I'm in a sort of quandary with this. I dislike these men, Ford and Wayne. I think Wayne is artless and was actually dangerous to society. Ford has this mean and misogynistic streak and likes dumb stories, really dumb. But in this case, I was swept away by the cinematography. Oh, its nothing particularly deep, but it just seems so pure and right for what they were attempting, which was this notion of transcendent freedom.
Ford's idea of the west and therefore America was this business of openness. His cowboy stories usually deal with unhealthy constraint in some way. Here it is kidnapping and racial defilement. The story is simple: a man has an affair with his brother's wife and sires two girls. He runs off to the war and becomes a crook (but a good American one). Returns. Girls captured by evil Indians. Man searches for them to kill them, so that they don't have to live with the burdens of events.
You could imagine all sorts of depth in this, and some watchers have, despite the bluntness of the two principles, and the absolutely childish second plot, childishly done as if it represented the intrusion of the little girl's mind before the captive sex.
So I have to admit, that I give this my watchable recommendation. Even the bad parts work for me because it represents a visit to a fictional world of American liberty that is so iconic and pure it takes the breath away. Even the noble, manly fights. Even the hate. Even the halting thoughts of a man who won't listen because he knows.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
