The Horse's Head

#639) The Searchers (1956)

OR “Duke the Right Thing”

Directed by John Ford

Written by Frank S. Nugent. Based on the novel by Alan Le May.

Class of 1989

The Plot: Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) is a veteran of the Civil War and the Second Franco-Mexican War who returns to West Texas to live with his brother Aaron (Walter Coy) and his family. While Ethan is out trying to rescue a neighbor’s cattle, a nearby tribe of Comanches led by Chief Cicatriz aka “Scar” (Henry Brandon) kill Aaron and his family and kidnap Ethan’s niece Debbie (Lana Wood [younger], Natalie Wood [older]). Joined by Debbie’s adopted brother Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), Ethan begins a five-year journey across Texas to find Debbie and bring her home. Throughout the mission, Ethan’s open racism towards the Comanche and his need for vengeance starts to overtake his desire to save his niece. It’s as reflective a character study as you can get from a John Ford western.

Why It Matters: The NFR has a lot of feelings about “The Searchers”, calling it “John Ford’s best film” and “equal parts majestic spectacle and soul-searching moral examination”. They also take the time to acknowledge the film’s seemingly ambivalent stance on the main character’s racism. An essay by film historian Scott Allen Nollen is a well-rounded account of “The Searchers” and its production.

But Does It Really?: There’s a passage in the NFR’s “Citizen Kane” essay by Godfrey Cheshire that has stuck with me ever since I first read it. Cheshire theorizes that “Kane” isn’t necessarily the greatest film ever made, but rather the greatest critic’s film. I have reached a similar conclusion with “The Searchers”: its standing as the greatest western is a matter of taste, but it is definitely the greatest western for people who love studying and analyzing film. While most westerns on this list play within the strict good vs. evil morality of the genre, “The Searchers” has some shades of gray to it that have attracted generations of critics and filmmakers. Add to that some iconic cinematography and John Wayne’s best film performance, and you’ve got a movie with an undeniable legacy. I wouldn’t call “The Searchers” an untouchable of film history, but its ongoing inspiration on filmmakers over the decades makes it a natural for the NFR.

Everybody Gets One: Jeffrey Hunter had been a contract player with 20^th Century Fox for five years when he successfully lobbied to be loaned out to Warner Bros. for “The Searchers”. Hunter would go on to play Jesus in “King of Kings”, as well as Captain Christopher Pike in the first pilot for “Star Trek” (when Hunter didn’t return for the second pilot, the character was replaced with Captain James T. Kirk/William Shatner). This is also the only NFR appearance for future Bond Girl Lana Wood, cast here as the younger version of her sister Natalie’s character.

Wow, That’s Dated: Because it’s a John Ford western, REDFACE WARNING! Chief Cicatriz is played by Henry Brandon, a German man in full-on Redface. It’s uncomfortable from the get-go. And while John Ford does cast actual Indigenous people as the other Comanches, they are all from the Navajo tribe, complete with Navajo clothing and customs (which makes sense once you learn the film was shot in Utah and Arizona).

Title Track: “The Searchers” is yet another movie I was not expecting to have a title song. Composed by Max Steiner, lyrics by Stan Jones, and performed by Sons of the Pioneer, “The Searchers (Main Theme)” is pretty forgettable. I assume someone at Warner Bros. was itching for a “High Noon” style breakout hit.

Seriously, Oscars?: Despite its critical and commercial success at the time, “The Searchers” received zero Oscar nominations (Warner Bros.’ big Oscar contenders that year were “Giant” and “Baby Doll”). The only accolades “The Searchers” got that awards season were a DGA nomination for John Ford and a Golden Globe to Patrick Wayne for Most Promising Newcomer.

Other notes 

• This is the first of three films produced by businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt (C.V.) Whitney. C.V. had been one of the first major investors in Technicolor in the 1930s (good call), and was a financier on “Gone with the Wind” (even better call). Whitney’s subsequent films were the less-successful “The Missouri Traveler” and “The Young Land”.
• You have my attention with that opening shot: Total blackness until a door is opened overlooking the expansive Monument Valley. Shoutout to cinematographer Winton C. Hoch, no stranger to filming beautiful landscapes thanks to his work shooting the “Fitzpatrick’s Traveltalks” series throughout the ’30s and ’40s. This cinematography is definitely putting the “Vista” in VistaVision (on loan from Paramount), to the point that it’s quite jarring when the film switches to filming outdoor scenes on a set.

• Speaking of the cinematography, there’s an interesting shot near the beginning when the Texas Rangers come to visit the Edwards house. Instead of a series of close-ups and mediums, the first minute of the scene is covered in a single wide shot, with 10 different characters and their various stories interacting and intertwining . It’s an interesting composition, but the overlapping dialogue is a bit cacophonous. You can imagine Robert Altman watching this scene and thinking “what if I made a whole movie of just this?”

