Dark Journey

(A shorter review of this video appears in my "10 Best Westerns" review)

This is the movie for which the Duke should've gotten the Oscar for. Not that Rooster Cogburn isn't a great character, but it's Ethan Edwards that shows that
he was a superb actor. John Ford also should've gotten an Oscar for this one...
it is the best western ever made. Because no film ever evoked the West better.

The film opens as Confederate veteran Ethan Edwards (Wayne) returns home three years after the Civil War has ended. His brother and sister-in-law and their children welcome him, although it's obvious that there are some strains in the relationship. There are also questions as to what Ethan's been up to these years he's been away (he has a large quanity of newly minted yankee coins for one thing). But for the most part he's welcomed warmly. Until we meet Marty (Jeffrey Hunter), the Edward's foster son. Ethan makes some comments on Marty's
part Cherokee ancestery that reveal his deep seated hatred toward Indians. While they eat together, a company of Texas Rangers ride in commanded by Captain Sam Clayton (Ward Bond) who's both a ranger and a preacher. They are looking for cattle stolen by Indians. Ethan and Marty agree to come along (largely because Ethan's smelling what's coming, and wants his brother to stay close to home to protect his family). The company soon discovers that the Indians are Comanches, and that the cattle were stolen as a feint to lure the rangers away. Back at the ranch (you all knew that line was coming, didn't you?), the Edwards soon realize that they are being watch, and begin to lay down a defense, and send their youngest daughter, Debbie (played by Lana Wood as a child, and Natalie Wood as a teenager) out to the family grave plots. As the tension mounts for the attack we all know is coming...Debbie looks up, and we all get a good look at the Comanche chief...Scar (Henry Brandon)!!!

Dissolve to the rangers coming to the ranch house...too late. It's smouldering, and the family has been butchered, only the girls are unaccounted for. Thinking they may have been taken captive the rangers (after a quick funeral which Ethan cuts even shorter) take off after the Comanches. A fierce battle with the Indians ensues, and Ethan, and Marty break away from the main body (which has been badly mauled in the fight) with the eldest girl's beau (Harry Carey Jr).
Ethan soon discovers the body of his eldest neice (the scene where he reveals the truth to Harry Carey is brilliantly handled, and everybody who doesn't think the Duke could act should be forced to watch this scene over and over again). The beau rides off to avenge her, and only succeeds in getting himself killed.
Ethan and Marty continue on the their search, hoping to find Debbie...

What follows is a five year quest for Debbie...and like all quests, the external search is but a metaphor for what lays within each man. Both Ethan and Marty are men in search of a family. Marty, the orphan, and Ethan the exile...yet family means different things to them, or so it seems. For Ethan, looking for Debbie represents something he hasn't had in a long time, a purpose...a reason to keep going. As for Marty, he wants what was lost in the raid, the warmth and love that comes with family. Like two arthurian knights wandering the wasteland
Marty is Sir Percivale, the ill-made knight, gauche and gawky, yet innocent enough to achieve the Grail, while Ehan is Sir Bors, gruff, and more versed in the ways of the world.

Through it all is the visual magnifigance of Monument Valley. A sweeping vista of brooding, barren mesas, bleak sand and rock, and shadowed caves. Yet, it is beautiful, a harsh unyielding beauty, a pefect backdrop for the dark journey unfolding on the screen.

There is more to this movie than just a metaphorical grail quest. It is also a study into the darkness of men's souls. Namely Ethan's unyielding private war against the Comanches. John Ford could easily have depicted this in a simplistic "racist...bad" style, (which is how modern PC sophisticates would do it nowadays), but Ford is wise enough to explore Ethan's character, and reveal the layers beneath. Yes Ethan is a bigot...but it is a bigotry that is tinged with repect for his enemy. His knowledge of the Comanche culture is encyclopedic, and his command of their language is fluent. He has studied them so closely that he has become something of a Comanche himself. His hate has ironically made him into the very thing he wants to destroy. And he is perfectly matched in every way by his nemesis, Scar. Both have learned their enemies" ways, both are driven by oncompromising hate, and both are relentless foes. They cannot coexist, it isn't in their natures, and in the end one or the other must prevail. An attitude that is mirrored by their respective cultures, born out two hundred years of constant warfare

The movie is full of the traditonal Ford touches, folksy humor, musical interludes, and homey touches, balanced by epic battles, and powerful dramatic performances, mostly the Duke's. He gives Ethan Edwards his all, an at times chilling, at times sympathetic, and at all times brilliant. We may not like Ethan, or what he stands for (or what he thinks he stands for), but we cannot deny we understand him, and feel for him when he hurts, and suffers. We know his rage, for it is in all of us. For we are human beings. And that is the essence of Ford's artistry.