Most Honourable Bear ©
By
Benny Thomas
Spirits watch over the Ainu people. These aborgines who inhabit parts of Hokkaido island in Japan know it has been so. Through years of drought and leanness. In the midst of famine those spirits had unleashed their power in such mysterious ways they have no other explanation. Kamui (spiritual beings) carefully see to their well-being. Naturally these people revere them by lighting inau or prayer sticks. Old Ainu( pronounced eye-noo) take special care to please two gods in particular: god of harmony and god of opposites.
Once the quarrel between these two gods became more sharper then ever before. “The sky has kissed the earth. Peace must follow. Most honourable Bear would make it so.”said god of harmony while the other saw nothing but trouble. One whole day they argued back and forth while the island of Hokkaido lay in ruins after a run of calamities, seven years in a row. More willow-trees were cut and more incense sticks were lit; and the smoke filled the nostrils of those who lived in the spirit world. They stepped in to make peace between the two.
Thus Most Honourable Bear was sent on the earth. After sending him well provided for, the spirits waited for things to happen.
Most Honourable Bear known by name Kayano had a change of pelts and he knew what he must do. While descending over the island he scanned the villages and the hunting grounds of the people whom he was required to watch over.
It was the month of October. He saw a girl among many and her beauty struck him. He wanted to hasten to her side. The god of opposites whispered into his ears,”She is a mortal,Kayano. She will lose all her beauty which affect you now so much.” God of harmony whispered quietly,”But she will make you complete. Love is the key!”
“Bah!”the other god snorted,”Misery is another name.”When god of opposites snorted the sound was covered by a splash, which startled the girl. She was called Katanto. She was busy gathering bunches of algae from Lake Akan, which were needed for the coming festival. Yes, she saw Kayano who had taken a human form and was rising from the waters.
The two gods watched on with interest. They were of course invisible to her.
Kayano seemed as if he were in danger. Katanto shrieked in horror at the sight of a young man who was going down for the third time. She swam and reached him first. She managed to bring him to safety. Other girls lit a fire and brought him some hot broth. When Kayano opened his eyes he thought he saw his rescuer was the most beautiful thing on earth. He smiled boldly and she blushed in return. “I know,”he said after he had revived,”you are by far the best thing in this world!””No those curls of smoke going up from the roof of a chisei,” she said with her head turned down,”it is far lovelier.” He was sure it was not since it had to be lit by some hand. “The hand that lights the stone stove and keeps the fire from going out is lovelier than any smoke.”He heard one god saying in his ear,”Must you be so quick as to declare your love?”The other whispered in his turn,”Must you break her heart so lightly?”
Kayano could not help and he pursued her and she finally agreed to marry him. She took him to her father who was the elder of the village. He explained how the village was cursed because of a famine. “A family in such lean time as this scrapes the barrel of misery.”he said stroking his flowing beard sadly, “Can you not wait till we all have had peace and prosperity?”
“But I love Katanto so much.”
“Such haste is becoming in the young. But with age comes that sad understanding as I have; So I must say, No.”
“Father!”his daughter shrieked unable to contain herself,” it will be the death of me!”
While her father tried to comfort the sobbing girl the two gods were counselling Kayano. Both gods had made it very plain. One ended,”Most Honourable Bear, you have sown love and must reap death!” He was torn with pain and asked god of harmony,”Isn’t there something which shall bind love and death into one?”
“Sorry, Most Honourable Bear,”both gods said slightly embarrassed,”the matter entirely rests with the girl.”
Kayano was allowed by both to meet the girl once for the last time. Before he spoke she surprised him by saying,”I am sure of my love for you. Nothing in this world shall separate me from you.”
“Nothing shall stop me from death which now awaits me, Farewell!” Before parting he gave a bearskin to her and said,”Think of me ever!”
After that Katanto was no more seen in that village. It seemed all so mysterious that all of a sudden two bears were spotted in the neighbourhood. Those hunters who had hung up their bows and arrows having nothing to hunt became so excited. One evening they went in formation to stalk a bear which one had seen at the Nibutani area. At last he was corned and one hurled a spear, which would have found its mark. To their amazement a female bear hurled herself and got the point right in her chest. When one hunter checked her, along came the other with a great howl and impaled himself in a shower of arrows. How it came all together was so uncanny. They didn’t know what but villagers knew they appeared in order to heal the land.
Since that time bears were always plentiful to them.
