Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #36: Legends of the Fall (1994)

 

Legends of the Fall is a family drama that takes place across two decades, and is something of a western as the bulk of scenes take place in Montana. Directed by Edward Zwick, it’s based on a novella from Jim Harrison. Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins), leaves the Army out of disgust at how it’s violated its promises to the American Indians and starts a ranch. Joining him are his Indian friend One Stab (Gordon Tootoosis), farmhand Decker with his Cree wife and daughter, and William’s wife Isabel. Isabel does not care for life in Montana, especially when the weather gets bad, and spends most of the movie living elsewhere, but not before she gives William three sons.

The oldest and most ambitious is Alfred (Aidan Quinn), the youngest Samuel (Henry Thomas), and the middle Tristan (Brad Pitt). Tristan takes a lot after his father’s Indian friend One Stab, becoming the most adventurous of the characters, but also the most temperamental. In 1914 Samuel brings home his fiancée Susannah Fincannon (Julia Ormond), and all seems happy. But over the next ten or so years tragedy starts to hit the family, with Susannah finding herself pursued by each one of the Ludlow brothers at one point or another. I won’t describe all the twists and turns of the drama, but let’s just say the movie ends on a bittersweet note and a couple of the characters get overdramatic at points. It does have a nice musical score by James Horner and the acting is solid.

I chiefly chose this movie for my watchlist because the chronological scope of the story allows it to touch on several moments in American history. It deals with some of the fallout of the Old West era, with William Ludlow employing several Indians and a former criminal on his ranch. They’re not living the way they used to, but they’re not completely defeated, either. That being said, this is a rather minor element of the story, save for One Stab’s impact on Tristan’s upbringing. However, the movie does have plenty of western elements, including a final stand-off at the end.

The Ludlow brothers Left to Right: Alfred (Aidan Quinn), Samuel (Henry Thomas), and Tristian (Brad Pitt)

After the more idyllic opening act, Samuel decides to join the Great War over his father’s objections. Not wanting their brother to go alone, his two brothers come along. They join the 10^th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Actually, many Americans, thanks to a growing Anglo-American spirit, went to Canada to fight before their country finally declared war in 1917. The battle depicted is 2^nd Ypres, fought around the Belgian town of the same name. This battle was notable for the Germans’ first major use of gas as a weapon, but this is not depicted in the movie. Though the date given is wrong (February 1915 instead of April 1915), the portrayal of a trench assault is considered accurate.

Here be spoilers. The war leaves Samuel dead and Tristan shaken both by the death and his own violent response to it. He returns and starts to fall in love with Susannah, but his PTSD overcomes him and he decides to wander the world, effectively abandoning her. With her fiancée dead and the attractive Tristan gone, Susannah marries Alfred, but grows unhappy as Alfred starts to climb the social ladder and get involved with some very unscrupulous men (a mix of politicians and gangsters). William suffers a stroke and the ranch starts to decline, but then Tristan comes back and he and his father decide to smuggle alcohol during prohibition.

Susannah (Julie Ormond) gets all mushy with the long-haired Tristan

Prohibition was one of the greatest backfires of American history. Seeing alcohol as the source of many of society’s ills, the Temperance Movement spent nearly a decade trying to get it banned. Incredibly, this came to pass with the 18^th Amendment in 1920. Instead of curing society, it actually made it more lawless as people turned to crime to get their drinks. After all, people sensed that there was nothing inherently evil about wanting to consume a little alcohol, so it was easier for them to break the law in this case.

Usually Prohibition action takes place in the cities, but less populated areas like Montana were involved as well. Actually, Montana got a head start, with Prohibition starting in the state at the end of 1918. It also was the first to repeal it in 1926, a good 6 to 7 years before the 18^th Amendment in total was overridden. Unfortunately for the Ludlows in the movie, their family bootlegging business raises the ire of the local gangsters and tensions escalate into a small war. In real life the mobs had operatives working in rural states such as Montana thanks to the Canadian border. As a result, Legends of the Fall features a unique showdown western and crime movie archetypes.

The family sticks together. Anthony Hopkins is on the right.

I won’t talk too much more about Legends of the Fall, as it’s most a human drama story with a strong historical backdrop. I didn’t even get into the other romantic subplot with Isabel Two (Karina Lombard). This movie is a good way to see how a single family struggles and evolves as major events unfold. Brad Pitt fan girls will have a good time with this movie if you’re one of those.

