Outlaws hiding out in Custer's cavalry in Warpath (1951)

If you're looking for a quintessential 1950s Western that has just about everything, look no further than Paramount's Warpath (1951). Sure, there are more profound and certainly more iconic Westerns...but hey, why not expand your horizons?

This film review is my contribution to the Classic Movie Blog Association's fall blogathon on the topic of movie outlaws. Go here, if you dare, to read all the great entries.

Warpath boasts a solid cast, starring Edmond O'Brien, Dean Jagger, Polly Bergen, Harry Carey Jr., and Wallace Ford. As I've been digging into the career of Edmond O'Brien via the recently published biography, Edmond O'Brien, Everyman of Film Noir (to be reviewed in an upcoming post), this one grabbed my attention because it's the first Western that O'Brien headlined. In fact, this film emerged when O'Brien, who specialized in film noir, was arguably in his prime-- just two years after D.O.A. and White Heat and two years before The Hitch-hiker.

Producer Nat Holt helmed Warpath for Paramount Studios. Westerns were his specialty, as he free-lanced during the 1940s and 50s for Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and RKO.  Writer Frank Gruber also specialized in Westerns, having written novels and short stories in the genre. In the director's chair was Byron Haskin, who also helmed Too Late For Tears, a fantastic noir that has recently been restored by the Film Noir Foundation and has played to the delights of 21st-century audiences on Turner Classic Movies and at festivals. Ray Rennahan, the cinematographer, had a long career from silents to television, and many Westerns in the 1950s--of note he was the DP for the epic Western Duel in the Sun starring Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, and Joseph Cotten.

Warpath starts rather romantically, planting us squarely in the west of Gen. George Armstrong Custer, who commanded the Seventh Cavalry against the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes at his 'last stand' in the battle of the Little Bighorn, Montana.

We soon meet O'Brien's character, John Vickers, an officer during the Civil War who now, a decade later, is looking to get revenge against three men who were responsible for the death of his fiancee, but who had evaded justice and were said to be hiding out in the Seventh Cavalry, probably with names changed. With little more than their original names to go on, since he never got a good look at these men, Vickers shows up in a small town in North Dakota and on the street, immediately meets and kills (after being drawn on, of course) the first of the three men (how he knew it was his target was not explained). Shortly after, he meets Molly Quade (Bergen)--who has just arrived to help her long-lost father (Dean Jagger) run his local store--and saves her from some unwanted moves by an officer. The two develop an instant attraction. Strangely, Molly's father seems to not want her to have anything to do with the soldier.

Molly (Polly Bergen) immediate sets her sights on the
handsome stranger.

Vickers, who had been an officer in the Civil War, enlists as a private in the Seventh Cavalry and intends to find the two missing outlaws while continuing to serve his country. Unfortunately, he has to report to O'Hara, the local sergeant (Forrest Tucker) the same officer whom Vickers prevented from assaulting Molly. Also in the group are Pvt. 'Irish' Potts, (a delightful Wallace Ford) and Pvt. Fiore (Paul Fix). Harry Carey, Jr. plays the regimental captain.

At the dance: even cavalrymen get to have fun once in a while.
(l-r Paul Fix, Wallace Ford, Edmond O'Brien)

The revenge story takes a back seat in the middle of the film when trouble brews on the range, and a series of skirmishes with the native tribes break out. Sgt. O'Hara, who is now suspected by Vickers as one of his targets, proves himself to be a coward, while our hero Vickers's skill is noticed by none other than Custer himself. Vickers is rapidly promoted and now is O'Hara's commander.

Gen. Custer (James Millican) promotes John Vickers (O'Brien)

When embarking to meet and warn Custer about an impending attack, his group is ambushed and taken prisoner by an army of Sioux. This time O'Hara is the hero, sacrificing himself to save the others (this after Pvts. Potts and Fiore also get themselves killed at the hands of the natives).  At this point, Vickers has already figured out who the outlaws are but keeps this to himself for a while, as he begins to question whether he wants his legacy to be his private vengeance and simultaneously condemn himself to outlaw status. Complicating the decision is Molly's direct condemnation of his plan. As expected, the plot threads are all tied up in a way that allows Vickers and Molly to get together at the end. (You'll need to watch the film to see who the outlaws are!)

