entendres nearly as frankly cut as Miss Dietrich's gowns, the screenwriter and producer have kept their tongues firmly in their cheeks, even when stout Mr. Scott and Mr. Wayne begin tearing up the set. It's a lovely brawl. (NYT)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

Rio Grande

Movie Review: Rio Grande

Year of Release: 1950
Country of Origin: USA
Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Ben Johnson, Claude Jarman Jr.

Plot outline: A cavalry unit located on the Mexican border must control Indian uprisings (IMDb).

Rio Grande is set at a remote, understaffed fort near the Mexican border in 1879. Lt. Col. Yorke (John Wayne) is facing an uprising of Apache Indians, who emerge from protected villages in Mexico for hit and run attacks. Yorke's young son has failed West Point and enlisted to prove his manhood, by coincidence assigned to his father's command. Wayne's estranged wife Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara) arrives to claim her underaged son from the Army, and rekindle romance with Wayne. Meanwhile, Tyree (Ben Johnson) is wanted for manslaughter, and there are several songs from the impressive "Sons of the Pioneers". Competently directed, with a fine cast and cinematography, the movie is surprisingly sentimental but sometimes drags. As usual in Ford movies, the Indians are faceless savages, with audience sympathy intended for the cavalry soldiers. Claude Jarman Jr. is well-cast for the role of Wayne's son. He looks the boy his character is supposed to be, and conveys the earnest and determined character traits necessary for the role. The father-son/commander-recruit/ guerilla-war theme was previously used in Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), another movie in which the son has to perform heroic feats to win the respect of his father. (BK)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars

The Longest Day

Movie Review: The Longest Day

Year of Release: 1962
Country of Origin: USA
Directors: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki
Cast: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Richard Todd, Red Buttons, Richard Beymer, Robert Ryan

Plot outline: The events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view (IMDb).

The Longest Day was a mammoth project dramatizing D-day, the Allied invasion of France. It was nearly three hours in length and with an enormous ensemble cast, all playing supporting roles. The production was very conscientious about realism: the actors were always of the same nationality as their characters, and spoke in their native languages. The American role in the invasion is not exaggerated, and the German soldiers and officers are not portrayed as brutal stereotypes. The truth is, a great invasion makes for great drama, and with the attention to detail and production values of The Longest Day, the movie couldn't miss. Complaints about the movie are minor: strafing planes don't bother to make a second pass, it is implied that the Germans lost the war because unstable Hitler wouldn't release the Panzer tanks, and attempts at comic relief generally fall flat. The cast is so enormous that it is difficult to remember who is what. But it is fun playing "name the actor": heavyweights John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Rod Steiger and Henry Fonda are easily spotted, as are middleweights such as Eddie Albert, Red Buttons, Roddy McDowell, Peter Lawford, George Segal and Jeffrey Hunter. For some reason, a number of U.S. pop singers and teen idols were cast: Paul Anka, Fabian, Tommy Sands, and Sal Mineo. John Wayne and Henry Fonda would later have key roles in bloated war movies that were not successful, (The Green Berets and Midway respectively) demonstrating that the drama of war does not always come across on movie. (BK)

My judgement: *** out of 4 stars