8/12/2019 Stage Coach Journal 3
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1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the
screening.
In class we discussed that from 1939-1941 was the greatest
period in American film
making with the studio systems at its best. Well-known movies
like Citizen Kane, Wizard of Oz
and Stagecoach were filmed during this time. We also spoke about
the area the western moviewas filmed in, and how its not only just
an area to film, but its almost like a character itself.
This movie starred John Wayne, which at the time was not such a
popular movie star before
this film. John Ford, the director of Stagecoach, won numerous
awards and worked with John
Wayne 24 times. We also discussed the four main scenes of action
during the several parts of
the trip where the carriage comes under attack and such. We then
did a recap of all the awards
Stagecoach won which was best picture, director, black and white
cinematography, interior
decoration and editing.
2) Find a related article and summarize the content. (on the
film, director, studio,
actor/actress, artistic content, etc.) You can use the library
or the internet. We will discusssuitable references in class. Cite
the article and copy the URL to your journal entry. You
should also mention the title of the article and author directly
in the answer. Summarize in
your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any
content.
The article, John Ford: At war and out West once again written
by Mark Feeney
describes how Stagecoach was a great success for both Wayne and
himself. It was Fords first
non-silent western and he was able to pack in so many different
characters a fallen woman, a
whiskey-soaked doctor, a brave sheriffa saloon or two, a
gunfight, even a (brief) musical
number (Feeney 2010) that it was saidhe didnt ever have to make
a western again. It statesall the different shots used to film the
movie were very distinguishable with the film such as
long shots of Wayne and the other characters and having moving
shots where the stagecoach
was coming towards the audience. It also mentions the other
films Ford has done and how he
maintains his work with military units (Feeney 2010).
http://boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2010/05/23/with_stagecoach_ford_delivered_iconic_im
ages/?page=1
3) Apply the article to the film screened in class. How did the
article support or change theway you thought about the film,
director, content, etc.?
In the article it says that before stagecoach, John Wayne
starred in 78 movies prior
which really makes me wonder how he was a B class actor for so
long. I did notice the camera
angles and shots during the film where rather different than the
shots used in the other films
we saw from this time and the article supports it by stating
that is why this film was recognized
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so well and different. It also states how after this particular
film was debuted, John Waynes
success blew up and its easy to see why because he showed such a
brave, hero like character
during the film.
4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your
personal opinion, formed as a result of 4things: the screening,
class 3 discussions, text material and the article. I am less
interested in
whether you liked or disliked a film, (although that can be part
of this) than I am in your
understanding of its place in film history or the contributions
of the director.
This was actually the first real classic western I have ever
seen, and during class what
stuck out t most was when we discussed the location where
everything was captured. The flat
desert landscape becomes a character and was used for many other
films afterwards but
stagecoach was the heavy weight in the western films. What we
also discussed in class and was
in the article as well as the text of how the entire movies
complexity and depth with the plot
and characters. Ford is able to fit so much story in so little
time and reinvents the westerngenre (Foster 165). Its
cinematography was also discussed in class and in the article of
having
great shots of John Wayne which made him seem like a much
greater man than anyone else.
This film, unlike many others, is the film that revolutionizes a
category of motion picture; it
captures the audiences attention in a completely new way and
shows how much potential a
film can have. I have to say that even though Im not a big
western fan, Stagecoach is a film that
everyone needs to respect because of its style and story.
CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM
1) ( X ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other
class.
2) ( X ) If I reused any information from other papers I have
written for other classes, I clearly
explain that in the paper.
3) ( X ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations
around those words, or used
indentation and citation within the text.
4) ( X ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all
sources cited in the bibliography in
the text of the paper.
5) ( X ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I
personally read.
