The Searchers (63 page)
Authors: Glenn Frankel
“It was their lands”:
Ibid., p. 29.
Harry “just wandered in”:
Pat Ford interview (BYU).
Pat's father was entranced:
For the story of meeting JF, see Moon, p. 145â49.
about ninety seconds of the footage:
James D'Arc,
When Hollywood Came to Town
, p. 208.
It had a double bed:
Moon, p. 199.
“It gives me a chance to get away”:
Burt Kennedy, “A Talk with John Ford,”
Action!
SeptemberâOctober 1968, p. 6.
bad weather in Arizona:
Daily Production Reports, June 13, 1955, Box 6, F. 22 (JFP).
the Super Chief was the appropriate:
For a description of the Super Chief, see
www.american-rails.com/super-chief.html
.
“A shooting schedule”:
Cooper to Whitney, June 15, 1955 (CVW).
They carved roadways:
Warner Brothers Presents
, March 12, 1956, TV show, narrated by Gig Young (see
Searchers
DVD).
“The women were installed”:
A Turning of the Earth
(documentary).
“Wind was an enemy”:
Frank Perrett, C. V. Whitney Productions press release, undated, p. 4 (WB).
“adobe, whitewashed but with the bricks showing”:
JF Notes, February 10, 1955 (JFP).
Lana Wood recalled:
Finstad, p. 171.
The men earned $15 a day:
“AGREEMENT between C.V. Whitney Pictures and District Tribal Council (MHL).
“A lot of people came”:
Susie Yazzie interview with the author, March 24, 2008.
“When we first went into the Indian reservations”:
Bill Libby, “The Old Wrangler Rides Again,” 1964, in
JF Interviews
, p. 55.
“People have said that on the screen”:
Ibid., p. 71.
“We'll get it off”:
The Hosteen Tso story is from Moon, pp. 149 and 153â55.
“the valley was buried”:
Eyman, p. 207.
“At Monument Valley I have my own personal tribe”:
Ibid., p. 351.
“They were a very dignified people”:
Bogdanovich, pp. 94â95.
“My sympathy was always”:
Tag Gallagher,
John Ford: The Man and His Films
, p. 254.
like a horror movie:
Slotkin,
Gunfighter Nation
, p. 361.
“It was a job”:
McBride, p. 295.
“The Indian children looked on him”:
Chuck Roberson,
The Fall Guy
, p. 169.
a two-year-old Navajo girl:
CVW Productions press release, undated (WB).
he filmed eleven setups:
Daily filing from Shooting Schedule and Daily Production Reports of CV Whitney Pictures (JFP).
Ford also shot scenes:
Some of the few surviving outtakes contain this ride, which appears in
A Turning of the Earth
, Nick Redman's 1998 documentary.
“They had bodies like iron”:
Carey, p. 159.
“I like the cowboys”:
JF Interview, undated, audio file (MHL).
Lee Bradley ⦠Frank McGrath ⦠Jack Pennick:
See
A Turning of the Earth
.
“We were his personal soldiers”:
Roberson, p. 66.
“He never shot in continuity”:
Clothier interview, p. 15, Box 11, F21 (JFP).
The man who emerged:
For a physical description of JF, see Carey, p. 19.
“It was a feeling of reverence”:
Carey interview, p. 13 (JFP).
The two men had been partners:
See Carey's account of JF and Hoch, p. 18.
“Winnie, what do you think?”:
Ibid., p. 67.
“images that are so detailed”:
Ruthurd Dykstra, “The Search for Spectators,”
Kino
, p. 1.
“he avoided the temptation”:
Winton Hoch, p. 1, Box 12, F3 (JFP).
“Too many directors”:
Ken Curtis, p. 4, Box 11, F22 (JFP).
“He didn't want any rehearsing”:
Pippa Scott interview with author, March 24, 2009.
“The actors get tired”:
Bogdanovich, p. 99.