Rating: 7/10

Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #34: Rough Riders (1997)

 

Most of the movies I’ve watched have taken place within the confines of today’s United States. With Rough Riders, America starts to take a more active role on the global stage. Back in the 1890s, a not entirely accurate press whipped up support for Cuban independence from Spain. After the destruction of the military USS Maine  (long proven to have been an accident and not a Spanish plot) off Havana, Cuba, the US declared war and ended up with several overseas possessions. The idea of creating an overseas empire was extremely controversial at the time, with detractors seeing it as an attempt to emulate the aggression of European powers and the defenders believing it would serve America’s economic interests or, as Theodore Roosevelt believed, keep America’s heroic frontier spirit alive.

The Spanish-American War was an extremely lopsided victory for the United States. Naturally, the only part of the war that could warrant a heroic war film were the land battles in Cuba, where Teddy Roosevelt and his volunteer Rough Riders would distinguish themselves at San Juan Hill. Such a film materialized as a TNT miniseries thanks to Roosevelt fans Tom Berenger and John Milius. Berenger was the initiator, having gotten the idea while playing James Longstreet in Gettysburg. He wasn’t going to direct, however, and chose John Milius for the job.

Milius had already filmed Roosevelt in his 1975 epic The Wind and the Lion, where Brian Keith (who plays President James McKinley for a couple scenes in Rough Riders) turned in an incredible performance as the 26^th president (I almost added this movie to my list to get more Roosevelt, but alas this is his solo appearance). Milius, a rare firm conservative in Hollywood, perhaps saw himself in Roosevelt, as both used mental and physical dedication to overcome a sickly childhood.

Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #32: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Never meet your heroes…especially if they’re on the wrong side of the law.

That’s one of the messages of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, a cult classic western directed by Andrew Dominik. Of all the western outlaws, Jesse James is the most famous. Whereas most famed western robbers only lasted a few years, Jesse James’ career of armed robbery ran from 1866 to 1882, and he was never properly defeated by the law itself, as the title of this movie indicates. Jesse James originated as a Confederate guerilla during the Civil War, gaining some notoriety alongside his older brother Frank. They disapproved of the post-war changes after the Union victory and practically continued the war by robbing Union-friendly targets. They joined up with other outlaws to form the James-Younger gang, and were known for their daring train, bank, and stagecoach robberies. One factor in their success was that they operated in Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and other territory with ex-Confederates. The press and many citizens began to lionize them as continued resistance against Northern tyranny. Outside of politics, there were also claims that they shared their money with the poor. This was not true.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (based on a novel by Ron Hansen) is actually something of a historiographical study. The actual main protagonist Robert Ford, grew up worshipping Jesse James and sees him as the romantic Robin-Hood like outlaw of cheap novels and sensationalized newspaper articles. This view of Jesse James led to a whole slew of movies I could have chosen from, most of them horribly inaccurate (as a kid I saw a Roy Rogers one where he helped fight the stock western villain of the railroad tycoon. Though set in Missouri, it looks like they’re way further west thanks to the filming in California hills). Andrew Dominik’s movie is much closer to history, and shows what happens when the legend falls far from the myth.

Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #31: Tombstone (1993)

 

One of YouTube channel Honest Trailers’ jokes about the movie Tombstone is that it answers the questions “what if you only made a movie out of the good parts.” Only modestly successful at the box office, this new telling of Wyatt Earp and his adventures around Tombstone became a staple of Cable television and is now regarded as one of the most awesome (and manly) movies ever made. This was a real treat on my watchlist, as it somehow is generally accurate while still retaining the feel of an entertaining blockbuster. It’s got an unbelievably full and incredible cast, and it’s a testament to both the actors and the screenplay that nearly all of them leave their mark.

What’s interesting about Tombstone was that it was a sincere update of the classic Western outline. Our protagonist or protagonists show up in a town riddled by chaos. Though reluctant, they ultimately have to use violence to clean up the place. Indeed, this might be the last high-profile Western to not be a deconstructive film. If you ask me, the idea of the deconstructionist Western has been well overplayed by now. Film reporters and critics are always gushing about films for challenging the classic American myth of the West, but these days it’s hardly a brave and bold stance within Hollywood. But that’s not what this review is about, so I’ll get back on topic.