On the positive side, this film boasts well-drawn, three-dimensional characters, has a complex story with a few plot twists, and entertains with exceptional action sequences and strong production values that make me wish I could see it on the big screen. There are scenes with large contingents of soldiers and natives, all filmed on location near Billings, Montana. There are wagon trains, but Paramount did not give director Haskin the budget to use real trains, so he reused film from The Great Missouri Raid early on in the film (from D. Sculthorpe's bio Edmond O'Brien, Everyman of Film Noir, 2018).

Settlers and Cavalry about to be attacked by the Sioux.

On the negative side, Warpath is a bit overlong and suffers from mediocre editing. The film doesn't have a significant point of view on the Western ideology or the plight of the native American, but is, in essence, a somewhat moralistic piece of entertainment solidly of its time.

Edmond O'Brien, ca. 1940s.

O'Brien went on to have quite a career in Westerns, even though I'm never sure if his New York City accent and manners were really right for the genre. Yet, I highly recommend The Big Land, an Alan Ladd vehicle with good friend O'Brien in support. Of course, near the end of his career he had a memorable turn as grizzled gun-fighter Freddie Sykes in Sam Peckinpah's classic The Wild Bunch (1969).


I watched Warpath on Amazon Prime Video.

Fawcett Comics made a comic book from this film in August 1951, which was one of only twenty film adaptations the company made.

The Carey Family in the John Ford Western Universe

In 1947 Harry Carey Jr. had just finished his first picture with director John 'Uncle Jack' Ford.  He was hanging around the set when he saw a surprising sight -- his father's horse Sunny, and actor / stuntman Cliff Lyons dressed in his father's iconic black western attire.  Ford said to young Carey, "Go home, kid, you're not supposed to see this."  As Carey left the set to go home, he broke down in sobs.  This was the filming of the picture's dedication to the recently passed Harry Carey Senior. As shown after the opening credits of 3 GODFATHERS, with the tune 'Goodbye, Old Paint, I'm Leaving Cheyenne" playing in reference to Carey's iconic screen character 'Cheyenne Harry', I doubt there is a more elegant and meaningful torch passing from one generation to the next in film:

[This post celebrates the history of cinema as part of the 'Movie History Project' blogathon, hosted by Ruth of Silver Screenings, Aurora of Once Upon A Screen, and Fritzi of Movies Silently.  Check out their blogs from Aug 5-10th for a rich, diverse and entertaining look at Hollywood history.]

I was first introduced to Harry Carey Sr. by accident -- one of the 'extras' on the Criterion issue of STAGECOACH that I purchased was the silent film thought lost:  BUCKING BROADWAY, with John Ford directing Carey.  Initially thinking I wouldn't enjoy it, I couldn't turn away.  The combined genius of Ford, a director learning his craft, and Carey, who had as compelling, natural and nuanced screen presence as any of the silent greats, made it.  Sadly, of over 20 films they made together, there is only one other Ford-Carey silent film existing, STRAIGHT SHOOTING, their first feature.  As I learned more about Carey, I came to appreciate that there may not a John Ford as we know him today without him.  The intersection of the Carey family's lives and careers with that of Ford, is one of the fascinating and fruitful contribution to the Western film genre, spanning six decades of history.

Harry Carey Sr.

Young Olive Golden Carey

Henry DeWitt Carey II got his start far from the west -- he was born in Harlem, NY in 1878 into an upper middle class family.  He attended law school at NYU, but was kicked out for a prank involving female underwear (!).  He turned to acting and writing plays, and was hired by D.W. Griffith, and eventually by Carl Laemmle at Universal, where he spent several years making Westerns, which were very much in vogue in the early silent era.  According to Scott Eyman's Ford bio, in 1916 Carey met Ford at Universal, and was instantly impressed with his imagination and proficiency with the camera.  Ford was only 21.  Carey requested of Laemmle that Ford direct his next picture, and the collaboration was born.  Ford said of Carey at that time "Carey tutored me in those early years, sort of brought me along." They made 16 shorts together, with Carey starring as adventurous, somewhat dangerous, cowboy "Cheyenne Harry."  Carey often shared directing duties as well.  About this time actress Olive Golden, 18 years his junior, came into his life, and they married in 1916.  The newlyweds and Ford shared a small apartment initially, as their working relationship and friendship grew, and then fraternized in the Carey ranch in Newhall, California as Careys began to live a truly Western lifestyle.  According to Olive, many ideas for the Ford-Carey pictures were 'dreamed up around the wood stove in the kitchen' at Newhall.  As Olive was giving birth to Harry Carey Jr., the two got drunk on Mellwood brand whiskey waiting on the successful delivery.  (Later, Ford, when in one of his cantankerous moods, would call Jr."Mellwood").

