Cormac Reading

This reading was very descriptive and gruesome. The two characters were survivors of an Indian massacre of I guess Mexicans in a surrounding area. The Indians left the people scalped and tormented.

The section where it describes the hanging of the infants was very disturbing. It let me see a side of the Indians that showed that they didn't care if they harmed the innocent or guilty.

The two characters didn't seem to be very fond of each other, but they were just depending on each other for survival I guess.

There was a section that Sproule and Kid were wondering and seeing all of the dead people and they both ended up in a church. I thought this was interesting that all of the victims ran to the church for protection from the Indians but were obviously not protected from the Indians. They were still murdered and left to be buzzard food.

Throughout the story Spoule's arm got worse, the nastiest and most descriptive section was when the author described how it had swell and was leaking pus and had worms! EEWWWWW!

When Sproule and Kid ended up with the family in the wagon, I got lost at this point. I didn't know what happened to Sproule after the was asleep and the next thing i knew Kid was taken and the reading didn't mention him anymore. Did he die or get left?

The Good, the Bad,and the Ugly final parts

The end of the movie was AWESOME. The war scene was very interesting. Blondie and The Ugly "enlisted" as soldiers fighting for the Union. I didn't understand why they blew up the bridge at first. It stopped the war though! When the two crossed over the water into the grave, I knew that when the Ugly tried to leave Blondie that there wasn't going to be a peaceful ending.

I knew that all three of the main men were going to end up dualing over the money. It was intesting how the director made it a three person shot out instead of two, as they are traditionally done. It left a feeling of uncertainty and it was needed during this part because it wrapped the ties between all three characters up.

I thought it was neat how they left the two on the same note as in the beginning, The Ugly being hung and Blondie shooting him down.

The Good, the Bad,and the Ugly pt 3

Tuco and Blondie are captured by the Union Soldiers(I think). Coincidentally the Bad is apart of this army. I knew that they would all end up together. The bad torchers Tuco to get answers about the gold and the grave, he plans to kill him after getting the info but that doesn't happen because he escapes by killing his overseer(gruesome murder) The bad then takes Blondie and they become a partnership. It ends up that Blondie and Tuco come back together and kills all of the men following the Bad, but some how the Bad escapes. I thought that they were out of trouble at this point but they end up getting recaptured by Union soldiers!

The Good, the Bad,and the Ugly part 2

The majority of this part was spent with the Ugly chasing after the Good, trying to get him back for leaving him in the dessert. When he finally gets the Good, he almost lets him die of starvation until he is in need of him to him what grave the gold is hidden in. I knew that they were not going to let the good guy die so quickly in the move!

When the Good and the Ugly arrive at a religious hospital, the Ugly sees that his brother is there and a very religious man. The two of them are like night and day! I thought it was interesting when the Ugly told his brother that he took the easy way out and wasn't brave enough to do what he did, which was being a thief....WOW.

“Frayling Chases Spaghetti Westerns”

Notes that I took while listening:

Leones Films in 1960's were referred to as spaghetti westerns

Why westerns in Italy
*First saw Hollywood westerns in 1930's
*Represented freedom
*Made westerns b/c Hollywood stopped
*Liked and made westerns with a lot of action and less talking

didn't like some traditional ideologies of westerns
*John Wayne/ Crusading element
*Took visuals and concepts and put them with different ideologies

Modern heroes started with Fist Full of Dollars character played my Clint Eastwood
*Identify with hero because of his personality and style not because of his morals

Characters are realistic and scenes are dusty and grimy(lived in)

Once Upon a Time in the West
*Showed casting against type
*Unlike other westerns
*An American actor shot child in clod blood(Henry F.)
*Shows really bad guys by the morality of them

Some actors are dubbed because they are international people playing the characters
*Americans do hear Clint Eastwood's voice
*Dubbing was done really poorly
*Sound is at least 40% of the movie

Music
*Western movies are really about movies
*Choosing right composers is essential
*Italian folk instruments/rock
*Youthful not looked into classical or traditional
*Concrete sounds
* Experimenting with sound (silence)
* All sounds are music

Once Upon a Time in the West

This movie is a remix of all westerns in a cynical way.
*Hollywood Western

Shane and High Noon
* Two movies that this one has reference to.
*Story scenes are almost identical of have a similar feeling
*High Noon opening( Gun shooters waiting on the train that slowly arrives)
*Shane's scene with the boy and the gun

Music and Image
*Gives distinctive atmosphere when actor respond well to the music
*Songs that are played when characters enter are like their "theme songs"

Dual(Traditional)
*Westerns usually at opposite ends but eventually walk around and circle each other

Beginning of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

From the beginning, the movie was pretty self explanatory. It showed the three characters that were playing the Good guy, the bad buy and the ugly guy. I kind of got confused at the scene when I guess the bad guy went and killed the two men who told him the information. I am guessing that all of them are going to be a part of the big crime that is probably going to happen. The funniet scene was when the good guy left the fugitive tied up in the middle of no where. I believe it's going to be a really interesting movie.