Only the gods knew the truth. Katanto had died in order to be one with her beloved. Of course they thought it all a waste. ‘Why die when you are a god?’ Most Honourable Bear was sent to make peace between the sky and earth. He needed not have died. In the end they had to agree the land of Hokkaido was in peace indeed. There were nightly singing there. Peace such as that comes after an agreeable feast; such peace that comes from certainty of abundance. In that knowledge old men could dream on while the youth hunted, and made their hearths once more a haven for their future.
God of Opposites had to agree: in their love Kayano and Katanto brought harmony into two opposites.
The End
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Collateral Damage of Life
If so much as long life beyond
Mortal hour-glass may be burdened;
Each grain nudging an age thereof
Past its pursed mouth to eternity; enough
For hills to powder crumble
And the hollows levelled to brim
I shall still think: one brief hour was
All that needed for such a man as I:
An hour rounded off by happiness.
If so much as long life beyond
Pleasure of senses or of mind did last
Life would have lost its best part,
For a man such as I: Devoid of feel
A head though with facts be filled
Has come far too short on living;
Unsettled as I am, one perfect hour was
All that needed for such a man as I :
An hour rounded off by happiness.
Wrapped in tears and laughter of mankind
Either way a perfect fit I may never find.
benny
01-17-07
Mortal hour-glass may be burdened;
Each grain nudging an age thereof
Past its pursed mouth to eternity; enough
For hills to powder crumble
And the hollows levelled to brim
I shall still think: one brief hour was
All that needed for such a man as I:
An hour rounded off by happiness.
If so much as long life beyond
Pleasure of senses or of mind did last
Life would have lost its best part,
For a man such as I: Devoid of feel
A head though with facts be filled
Has come far too short on living;
Unsettled as I am, one perfect hour was
All that needed for such a man as I :
An hour rounded off by happiness.
Wrapped in tears and laughter of mankind
Either way a perfect fit I may never find.
benny
01-17-07
Friday, 20 June 2008
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Anecdotes
You Asked For It!
1.
Once at the Algonquin round table, Dorothy Parker reported sadly,”My old cat, that I’ve loved so dearly has grown so feeble and helpless that I’m going to have him put away.”She added she was wondering the most humane way to do it. It elicited this comment from Playwright George S. Kaufman: “Have you thought of curiosity?”
2.
“I understand your grandfather was a Negro, monsieur” a nobleman once asked Alexandre Dumas,”May I enquire what your great grandfather was?”
“An ape, sir,”replied Dumas,”My pedigree commences where your terminates.”
3.
WH Russel of the Times once approached Bismarck and reminded him,”Your Excellency, you’ll have to admit that I am one newspaperman who has respected yor confidence. You have conversed with me on all sorts of subjects and never once I repeated a word you said.”
Bismarck cried angrily: “The more fool you are! Do you suppose I’d ever say a word to a man in your profession that I didn’t want to see in print?”
4.
Noel Coward was once approached by a reporter for the London Star, who asked,” Mr. Coward, would you like to say something to the Star?”
“Certainly,”replied the playwright,”Twinkle.”
5.
The first US Presidential Press Conference was granted by John Quincy Adams, but unwillingly. The President was swimming in the Potomac river when a newspaper woman Anne Royall surprised him. She sat on his clothes and vowed that she wouldn’t budge until he gave her an interview.
The Potomac was chilly and Adams finally granted her request.
6.
As a rookie reporter for the New York World, young Heywood Brown was told to interview Utah senator Reed Smart.
“I have nothing to say,”Smart told him.
“I know,”replied Brown,”Now let’s get down to the interview.”
• Heywood Brown, one of the kindliest newspaperman ever, wasn’t much of an executive. While running a publication called The Connecticut Nutmeg, its managing board gave him discretionary powers to hire hands at $35 a week. He could go up to $50 maximum.
On the appointed day the job- seekers were called in and Brown queried,”Which would you prefer- $35 a week or $50?”
compiler:benny
1.
Once at the Algonquin round table, Dorothy Parker reported sadly,”My old cat, that I’ve loved so dearly has grown so feeble and helpless that I’m going to have him put away.”She added she was wondering the most humane way to do it. It elicited this comment from Playwright George S. Kaufman: “Have you thought of curiosity?”
2.
“I understand your grandfather was a Negro, monsieur” a nobleman once asked Alexandre Dumas,”May I enquire what your great grandfather was?”
“An ape, sir,”replied Dumas,”My pedigree commences where your terminates.”
