**52 Westerns in 52 Weeks Challenge**

Week 3: ********Directed by John Ford

Choosing this two and a half hour effort from John Ford as my first experience with a silent film toes the line between ambitious and plain stupid, with most popular films from this era landing in the 50-90 minute range this very clearly differs in its length, if things went really bad with this experience I worry it could’ve alienated me from these films. And yes, that long runtime did get to me a bit, I think it would’ve worked better if they kept it around the 2 hour mark, but outside of that gripe I’m struggling to find too many issues here and I’m so happy to say the risk I took paid off. The narrative surprised me with how much it had to offer and I was able to sink my teeth into it pretty deep, I liked learning about the history even if it may not have been entirely true and even though some parts of the story are uncomfortable to watch through my modern day eyes I’m more than able to accept that as this movie is 102 years old. Davy’s storyline especially with Miriam was my favorite and I liked the plot-line of the man who owned the Smoky River land trying to stop the railroad from finding a quicker pass, I know I was just being ignorant but I have to admit I’m surprised by how well executed the narrative was. To get nit-picky with the story because why not I think the focus on Honest Abe was unnecessary (despite the FLAWLESS casting), they tried to create some sort of emotional feeling behind Abe’s engineering dream, to the point of ending the film with his face, and I just didn’t feel any of that. The story did feel a bit drawn out by the aforementioned lengthy runtime but I again wasn’t too bothered by that, especially when, technically, this is about as brilliant as it gets and made up for any gaps of entertainment this might’ve suffered from. Speaking of entertainment I wasn’t expecting to get this much out of the action, the shootouts looked fantastic and there was a fist fight scene in here that rivals most modern ones in its realism, you can really see the brilliance of John Ford’s direction in every shot. Ford perfectly captures the essence of the western epic that he’d later pioneer with the huge scale and beautiful sets, so many of the landscape shots of the cows, buffalo, and horses on the prairie were stunning and when paired with this phenomenal score it only got better. The shots with the hundreds of extras in the town sets near the train also impressed me, that’s another sign of Ford’s brilliance because directing those chaotic scenes with hundreds of people must’ve been a true nightmare. I need to give extra praise to the score before I wrap this up because it’s my first experience with this type of composition and I’m in awe, the beautiful orchestral music doesn’t let up for a single second through the end credits and it was a blessing for my ears for every second of these two and a half hours. The score also did a lot to combat my fatigue with the runtime, without it I think I would’ve struggled to get through this comfortably. In the end it has a few issues but nothing detrimental to the rest of the brilliance on display, it’s very well executed across the board and just became one of my new favorite westerns. Expect more silent film watches from me this year, especially ones from Mr. Ford, I loved this and excitedly anticipate my further exploration of what these movies have to offer.

“The charge is attempted murder - but the gent threw whiskey in the face of a lady what’s known to carry a gun - which ain’t attempted murder at all, but deliberate suicide - case dismissed.”**

**52 Westerns in 52 Weeks Challenge**

Week 3: ********Directed by John Ford

Choosing this two and a half hour effort from John Ford as my first experience with a silent film toes the line between ambitious and plain stupid, with most popular films from this era landing in the 50-90 minute range this very clearly differs in its length, if things went really bad with this experience I worry it could’ve alienated me from these films. And yes, that long runtime did get to me a bit, I think it would’ve worked better if they kept it around the 2 hour mark, but outside of that gripe I’m struggling to find too many issues here and I’m so happy to say the risk I took paid off. The narrative surprised me with how much it had to offer and I was able to sink my teeth into it pretty deep, I liked learning about the history even if it may not have been entirely true and even though some parts of the story are uncomfortable to watch through my modern day eyes I’m more than able to accept that as this movie is 102 years old. Davy’s storyline especially with Miriam was my favorite and I liked the plot-line of the man who owned the Smoky River land trying to stop the railroad from finding a quicker pass, I know I was just being ignorant but I have to admit I’m surprised by how well executed the narrative was. To get nit-picky with the story because why not I think the focus on Honest Abe was unnecessary (despite the FLAWLESS casting), they tried to create some sort of emotional feeling behind Abe’s engineering dream, to the point of ending the film with his face, and I just didn’t feel any of that. The story did feel a bit drawn out by the aforementioned lengthy runtime but I again wasn’t too bothered by that, especially when, technically, this is about as brilliant as it gets and made up for any gaps of entertainment this might’ve suffered from. Speaking of entertainment I wasn’t expecting to get this much out of the action, the shootouts looked fantastic and there was a fist fight scene in here that rivals most modern ones in its realism, you can really see the brilliance of John Ford’s direction in every shot. Ford perfectly captures the essence of the western epic that he’d later pioneer with the huge scale and beautiful sets, so many of the landscape shots of the cows, buffalo, and horses on the prairie were stunning and when paired with this phenomenal score it only got better. The shots with the hundreds of extras in the town sets near the train also impressed me, that’s another sign of Ford’s brilliance because directing those chaotic scenes with hundreds of people must’ve been a true nightmare. I need to give extra praise to the score before I wrap this up because it’s my first experience with this type of composition and I’m in awe, the beautiful orchestral music doesn’t let up for a single second through the end credits and it was a blessing for my ears for every second of these two and a half hours. The score also did a lot to combat my fatigue with the runtime, without it I think I would’ve struggled to get through this comfortably. In the end it has a few issues but nothing detrimental to the rest of the brilliance on display, it’s very well executed across the board and just became one of my new favorite westerns. Expect more silent film watches from me this year, especially ones from Mr. Ford, I loved this and excitedly anticipate my further exploration of what these movies have to offer.

“The charge is attempted murder - but the gent threw whiskey in the face of a lady what’s known to carry a gun - which ain’t attempted murder at all, but deliberate suicide - case dismissed.”**

some people rate these movies higher than they should be just bc they’re old and they want to be different

some people rate these movies higher than they should be just bc they’re old and they want to be different