Harry Carey with Harry Carey Jr.

Harry Carey's acting style was very natural -- in contrast to the more typical theatrical style of the early silent era.  His personality was tough, his looks rugged and dark.  But he projected a natural warmth and depth of emotion beneath that Ford tapped into. STRAIGHT SHOOTING showed Carey tormented over his potential role in dispatching the family of farmers who interfere with the ranching hegemony, and after some bloodshed, ultimately he changes sides and confronts the threat.

Carey in STRAIGHT SHOOTING with his iconic arm pose.

John Ford

He was a star, although a less popular one at the time compared with the likes of Tom Mix and William S. Hart.  A falling out with Ford around 1920 ended their professional collaboration.  The origins of the split seem to be buried forever; Carey Jr. said his father refused to talk about it, although he admitted in his later years his father would occasionally 'rant' about Ford's less admirable qualities.  Eyman references a potential issue about pay and equity, and mentioned that they did maintain an off-again/on-again friendship.  While Ford's star continued to rise, Carey's seemed to stagnate, and although he transitioned into the talking era well, his voice an authoritative deep baritone, he mainly starred in distinctly low-budget B westerns.  In a couple of those that I've seen, WAGON TRAIL and THE NIGHT RIDER, he adds interest and gravitas to the often melodramatic goings on.

Harry Carey Sr. in
MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON

In bigger budget pictures, he won mostly secondary roles.  A notable exception was MGM's first 'on-location' blockbuster TRADER HORN (1931), where he plays the lead.  (I admit to not being able to watch this one, because of the reported rampant mistreatment of animals during filming). Olive Carey, who had taken a long break from acting to raise her two children, appeared in a small role, but only made $300 for her work in horrific conditions (Star Edwina Booth contracted malaria and nearly died).  Carey later won an Oscar for his small role as quietly supportive Senate President in the Frank Capra/James Stewart classic MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939).  Long-time friend and collaborator George Hively said about Carey "He was a warm, warm man. Remember the character he portrayed in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON? That was Harry Carey."

Harry Carey Jr.

Despite the continued friendship, Ford was not initially an encouraging influence on young Carey Jr., whose red hair earned him the lifelong nickname 'Dobe.'  Ironically the young man's first film appearance was with Howard Hawks, in the classic RED RIVER, a film in which Carey Sr. also had a small role near the end.  The two did not share a scene.

John Ford is best known today for his classic sound Westerns beginning with the 1939 Best Picture Oscar nominee STAGECOACH, which gave John Wayne his shot at stardom.  Ford told complex tales with breathtaking beauty, using stunning outdoor shots and well-drawn characters, emphasizing community, honor and heroism, often with healthy doses of humor. He used a group of actors he liked and trusted, referred to as the 'John Ford Stock Company' and did not give allegiance to any one studio.  He relished the independence often accorded him.  When Harry Carey died in 1947 of lung cancer and its complications, Ford, and also John Wayne, who had become an admirer and friend of the elder Carey, were both present.  Not too long before he died, Carey Jr., recalled, his father told him that Ford would only hire young Carey in a film after he died "..you will (work for Ford)...--not till after I croak-- but then you will.  You can bet on it."  Shortly thereafter came 3 GODFATHERS -- and sure enough, Jr. was offered a starring role, along with Wayne and Pedro Armendariz.  As a film it's not in Ford's top echelon, but it's stirring in its Christian allegorical themes, appropriate somehow for the film that signaled the passing of the acting baton from the father to the son.

That association with Ford, built on many years of family friendship and loyalty, cemented the Western career of the younger Carey.  He had initially hoped on being a singer, but that didn't turn out. (You can hear him sing in 3 GODFATHERS, a pleasant enough voice). While 'Dobe' worked in the same film genre as his father, he projected a starkly contrasting screen character. Carey Sr. was dark, Jr. was a very light red-head.  All boyish enthusiasm and naivete, he rarely stole a scene and was more or less content with his supporting roles.  He was fearful of Ford, who was well known for his eccentric and tyrannical ways on and off set, yet he grew to love him.  His memoir brims with humorous exploits with the Ford crew, including Wayne, friend Ben Johnson, Ward Bond, and the rest.  Despite working with young Carey on a few pictures, it took Ford time to trust his acting abilities, and for SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, he hired actor Arthur Shields to coach him, and ultimately help him get into the character of the secondary role he played.