3.
WH Russel of the Times once approached Bismarck and reminded him,”Your Excellency, you’ll have to admit that I am one newspaperman who has respected yor confidence. You have conversed with me on all sorts of subjects and never once I repeated a word you said.”
Bismarck cried angrily: “The more fool you are! Do you suppose I’d ever say a word to a man in your profession that I didn’t want to see in print?”
4.
Noel Coward was once approached by a reporter for the London Star, who asked,” Mr. Coward, would you like to say something to the Star?”
“Certainly,”replied the playwright,”Twinkle.”
5.
The first US Presidential Press Conference was granted by John Quincy Adams, but unwillingly. The President was swimming in the Potomac river when a newspaper woman Anne Royall surprised him. She sat on his clothes and vowed that she wouldn’t budge until he gave her an interview.
The Potomac was chilly and Adams finally granted her request.
6.
As a rookie reporter for the New York World, young Heywood Brown was told to interview Utah senator Reed Smart.
“I have nothing to say,”Smart told him.
“I know,”replied Brown,”Now let’s get down to the interview.”
• Heywood Brown, one of the kindliest newspaperman ever, wasn’t much of an executive. While running a publication called The Connecticut Nutmeg, its managing board gave him discretionary powers to hire hands at $35 a week. He could go up to $50 maximum.
On the appointed day the job- seekers were called in and Brown queried,”Which would you prefer- $35 a week or $50?”
compiler:benny
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Simple Pleasures of the Poor
A Cruel Joke
Nothing cheers up folks as Old Ichabod
Who has no fixed abode.
He doesn’t live here or there
But everywhere folks watch out
For a sight of Old Ichabod.
We have care and tear of living
On the edge without satisfaction;
Make us laugh, no matter what.
Sight of you is an unction.
Nothing cheers up folks as Old Ichabod
Who is set in ways very odd;
He is gaunt and in much want.
So much was plain, and death came
Without notice to Old Ichabod.
Old folks and infants passing
The pauper’s last resting place
Took that as a cruel joke:
‘There was none to take his place.’
benny
12-25-06
Nothing cheers up folks as Old Ichabod
Who has no fixed abode.
He doesn’t live here or there
But everywhere folks watch out
For a sight of Old Ichabod.
We have care and tear of living
On the edge without satisfaction;
Make us laugh, no matter what.
Sight of you is an unction.
Nothing cheers up folks as Old Ichabod
Who is set in ways very odd;
He is gaunt and in much want.
So much was plain, and death came
Without notice to Old Ichabod.
Old folks and infants passing
The pauper’s last resting place
Took that as a cruel joke:
‘There was none to take his place.’
benny
12-25-06
Monday, 16 June 2008
What Price Honor?
Jay Gould who made millions in stock manipulations once had to flee New York from Law with six million dollars in cash. Undaunted the robber baron chortled to his friends,”Nothing is lost,boys save honor”.
compiler:benny
compiler:benny
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Stagecoach-1939
In the beginning there were westerns, B-films and their variant, ‘bang,bang and drop- dead- you- fool!-kind of stuff but with John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939 the westerns got class and lot of respect. It made John Wayne a star. Since then a western film without him was like a Thanksgiving dinner without turkey. ‘Ford here introduced his signature Western setting of Monument Valley, lending Stagecoach a realism that set it apart from studio-bound films; and his deep focus interiors preceded Citizen Kane by two years. A critical and commercial hit, Stagecoach helped spearhead the revival of the Western as a viable A-feature… When he made Citizen Kane, Orson Welles claimed that he learned everything about directing movies from watching Stagecoach more than 40 times. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
What separated the film from other Westerns was the way Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols artfully balanced the genre's standard action with the character studies. Within 96 minutes of its running time Ford could round off action and development of the story on a telling metaphor: the stagecoach as a microcosm of the confrontation between "civilization" and "savagery." (Naturally the Native Americans will take strong exception to the bald statement.) The scenes where the coach journeys through hostile Apache territory are memorable and the irony of a honor-bound outlaw Ringo fighting valiantly for the very society that has shunned him makes the film singularly memorable.
Written by Dudley Nichols (The Informer (1935)), who based his screenplay on an Ernest Haycox story, the credited cast also includes (top billed) Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar playing Doc Boone (a drunken doctor role remarkably similar to his only other Academy Award nominated performance in The Hurricane (1937)), Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, Tim Holt, and Tom Tyler. The film also received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, director Ford, Editing, Art Direction, and B&W Cinematography; its Score won an Oscar. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1995. #63 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies list.
