Classic vs. Revisionist

After viewing both My Darling Clementine and Once Upon a Time in the West I have gotten a chance to compare both a classic and a revisionist western respectively. I have decided to compare the lead women in both films. in the classic Clementine is an inncoent women who gets walked all over by Doc and Wyatt is there for the rebound. In the revisionist western Jill is a prostitute from New Orleans. She is not afraid to use her body to get what she wants. To the extreme she, to stay alive was dang near raped by frank. In both westerns The girl is fallen, this is constent throughout all westerns. They are both falling for the lead male hero and finally they are both attractive. Lets be honest Jills Legit. I like the revisionist western better because its more eventful and longer

Stagecoach (1939)

I watched the movie Stagecoach for this journal and decided to talk about the acting involved in making this a great movie. Before I talk about the acting I will give a brief plot summary of the film. Everyone boards a stagecoach , among them are Dallas (Claire Trevor), the town whore, and Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell), an alcoholic. Both of them are being driven out of town by a morality group. shortly after the journey starts they come across The Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a young rancher who has broken out of jail. He was in jail for a murder that he didn't do it was actually the Plummer brothers. He is out for revenge on Luke Plummer even though they are friends. They run into an Apache tribe that Ringo helps fight and Dallas has a baby.

I didn't choose acting because I thought it was all that great, but because John Wayne was in it. Without watching any movies with Wayne in it I still knew about him because of all his movies has done. He has been apart of two hundred and forty films. He had a lead role in a record holding one hundred forty two.

In Stagecoach Wayne plays the Ringo Kid (not to be confused with the old comic book character, they actually have no relation.) In Stagecoach John Wayne had his break through role after making seventy low budget westerns and adventures. A funny story about how Wayne got his break in the film industry all started when he went to USC on a football scholarship. He had a friend get him a job as a prop guy in exchange for tickets. He then met John Ford the director of Stagecoach and the man that made him famous. Wayne has been type casted as a western actor for his entire career. His trade marks are hid very deep voice and slow talking. Though John Wayne is the most well known actor in Stagecoach, his performance was trumped by supporting actor Thomas Mitchell

Mitchell played Doc Boone, a Drunk man who needs to sober up in order to birth Dallas' child. Mitchell's acting of a drunken doctor breaks away from his normally cocky and self assured roles of his past. The change payed off in the end because Mitchell brought home an Oscar as best supporting actor. Mitchell was accustomed to acceptance speeches by the end of his career with the triple crown of acting. A Tony, Oscar, and an Emmy. Individual accolades aren't the only awards Mitchell's films collect. In 1939 alone three of ten films nominated for Best film, he stared in.

Claire Trevor played Dallas, a prostitute that falls in love with Ringo. The fact that Dallas was a prostitute wasn't a new thing among western films. Of the three I've scene the leading actress has been one. Trevor has been type casted as a floozy and a broad in almost all the movies she is in, mostly because they've primarily been westerns.

As an on going theme I noticed in my research on the actors in Stagecoach its that type casting is a commonly used technique. John Wayne and Claire Trevor both pump out more westerns than Edina pumps out W's. I would think that this would lead to very good performances because they've essentially been doing the same thing for they're entire careers.

(all additional information comes from wikipedia and IMBD.com)

My Darling Clementine

I found an important scene from this movie was the one were Wyatt kicked the drunk Indian out of town. This scene was so very important because it made Earp the hero since the second he came to tombstone. The scene starts when Wyatt is getting a shave when bullets start flying aimlessly. Earp tells the current marshal to do something about it, and he cowards off. Earp takes thing into his own hands and disarmed the Indian. The town cheered for him and he kicked the Indian on his way out.
This point in the movie made him well known in town and gave him the job of marshal. This put fear in the eyes of town criminals when they heard that famous law enforcer Wyatt Earp will be on their tails. This set the tone for the heroics that He would do later in the film.

Family Guy Citizen Kane Reference

Citizen Kane - You buy a Bag of Peanuts in this Town...

In the movie Citizen Kane there is a song that seems to recur several times throughout the movie. This song comes to be at the party after Kane takes over the Enquirer (as can be seen and heard above). Kane kind of shrugs this grand song off and says "you buy a bag of peanuts in this town and you get a song writen about you." This is almost false humbleness because later in the movie it comes up again. When he is running for governor its his campaign tune. The instruments, pitches and pace of the song are identical to that of the song at the party. The third time we hear this song is when Kane has been caught with his love affair and loses the election. When the premature celebratory balloons and streamers are being cleaned up. This time when we hear it the rhythm is slower, the instruments are softer, and the all together feel is much sadder. I think this reoccurring song is there to symbolize Kane's undying love for himself that he just needs to hear a song about him. The song is parallel to Kane's mood. When the song is raging and loud he is in a great mood. When it is slow and drab, he is sad and depressed. This is a great use of sound and very clever of the Cinematographer.

Toy Story

intro to toy story, music by Randy Newman


Toy Story, directed by John Lasseter was the first of Disney Pixar’s animated masterpieces. The main characters were rather big name actors at the time. Tom Hanks, voice of Woody and Tim Allen, voice Buzz Lightyear really take stage with their voices instead of there motions. Before these guys, big name actors didn’t work behind glass, they were on stage.

This story takes place primarily in Andy’s room. Andy is a young boy who really loves playing with his toys, especially Woody (Tom Hanks), a worn out cowboy who has a knack for saving the day. When the hot new toy comes out Andy gets it for his birthday. Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is an oblivious space ranger who doesn’t realize he is a toy. When Buzz comes Woody is put on the shelf and loses his spot as the top toy. When Woody’s plan to get rid of Buzz goes awry, He finds himself in a great deal of trouble and stuck in the house of the toy killing menace, Sid Philips.

This story is highly unbelievable because of the talking toy aspect of it. A very corny idea in itself really makes for a great movie. This film is targeted towards a younger audience however when watching it for my millionth time I picked up on clever jokes aimed at a must older audience. Woody purposely mistook Buzz’s last name with “Lightbeer” and “Lightsnack.” I also got a kick out of Sid’s terminology of a “Triple by-pass brain transplant on a toy.” These clever little jokes can be credited primarily to the director himself because he was also the head writer on the project.

Lasseter’s use of animation earned him the 1996 Oscar, special achievement award, for the first feature length computer animated film. The animation is truly exquisite in the way that everything is so life- like (as you can see in the clip above.) One example of this technology being almost scary good is the glare given off of buzz’s helmet. I appreciate this so much more now that I have aged enough to realize how easy that would be to look over. The life-like drawings are in part because of Bob Pauley. He is the head illustrator and also one of the drawers. Rich Quade and Ashe Braunon, the directors of animation, could be the most important part in the success of this movie, and movies as we know them today.

The cinematography of the film was obviously superb because of this new animation that had never been scene before. Outside of animation there were several types of camera angles used without any cameras. When Buzz first lands on Andy’s bed the shot start at a low angle shot and tilts up to close up of his face. This shows extreme dominance of the lens and power from beginning.

Music also played an important role in this picture. In the Opening credits as shown in the clip above, Randy Newman is singing his academy award nominated “You Got a Friend in Me.” It was nominated for best original music and song. His lyrics are talking about the over all theme of the movie, friendship. As Woody starts out jealous of Buzz, He grows to respect him and love him. The friendship of Andy and Woody at the beginning of the movie is a relationship all people should emulate.

I give this movie two thumbs up because it is genius in its new age technology and its great central theme is very heart warming. This is a great movie for the whole family to watch because its target audience is very braud and its down right funny.