The Wandering Amishman.....

It is easier to get an
Actor to be a cowboy than
get
a cowboy to be an actor.
Director John Ford.

Cinemas Perfect
Storm
It
is 1939, and there is a storm brewing in Hollywood California. John Ford has
agreed to make the ninety fifth film of his career, and for the first time he
has agreed to place John Wayne in the lead role. At this point Ford is well
aware of Wayne, they can even be called friends, and his decision to hand over
the role as Ringo Kid, is loaded with gunpowder and intrigue. The West is a
place where dreams are as big as the sky and every cowboy’s goal is to ride off
into the sunset. Many have challenged its vast plains, mountains, peaks and
valleys, leaving their mark along the way. It was home for outlaw Jesse James, Josie
Wales and the Grand Tetons range, it is a place where the good die young, the
whiskey never runs dry and the posse is always at the ready.
And
here on a piece of the Colorado Plateau, that covers parts
of these four states, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, where you will
find Director John Ford’s favorite film locations.
Monument
Valley is located on the northern border of Arizona and Utah, not too far
from the Four
Corners
of the United States. And here, on these weather-beaten plains filled with raw
natural sandstone pillars that towered over the desert floor, as though hands
upraised in adoration to the creator, it is the site of nature’s finest natural
movie stage, where more Westerns have been filmed to date than anywhere else.
Filming here incorporates the sandstone formations, the barren red landscape, and
the Navajo Indian Nation adds a defining quality to the films backdrop.
A
lot is involved in making movies, actors, directors, caterers, and locations,
but the director is king. John Ford is already a star director. Ford is a
veteran of over ninety films and the recipient of a Golden Globe as well as the
Silver Condor and at this point two Lifetime Achievement awards from two different
organizations.
The
third ingredient in the growing tempest is a kid born with a name so unlike the
man he is destined to become, that very early in his film career, Marion
Morrison, discarded his birth name, and perhaps his past, and is christened
John Wayne, the name that would become a household name, as well as a persona
unmatched by any man in his life time.
Already
a veteran in the films business, Wayne was on his way to make his first movie
with Ford. Even though Wayne was already thirty six, he still was not a big name.
He for all intense and purpose was nothing more than a veteran B movie actor. Wayne’s
career as Hollywood’s leading man was still to come, and finally for the first
time he was to go under the direction of the accomplished director Ford. Ford
and Wayne’s relationship was tempestuous to say the least. Ford knew Wayne well,
having watched him grow up around Hollywood’s movie lots, first when Wayne was
a student working on the Fox lot as an assistant property man, and then later, Ford
gave the “kid” some nondescript roles in a few of his films. It was Ford, who
while not willing to use Wayne in a major role in his films, had recommend him
some nine years earlier to director Raoul Walsh, for the lead in, The Big Trail, which was at the time
Fox’s biggest film to date. The film was a disaster due to a new widescreen
format that many theaters could not adapt to, as well as additional issues that
arose, and Wayne was forced back to the B lots to find work. It has always been
thought that had Ford wanted he could have stepped in and saved Wayne the
heartache of failure at that point, but Ford choose to watch from a distance,
and as Wayne’s career stalled Ford’s roared ahead; with him becoming one of the
biggest directors in Hollywood.
It
was on the set of Mother Machree, in
1928, that Wayne and Ford first
crossed paths. While working as a propman on the set, Wayne’s only
responsibility was to release a gaggle of geese from a pen and heard them into
the camera view. As anyone could imagine this was not an easy task to perform,
and after a few takes Ford lost his temper and screamed at Wayne calling him
every name he could think of and in the process humiliated Wayne. Wayne reacted
by cussing and screaming right back at Ford. Ford, knowing Wayne had played guard
at University of Southern California, responded by challenging him in a
blocking drill, and when Wayne placed his hand on the ground, Ford knocked him
on off balance and Wayne fell, face first into the dirt. Michael Munn, in, The Man Behind The Myth, picks up the story of Wayne’s response.
“Pappy
and everyone just laughed, but I was steaming mad. I said, ‘I’d like to try that again,’ so I got
down, but this time, I didn’t wait for him to make a move. I just suddenly drove into him and sent him flying
over tables and chairs, and there is horrified
silence from everyone who obviously thought, “that guy won’t work here again.’ But Pappy just laughed and said,
‘You’ll do alright, now get those fucking geese back in the pen and we’ll try again,”
Wayne,
for his part in all Ford’s shenanigans, remained incredibly driven. He kept
busy doing B films, sixty plus in the time between the “incident” on set with
Ford, and until Ford finally, for what reason, relented casting Wayne in his
breakout role . Wayne had a saying he used frequently that perhaps sheds a
light on his attitude early in his career on being relegated to the B movies.
Often Wayne would say, “A horse is a horse, it ain´t make a
difference what color it is.” So perhaps too, he felt, a movie is a movie, no
matter the level it was produced on.