Before going further, I should note that there are two major sources of the inaccuracies in Tombstone. One is that the timeline is simplified and condensed. The time of the Earps’ arrival in Tombstone to the Vendetta Ride was between two and three years. The movie makes it feel much shorter. Also, the characters were up to a lot more, often changing jobs and in the case of love interest Josephine actually leaving the town for a while before coming back. One switcheroo in time is that Doc Holliday seems to die shortly after the Vendetta Ride and then Wyatt links back up with his romantic interest. Actually, Holliday lingered on until 1887, about five years after the movie ends.

Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #30: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)

 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is one of the few movies on my list which I watched for the first time. Directed by Sam Peckinpah in the New Hollywood era of the 70s, I was very interested to see what it would be like. Peckinpah directed the famous Wild Bunch, a big deconstruction of the western. However his follow-up, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, has not fared so well in memory. It did rather poorly on its initial release and was panned critically to boot. The main cause was MGM’s president James Aubrey, who first interfered with time and budget constraints and then, more infamously, forced cuts that undermined the story and themes of the movie.

The theatrical cut removed almost 20 minutes of the movie. Since then Warner Brothers and the Criterion Channel have attempted to release the definitive cut. Apparently I should have watched Criterion’s 50^th anniversary version, but I opted for the Final Preview Cut which is the longest at 124 minutes. Strangely it was a mix of high blu-ray quality and grainy film. I won’t get too much more into the movie’s troubled production, but if you’re into reading about behind-the-scenes chaos this movie is a goldmine.

On to the history, Billy the Kid is one of the more romanticized outlaws of American history. This can be attributed to the very young age when he started his outlaw career and some of the sympathetic circumstances that propelled him to notoriety. As William Bonney he had committed various crimes in his teenage years and had been one of the more dangerous shooters of the Lincoln County War in New Mexico. Even though he was hardly the only one to kill in the war, Bonney was still labeled an outlaw. He gave key testimony in a murder trial in exchange for amnesty from Governor Lew Wallace (Jason Robards plays him for one scene), but did not get what he asked for. From there he became a more hardened outlaw, leading to the events depicted in Peckinpah’s film.

Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #28: Broken Arrow (1950)

 

Broken Arrow tells of the real-life friendship between Apache chief Cochise and prospector Tom Jeffords. Famously the two were actually able to end, at least for a few years, much of the warring between Americans and Apaches. To understand the context of the Apache Wars in the 1860s and 1870s, we’d have to start in 1861. A group of Apache raiders kidnapped a 12-year old boy. Lieutenant George Bascom of the US Army invited Cochise to meet him, making the common mistake of assuming that all Indians of one people answered to one leader. Cochise had no part in the kidnapping and even offered to help get the kid back, but Bascom planned to imprison him. Cochise escaped and the Apache Wars returned with a fierce intensity.

The movie generally follows the events of history, but with quite a few changes and additions. One is the look of Tom Jeffords, who like many Americans of his time sported a good amount of facial hair, but here shows up played by a clean-shaven Jimmy Stewart. Older and having been affected by his service in World War II, Stewart could no longer play the folksy and often idealistic hero, and his career looked uncertain. He found new life, however, as a western actor (I highly recommend his Anthony Mann westerns where he’s a more cynical protagonist).

But enough about an actor’s history. Stewart’s Jeffords surprises the Apache by rescuing one of their wounded youths and being reasonable. As his relationship with Cochise starts to develop, he’s able to negotiate an end to Apache attacks on the overland mail. This is based on a claim that the real Jeffords made, but historians have disputed this. Jeffords definitely, however, helped bring Apaches and US officials together for peace talks. In 1872 he accompanied one-armed General Oliver O. Howard to Cochise’s place. Howard was a firm Christian not given to lying or aggression, so Grant thought that, paired with Jeffords, he’s be a great for a peace-seeking mission. Basil Ruysdael plays Howard in this movie. He does a good job, but Howard is way too old here. The movie further leaves out the famous moment when the religious officer shouted his thanks to God and frightened the Apache (they thought he was summoning magic).

Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #25: Dances with Wolves (1990)

Dances with Wolves is one of the more important films on my 250^th anniversary watchlist. While movies sympathetic to American Indians had been made, it had never been done on such a scale, and certainly had not drawn as much commercial and critical success. This came as a surprise because everyone thought the director and actor, Kevin Costner, was wasting his time on a guaranteed failure. He literally spent five years of his life trying to get the movie made, turning down major movie roles while he sank his own money into the project. It was seen as a vanity project doomed to fail. Instead it was a vanity project that succeeded.