Carey Jr. with Wayne in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949)

Carey Jr. did not only make Westerns with Ford -- he relished his roles in two non-Westerns, MISTER ROBERTS, with Henry Fonda, and THE LONG GRAY LINE, with Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara.  The last Ford film he appeared in he wasn't even credited -- it was CHEYENNE AUTUMN, and he and Ben Johnson were apparently paid mostly to ride their horses together on location at critical moments.  Both he and his mother Olive transitioned into television roles, often in the Western genre, and both lived into their early nineties.  Harry Carey Jr. died in December 2012, approximately 100 years after his father broke into the picture business.

In Ford's Western masterpiece from the 1950s, THE SEARCHERS, the entire Carey family had their time in the spotlight.  'Dobe' Carey was on hand again playing a young man from the village, Brad Jorgenson, who is full of hate for the Comanches who murdered his sweetheart.  His mom Mrs. Jorgenson is played by Olive Carey.  Harry Carey Sr. made an 'appearance' through the assistance of an old friend:  At the very end of the film, after John Wayne brings his lost niece home to the loving arms of Olive's 'Mrs. Jorgenson' and family, he was filled with emotion thinking of Harry Sr.  As Olive looked on off camera, in the famous shot framed in the dark doorway, Wayne reached over with his left arm and held his right above the elbow, in the way Harry Carey often did, in a poignant tribute, before walking slowly away.

The Carey family collaborations with Ford yielded among the best of the Western genre over 50 years in Hollywood.  Their legacy remains alive in that genre, which still is pertinent today.  As Robert Warshow wrote:  "The movies in which the Westerner played out his role preserve for us the pleasures of a complete and self-contained drama--and one which still effortlessly crosses the boundaries which divide our culture."

Many of Harry Carey Sr.'s  films are on Youtube, here's a few:
BUCKING BROADWAY
STRAIGHT SHOOTING
WAGON TRAIL
THE NIGHT RIDER

For further perspective on the Careys, check out this terrific post by blogger Caftan Woman.

References
(1) Carey, Harry Jr. Company of Heroes -- my Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company.  Taylor Publishing, 2013.
(2) Eyman, Scott, Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford, Simon & Schuster, 1999.
(3) Bogdanovich, Peter, 'Directed by John Ford', documentary from 1971.
(4) Kitses, Jim, Horizons West, British Film Institute Publishing, 2004.
(5) Warshow, Robert, "The Westerner" in The Immediate Experience, Harvard University Press, latest edition 2001.

Western Movie Summer Part 3: Two 'Border Westerns' from the 1950s

It's been about a month since I last posted an update from my 'Western Movie Summer', but despite that I've been watching as many Westerns as I possibly can squeeze in.  Following the general outline of the podcast course I'm well into in the 1950s now.  For this post I contrast two films from the beginning and end of that decade: John Ford's RIO GRANDE from 1950, and THEY CAME TO CORDURA, (1959) directed by Robert Rossen.  While having somewhat similar themes, the two films approach them very differently, and in many ways the first feels like a late 1940s film, while the second prefigures the more gritty 1960s.

RIO GRANDE

Any classic movie buff or Western fan will no doubt be intimate with much of John Ford's exceptional and award-winning directorial work.  His output is staggering: 146 films starting in the silent era through the mid 1960s.  While not exclusively focusing on Westerns, he viewed himself as a storyteller of that great American frontier:  "I'm John Ford. I make Westerns," he was quoted as saying.  RIO GRANDE falls near the middle of Ford's career and is the last of the now-dubbed 'Cavalry Trilogy', which also included SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON and FORT APACHE.

John Wayne sporting a mustache, with O'Hara

This one stars Ford favorite John Wayne as a Union Cavalry Fort commander in Texas near the Mexican border.  He must confront a threat of marauding Apaches who threaten the U.S. settlers from their base camp in Mexico.  He's told initially that he cannot take his troops across the border under any circumstances.  At the same time he must also deal with an estranged wife (Maureen O'Hara) who shows up looking for their son (Claude Jarman), who dropped out of West Point and has enlisted in his father's regiment to the dismay of both parents.  The film is in black and white, which apparently was not the choice of Ford, but Herbert Yates, head of Republic Pictures, nixed color photography.  The B&W is effective though, as it somewhat distances us and makes us feel the 'myth' of the west as opposed to the reality.  Ford's characteristic humor emerges often in this one, especially through Victor McLaglen's befuddled sergeant.  The romance engages us, and the first pairing of Wayne with statuesque, strong-willed beauty Maureen O'Hara would strike cinema gold.  The camaraderie among the troops, both enlisted and officers, feels natural with Ford's 'stock company' actors including Ben Johnson and Harry Carey Jr. all acquitting themselves well.  With the beautiful photography and great action sequences, the film struck me as emblematic of the best output of the studio era:  although it doesn't question the social and political consensus, it presents a psychologically layered and complex character drama.