“He never let us get into the scene”:
Curtis Lee Hansen, “Henry Fonda: Reflections on 40 Years of Make-Believe,”
Cinema
, p. 15.
“Oh God, how the man would cheat”:
Ace Holmes, Box 12, F5, p. 20 (JFP).
“He had all his people there”:
Chuck Hayward, Box 12, F1, p. 2 (JFP).
The average film director:
For a discussion of master shots, over-the-shoulder shots and coverage, see
4 Filmmaking
website:
http://production.4filmmaking.com/cinematography1.html
.
“John Ford shoots a picture”:
Wingate Smith, Box 12, F15, p. 3 (JFP).
“If you give them a lot of film”:
Gallagher.
There were thirty-three drivers, five five-ton trucks:
Daily Production Report, June 13, 1955, Box 6, F22 (JFP).
Sonny Whitney ⦠arrived by Cessna:
Whitney telegram, June 14, 1955 (CVW).
“Crockery flew”:
Eleanor Searle Whitney, p. 5.
“I would surely like to give her”:
Whitney to Cooper, May 3, 1955 (CVW).
The superrich ⦠“look upon everything”:
E. S. Whitney, p. 122.
“Whitney had been a polo player”:
Pat Ford interview by D'Arc.
Sonny “came riding up and he was proud”:
Terry Wilson, Box 12, F19, p. 19 (JFP).
Smart Set column in the
New York Journal-American: October 14, 1955.
“We were scared to death”:
Pat Ford interview.
“Two things make Western pictures”:
George Stevens,
Conversations with the Great Moviemakers
, p. 243.
Two stuntmen went down:
Production Notes, June 22, 1955 (JFP).
“I don't think he was terribly well”:
Pippa Scott interview.
“he liked to push people”:
McBride, pp. 567â68.
Even Ford's beloved stuntmen felt his wrath:
Roberson, p. 160.
“When will you learn to ride”:
Ibid., p. 161.
“The whole relationship was something”:
Scott interview.
He lit one Camel after another:
Carey, p. 36.
“My father would say”:
Patrick Wayne interview.
“When I looked up at him in rehearsal”:
Carey, p. 170.
“Was she ⦠? Did they ⦠?”:
Nugent, Revised Final Screenplay, p. 41.
“He didn't say a word”:
Carey, p. 172.
“He was very sweet with me”:
Scott interview.
“I was his godson”:
Pat Wayne interview.
“He used no technical terms”:
Louis Pollock, “Aloneâbut Not for Long,”
Motion Picture
46:550, November 1956.
“When I crossed my arm”:
From
The American West of John Ford
, CBS documentary, December 5, 1971, p. 30 (JFP).
“Everybody thinks I'm crazy”:
Olive Carey, pp. 21â3 (JFP).
July Fourth, they took a break:
The description of the festivities is from the Carey interview and McBride, p. 555.
“More than having received the Oscars”: JF Interviews
, p. 71.
RKO-Pathé Studio in Culver City:
For a description of the studio's history, see
www.seeing-stars.com/studios/culverstudios.shtml
.
“Captain, the Reverend Samuel Johnson Clayton!”:
Revised Final Screenplay, pp. 12â14.
“She slugged me”:
Pippa Scott interview.
“I remember being very unnerved”: A Turning of the Earth
(documentary).
He once told Fred Zinnemann:
McBride, p. 161.
some of the scenes “could have been shot”:
Bosley Crowther,
NYT
, May 31, 1956.
Some of the captives ⦠“have been enslaved”:
JF Story Notes, February 15, 1955 (JFP).
“It's hard to realize they're white”:
Screenplay, p. 74.
“Helluva shot”:
Peter Bogdanovich,
Who the Hell's in It
, p. 289.
“âI'm sorry, girl' he tells her”:
Screenplay, p. 111.
“I wonder, did they box themselves in a corner?”:
Author's interview with James D'Arc.