Dallas (Trevor), a fallen woman with a heart of gold and Doc Boone (Mitchell) are passengers. They are being run out of town by its more proper residents. The doctor for being hopelessly drunk on the job while Dallas, not for her good heart but for being a prostitute are not welcome there. ( Dallas reminded me of ‘Ball of Fat,’ a story by Guy de Maupassant.) Marshal Curly Wilcox (Bancroft) makes sure both make it onto that afternoon's stage, driven by the talkative (to the point of being obnoxious) Buck, played by Devine. Society's Lucy Mallory (Platt) insists on traveling to rendezvous with her husband, despite having to share the coach with the shunned Dallas. Gambler Hatfield (Carradine), smitten with Mrs. Mallory, decides to go along as well. Doc is thrilled to assist the reluctant liquor salesman Samuel Peacock (the apt named Meek) aboard with his (soon to be free) samples too. When cavalry Lieutenant Blanchard (Holt) arrives to tell of Apaches on the route, Marshal Wilcox decides to ride shotgun. On the way out of town, they pick up banker Henry Gatewood (Churchill) who, as it turns out in the end, has just embezzled some valuable assets. Along the way through Monument Valley, they encounter an escaped prisoner, The Ringo Kid (the camera zooms in, and then focuses on Wayne), who's wanted for avenging one who'd killed his brother and vows to get the rest, Luke Plummer (Tyler) and his two brothers, to finish the job. The marshal arrests him on the spot.
Dallas dreams the impossible dream of settling down Ringo's wife; upon joining the others, he was instantly taken with her and, without knowing her past, had insisted that the others treat her as a lady, like Mrs. Mallory. Lucy a prim and proper lady is in a hurry and she turns out to be pregnant. So naturally she is so intent on reaching her husband. Doc is quickly sobered up and called into action. Upon his success, he's suddenly respected by the others for the first time on the journey. Dallas earns Mrs. Mallory's appreciation by assisting with the delivery and caring for her child. Of course, the stagecoach makes it through Indian territory; initially they'd had to go it alone without an escort, but the cavalry arrives just in time (as they've run out of bullets and Hatfield was just about to use his last shot to save Mrs. Mallory the horror of falling under the savages control) to save the day. Upon arriving in town, Gatewood is arrested and Ringo has his showdown with the Plummers, with predictable results, while the supportive Marshal decides to look the other way. As the story ends, Dallas and Ringo ride off into the sunrise (presumably, he's to serve the rest of his time in prison while she waits at his ranch).
Memorable Quotes:
Henry, the Ringo Kid: Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from.
Dallas: Well, you gotta live no matter what happens.
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Come busting in here - you'd think we were being attacked! You can find another wife.
Chris: Sure I can find another wife. But she take my rifle and my horse. Oh, I'll never sell her. I love her so much. I beat her with a whip and she never get tired.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Your wife?
Chris: No, my horse. I can find another wife easy, yes, but not a horse like that!
Ringo Kid: Well, I guess you can't break out of prison and into society in the same week.
Ringo Kid: You may need me and this Winchester, Curly. Saw a ranch house burnin' last night.
[the telegraph breaks off in mid-message]
Capt. Sickel: Well? What's wrong?
Telegraph operator: The line went dead, sir.
Capt. Sickel: What have you got here?
Telegraph operator: Only the first word, sir.
Capt. Sickel: (reading) Geronimo.
[Lt. Blanchard has just informed the stagecoach occupants that the cavalry will not escort them to Lordsburg]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: This stage is going to Lordsburg. If you think it ain't safe to ride along with us, I figure we can get there without you soldier boys.
Henry Gatewood: So you're the notorious Ringo Kid.
The Ringo Kid: My friends just call me Ringo - nickname I had as a kid. Right name's Henry.
The Ringo Kid: That was my kid brother that broke his arm. You did a good job, Doc, even if you were drunk.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Thank you, son. Professional compliments are always pleasing.
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Now folks, if we push on we can be in Apache Wells by sundown. Soldiers there will give us an escort as far as the ferry. Then it's only a hoot and a holler into Lordsburg. We got four men who can handle firearms - five with you, Ringo. Doc can shoot if sober.
[the stagecoach occupants vote on whether to continue without a cavalry escort]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: You, Doc?