5 Quotes....

Charlot


1. "No, no; his course is destruction; he spoils what the spirit who gave us this country made beautiful."
**Pretty much sums up what the Indians thought the white mad came to do.

2. "To take and to lie should be burnt on his forehead, as he burns the sides of my stolen horses with his own name."
** The white man did both of these without remorse, which makes it easier for the Indians to want to retaliate.

3. "Pay him money!"
** Key point: The Indians were told they had to pay to live on THEIR own land that was stolen from them.... hard to grasp but

4. "We owe him nothing, but he owes us more than he will pay, yet says there is a God."
**Giving them spots on reservations isn't enough for the suffering that they endured. It would've been hard for me to be treated in the same way or in any harsh manner by someone who is supposedly spiritual or trying to convert me into a religion that they are not practicing well themselves.

5. "His crimes are left untold"
**The Indians have been left in the past with their harsh conditions and the white man goes on living freely, prospering off of the crimes that he has committed.

Essay Topics...

I really don't know where to start with what I want to write about.

My first subject that I would want to write about is something to do with the christianization of the Indians or something in that ball park.

Maybe something involving the depiction of native Americans in movies and how they have been made out to be fools. perticularly in the movie Searchers.

I was also interested in the more educated Indians like Charlot and talking or exploring their upbringings and how they addapted soo well.

Readings on John Wayne

On John Wayne was a bit confusing to me. I followed the beginning of it very well. the author was stating that the role of the characters in a specific John Wayne movie should be reversed. John Wayne should have been the victim to the attack of an Indian instead of vice versa.

The Idea of John Waynes obsession with western Expansion was also mentioned. This means that He along with other western cowboys wanted to take as much land as possible. Not even considering the people that were hurt in the path of that.

About John Wayne was just basically a summary of his life and his achievements. It didn't suprise me to see that he had three unsuccessful marriages. due to his strong committment to his films( which he was NOT acting but being himself), it seemed like he had very little time for a personal life, and expecially not a family. He has accomplished many great things in his days, I wonder if he was trully happy with himself regardless of the accomplishments that he made. I bet he was because he was playing who he really was in the films. He didn't have the hassle of becoming someone he wasn't or "getting into character" which had to have made things much easier.

John Wayne Interview

At the opening of this interview, I was a little amused at the answers that John Wayne responded with. From the jump I could tell that he was set in his ways and old fashioned. It's very obvious that he is closed minded from the comments that he made about gays, blacks, and Indians.

Even though I didn't agree with over half of the things that he said about blacks, but it's HIS opinion. It angered me about the things that he said about slavery, and the comparison, "It's just a fact of life, like the kid who gets infantile paralysis and has to wear braces so he can't play football with the rest of us" was total BS and hot even a comparison at all.

Also the statements that he made about Indians were even worse! I understand that he doesn't feel bad personally for the harsh treatment of the Indians, but at least have sympathy for the taking of their land. He makes everything seem as though it's a government issue and that it has nothing to do with him.

he himself is a self absorbed old fool. I And for him to not have sympathy for people who have been mistreated just because they are different, makes him even worse than those who did they injustices themselves. And he speaks about how Hollywood is out for money and for themselves. It is most definitely not perfect but it's way more diverse than it was when he was in his prime years.

The Searchers is... interesting but I am not a fan of John Wayne.

Eco "How to Play Indians"

This reading was a guide that listed about 28 characteristics that all Indians have and to play one, this is how you must act. They were all the stereotypical Indian behaviors that are portrayed in movies, like The Searcher. As like in the beginning of the Searchers, there was a stereotype displayed. It showed that the Indians had made a fire to let the whites know that they were approaching. Also the Indians sent only one man to spy on the white family as stated in the movie.

It's awful how hollywood keeps portraying and contually make the Indian look as though they are dumb and unhuman. It's so crazy that i haven't read anything that correctly protrays the Indians, or even seen or heard about how the Indians trully are.