Gorgeous, strong Maureen O'Hara

Prof. Slotkin makes the case that the film projected a political/military view that in order to protect the world from communism, which was emerging as the next major threat, the U.S. government might have to break laws to take right action (e.g. in Korea).  In the film, the law broken here is 'crossing the border' into Mexico, which the film presents as ultimately the right thing, to save the children taken captive.  That Maureen O'Hara's character comes around to approving this action validates this view.  The other major theme Ford subtly tackles here is the familiar one -- the definition of manhood and passing the torch to the next generation.  We see this struggle in how Jarman's character tries to gain the approval of his father, and the difficulty Wayne has in accepting his son when he hasn't proven himself.  Well, ultimately Jarman does, by pulling an Apache arrow out of his father's chest; O'Hara comes around to her husband's world view, and all is reconciled to the man's view of heroism and right action.  

While Victor Young composed the score, the highlights for me were the songs interspersed through the movie, performed by the 'Sons of the Pioneers' western music group.  They were written into the script as a regimental troupe of musicians, and when they played, the action stopped and you were treated, along with the cast, to a gorgeous bit of musical history.  This added to the nostalgic tone of the film.  Check out this video clip of a key scene with the musical serenade:

THEY CAME TO CORDURA

Based on a 1958 novel by Glendon Swarthout, adaped by Ivan Moffat and director Rossen who had been blacklisted, this is a very different film.  First, I admit to watching this for Van Heflin, clearly a current obsession, but who elevates every film he's in. This one is no exception.  The star, though, is Western film hero Gary Cooper, near the end of his career.  He plays an army officer who had been disgraced because of actions seen to be cowardly, and must now earn his pay by identifying those soldiers whose bravery should earn them the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He's stationed with a Cavalry outfit in 1916 that is ordered to raid a hacienda in Mexico against a band of Pancho Villa's soldiers who are taking refuge there in their ongoing rebellion.  The hacienda is owned by none other than Rita Hayworth, here an American ex-pat on the 'wrong' side.  Ultimately, the battle is won, Hayworth's taken prisoner, and Cooper must remove several men along with Hayworth -- these men Cooper himself witnessed acting heroically, and will see that they escape from further harm to claim their award and thus be examples for all other fighting men.  He's required to get this disparate group, including Heflin, Tab Hunter, Dick York, Michael Callan, and Richard Conte, back to Cordura in the U.S., and the main part of the film is their difficult journey.

The film's theme after the opening titles

It's a film that isn't subtle about probing the concept of bravery, cowardice, and manhood.  In fact, contrary to RIO GRANDE, actions in battle against the enemy are not what define a man, but instead  how he treats his fellow humans in the ordinary struggles of life.  So here, each of the soldiers who appeared brave in battle are found to be vain, opportunistic, or criminal, and all treat Cooper with contempt.  Heflin's character, a sergeant, is a particularly nasty piece of work. After the group loses their horses to hostile native Americans, they find themselves lost in the desert, growing desperate as their food and water supplies dwindle.  In that literal and figurative cauldron, the moral drama plays out -- man against man, man against woman.  And, there is no question here about the legality of crossing the border to carry out a military action.

Rita Hayworth openly taunting her captors by pouring away liquor, as Cooper looks on

After a set-up similar to many Westerns of the era, with the portrayal of the men in the army outpost and then the raid on the hacienda, it quickly comes a different movie, an unrelentingly brutal one with just the main characters fighting the elements and each other.  Rita Hayworth sets aside her glamorous image, and while she's still beautiful, she has to fight throughout to retain her personal dignity.  Her strength matches Cooper's, who, overall stoic as usual, ultimately finds his inner hero.   The production was plagued with problems. Dick York suffered a back injury that limited his career.  Most scenes had to be re-shot due to a mid-filming unplanned location change. Heflin said it was the most physically demanding film work he'd done.  Yet, it marked a turn toward a less romanticized view of the western myth, and the U.S. military in particular.

The men find a source of water, only to find out it's contaminated.