Dr. Josiah Boone: I'm not only a philosopher, sir, I'm a fatalist. Somewhere, sometime, there may be the right bullet or the wrong bottle waiting for Josiah Boone. Why worry when or where?
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Yes or no?
Dr. Josiah Boone: Having that philosophy, sir, I've always courted danger. During the late war - when I had the honor to serve the Union under our great president, Abraham Lincoln... and General Phil Sheridan - well, sir, I fought mid shot and shell and cannon roar...
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Do you wanna go back or not?
Dr. Josiah Boone: No! I want another drink.
[Mrs. Mallory, a passenger, has just given birth]
Buck: Hey, Curly, do you think I oughta charge Mrs. Mallory's baby half fare?
Dr. Josiah Boone: I'll take that shotgun, Luke.
Luke Plummer: You'll take it in the belly if you don't get out of my way.
Dr. Josiah Boone: I'll have you indicted for murder if you step outside with that shotgun.
Luke Plummer: [throws the shotgun on the bar] We'll attend to you later.
Dr. Josiah Boone: [to bartender after Plummer leaves] Don't ever let me do that again.
Ed (editor): McCoy! Billy, kill that story about the Republican Convention in Chicago and take this down: "The Ringo Kid was killed on Main Street in Lordsburg tonight. And among the additional dead were..." Leave that blank for a spell.
McCoy, typesetter: I didn't hear any shootin', Ed.
Ed (editor): You will, Billy, you will.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Jerry, I'll admit as one man to another that, economically, I haven't been of much value to you. But do you suppose you could put one on credit?
Jerry (bartender): If talk was money, Doc, you'd be the best customer I got.
Buck: If I was you, I'd let them shoot it out.
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Let who?
Buck: Luke Plummer and the Kid. There would be a lot more peace in this territory if that Luke Plummer was so full of lead he couldn't hold his liquor.
Henry, the Ringo Kid: Hold it!
Buck: If there's anything I don't like, it's driving a stagecoach through Apache country.
[first lines]
Cavalry scout: These hills here are full of Apaches. They've burnt every ranch building in sight.
[referring to Indian scout]
Cavalry scout: He had a brush with them last night. Says they're being stirred up by Geronimo.
Capt. Sickel: Geronimo? How do we know he isn't lying?
Cavalry scout: No, he's a Cheyenne. They hate Apaches worse than we do.
[last lines]
Dr. Josiah Boone: Well, they're saved from the blessings of civilization.
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Yeah.
[laughs]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Doc, I'll buy you a drink.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Just one.
Dr. Josiah Boone: [drunkenly to his hideous landlady upon eviction] Is this the face that wrecked 1000 ships and burned the towerless tops of Illium? Farewell, fair Helen.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Seems to me I knew your family, Henry. Didn't I fix your arm once when you, oh, bumped off a horse?
Ringo Kid: Are you Doc Boone?
Dr. Josiah Boone: I certainly am. Ah, let's see... I'd just been honorably discharged from the Union Army after the War of the Rebellion.
Hatfield: You mean the War for the Southern Confederacy, sir.
Dr. Josiah Boone: I mean nothing of the kind, sir!
Ringo Kid: That was my kid brother broke his arm. You did a good job, Doc, even if you was drunk.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Thank you, son. Professional compliments are always pleasing. What happened to that boy whose arm I fixed?
Ringo Kid: He was murdered.
Hatfield: A gentleman doesn't smoke in the presence of a lady.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Three weeks ago I took a bullet out of a man who was shot by a gentleman. The bullet was in his back!
Hatfield: You mean to insinuate...
Ringo Kid: Sit down, mister. Doc don't mean no harm.
Ringo Kid: Look, Miss Dallas. You got no folks... neither have I. And, well, maybe I'm takin' a lot for granted, but... I watched you with that baby - that other woman's baby. You looked... well, well I still got a ranch across the border. There's a nice place - a real nice place... trees... grass... water. There's a cabin half built. A man could live there... and a woman. Will you go?
Dallas: But you don't know me - you don't know who I am.
Ringo Kid: I know all I wanna know. Will you go?
Dallas: Oh, don't talk like that!
[the stagecoach occupants are voting whether or not to continue without a cavalry escort]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: How 'bout you, Mr. Hancock?
Samuel Peacock: Peacock. I'd like to go on, brother. I want to reach the bosom of my dear family in Kansas City, Kansas as quickly as possible; but, I may never reach that bosom if we go on... so, under the circumstances - you understand, brother - I think it best we go back with the bosoms... I mean the soldiers.