• Uh-oh, one of the characters just called Debbie “Little Debbie” and now I’m hungry. I’ve been watching my diet lately, but I would kill for a Swiss Roll right about now.
• I wasn’t expecting this movie to have so much comic relief. Apparently many of these were created for the film to help offset the story’s darker elements. You get Ward Bond as a blustery Texas Ranger, Hank Worden as the eccentric Mose, and several comic interludes with the Jorgensen neighbors (because somebody thought Swedes were hilarious). Ultimately, I found these detours unnecessary and tiring, always wondering when we would get back to the main story.
• Speaking of the supporting cast, shoutout to Ward Bond, longtime John Ford staple who appears in FOUR films in the inaugural NFR class: “Gone with the Wind“, “The Grapes of Wrath“, “The Maltese Falcon“, and “The Searchers”.
• Wow, Ethan’s really an asshole in this. The guy is racist to the core, even shooting the corpse of a Comanche in the eyes so that (according to their beliefs) it can’t enter the spirit world. John Wayne’s natural screen prescence is the only thing keeping Ethan from being totally repulsive. Side note: That corpse is clearly still breathing when it’s unearthed.

• For whatever reason, it’s the Warner Bros. movies on this list that make abundant use of stock sound effects. Today’s example is all the classic ricochet bullet sound effects found in this film’s gunfights.

• Part of the appeal of John Wayne’s performance is that his character is more complex than his usual roster of morally just cowboys. In addition to these subtleties, Wayne also has moments that call for more emoting (His reading of “What do you want me to do, draw you a picture!?” is especially stirring). It helps that Wayne looks even more understated in this film thanks to Jeffrey Hunter’s overacting. No offense to Mr. Hunter, but I wonder what first choice Fess Parker would have done with Marty.

• Oh right, Vera Miles is in this. The Laurie scenes are part of the distracting Jorgensen family subplot, though it’s nice to see Vera Miles play a character so different than Lila Crane, the role she will forever be associated with.

• Obviously, it’s hard to listen to everyone talk about a bad guy named Scar and not think of “The Lion King“. Side note: Henry Brandon is also the bad guy in one of my favorite Christmas movies: the Laurel & Hardy “Babes in Toyland”.
• I love when Ethan calls Martin a “chunkhead”. Ethan is also fond of the put-down “blankethead”, which sounds like an insult aimed at Linus from “Peanuts”.
• The brief but pivotal role of Emilio Figueroa is played by Antonio Moreno, a Spanish actor and “Latin Lover” from the silent era. Longtime readers may recall him as Clara Bow’s leading man from “It“.
• Oh hi Natalie. I never realized how little Natalie Wood is actually in this movie, first appearing about three quarters of the way through and only having about 10 minutes of screentime. I suspect if Warner Bros. knew how big a hit “Rebel Without a Cause” was going to be they would have given Natalie a better part.

• The Wood sisters weren’t the only family affair in “The Searchers”: John Wayne’s son Patrick plays Lt. Greenhill. Patrick was 16 when they filmed “The Searchers”, which explains why he looks and sounds like the Squeaky Voiced Teen from “The Simpsons”. I also appreciated the little moment where Ethan jokingly calls Lt. Greenhill “son”, apparently an ad-lib from John Wayne.

• There is so much day for night in this movie! I know that was common practice in the day (especially filming in harsh locations like Monument Valley), but man is it distracting.
• I’m always a proponent of any classic movie that’s under two hours, but “The Searchers” feels so much longer. Maybe it’s the episodic nature of the story or all the subplots, but boy howdy does this movie drag towards the end. Even film critics at the time complained about how long the movie was (Brother, give it about 60 years and you’ll be begging for movies this short again).
• One more shoutout to the cinematography as we reach the film’s iconic final shot of Ethan standing on the Jorgensens’ front porch, framed by the open doorway with the extensive plains behind him. It’s very much the kind of visual storytelling that only the movies can do so well. Without a single line of dialogue, we understand that this character is destined to be a loner, incapable of conforming to any establishments from a west that’s becoming a little less wild.

Legacy 

• “The Searchers” premiered in May 1956, with critics at the time calling it the best western since “Shane“, though not necessarily Ford’s best work. The film’s transition from hit to classic was pretty seamless, with auteur/film critic Jean-Luc Godard naming it one of the greatest American movies of the sound era in 1963, earning it some street cred with the New Wave movement. Since then, “The Searchers” has appeared on practically every greatest films list, and saw the biggest increase between the two AFI 100 Films lists, ranking 96 in 1998 and 12 in 2007!
• Both John Ford and John Wayne considered “The Searchers” among their best films. Wayne enjoyed the experience so much he named his second son Ethan after his character.
• Pretty much every major filmmaker has cited “The Searchers” as an influence, from Steven Spielberg to Wim Wenders to Martin Scorsese, the latter who routinely ranks it among his favorite movies. Allusions to “The Searchers” (especially its cinematography) can be seen in such varied films as “Lawrence of Arabia“, “The Wild Bunch“, “Easy Rider“, “The Godfather“, and “Star Wars“. Even the “Breaking Bad” finale takes a thing or two from this movie!

