Alamo Fast Draw

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Alamo Fast Draw Episode 20 Excerpt: A classic western movie "The Searcher" starring John Wayne is the topic.
LLedslinger:Dave Why don't you start off.
David Livingston: OK it was released in 1956 and John Ford was the director. I was telling Steve earlier a sidelline about this movie is that John Ford had made a movie that came out in 1954 called Mr. Roberts and it was originally a Broadway play. He kind of took it over John Ford's stock company part in that. Henry Fonda was in that movie and he'd been in the Broadway show and what I was telling Steve about that was kind of funny was that he and John Ford didn't get along and that moving in fact it got so bad that one day they got in a verbal argument and then it escalated into a physical fight. Fonda knocked John Ford down and so even though things seemed to be resolved after that there was always kind of a shadow hanging over that movie in fact when they went back to Los Angeles to finish the filming. John Ford ended up in the hospital having his gallbladder removed and someone else took over the movie. He had had a couple problems on some of his other movies and he was needing a hit and of course "The Searchers" of course gave it to him.
LLedslinger: There was a comment made about and I can not remember exactly the gist of it was if it wasn't for "The Searchers" there may not have been many westerns or westerns as we know what something along those lines. Bob do you remember that?
Blackbird: Well I'm not sure which thing you're talking about I did say I'm one of those that believe that "The Searchers" is one of the few pictures that justify the existence of Hollywood. I'm not the first to say that I just agree with it.
LLedslinger: Why would that be a comment that would be made.
Blackbird: Very often people are asked what their favorite 10 pictures are westerns or otherwise "The searchers" is almost always on the list. America is known for certain types of if pictures not necessarily the certain types that we'd like to promote. Citizen Kane is almost always mentioned as a great American picture in America not necessarily in other countries. "Gone With The Wind" is another one, It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart a Christmas picture, Dr. Zhivago would be another one, Ben Hur these are all serious pictures. People say Hollywood will some critics anyway that Hollywood produced these films and they are great films but they're not necessarily the ones that America is known for. But we do well, we do things related to jazz, musicals we haven't done a lot of them lately but we're very famous for musicals know when did them better and more than anything else our genre pictures especially western pictures. We do film War, our detective pictures, various specialty pictures but the although specialties were known for we have the westerns. I think it's the envy of the world as soon as people found out that you could make a western in Spain other countries wind up so fast you couldn't get into Spain for all the pictures they were shooting.
Dave: Now there going to Canada because of the economic incentives tax breaks and things like that. I think there actually what I would call kickbacks but it was interesting in 1955 this movies but it started out $2.5 million and you know it would cost to 10 times that to hire a big star now much less the movie they make movies with a hundred 200,000,000 dollar budgets so the business has changed dramatically.
Wes Flowers: the only part I don't like was Jeffrey Hunter but that's just me, I'm just not a Jeffrey Hunter fan. Some points in that movie he just really laid it on too thick.
LLedslinger: Something that I ought to know and I don't was the movie based on a popular book at the time.
Blackbird: who was the Avenging Texans and it was written by Alan Le Mai it was run as a serial and the Saturday Evening Post very popular it had illustrations by an artist that for himself used for his posters.
LLedslinger: Didn't follow the boat very well or was there a lot of creative license in the movie.
Blackbird: I think as pictures go it was pretty close to the book. I qualified that by saying as pictures go it was fairly close to the book. If you look most western pictures that are based on books or short stories you'll find only the germ ID A's used. Ford used quite a bit of the bucks dialogue and theme.

If any of you Gunfighters would like to hear more of this interveiw you can listen to episode 20 on the audio player(red) on the right side of this page. If you would like to join in the show live or listen live to the Alamo Fast Draw show or call 1-724-444-7444 show#16056. Whether you are a gunfighter or not its a fun show.

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