The movie is said to be based on a novel by Michael Blake, but actually the novel originated as a screenplay by the same author. It was turned into a book so that Costner could have better luck attracting support for his film. That being said, there is a stark difference. The novel is set in the American Southwest with the Comanches, but it turned out they couldn’t get enough buffalo in that region to film, so the location was turned to the northern Great Plains with the Lakota Sioux. However, there’s a scene where an old Indian holds up a conquistador helmet to explain previous European incursions. This is an obvious holdover from the earlier script and novel, as 15^th-16^th Century Spaniards never clashed and likely never even met the Sioux.

Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #18: How the West Was Won (1962)

 

How the West Was Won is an epic multi-generational western filmed in the rarely used Cinerama. Cinerama was even wider than widescreen, and required a special set-up to show. While this made for a grand viewing in theaters, the image is so stretched that no TV can show the full images without black screens. On the blue-ray I watched almost half the screen was the black bars on the top and bottom.

The original plan, believe it or not, was even more epic, with six segments and more historical characters coming in and out. The final product was only five segments and only the middle has any real historical figures, but was still grand with wonderful cinematography and a slew of major stars and character actors, not to mention three directors dividing the segments (John Ford among them). The casting is mostly great, the problem being a couple actors who are too old for their role. The worst case is James Stewart, a middle-aged man playing someone who’s supposed to be young. They didn’t even bother dyeing his hair! The segments themselves are not terribly original in their storylines, but do have aspects that make them somewhat fresh, whether it be original stunts or, in the case of “The Plains”, switching out the usual squeaky clean heroes for a gambler and a showgirl.

There’s not a central plot, but the movie does follow a family through 50 years of western history. There are two characters that can be said to have leading roles. Debbie Reynolds is the one who goes coast-to-coast, starting as one of the two daughters of the Prescott family (Lilith Prescott) and becoming a cool old lady at the end. I’d say she’s my favorite. George Peppard doesn’t appear until “The Civil War”, but becomes the male action lead for the rest of the movie, being a soldier and then a lawman. Linking all the segments together is the narrating voice of Spencer Tracy.

Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #17: Jeremiah Johnson (1972)

Jeremiah Johnson is, quite simply, a movie about Jeremiah Johnson, one of the most legendary mountain men of the old American West. Going west to tough it out in the gold and fur trades, he somehow got into a blood feud with the Crow. He earned the nickname “liver-eating Johnson,” based on the rumor that he would cut out the liver of each Crow warrior he killed. The movie doesn’t include the liver part, so don’t worry about any violence in that respect.

Jeremiah Johnson is based on two books, the non-fiction Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson and Vardis Fisher’s historical novel Mountain Man, with a few inventions of its own. The real Jeremiah Johnson’s life is sketchy in areas, with gaps often filled by possibly legendary inventions and embellished facts. The movie definitely adjusts his beginnings. He’s simply portrayed as a Mexican War veteran, when in real life he actually deserted and changed part of his name. The movie likely does this to make him start out as a more innocent and out-of-his-depth man.

Series Review: Hell on Wheels

 

Hell on Wheels is a highly fictionalized version of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad that ran on AMC from 2011 to 2016. Americans had long envisioned a railroad line from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This would go a long way in connecting the East and West coasts and speed up settlement out west. For years the construction of such a railroad was held up by sectional disputes. Predictably Southerners wanted to go south and Northerners vice versa. When the Civil War broke out the absence of Southern clout in Congress removed any obstacles to beginning the railroad. The undertaking was so daunting that the government felt it had to support the Union Pacific, going west from Omaha, and the Central Pacific, going east from San Francisco. The two railroad companies also took much longer than planned to start as they sought further financial backing. Construction was rough, with obstacles ranging from high mountains to deserts to hostile American Indians. The railroad was completed, but both companies soon went bankrupt for their troubles, and practiced unethical shortcuts as they raced each other. The title of the show comes from the name for the Union Pacific’s traveling town, Hell on Wheels.

History is dramatic enough, but the show understandably takes it to another level. Foremost there are a lot more shootouts and murders (the latter was not unheard of). Let’s just say that certain happenings in the show would have been legendary fixtures of American memory if they really happened. The cast of characters is also quite colorful. Most are fictional and they explore all the different perspectives of western life. There are Irish immigrants, pimps, hookers, Mormon settlers, preachers, scheming businessmen and politicians, black laborers, American Indians, Chinese immigrants, etc.