Henry Gatewood: [clutching valise with embezzled funds] I can't get over the impertinence of that young lieutenant. I'll make it warm for that shake-tail! I'll report him to Washington - we pay taxes to the government and what do we get? Not even protection from the army! I don't know what the government is coming to. Instead of protecting businessmen, it pokes its nose into business! Why, they're even talking now about having *bank* examiners. As if we bankers don't know how to run our own banks! Why, at home I have a letter from a popinjay official saying they were going to inspect my books. I have a slogan that should be blazoned on every newspaper in this country: America for the Americans! The government must not interfere with business! Reduce taxes! Our national debt is something shocking. Over one billion dollars a year! What this country needs is a businessman for president!
On John Ford(ack: wikipedia)
John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was Academy Award-winning American film director of Irish heritage famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath. His four Best Director Academy Awards (1935, 1940, 1941, 1952) is a record still unmatched, although only one of those films, How Green Was My Valley, won Best Picture.
His style of film-making has been tremendously influential, leading colleagues such as Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles to name him as one of the greatest directors of all time. In particular, Ford is a pioneer of location shooting and the extreme long shot, which frames his characters against a vast, harsh and rugged natural terrain. Ford has further influenced directors as diverse as Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Peter Bogdanovich, Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, Wim Wenders, Judd Apatow, David Lean, Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard.
Ford's favorite location for his films was in southern Utah's Monument Valley… Ford's evocative use of the territory for his Westerns has defined the images of the American West so powerfully that Orson Welles once said that other film-makers refused to shoot in the region out of fears of plagiarism.
He tended only to shoot the footage he needed and in the right sequence, minimizing the job of his film editors.
compiler:benny
What separated the film from other Westerns was the way Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols artfully balanced the genre's standard action with the character studies. Within 96 minutes of its running time Ford could round off action and development of the story on a telling metaphor: the stagecoach as a microcosm of the confrontation between "civilization" and "savagery." (Naturally the Native Americans will take strong exception to the bald statement.) The scenes where the coach journeys through hostile Apache territory are memorable and the irony of a honor-bound outlaw Ringo fighting valiantly for the very society that has shunned him makes the film singularly memorable.
Written by Dudley Nichols (The Informer (1935)), who based his screenplay on an Ernest Haycox story, the credited cast also includes (top billed) Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar playing Doc Boone (a drunken doctor role remarkably similar to his only other Academy Award nominated performance in The Hurricane (1937)), Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, Tim Holt, and Tom Tyler. The film also received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, director Ford, Editing, Art Direction, and B&W Cinematography; its Score won an Oscar. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1995. #63 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies list.
Dallas (Trevor), a fallen woman with a heart of gold and Doc Boone (Mitchell) are passengers. They are being run out of town by its more proper residents. The doctor for being hopelessly drunk on the job while Dallas, not for her good heart but for being a prostitute are not welcome there. ( Dallas reminded me of ‘Ball of Fat,’ a story by Guy de Maupassant.) Marshal Curly Wilcox (Bancroft) makes sure both make it onto that afternoon's stage, driven by the talkative (to the point of being obnoxious) Buck, played by Devine. Society's Lucy Mallory (Platt) insists on traveling to rendezvous with her husband, despite having to share the coach with the shunned Dallas. Gambler Hatfield (Carradine), smitten with Mrs. Mallory, decides to go along as well. Doc is thrilled to assist the reluctant liquor salesman Samuel Peacock (the apt named Meek) aboard with his (soon to be free) samples too. When cavalry Lieutenant Blanchard (Holt) arrives to tell of Apaches on the route, Marshal Wilcox decides to ride shotgun. On the way out of town, they pick up banker Henry Gatewood (Churchill) who, as it turns out in the end, has just embezzled some valuable assets. Along the way through Monument Valley, they encounter an escaped prisoner, The Ringo Kid (the camera zooms in, and then focuses on Wayne), who's wanted for avenging one who'd killed his brother and vows to get the rest, Luke Plummer (Tyler) and his two brothers, to finish the job. The marshal arrests him on the spot.
