Five Westerns Part 1

[poolboyinla]

Cool little doc.

[IAMtheNewWorldOrder]

I grew up near Monument Valley. I went to Monument Valley High School as a freshman.

[Titan752]

I was in Monument Valley where the narrator is standing... absolutely spiritual out there among those towering red sandstone monoliths!

[proffromgview]

Exhibit One on why Brits should never attempt even explaining a western, let alone critiquing it. Yikes. There is really something to the notion that you have to be a part of something before you can really understand it. I might as well try explaining the moors of The Hound of the Baskervilles....

[Sandbag209]

but the hound of the baskervilles is scottish

[proffromgview]

What?? Not sure about what you're trying to say, since the setting/moors in the story are NOT in Scotland; but the point is that one who has grown up in the country, walked his trails and roads, knows its people, is in a better place to talk about it. This narrator did not, and to hear the British accent trying to explain the west...well, let's just say it doesn't work.

[fugnut]

@proffromgview[sarcasm] You're right of course no one can ever understand, appreciate or enjoy a film that wasn't made in the immediate vicinity to where they grew up. [/sarcasm]

[proffromgview]

@fugnut The issue (as you probably know) is NOT whether the filmmaker was from the "immediate vicinity," but whether someone from a country thousands of miles away (in distance) and even further (in terms of culture, history, and knowledge) can do so. And the answer to the latter question (as the film painfully makes clear) is "No." 

[fugnut]

@proffromgview You realise John Ford was from New England? Obviously films that are made and set where you grew up will be special to you but to say that anyone whodidn't grow up with that culture and history can't understand them is kind of obnoxious.

[proffromgview]

@fugnut ?? #1. Ford's westerns (and he would be the first to admit this) are NOT documentaries, but rousing good Hollywood tales. #2 New England is in AMERICA...let me know when a Brit makes a good WESTERN. Westerns are pretty much alone in that their title denotes a certain space...in America. That is a universe away from Great Britain. #3. I couldn't care less.

[fugnut]

@proffromgview #1 Not really sure what your point is here, Cox is talking about Ford's westerns in this doc, he's talking about the history of the place as it was depicted in Ford's Hollywood tales. #2 I know New England is in America but it is surely almost as different from monument valley, geographically and culturally then Old England is! Nope I don't think a British director has ever made a good western but British directors have made plentry of good films that aren't set in Britain! #3 OK

[proffromgview]

@fugnut NE is not as different from MV as is England.....NE has still some raw areas, and it's not as worn down as GB (not just physically but culturally), and it's in America. Westerns are--as I said--ALONE in that their genre demands everything 180 degrees from what Brits are known for (stereotypes and reality). Leone did a decent job with Eastwood et al in the Spaghetti Westerns, but imagine the Man with No Name with a British accent.

[proffromgview]

@fugnut And that's just it: the westerns demand a certain unrefinement, a crudity, a rawness that is antithetical to all things British. It just doesn't work. To have a Brit trying to talk about westerns is like a sterile woman talking about childbirth: she appreciates it,she wants it to work, she may even love kids, but it just doesn't work. Westerns are just too far--in ALL ways--from Great Britain.

[fugnut]

@proffromgview Which areas of Great Britain have you visited?

[fugnut]

@proffromgview And there were plenty of British actors in spaghetti westerns. They were usually dubbed for American releases though.

[delzamoraactor]

It was fun shooting this with Alex.

[RMGLUCK]

This is terrific - part 2 would be much appreciated.

[admanphoto]

Fascinating documentary. Thanks.

[Iopta]

More please