• In addition to its cinematic influence, “The Searchers” has also inspired its share of music acts. For starters, the ’60s British band The Searchers get their name from this movie. Also, it is allegedly Ethan’s repeated utterance of “That’ll be the day” that prompted the Buddy Holly song of the same name. If only John Wayne had kept calling Martin “Peggy Sue”.

Bonus Clip: “The Searchers” was one of the first movies to receive a “Making Of” special in conjunction with its release. Commissioned by John Ford himself, this promotional film aired on the short-lived anthology series “Warner Bros. Presents”.

#638) On the Waterfront (1954)

OR “Pier Pressure”

Directed by Elia Kazan

Written by Budd Schulberg. Based on the New York Sun “Crime on the Waterfront” articles by Malcolm Johnson.

Class of 1989

The Plot: Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is a washed-up prizefighter now working as a longshoremen on the New Jersey waterfront with his brother Charley (Rod Steiger). Their workers union has been corrupted by their boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), who runs the docks with fear and intimidation tactics. Terry says nothing and goes along, including setting-up his co-worker Joey Doyle (Ben Wagner) to be murdered before he can testify to the Waterfront Crime Commission. Joey’s sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) enlists the help of local priest Father Barry (Karl Malden) to determine who killed her brother, and ends up forming a mutual attraction with Terry. When Terry is subpoenaed by the Commission, Friendly orders Charley to “persuade” Terry against testifying. It’s a morality character study with political overtones courtesy of Classic Hollywood’s most controversial director.

Why It Matters: The NFR praises the film’s “hard-hitting script” and “[s]upreme” performances by Brando, Steiger, Saint, and Malden. An essay by film scholar Robert Sklar contextualizes the film’s politics.

But Does It Really?:  Oh boy, here we go. On its own, “On the Waterfront” is terrific: great acting, taut direction, a dimensional script, it’s got everything. Unfortunately it’s hard to judge this film on its own knowing its major historical context: A film about informing on a corrupt union boss written and directed by men who saved their own careers by informing on their fellow artists to the House Un-American Activities Committee. Something doesn’t feel right about all this, but it’s a testament to the final film that it’s still a compelling watch despite the shades of gray hanging over it. “On the Waterfront” maintains a unique spot in film history for its own superb merits as well as the ongoing controversy surrounding its production.

Title Track: Schulberg’s screenplay was originally titled “Waterfront”, but was changed when Columbia learned about the TV show of the same name that premiered during this film’s post-production. Bonus shoutout to Cobb, Malden, and Rudy Bond (as “Moose”), who all utter the phrase “on the waterfront” at some point in the movie.

Seriously, Oscars?: A hit upon release, “On the Waterfront” was far and away the frontrunner on Oscar night, receiving 12 nominations and winning 8 (tying the then-record with “Gone with the Wind” and “From Here to Eternity“). Among its wins were Best Picture, Director, Actor (accepted by Marlon Brando in person and without incident), Story and Screenplay, and Supporting Actress for Eva Marie Saint.

Other notes 

• Ultimately, I keep coming back to one question: Why did Elia Kazan inform against his colleagues to HUAC? Of course, anyone’s reasons for doing anything are personal and nuanced, so only Kazan truly knows for sure why he did it. What I do know is that Kazan had been a member of the Communist party in the mid-1930s, but quickly left after becoming disillusioned by its “discipline and secretive hierarchy”. When Kazan was asked to testify before HUAC in January 1952, he denounced Communism in a closed-door meeting but did not name any members. When he was called for a public hearing three months later he, like so many others who named names, was worried that his career would be destroyed if he didn’t (I also suspect that as an immigrant, Kazan felt threatened by an accusation of un-American behavior). While Kazan knew that either choice would have lifelong ramifications, he felt testifying was the right decision, and “On the Waterfront” served as a semi-conscious defense of his actions. Screenwriter Budd Schulberg’s reasons for naming names in May 1951 are more clear-cut: he had also been a member of the Communist party in the 1930s, but quit when high-ranking officials tried to force changes to his novel “What Makes Sammy Run?” that aligned more with the party’s values. Still bitter about this over a decade later, Schulberg testified against the party after being named himself by another screenwriter.
• While working for The New York Sun, reporter Malcolm Johnson was assigned to investigate a murder on the Manhattan waterfront in 1948. While on assignment, Johnson learned of a powerful crime syndicate that had secretly corrupted the longshoremen union, providing work to those who kept quiet. Johnson’s subsequent 24 article series “Crime on the Waterfront” was the first major exposé on crime syndicates in American journalism and earned him a Pulitzer Prize. The film rights were purchased by screenwriter Budd Schulberg, which got the attention of Elia Kazan, whose own attempt at a movie based on these events (“The Hook” written by Arthur Miller) fell through. The comparisons between Terry Malloy’s actions and those of the film’s director and screenwriter did not go unnoticed, and the film was controversial from day one.
• Okay, with all that context out of the way, how is the actual movie? It’s very good, I give it that. Brando, of course, is holding this movie together with an incredibly realistic performance as a regular guy in extraordinary circumstances. This is the kind of movie that can best highlight Method acting. Despite its modern reputation, the Method is about naturalistic performances that, to quote the Bard, “hold as ’twere the mirror up to nature”.