Dallas dreams the impossible dream of settling down Ringo's wife; upon joining the others, he was instantly taken with her and, without knowing her past, had insisted that the others treat her as a lady, like Mrs. Mallory. Lucy a prim and proper lady is in a hurry and she turns out to be pregnant. So naturally she is so intent on reaching her husband. Doc is quickly sobered up and called into action. Upon his success, he's suddenly respected by the others for the first time on the journey. Dallas earns Mrs. Mallory's appreciation by assisting with the delivery and caring for her child. Of course, the stagecoach makes it through Indian territory; initially they'd had to go it alone without an escort, but the cavalry arrives just in time (as they've run out of bullets and Hatfield was just about to use his last shot to save Mrs. Mallory the horror of falling under the savages control) to save the day. Upon arriving in town, Gatewood is arrested and Ringo has his showdown with the Plummers, with predictable results, while the supportive Marshal decides to look the other way. As the story ends, Dallas and Ringo ride off into the sunrise (presumably, he's to serve the rest of his time in prison while she waits at his ranch).
Memorable Quotes:
Henry, the Ringo Kid: Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from.
Dallas: Well, you gotta live no matter what happens.
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Come busting in here - you'd think we were being attacked! You can find another wife.
Chris: Sure I can find another wife. But she take my rifle and my horse. Oh, I'll never sell her. I love her so much. I beat her with a whip and she never get tired.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Your wife?
Chris: No, my horse. I can find another wife easy, yes, but not a horse like that!
Ringo Kid: Well, I guess you can't break out of prison and into society in the same week.
Ringo Kid: You may need me and this Winchester, Curly. Saw a ranch house burnin' last night.
[the telegraph breaks off in mid-message]
Capt. Sickel: Well? What's wrong?
Telegraph operator: The line went dead, sir.
Capt. Sickel: What have you got here?
Telegraph operator: Only the first word, sir.
Capt. Sickel: (reading) Geronimo.
[Lt. Blanchard has just informed the stagecoach occupants that the cavalry will not escort them to Lordsburg]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: This stage is going to Lordsburg. If you think it ain't safe to ride along with us, I figure we can get there without you soldier boys.
Henry Gatewood: So you're the notorious Ringo Kid.
The Ringo Kid: My friends just call me Ringo - nickname I had as a kid. Right name's Henry.
The Ringo Kid: That was my kid brother that broke his arm. You did a good job, Doc, even if you were drunk.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Thank you, son. Professional compliments are always pleasing.
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Now folks, if we push on we can be in Apache Wells by sundown. Soldiers there will give us an escort as far as the ferry. Then it's only a hoot and a holler into Lordsburg. We got four men who can handle firearms - five with you, Ringo. Doc can shoot if sober.
[the stagecoach occupants vote on whether to continue without a cavalry escort]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: You, Doc?
Dr. Josiah Boone: I'm not only a philosopher, sir, I'm a fatalist. Somewhere, sometime, there may be the right bullet or the wrong bottle waiting for Josiah Boone. Why worry when or where?
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Yes or no?
Dr. Josiah Boone: Having that philosophy, sir, I've always courted danger. During the late war - when I had the honor to serve the Union under our great president, Abraham Lincoln... and General Phil Sheridan - well, sir, I fought mid shot and shell and cannon roar...
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Do you wanna go back or not?
Dr. Josiah Boone: No! I want another drink.
[Mrs. Mallory, a passenger, has just given birth]
Buck: Hey, Curly, do you think I oughta charge Mrs. Mallory's baby half fare?
Dr. Josiah Boone: I'll take that shotgun, Luke.
Luke Plummer: You'll take it in the belly if you don't get out of my way.
Dr. Josiah Boone: I'll have you indicted for murder if you step outside with that shotgun.
Luke Plummer: [throws the shotgun on the bar] We'll attend to you later.
Dr. Josiah Boone: [to bartender after Plummer leaves] Don't ever let me do that again.
Ed (editor): McCoy! Billy, kill that story about the Republican Convention in Chicago and take this down: "The Ringo Kid was killed on Main Street in Lordsburg tonight. And among the additional dead were..." Leave that blank for a spell.
McCoy, typesetter: I didn't hear any shootin', Ed.
Ed (editor): You will, Billy, you will.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Jerry, I'll admit as one man to another that, economically, I haven't been of much value to you. But do you suppose you could put one on credit?
Jerry (bartender): If talk was money, Doc, you'd be the best customer I got.
Buck: If I was you, I'd let them shoot it out.
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Let who?
Buck: Luke Plummer and the Kid. There would be a lot more peace in this territory if that Luke Plummer was so full of lead he couldn't hold his liquor.
Henry, the Ringo Kid: Hold it!