Ford had shot 187,402 feet of film:
Daily Production Report (JFP).
Max Steiner took over:
Steiner's biography is from Thomas Kiefner, “Max Steiner,” in
Film Music: The Neglected Art
, February 13, 2008.
“as a kind gesture”:
James D'Arc notes to
The Searchers
music CD.
“that is completely haunting”:
JF Story Notes, January 28, 1955, p. 2 (JFP).
Ford turned to Stan Jones:
Jones's bio is from Carey, pp. 91â94, and Stan Jones,
www.westernmusic.com/performers/hof-jones-stan.html
.
“You've got a guy alone”:
Bogdanovich commentary on
The Searchers
DVD.
“I am sorry you are not altogether satisfied”:
Whitney to Steiner, December 9, 1955, (CVW).
The Searchers
“goes down as my favorite”:
Whitney to JF, December 9, 1955 (CVW).
“The picture is brutal in spots”:
Walter MacEwen to Jack Warner, December 5, 1955 (WB).
Whitney was eager to get paid:
See Warner to Whitney, October 25 and November 11, 1955; Whitney to Warner, November 2, 1955 (CVW).
“Frankly I have been very disappointed”:
Cooper to Warner, March 10, 1956 (BYU).
“a myth based on other myths”:
Tag Gallagher, “Angels Gambol Where They Will,”
The Western Reader
, p. 272.
“icons of savage violent beauty”:
Ibid.
“I wish Uncle Ethan was here”: Searchers
screenplay, p. 20.
“You speak good American”:
Ibid., p. 83. But in the screenplay Scar does not make his classic reply.
“These shots ⦠are among the treasures”:
Roger Ebert,
“The Searchers
,” November 25, 2001.
“organic, not imposed on him”:
This and subsequent quotes are from Robert Warshow, “Movie Chronicle: The Westerner,” in
The Western Reader
, p. 36.
“The pictures ⦠end with his death”:
Ibid., p. 40.
“What these apologists forget”:
Jon Tuska,
The American West in Film
, pp. xix, 61, 58, and 237.
Native Americans themselves:
JoEllen Shively's PhD thesis:
Cowboys & Indians: The Perception of Western Films Among American Indians and Anglo-Americans
.
“asking Indians to watch a John Wayne Western”:
Tom Grayson Colonnese, “Native American Reactions to
The Searchers
,” in Eckstein and Lehmann, p. 335.
Scar cannot let go:
Ibid., p. 342.
“Come along, Mrs. Pauley”:
Screenplay, p. 63. Martin's kick is in the script, p. 65.
“Do you know what Ethan will do?”:
Ibid., pp. 103â104.
“The film is not an aberration”:
McBride and Wilmington, p. 148.
“When Ethan picks up Debbie”:
Michael Munn,
John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth
, p. 176.
“Undoubtedly one of the greatest”:
Hollywood Reporter
, March 13, 1956.
“one of the greatest”:
Motion Picture Herald
, March 17, 1956.
“a rip-snorting Western”:
NYT
, May 31, 1956.
“strange but fascinating”:
Film Bulletin
, March 19, 1956.
“the lapses in logic” Time
, June 25, 1956, p. 60.
“Racism was so endemic”:
McBride interview.
“an unmistakable neurotic”:
Anderson, p. 156.
“How can I hate John Wayne”:
Lesley Stern,
The Scorsese Connection
, p. 38.
“You know, I just don't understand”:
McInerney, p. 55.
“Ethan Edwards ⦠was probably the most fascinating character”:
JW voice-over in
The American West of John Ford
(documentary), 1971.
“It made a lot of money”:
McBride and Wilmington, p. 45.
“The worst piece of crap”:
Pappy
, p. 290.
“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
is a serious assault”:
Tara Brady, “In praise of an old Hollywood master,”
Irish Times
, June 7, 2012.
“Young people, including film students”:
Peary, p. ix.
“I am not a poet”:
Ibid., p. xvi.