Re: The Westerns

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Whit, an intensely tragic motif of the classic Western is that the rugged individualist who is necessary for the Great Wilderness to be transformed into civilization is himself incapable of living in civilization. The very noble traits which mark him as an invincible defender against Evil seem to rub civilization the wrong way. This says something about civilization that I can't quite put into words right now.

Searchers and Liberty Valance express this perfectly, both using the family as symbol of civilization. In Liberty Valance, Tom Doniphon has a personal dream to marry the girl and live happily ever after on his ranch. However, in helping Ransom Stoddard, he in effect is sacrificing his own dreams. To his credit, he knows what's happening, and helps Ransom Stoddard anyway. But the scene where he burns his ranch down vividly expresses the pain his sacrifice causes him, as all sacrifices of great import must, and that he ultimately dies in obscure poverty multiplies this pain for the audience.

Searchers expresses this same tragedy in one single unforgettable cinematic moment.

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Ethan Edwards, having delivered the niece safely home, finds that he cannot stay. He turns and walks outside, slumped and tired. As the movie ends, John Ford frames Ethan in near silhouette in the doorway, the dark cabin behind him, the vast reaches of the Old West in front of him. The End.

In this respect, Butch Cassidy doesn't quite measure up to the other Westerns. The parallel between the exuberant spirit of Butch and Sundance and the rugged noble individual of Tom Doniphon and Ethan Edwards is certainly apt. But beyond some vague recognition of the various harbingers of their death (most significantly when Etta Place declares she will go back to America, after previously telling them both she would do anything except watch them die), they go to their destiny simply because they have no other choice. They are what they are. But Tom Doniphon especially, and Ethan Edwards as well, have choices, hard choices, choices that are painful in the extreme, and they willfully choose their destinies anyway.

In this respect, I would have put Shane in the place of Butch Cassidy. And as one of the great Westerns of all time, it's hard to exclude Lonesome Dove from any such list. Although at 6 hours and made for TV, it fails the classic format.