Moving Word Written Image

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Carol Reed

SCREENWRITER: Clair Huffaker

FILM STARS: Anthony Quinn, Claude Akins, Tony Bill, Shelley Winters, Victor Jory, Don Collier, Victor French, Rodolfo Acosta, Susana Miranda, Anthony Caruso, William Mims, Rudy Diaz, Pedro Regas, John War Eagle, J. Edward McKinley, Robert Cleaves

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Clair Huffaker

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Sphere

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1970

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1967

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: Nobody Loves a Drunken Indian

NOTES

GENRE: Contemporary Western, Western

WORDS: “The Last Warrior” is the British title for the film but the film is  more commonly known as “Flap” after the title character, Flapping Eagle. Tough often dismissed, I like this film. Why? Because I like Anthony Quinn, contemporary westerns (especially when set amongst Native Americans), and the mood of the times when the film was made (1969-70).

Despite it standing up for Native American rights, and taking on the government and big business, it got some flak at the time (and some praise) for its depiction of Native Americans. I think it would do less well today, especially with white middle class non-Native Americans (much like Dan Cushman’s (much maligned and misunderstood) “Stay Away Joe”). I mean any comedy about native Americans living on reservations is going to cause pitchforks to be carried to the moral high ground

I’m not sure why Englishman Carol Reed (Odd Man Out (19847), The Third Man (1949), Trapeze (1956), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), Oliver! (1968)) was directing this apart from the suggestion that, he not being a director of westerns, would be able to approach the subject with some freshness. The film is both broad humour and deep drama, and, the themes (land rights) are still relevant in the American west and elsewhere. The film doesn’t always work but anything with Anthony Quinn, even if it is “Zorba goes west ” works for me (the supporting cast help also).

The book is even more broadly humorous and deeply darker. Western literature (and film) of the 60s became more cynical and contemporary (even when not dealing with the contemporary west) and it is a fascinating period. All the old western authors who may have started in the 40s or 50s found they could write to a different audience. Perhaps they were changing their novels to suit the times or perhaps they found a freedom to address issues they always wanted to but either way the western started dealing with what happened to the west after it was “tamed”. This proved to be quite fertile until western literature moved into nostalgia sometime in the 80s. Huffaker, always a little more observant than your standard western writer, and often quite humorous, does both here well.

LINKS

CLIP from film

https://www.tcm.com/video/1084599/flap-1970-movie-clip-holy-last-resting-place/

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Mark Rydell

SCREENWRITER: Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank Jr.

FILM STARS: John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, Slim Pickens, Robert Carradine, A. Martinez, Sarah Cunningham, Allyn Ann McLerie, Alfred Barker Jr. Nicolas Beauvy, Steve Benedict, Norman Howell, Stephen R. Hudis, Sean Kelly, Clay O’Brien, Sam O’Brien, Mike Pyeatt, Charles Tyner, Matt Clark, Jerry Gatlin, Ralph Volkie, Tap Canutt

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: William Dale Jennings

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Corgi

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1972

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1971

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Western

WORDS: A great John Wayne film. It is certainly one of his best films of the 1970s. Wayne is perfect in the title role where there are, inevitably, Wayne mannerisms, tropes and things you would expect from a script (especially in the confrontation with Long Hair, the Bruce Dern character) but he has let the screenplay’s character dominate. The book is more forgiving in its attitudes whilst the film is more black and white. Both positions have their qualities. Mark Rydell, a director not known for action or western films, directs with sensitivity, despite the fact there is a bit of bloodletting on the screen. The book about a trail drive where a ranch owner is forced to hire boys on as cowboys for a cattle drive, is a great read. It is rooted in time and place with the speech of the time (and quite a bit of profanity, racism and sexism as you would expect circa 1878). The author William Dale Jennings has even included a map of the trail drive, a note on the time and place, a glossary of western words and a table of western words still in common (1971) use.

If I recollect correctly the film follows the book reasonably closely. It may be a novelisation rather than a novel as Jennings wrote this book based on the film treatment (story) he had sold. He may have been writing the book at the same time as the screenwriters were hammering out the screenplay. It probably matters not but the book could fall into either camp, novel or novelisation. I think the former as Jennings strays away from the screenplay every now and then. There are touches of homoeroticism apparently (I didn’t see them I just assumed they were teenage boys “growing up”, then again somethings I miss … to quote Homer (the American one) “there’s something wrong with this place ladies ….”) and they are usually identified because author Jennings was openly gay, and a gay rights advocate well before Stonewall (he was one of the founders of what became known as the Mattachine Society, a society that sought to gain acceptance through greater communication between homosexuals and heterosexuals in the 50s). This is usually used by critics as a source of humour … John Wayne in a gay authors’ film. I always found that a little stupid. John Wayne had been in Hollywood since about 1924, so I don’t think he was naïve. I don’t think he really gave a crap about anyone’s sexual orientation as long as they were 110% American as Jennings was (a authentic westerner who during World War II was stationed at Guadalcanal and was awarded a World War 2 Victory Medal, an American Campaign medal, an Asiatic- Pacific campaign medal, and a Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one bronze star).

The book and the film are both essential experiences.

PAGES

page 62

LINKS

]TRAILER

MUSIC

The film theme by John Williams

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Burt Kennedy

SCREENWRITER: Clair Huffaker

FILM STARS: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr., Keenan Wynn, Bruce Cabot, Gene Evans, Joanna Barnes, Bruce Dern, Sheb Wooley, Emilio Fernandez, Chuck Robertson, Hal Needham

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Clair Huffaker

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Fawcett Gold Medal

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1967

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1957

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: Badman

NOTES

GENRE: Western

WORDS: Clair Huffaker is one of my favourite western writers. Probably because many of his books have been made into films I like, and because they read like films … he also wrote a lot of screenplays (both based on his books and others).

This western is one of the earliest John Wayne films I recall seeing as a kid. It’s fun. There are some “‘serious” notes but director Burt Kennedy (much underrated), Wayne and Kirk keep it light (the banter between the two leads is hilarious). A great supporting cast and some great extra / bit work make this a winner. Also, as required by a a large escapist action western, it looks great and has a rousing score.

The book and the film are quite different. There is an armoured fortress on wheels and a robbery but the motivations, disputes between characters, and tone of the book (the book is more serious), as well as some character names (ie: John Wayne’s Taw Jackson was Jack Tawlin in the book), have been changed.

I think the film plays better as a serio-comic escapist western rather than a semi serious heist western. In any event the book (and the film in some ways) anticipated the gimmicky gadgetry that was to become a staple of the spaghetti western.

LINKS

TRAILER

THEME SONG

The theme “Ballad of the War Wagon” was sung by (the great) Ed Ames. As good as he is it is odd they didn’t get Howard Keel to do it, as it was in his range, and he was in the film. It’s, errrr, rousing either way.