• For a movie that relies on subtext to convey some of its bigger ideas, “On the Waterfront” has some pretty heavy-handed metaphors throughout. Exhibit A: Following Joey’s death, Terry raises his pigeons. Get it? Like pigeon the bird but also like a stool pigeon? Don’t worry, they’ll repeat it until you understand.
• What a remarkable feature film debut for Eva Marie Saint. There’s something very unique about Saint as a screen actor: the best of both Classic Hollywood and the Actors Studio. It’s a fascinating performance, and it makes you wish Saint was given more opportunities to star in her own movies.

• Also making their film debut: Martin Balsam! The future Oscar winner and victim of Norman Bates shows up here as Gillette, one of the investigators for the Crime Commission. Look at how young he is!
• Karl Malden is one of those actors whose latter-day caricature precedes him, but I’m really enjoying his performance here as a kick-ass priest. Who needs “Going My Way” when you got Malden punching Brando and smoking cigarettes?

• I would be remiss if I did not mention that like his director and screenwriter, Lee J. Cobb was also a “friendly witness” who named names to HUAC. Unlike Kazan and Schulberg, however, Cobb publicly regretted his decision. Another example on the pigeon level of subtleties: Cobb’s character is named “Johnny Friendly”? Come on, that’s just mean.
• If the actor playing Friendly’s thug Slim looks familiar, it’s Fred Gwynne, aka Herman Munster! Later in the film Slim’s real name is revealed as Mladen Sekulovich, Karl Malden’s real name that he enjoyed sneaking into his film projects whenever possible.
• Today in Code-era censorship: Terry uses the phrase “bird seed”, a common movie euphemism for another kind of BS.
• Kazan manages to sneak in at least one of his trademark social causes into the film: a handful of bit parts are played by Black actors at a time when the Civil Rights movement was just starting to pick up steam (the Montgomery bus boycott was still a year away).
• The glove scene is the Method in a nutshell. Brando takes a little detail in the scene and makes it integral to the story. By holding Edie’s glove and putting it on, Terry is forcing her to stay and talk to him; far more endearing and less obvious than grabbing her and shouting “Listen to me!”

• The phrase “D ‘n D” comes up a lot. In this context, it means “deef and dumb”, but of course it’s funny to imagine these tough New Jersey-types sitting around rolling 20 sided dice and gaining XP on a new campaign. I bet Charley was an excellent Dungeon Master.
• This is legendary composer Leonard Bernstein’s only non-musical film score, and it’s very…Leonard Bernstein. Maybe it’s the time period and the lower class setting, but some of this music sounds like a first pass at “West Side Story“. One piece of music has a few passages that almost turn into “Something’s Coming”.
• One bit of Oscar trivia: “On the Waterfront” was the first movie to receive three Supporting Actor nominations: Cobb, Malden, and Steiger. They’re all great, but I can see how they split the vote. Their screen time is comparable and although they each serve the story in different ways, none of them really dominate over the other two. Looks like this is Edmond O’Brien’s lucky day.
• Wow, that cab scene. What can I say? It’s a classic for a reason. Brando and Steiger play this scene of brotherly betrayal honestly without resorting to melodrama. Terry’s “I coulda been a contender” mini-monologue, in which he accepts that Charley is the one who cost him his prizefighting career, still stings. Steiger for his part shows Charley’s change of heart realistically with zero theatrics. Good stuff. No notes.

• If Lee J. Cobb doesn’t like this courtroom hearing, it’s gonna be real awkward in a few years when he winds up serving jury duty with Martin Balsam.
• Why is everyone mad that Terry testified against a corrupt mob? Doesn’t everyone’s life get easier now that Friendly has been taken down? Obviously Kazan’s real-life actions are more nuanced than what this movie can present in under two hours, but I don’t see the logic comparing a violent crime lord actively trying to kill you with a group of innocent artists associated with a political party you no longer agree with. “On the Waterfront” is staunchly pro-union and anti-corruption, but at the end of the day it doesn’t work as a justification of Kazan and Schulberg’s actions. Better luck next time boys.