Perhaps
the embarrassment of that moment that compelled Ford to, in essence blackball
Wayne from an earlier shot at better parts in better films. However history
reveals that Ford and Wayne became close friend, their bond as friends is
perhaps due in part to the long boat cruises they shared on board Fords yacht
down the California coast through Mexico, and parts of the Pacific. Riding
along on those trips were the likes of Henry Fonda, Ward Bond, all along on what
appeared to be nothing more than a drunken pleasure trips. Little did Ford’s
passengers know that Ford was spying, since the mid-thirties Ford had been
covertly photographing shorelines and shipping lanes for the American military,
in preparation for a war many in the War Department felt was inevitable.
Ford
was born John Feeney, in Portland Maine, the winter of 1894. Ford became a fine
student and while in high school became an accomplished footballer, earning the
nickname “Bull” for his fierce play in what was still a sport in its infancy.
Fords high school Principle, a man named Walter Jack, was instrumental in his
growth not only as a student but more so the man he would become. Jack was a
constant in encouraging Ford to go to college as well as to do whatever
necessary to leave Maine and explore the world.
Ford
followed his brother Francis to Hollywood arriving in the summer of 1914.
Francis had first worked as an actor, playing in hundreds of silent pictures
and vaudeville acts. By the time Ford arrived his brother was earning his keep
as a director, eventually becoming a prominent Hollywood director with
his own production company, 101 Bison. Ford started doing whatever he was able
to do, working as an assistant, handyman, stuntman and occasional actor, and
because he looked so much like Francis, Ford frequently doubled for his brother
and was given his first opportunity to act by Francis, who cast Ford in, The
Mysterious Rose, in
November 1914. Despite an often combative nature, within three years Ford had
progressed to become Francis' chief assistant and often worked as his
cameraman. By the time Ford was given his first break as a director, his Brother
Francis' profile had begun to decline and he ceased working as a director soon
afterward. This break came with the help of Harry Carey, and it was not long after
that Ford became a first rate director, earning in excess of three hundred
dollars per week. The problem was Carey was paid over two thousand per week and
Ford took exception to that. What looked like a perfect team quickly fell apart
over money and Ford landed at Fox studios at double the pay.
Saint
Patrick’s Day 1921, Ford met Mary McBride Smith, changing his life once again.
America was changing as well, with the passing of the Volstead Act, prohibition
had become law, and as Dan Ford, wrote describing the times in, Pappy: The Life of John Ford.
No
longer afraid of being branded with Nathanial Hawthorn’s scarlet letter women were throwing off their
corsets, smoking cigarettes, and dancing the Hesitation Waltz. It was the era of speakeasies, hip flasks, tin lizzes, white
mule and bath gin, (21)
Ford
fell hard, and in July, a few short months later he and Smith married. Sadly,
theirs was not a Norman Rockwell type marriage, though they stayed married
until his death, it was Ford’s affinity for women and the bottle that kept
their marriage from being anything more than a whirlwind love affair, chaining
them together, till death did them part.
What
brought these three components together to create what is renowned as one of
the great Westerns ever filmed is a story filled with intrigue, anger,
resentment, and true American grit. The relationship central to the film is
clearly the one including Ford and Wayne. Herb Fagen wrote of their relationship in, Duke We’re Glad to Know You, stating the
following.
Wayne
once said, “I worked on and off for years in menial jobs for him, as a prop boy, stunt man, bit player. I
developed a hero worship, which still exists, but when I got stuck
in three and a half day westerns, Ford passed me by without speaking. This went on for years; I mean he
wouldn’t look at me.
So
after eleven long years, finally in 1938, Ford asked Wayne to read a new
script, even asking Wayne if he knew of a young available actor who could
handle the role as Ringo Kid, in Stagecoach. It was in this manner that Ford
informed Wayne that he was the actor Ford wanted to star in the Stagecoach.
Ford seemingly felt that the message had not been sent clearly enough so as
filming began he proceeded to taunt and belittle Wayne during the weeks of
filming. Perhaps
this was the results of Ford’s sadistic personality or it could have been a
clever ploy by him to help the cast support Wayne, whichever it was the end
result was Wayne’s arrival on Hollywood’s biggest stage and the coming out
party for The Duke. It was this film that propelled The Duke, to the pinnacle
of the industry, and returned the Western, to the top of America’s box office.
Wayne kept working at his
relationship with Ford, including the many boat trips, as well as many outing
with Ford and his family. Wayne worked hard at his craft as an actor, even once
earlier in his career being forced to fill in as a dead man in the movie
“Deceivers” by director Harry Cohn, thus humiliating Wayne. All this is over an actress who is on the
set. Munn wrote remembering Wayne saying, “I knew dammed well that a
professional extra would have normally been used for that kind of work.” (32)
Along
the Arizona Utah border in the South West, a Cathedral rises to meet the
traveler. With mittens outstretched to direct the weary sojourners home, and the
Three Sister’s serve as a sandstone welcome committee, leading all safely in
the harbor, amid the shelter of the rocks. For a moment in time, one can slip
away from the cares of a twenty four seven world, slide into a cleft in the
rocks and find peace and harmony with nature.
On
a desert plain, where the night are cold and the days short, lays the most
filmed natural location in the entire world. Since the early nineteenth
century, the King on His Throne, along with the East
and West Mitten Buttes, and Merrick Butte, as well as the Totem Pole have
flashed across movie screens following all sorts of action supplied by men like
John Ford, John Wayne and their pals.
