Compassion trickles out of tough characters in the untamed west. Lawyer James Stewart is almost killed by the toughest bandit in the state, Lee Marvin, is aided by tough good guy John Wayne, tough talking diner owner, Vera Miles, and immigrant couple Jeanette Nolan and John Qualen. He repays them by teaching them to read and write.
We meet cowardly marshal Andy Devine (who looks like he's sired half of the Spanish-American population of the town), drunk newspaper man Edmond O'Brien, drunken doctor Ken Murray and Duke's useful associate Woody Strode. Strother Martin and Lee Van Cleef are the other bad guys.
This is all framed by Stewart and Miles revisiting the town on the event of Wayne's death, recounting the story to the new newspapermen, who aren't interested - 'When the legend becomes fact, print the legend'.
In the mad voting scene, with its performing horse, John Carradine is the orator who throws away his speech (a blank piece of paper).
Really great performances all round. Written by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck, from Dorothy Johnson's story. Photographed by William Clothier, music by Cyril Mockridge, for Paramount. Classic Ford simplicity.
To Peter Bogdanovich, it's not only about the end of the Wild West, but of the Hollywood studio system as well.
P.S. Afterthought 8/12/21. Loved that Wayne's number two is a black man, the cafe owners are Scandinavian immigrants - no mention made of either - but entirely authentic.
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