Stand Watie's Raid and the Second Battle of Cabin Creek

 

This is the last of a series looking at the battles that involved the 1^st Kansas Colored Regiment. After their participation in the Camden Expedition (read here), they returned to garrison and fatigue duties. With a year still left in the war and their placement in war-torn Indian Territory, it was inevitable that they would experience more violence in some form. This occurred during a major raid of northern Indian Territory, conducted by Cherokee Colonel Stand Watie and the Texan General Richard Gano. This raid climaxed with an assault on a wagon train at Cabin Creek, the sight of a 1^st Kansas victory. Though this blog post is centered around the Second Battle of Cabin Creek, the 1^st Kansas was only present in two smaller, related incidents. The first was a fight and massacre at Flat Rock Creek and the second a brief encounter after the raid in which the infantry did not engage. For the historical background of Cabin Creek, I refer you to my post on the July battle there.

Back in Indian Territory, the men in the 1^st Kansas Colored found themselves working in hay collecting detachments. This hay fed the horses, mules, cows, and other animal essential for transporting supplies or providing food and milk. These detachments were constant targets of raids and many small fights ensued. In these casualty-light skirmishes, either the Federals drove off the mounted raiders with a few volleys or the Confederates got to the hay and set it on fire. Since the assailants came in small bands, the Federals were not prepared for any sizeable raiding force. This is one factor that would lead to disaster in September of 1864.[1]

 

Wagons for Indian Territory

Stand Watie

In three years of war, Indian Territory was in a bad place. Battles, raids, internecine violence, and theft had absolutely devastated the countryside. Most of the Indians still living in the warzone were soldiers themselves. The families of pro-Union soldiers sought refuge in Kansas and those on the other side went to Texas. Neutral Indians either tried to lay low or took refuge with the others. Thousands of pro-Union refugees remained in Indian Territory and clustered around Fort Gibson. This boosted the logistical drain on the Union’s Trans-Mississippi forces and necessitated continual supply runs. In the summer of 1864 the Arkansas River flooded, enabling steamboats to travel in. This was a swifter alternative to long, dragging wagon trains.[2]

Both sides found themselves in straitened circumstances, but the Confederates had the worst of it. Their morale throughout Indian Territory was at an all-time low. Desertions occurred at an alarming rate, and so many of the quitters were going over to join the Union side that one general groused it would be better to simply hunt them down and kill them as soon as they ran off. [3] Desperate to turn things around, Colonel Stand Watie, the head of the pro-Confederate Cherokees, had been pushing for a major raid since the start of the 1864. One officer, reporting the Indian’s request “to create a diversion with the enemy” between Forts Smith and Gibson, commented, “This has been a favorite expedition with Colonel Watie for some time.”[4]

Ten American Civil War Era Films to Watch

In contrast to some more recent wars, the American Civil War, despite its prominence in historical literature and television documentaries, has not prompted a slew of high profile films. The war was a popular film subject in the silent era, understandable since it was in literal living memory at the dawn of the 20^th Century. Afterwards, however, full-fledged Civil War films grew quite rare. The reason is that an accurate portrayal of events like the Battle of Antietam would require a lot of money and effort put into costuming, battle scenes, etc. This would not be an issue if there was a guaranteed audience. Many moviegoers have strong views on the war or little interest in historical dramas to start with, so spending tens of millions of dollars on a battle epic is a risky venture.

I make this a list of Civil War “Era” rather than Civil War films as my pool of selections is somewhat shallow. Numerous films tie into the war. Many, however, are home front dramas (adaptations of Little Women provide many examples). Still more are westerns, and these are either based on or inspired by Quantrill’s Raiders or use the war as a background for more typical genre staples like fighting Apaches or tales of personal vengeance. As with my list of ten World War II films to watch, I made my selections to cover various aspects of the Civil War Era rather than the actual top ten best movies. I will not include the two mini-series The Blue and the Gray and North and South. My super-quick summary is that the former has some cheesy production values but more relatable characters while the latter has much higher quality in costumes and battle scenes but much more over-the-top drama. I also will not list “relevant recommendations” but instead have a brief list of other films to check out with a quick summary/opinion.