What was a simple piece of land so unvalued by the United
States, which much was given to Indians tribes like the Navaho and Paiute, as a reservation, a place where they could live in relative
peace and tranquility. Monument valley has become a truly historical movie set,
always at the ready for another director to advance the legend of this
marvelous, pristine and sacred ground.
Had it not been
for a man named Harry Goulding, much of what is now movie history might never
have happened. Goulding owned some land on the edge of the Navaho reservation
where in 1924 he established a trading post that is still in operation today.
In 1938 while the whole country was under the weight of the depression years,
Goulding made the decision of a lifetime, when hearing that a new western movie
was to be filmed in Arizona, he and his wife Mike, took photos of the valleys
beautiful natural topography, and headed to Hollywood intent on selling the
location as a movie site.
Perhaps Goulding felt that the Colorado Plateau, being largely made up of
deserts, with much of the Plateau's landscape being similar in both appearance
and geologic history, to the Grand Canyon, could very well be just what
directors and ticket buyers wanted to see. The nickname "Red Rock Country" described
the brightly colored rock left bare to the elements causing the dryness and
erosion. Natural
formations such as domes, fins, reefs, dry river beds,
natural
bridges,
and slot
canyons
are only some of the additional features seen on the Plateau that played
perfectly on the big screen.
Upon arriving at
John Ford’s Hollywood office Goulding was told Ford could not see him, not to
be deterred Goulding simply went to his truck in the parking lot, and returned
with his bedroll, and stated, I will wait. Within a few moments Ford was called
in and Goulding proceeded to sell Ford on the merits of the valley, even
committing to Ford that he could provide all the Indians he might need to
complete filming. The rest is cinematic history captured of untold movie reels,
advertizing clips and eight millimeter family vacation films.
Once
during filming, Goulding told Ford about a local Navajo medicine man, Hastiin
Tso, bragging that Tso could produce any type of weather Ford might want for
the picture. Fords response was to ask for snow. When the crew awoke the
following day, the valley was covered with a light dusting of snow. Tso was,
from that day forward, placed on Ford's payroll as "Weatherman." And
to this day visitors can walk through a portal in time and step into the set
of, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and the
lean-to used as the aging Cavalry Captain Nathan
Brittles, home away from home.
Stagecoach
changed the way Western movies were made as well as how they looked on the big
screen. Goulding though not a movie insider played a monumental role in the
genre in his role as keeper of the valley, and his money making enterprise.
Wayne changed the perception of a leading role and Ford’s stature exploded
within the industry. Each day as the sun rises on the valley, stage lights and
natural sets, new directors are attempting to cement their careers by bring
their scripts and plots to Monument Valley for a baptismal on this scared
site.
Big
John Wayne stood a meter or two behind the kneeling men, a gun in his hand.
Next to him stood his partner, a broad, short man with a crew cut, also with a
gun in his hand. The weapons were aimed at the backs of two kneeling men who
were muttering pathetically in Russian. Wayne could only assume they were
saying their last prayers to whatever god Soviet Communist prayed to. Again
Michael Munn, author of, The Man Behind
The Myth, picks up the story.
“On
the count of three” Wayne told Grant, and then came the sound the two Russians expected would be the last they
would here. After both guns fired it took a few seconds for the tow kneeling men, who were shaking
uncontrollably, to realize they were still
alive. (5)
And
so it was that long after his film days came to an end Wayne’s life was exposed
as more than ordinary. Aside from the hassle he received from men like the
incomparable director, Ford. The plots on his very life seemed surreal. Joseph
Stalin wanted him dead, while his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, who it has been said idolized Wayne, and while in
command had the order to have Wayne killed rescinded.
Ford
went on the direct Wayne in other films, uniting the two men forever. Today
Ford is still revered as the master of the western movie. His name is one of
legend and directors are still challenged by his masterpieces. Either by
imitation, remaking his films or simply shooting new and modern films at
Monument Valley forever keeping alive for all to see, the beauty of that magnificent
piece of American landscape.
Harry
and Mike are long gone. Still should the weary trail worn cowpoke, tourist or
wanderer want to visit the iconic valley, it is quite simple. The remnants of
their time in the valley remain. And high above the museum, etched into the
rock, through years of wind and rain, an Indian brave stands at sentry looking
over the Goulding’s lodge and the valley floor below, as if to guard forever
the sacred ground of his ancestors who roamed wild and free since the dawn of
time.
Emotional,
spiritual, and moving are simply trite words used to attempt to explain the
journey traveled. But these words must do for the time being, and as one called
to the altar of faith, there remains a call of the wild that must be answered,
and a return to this cathedral will always linger in my ear.
















Works Cited
Munn
Michael, John Wayne. The Man Behind The
Myth, Publish by New American Library. March 2004. Print.
Fagen
Herb. Duke We’re Glad to Know You, Kensington
Publishing Corporation, New York, NY. 1996. Print.
Dan Ford. Pappy:
The Life of John Ford. Published by De Capo Press. A subsidiary of Plenum
Publishing Company, New York, New York. Print