Buck: If there's anything I don't like, it's driving a stagecoach through Apache country.
[first lines]
Cavalry scout: These hills here are full of Apaches. They've burnt every ranch building in sight.
[referring to Indian scout]
Cavalry scout: He had a brush with them last night. Says they're being stirred up by Geronimo.
Capt. Sickel: Geronimo? How do we know he isn't lying?
Cavalry scout: No, he's a Cheyenne. They hate Apaches worse than we do.
[last lines]
Dr. Josiah Boone: Well, they're saved from the blessings of civilization.
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Yeah.
[laughs]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: Doc, I'll buy you a drink.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Just one.
Dr. Josiah Boone: [drunkenly to his hideous landlady upon eviction] Is this the face that wrecked 1000 ships and burned the towerless tops of Illium? Farewell, fair Helen.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Seems to me I knew your family, Henry. Didn't I fix your arm once when you, oh, bumped off a horse?
Ringo Kid: Are you Doc Boone?
Dr. Josiah Boone: I certainly am. Ah, let's see... I'd just been honorably discharged from the Union Army after the War of the Rebellion.
Hatfield: You mean the War for the Southern Confederacy, sir.
Dr. Josiah Boone: I mean nothing of the kind, sir!
Ringo Kid: That was my kid brother broke his arm. You did a good job, Doc, even if you was drunk.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Thank you, son. Professional compliments are always pleasing. What happened to that boy whose arm I fixed?
Ringo Kid: He was murdered.
Hatfield: A gentleman doesn't smoke in the presence of a lady.
Dr. Josiah Boone: Three weeks ago I took a bullet out of a man who was shot by a gentleman. The bullet was in his back!
Hatfield: You mean to insinuate...
Ringo Kid: Sit down, mister. Doc don't mean no harm.
Ringo Kid: Look, Miss Dallas. You got no folks... neither have I. And, well, maybe I'm takin' a lot for granted, but... I watched you with that baby - that other woman's baby. You looked... well, well I still got a ranch across the border. There's a nice place - a real nice place... trees... grass... water. There's a cabin half built. A man could live there... and a woman. Will you go?
Dallas: But you don't know me - you don't know who I am.
Ringo Kid: I know all I wanna know. Will you go?
Dallas: Oh, don't talk like that!
[the stagecoach occupants are voting whether or not to continue without a cavalry escort]
Marshal Curly Wilcox: How 'bout you, Mr. Hancock?
Samuel Peacock: Peacock. I'd like to go on, brother. I want to reach the bosom of my dear family in Kansas City, Kansas as quickly as possible; but, I may never reach that bosom if we go on... so, under the circumstances - you understand, brother - I think it best we go back with the bosoms... I mean the soldiers.
Henry Gatewood: [clutching valise with embezzled funds] I can't get over the impertinence of that young lieutenant. I'll make it warm for that shake-tail! I'll report him to Washington - we pay taxes to the government and what do we get? Not even protection from the army! I don't know what the government is coming to. Instead of protecting businessmen, it pokes its nose into business! Why, they're even talking now about having *bank* examiners. As if we bankers don't know how to run our own banks! Why, at home I have a letter from a popinjay official saying they were going to inspect my books. I have a slogan that should be blazoned on every newspaper in this country: America for the Americans! The government must not interfere with business! Reduce taxes! Our national debt is something shocking. Over one billion dollars a year! What this country needs is a businessman for president!
On John Ford(ack: wikipedia)
John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was Academy Award-winning American film director of Irish heritage famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach and The Searchers and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath. His four Best Director Academy Awards (1935, 1940, 1941, 1952) is a record still unmatched, although only one of those films, How Green Was My Valley, won Best Picture.
His style of film-making has been tremendously influential, leading colleagues such as Ingmar Bergman and Orson Welles to name him as one of the greatest directors of all time. In particular, Ford is a pioneer of location shooting and the extreme long shot, which frames his characters against a vast, harsh and rugged natural terrain. Ford has further influenced directors as diverse as Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Peter Bogdanovich, Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, Wim Wenders, Judd Apatow, David Lean, Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard.
Ford's favorite location for his films was in southern Utah's Monument Valley… Ford's evocative use of the territory for his Westerns has defined the images of the American West so powerfully that Orson Welles once said that other film-makers refused to shoot in the region out of fears of plagiarism.
He tended only to shoot the footage he needed and in the right sequence, minimizing the job of his film editors.
compiler:benny
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