Legacy 

• “On the Waterfront” was an immediate hit with critics and audiences alike. Brando’s performance in particular still gets singled out almost 70 years later as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) film performances of all time. Such heavy-hitters as Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and Anthony Hopkins have all cited Brando’s performance in “Waterfront” as a major inspiration and influence on their careers.
• Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg would reunite a few years later for fellow NFR entry “A Face in the Crowd” (which I recall enjoying). Decades later Schulberg would adapt his “On the Waterfront” script into a stage play. After a disastrous preview period, a change in directors, and one cast member having a heart attack during the press performance, “On the Waterfront” opened on Broadway in May 1995, and closed six days later.
• The first major parody of “On the Waterfront” was Sid Caesar’s “On the Docks” sketch. The morning after it aired, Caesar received congratulatory phone calls from both Brando and “Waterfront” producer Sam Spiegel.

• The film’s legacy has pretty much boiled down to the line “I coulda been a contender”. It has been referenced and parodied so often that I suspect most people have no idea where it’s from. The line was put to good use in “Raging Bull” when Jake La Motta recites the scene with zero recognition of how it parallels his relationship with his own brother. De Niro acts out non-acting so well it’s like he’s not acting!

• Among the film’s non-Contender references: Karl Malden’s appearance as a priest in an early episode of “The West Wing”, allegedly using the same bible and stole he used in “On the Waterfront”.

• But of course, the film’s political legacy is that Hollywood never fully forgave Elia Kazan, not just for naming names, but also for having such a successful career with seemingly zero professional consequences. Kazan made nine more movies over the next 22 years, though none hit quite as big as “Waterfront”, and his actions with HUAC permanently haunted his career and legacy. When Kazan received a lifetime achievement Oscar in 1999 (an award successfully lobbied for by Academy board member Karl Malden), it was met with protests and criticism prior to the ceremony, and many in attendance refused to applaud for him.

#637) The General (1926)

OR “Keaton’s Laws of Locomotion”

Directed by Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton

Written by Buckman and Keaton. Adapted by Al Boasberg and Charles Smith. Based on the book “The Great Locomotive Chase” by William Pittenger.

Class of 1989 

The Plot: Inspired by a real life event, “The General” centers around Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton), a Georgian engineer who loves his steam engine The General as much as he loves his sweetheart Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). When the Civil War breaks out, Johnnie is rejected by the Confederate Army, though due to a misunderstanding Annabelle thinks he never enlisted and refuses to see him anymore. In 1862, a group of Union soldiers hijack The General, with Annabelle taken hostage onboard. Johnnie pursues the soldiers on another train, with the chase leading him behind enemy lines. Only Johnnie and his set of iconic pratfalls can save them now!

Why It Matters: The NFR calls it Keaton’s “most memorable film”, detailing its rocky production and initial negative reception, though states the film is “now considered a classic of comedic understatement”.

But Does It Really?: If you were forced to only have one Buster Keaton movie on this list, “The General” is the natural choice. We’ve covered almost all of the Keaton on this list, and “The General” brings all of his skills together in one movie: his inventive gags, his impressive stuntwork, his flawless timing, all in his most ambitious film. There is plenty of room for Keaton’s filmography on the NFR, but “The General” is the total package, and a great encapsulation of one of filmdom’s greatest artists.

Wow, That’s Dated: The good news: despite being set during The Civil War, “The General” does not feature any negative stereotypes of African-Americans and makes no reference to slavery. The bad news: Because of this, the film has been criticized for promoting the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, in which the Confederate succession had nothing to do with slavery and more with subjective values like honor and chivalry. It’s the kind of revisionist history that I assume is still popular in some the internet’s more dubious corners.

Title Track: I have somehow gone the entire run of this blog without knowing that The General in “The General” is the train. Not only that, but The General was the name of the actual train that was stolen in the real-life event. Keaton attempted to get the real General for his film, but the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway denied access once they learned that the film was a comedy.

Other notes 

• William Pittenger was one of the Union soldiers who stole The General, and while many of his co-conspirators were caught and hanged, Pittenger survived and eventually recounted his experience in the 1889 memoir “The Great Train Robbery”. 35 years later, Clyde Bruckman brought this story to the attention of his collaborator (and train enthusiast) Buster Keaton, who immediately saw the potential of a film version. According to Keaton biographer Marion Meade, Keaton changed the film’s protagonist to the Southern engineer because he didn’t think an audience would accept the Confederates as the bad guys (which….huh).
• “The General” received the then unheard of budget of $400,000 (roughly 6.8 million today). It helps that the head of United Artists at the time was Joseph Schenck, the former head of Buster Keaton Productions. The film’s production lasted throughout the summer of 1926, and was troubled to say the least. Many cast and crew members (including Keaton) suffered physical injuries, and the budget ballooned upwards of $750,000 (some sources even saying $1,000,000). In addition to the metaphorical fires Keaton and his crew put out, there were also the frequent literal fires caused by the trains’ wood-burning engines and their proximity to trees and haystacks.

