Quick Movie Review--She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949)

1. The more I watch the John Ford/John Wayne films, the less it surprises me that they haven't really caught on with people under the age of 40. There are several reasons for this I think--the constant moralizing about American history and the role of individual in the West, the lack of nuance in the characters, the inability of Wayne to act. That doesn't mean that the Ford/Wayne films aren't good. Obviously The Searchers is one of the greatest films made in America. But a lot of them just don't hold up. And She Wore A Yellow Ribbon is one of them. The film's Confederate sympathies are annoying. The ham-fisted way Ford and Wayne push a particular version of American history probably meant a great deal to audiences at the time. But when young people don't believe in this version of history anymore, or just don't care, it makes the film feel really dated.

2. That said, Ford was a master craftsman. The use of color in this movie was masterful. He really brought out the grandeur of the Monument Valley in a way that black and white can't do. He knew how to film a chase scene. He put together stories that meant a lot to audiences at the time. Although I personally never cared very much about the calvary members (despite a lingering fondness for Ben Johnson) or about the calvary in general, it is so obvious why Ford was so influential for multiple generations of directors.

3. I usually pooh-pooh people's criticism of Ford for bad politics. Yeah, his portrayal of Indians would be laughable if it wasn't so powerful in a negative way. But he was a man of his time. Therefore, I shouldn't express such irritation at his pro-Confederate characters. But I have to. I guess I care about the history of slavery and the Civil War more than the Indian Wars. There's no good reason for that. Plus, were there cases of ex-Confederates entering the US Army under psuedonyms? I suppose it is possible. Anyway, the myth of the Lost Cause and nobility of the southern soldiers is really hard for me to swallow.