• I was all ready to subtitle this post “Union Buster” only to realize that a) Keaton’s character is on the Confederate side and b) I already used that subtitle on my “Outlaw Josey Wales” post. There are only so many Civil War-based puns.
• One of the Confederate generals (the one who kinda looks like the Wizard of Oz) is played by Keaton regular Frederick Vroom. That name again: Frederick Vroom.
• My first legitimate LOL of the film came when Johnnie gets rejected by the Confederate army: “If you lose this war, don’t blame me.”
• The film’s first iconic shot comes when Johnnie, dejected from his encounter with Annabelle, unknowingly sits on a nearby train’s coupling rods, and remains seated even when the train takes off and the rods start moving. Just one of those perfect film moments that epitomizes the silent era: it’s visually impressive and you know it will never be replicated again.

• Once we get to the actual train chases the film (forgive me) really picks up steam. It’s all so wildly inventive. I especially enjoyed the scene of Johnnie trying to fire a cannon at the soldiers, with hilarious results. All I could think was “How did he do that?”
• The film’s other iconic moment: Johnnie sitting on the train’s cowcatcher, quickly removing lumber from the track to prevent derailment. As with all of Keaton’s stunt work, you marvel at a man doing all of these stunts in real time. No double, no green screen, just a comic genius who can somehow control the timing of everything around him, even the movement of the lumber. Given the degree of difficulty, I have dubbed Buster Keaton “Silent Film’s Greatest Insurance Risk”.

• One thing I noticed about Buster Keaton in this film: He’s so handsome. Keaton would have been 31 when he filmed “The General”, and he has a very youthful, almost Roman look about him. Maybe it’s the combination of more close-ups and the restored print I was watching that made me notice that the Great Stoneface is actually quite the looker.
• I was not expecting this movie to have a bear in it, and definitely not expecting any character to get caught in a bear trap. Somehow Annabelle survives this without needing her leg amputated.
• Almost immediately after the bear trap scene, Annabelle spends an entire sequence trapped inside a burlap bag. And who says there aren’t any good parts for women?
• Not to overanalyze why Keaton’s comedy works, but for me it’s the little moves: the glances, the hesitations, the extra half-steps that Keaton’s characters all tend to have. Obviously these moves are part of his films’ overall choreography, but these details add some realism to the absurdity, as if Keaton’s character is an innocent bystander who somehow found himself in a silent movie.
• Once we got to the train riding past a water tank, I was ready for the iconic sequence where Keaton runs atop the train cars and dangles on the water spout. And then I remembered that that sequence isn’t in this movie: it’s in “Sherlock Jr.”, which I’ve already covered for this blog. Man these movies bleed together after a while.
• The finale isn’t the funniest scene in the movie (even critics at the time found it a tad too dark), but you do have to admire the scope of it. I mean come on, Keaton was blowing up bridges and crashing trains 30 years before “Bridge on the River Kwai“. Side note: that shot of the bridge exploding is said to have cost $42,000, allegedly making it the most expensive shot in silent film history.

• The climax may have been disappointing, but at least the film ends with a solid gag, where the recently promoted Lt. Johnnie kisses Annabelle while simultaneously saluting each passing soldier. Good stuff.

Legacy 

• “The General” is one of the few classic films on this list that started out as both a critical and financial failure. Critics felt the film didn’t live us to Keaton’s standards, with the New York Herald Tribune calling it “the least-funny thing Buster Keaton has every done.” While the film did okay financially, it did not come close to recouping its budget. Due to the film’s perceived failure, Keaton lost a lot of his creative control, ultimately leaving United Artists for MGM, a move that gave him even less creative freedom. Despite the bad breaks, Keaton stood by “The General”, and considered it the best film he ever made.
• Reevaluation of “The General” started happening in the 1950s, when actor James Mason bought Buster Keaton’s former house in Los Angeles and found a print of the film (then presumed lost or destroyed) in a walled-up section that used to be Keaton’s projection room. A few years after the film’s rediscovery, “The General” lapsed into public domain, therefore making it free to air on TV and reaching a wider audience. Keaton lived long enough to see his work be rediscovered, and “The General” received a successful re-release in the 1960s.
• “The Great Locomotive Chase” was adapted for the screen again as the 1956 Disney drama of the same name starring Fess Parker. Unlike Keaton’s adaptation, this version skews closer to the source material, with the Union soldiers once again serving as protagonists.

• As for the train itself: The General was retired in 1891 after 35 years of service. The engine of The General has been displayed many places over the last century, including both the 1939 and 1964 New York World’s Fair. For the last 50 years, The General has resided at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia.

I’ve spent the better part of the last year co-directing and editing “Test Room D”, a short film based on a play I was lucky to direct a few years back. It was quite the experience trying to direct a film after spending the last six years watching some of the greatest movies of all time, but I’m happy with the results. Take a look if you want to know if I can truly practice what I preach, and to see the talented group of creatives I surrounded myself with.

#636) Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)

OR “No Way, José”

Directed by Michael Gordon

Written by Carl Foreman. Based on the play by Edmond Rostand. English translation by Brian Hooker.

Class of 2022

The Plot: José Ferrer is Cyrano de Bergerac, the 17^th century Frenchman as famous for his cunning wit and expert swordsmanship as for his unusually large nose. Despite his outwardly confident personality, his nose causes him a lot of self doubt, especially in his desire to woo his cousin, the beautiful Roxane (Mala Powers). When Roxane confides in Cyrano that she has a crush on his fellow cadet, the handsome Christian de Neuvillette (William Prince), Cyrano is secretly devastated but promises to protect him. While Christian is mutally attracted to Roxane, he lacks the poetry of words needed to woo her, and Cyrano begrudgingly agrees to help. As Christian and Roxane fall in love, the cadets are called to fight in the Thirty Years’ War. One of literature’s most famous love triangles is brought to the big screen, with only one side of that triangle truly delivering.

Why It Matters: Although the NFR admits that the film suffers from “appearing too much [like] a stage production”, they praise Ferrer’s “star-making” turn as Cyrano, and give the film’s Oscar stats. The second half of their write-up is a shoutout to UCLA alum Myra Teitelbaum Reinhard, who funded this film’s restoration.

But Does It Really?: Hmmm…I don’t know. The NFR is big on this film’s status as the first English language film adaptation of the Rostand play, as well as José Ferrer’s barrier-breaking Oscar win (more on that later). That being said, I don’t think that’s enough to warrant NFR induction. The film itself lives and dies on Ferrer’s performance. His Cyrano is worth the price of admission, but the rest of the film just sits there, with no other elements rising to Ferrer’s level. I first saw this version of “Cyrano de Bergerac” in my freshman English class, and while I found the film more entertaining on this rewatch, its induction into the NFR is a bit of a head-scratcher.

Title Track: Shout out to the real life Cyrano de Bergerac who, like his fictionalized counterpart, was a playwright and duelist who served in the 1640 Siege of Arras. To the best of my knowledge, he didn’t have any romantic feelings for his cousin, though according to a portrait drawn by his contemporary Zacharie Heince, he did have a larger-than-average nose.

Seriously, Oscars?: Despite mixed reception from critics and audiences, “Cyrano de Bergerac” received one Oscar nomination for José Ferrer’s performance. Facing such competition as William Holden in “Sunset Boulevard“, Spencer Tracy in “Father of the Bride”, and James Stewart in “Harvey”, Ferrer won the prize, becoming the first Hispanic and Puerto-Rican born actor to win the Best Actor Oscar. Ferrer was in the midst of being subpoenaed by HUAC during his Oscar campaigning, something he alludes to in his acceptance speech, calling this win “a vote of confidence and an act of faith”. Shortly after Ferrer’s win, he was cleared of any ties to Communism and avoided the blacklist.

Other notes 

• Upon its debut in Paris in December 1897, Edmond Rostand’s play “Cyrano de Bergerac” was an immediate success and became a staple of theater troupes around the world. In 1923, American actor Walter Hampden commissioned playwright Brian Hooker to pen a new English translation of the play, with their subsequent production still holding the record for the show’s longest Broadway run. The Hooker translation was revived on Broadway in 1946, with José Ferrer playing Cyrano and winning the very first Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. The film rights to the Hooker adaptation were initially owned by Sir Alexander Korda, who wanted to make a film version with Orson Welles, but at some point Korda sold the rights to producer Stanley Kramer for $40,000. Kramer was unsure of the film’s box office potential, so he purposefully kept the costs down; the script was condensed to run under two hours, and the whole film was shot on a Hollywood soundstage (giving the film its “stagy” aesthetic).
• Shoutout to George Glass: this film’s associate producer, Stanley Kramer’s longtime collaborator, and Jan Brady’s imaginary boyfriend.
• Yeah, this movie belongs to José Ferrer and no one else. His Cyrano has the flourish and panache you would expect on the stage, but Ferrer can reign it in for the camera when the more dramatic scenes call for it. It’s the last stand for the kind of theatrical screen acting that “The Method” would deem extinct within a few years. I also love the cadence of his voice (the superlative “sonorous” crops up in a lot of reviews), and these fun little gesticulations he does with his hands; it’s like Cyrano is conducting the world around him.

• But of course, I can’t praise Ferrer’s performance without acknowledging his prosthetic attribute. Shoutout to makeup creators Gustaf & Josef Norin for their work on The Nose. It’s just large enough to be conspicuous but not enough to be unrealistic. Plus, the blending job holds up on an HD screen! Take that, Nicole Kidman in “The Hours”! Kramer and his company allegedly spent $1500 on the nose, roughly $19,000 today, and it’s worth every penny.
• Cyrano’s introduction by disrupting a stage performance is proof that theater audiences have always been the worst. But hey, at least he’s not singing along to “The Bodyguard”. Side Note: The vendor that offers Cyrano food in this scene is Elena Verdugo, about 20 years away from her memorable work as Consuelo Lopez on “Marcus Welby, M.D.”.
• Oh right, Roxane is Cyrano’s cousin, although later on he backpedals a bit and says she’s a “distant” cousin. Today on “Weird Things I Research for this Blog”, I learned that relationships between first cousins are still acceptable throughout Europe. In fact, the USA is the one of the few countries with laws that prohibit cousins from marrying, and even then that’s on a state-by-state basis. You can still marry your cousin in 26 states including…California? Really? Yikes, maybe we’re too liberal out here.

• Clearly Cyrano and his friends all live in the French province of Sans Accent Francais.
• I’m sorry but…this movie does not have a lot going for it, at least not as much as I expect from an NFR movie. If they only preserved Ferrer’s first few monologues, maybe I would understand the inclusion, but on the whole this movie is a slog. If you’re going to adapt a very text-heavy play to film, you have to have strong visuals and/or compelling actors, and outside of Ferrer this film is lacking on both fronts. No offense to Mala Powers, one of your standard ’50s ingenues, but her Roxane is not something to write home about. Hell, Roxanne from “A Goofy Movie” had more personality.
• And here we get the second most famous balcony scene in all of world literature, with Cyrano feeding Christian lines to say as he woos Roxane. I always forget that Cyrano takes over at one point, which makes Roxane look really dumb for not noticing the switch. He doesn’t even try to change his voice!

• William Prince kinda looks like Robert Vaughn if you squint a little. Also, as you can imagine, trying to do an internet search for “William Prince” can be a bit challenging if you’re looking for the actor and not any infinitely more famous royalty with the inverted name.
• [Spoilers] Wow, I really don’t have a lot to say about this movie. If you can get past the whole cousin thing I guess it’s kinda romantic, but even José Ferrer can’t save this thing. Though Cyrano does quite literally die trying.

Legacy 

• “Cyrano de Bergerac” opened in New York and Los Angeles in late 1950 to qualify for the Oscars, receiving a wider release after Ferrer won Best Actor. Stanley Kramer’s initial concerns proved correct, as “Cyrano” failed to make a profit at the box office. The film has continued to stick around in part due to lapsing into the public domain in the mid-1980s, therefore making it easier for video and streaming services to release the film.
• Although Ferrer survived the blacklist, he still found difficulty working in Hollywood. After another Oscar-nominated turn in John Huston’s “Moulin Rouge”, Ferrer returned to the New York stage, at one point having four of his directing efforts playing on Broadway at the same time in May 1952!

• Several other members of the “Cyrano” team ended up getting blacklisted, notably screenwriter Carl Foreman, director Michael Gordon, and actor Morris Carnovsky. Thankfully these three all lived long enough to survive the blacklist and continued to find work. Michael Gordon has one of his post-blacklist films on the NFR: 1959’s “Pillow Talk“.

• Ferrer returned to the role of Cyrano a few more times, including a TV adaptation in 1955 (earning an Emmy nomination), the 1964 action mash-up “Cyrano and d’Artagnan”, and a 1974 animated “ABC Afterschool Specials” episode. His best remembered non-Cyrano work includes his pivotal cameo in “Lawrence of Arabia“, and playing the Emperor of the Universe in David Lynch’s “Dune”.

• Other notable film Cyranos include a 1990 French version with Gerard Depardieu (also getting an Oscar nod for his performance), Steve Martin’s 1987 update “Roxanne”, and most recently a musical adaptation starring Peter Dinklage.

• Fun Fact: Director Michael Gordon is the grandfather of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt! Equally Fun Fact: José is the father of actor Miguel Ferrer and the uncle of George Clooney (via his marriage to George’s Aunt Rosemary).

Bonus Clip: Because I love it so much, here’s Steve Martin’s version of the Nose monologue from “Roxanne”.

Listen to This: José Ferrer pops up on the National Recording Registry thanks to a recording of the 1943 Broadway production of “Othello”, playing Iago to Paul Robeson’s Othello, with Ferrer’s then-wife Uta Hagen as Desdemona. Apparently Cary O’Dell had the day off, because Lindsay R. Swindell Ph.D. has the honor of writing the NRR’s “Othello” essay.