FILM ESSAY: THE LAW VS. THE OUTLAW

Last year I reviewed two of the most iconic westerns of all time that still stand the test of time, which were "The Searchers" starring John Wayne, and "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" starring Clint Eastwood. After re-watching the film that gained John Wayne his Oscar "True Grit", and an Eastwood film that I've been dying to see since Middle School "The Outlaw Josey Wales", instead of reviewing them separately (though I eventually plan to in the future), I'm deciding to compare and contrast them. The reason why I've chosen these two films for such a comparison, as opposed to the two classics I've already reviewed, was for two reasons. The first being how these two completely different types of cowboys share together in terms of traits and personalities. And the other reason is the theme that both films are centered on which is revenge.

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!



Interesting enough, though John Wayne has top billing in the film, his character Rooster Cogburn isn't the focus. The actual main character is a 14-year-old girl named Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), who is one of the strongest female characters to have ever existed in a western (at least until the third act). Regardless of how many times people dismiss and bully her because of her gender and age, she always finds a way to push-passed it. When Rooster and his partner La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) try to ditch her, she catches up with them. If she has trouble bargaining with a person, she won't stop arguing until she gets what she wants. She's headstrong of having things her way because she wants revenge on the man who killed her father, Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey). Though her on-screen relationship with her Father is shown very brief, her love for him is felt throughout her journey for how determined she is to find Chaney and bring him to the town where she killed her Father to be hanged as opposed to flat-out murdering him.



Josey Wales' seek for vengeance shares a similar loss that Mattie went through. Before becoming the kind of outlaw that people would expect Eastwood to behave, he was a humble and civilized farmer living happily with his wife and kid without a care in the world. Until one horrible day, an army of pro-Union Jayhawker militants arrives at his farm taking away everything he had. Instead of losing one person he loves, he loses his whole entire family and his farm from these war-crimes as he's left for dead. Wounded, alone, and with nothing left for him to live on, the only thing that Josey can do now is take revenge on the Union Jayhawkers and the man who led the attack Captain Terrill (Bill McKinney) for what they did to him, his family, and his way of life. Much like how Mattie's relationship with her Father is played-out, Josey screen-time with his family is short but is still felt not only through his actions and thirst for blood but through every moment of the scene itself without feeling rushed or too romanticized. Mattie's motive for revenge is effective, but it's definitely Josey's motive that feels grimmer and felt more by comparison.



As Mattie and Josey seek revenge over the loss of family, both being inexperienced with guns and finding criminals, they don't go alone, they get help. Josey joins a group of pro-Confederate Missouri Bushwhackers after teaching himself how to fire a gun, while Mattie hires aging U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn who is known for having "True Grit". Mattie may be the main character of "True Grit" and tough for fighting to get what she desires, but when it comes to partaking in action and coming up with strategies at capturing her enemy, she gets put aside for the star that people came to see shoot-up the screen, John Wayne. Mattie does shoot the man she's after, but he still lives and gets taken out by Rooster as she's trapped in a snake pit. So in terms of comparing methods and personality for how the characters take action during the search, I'll be focusing on Rooster when covering "True Grit".



Unlike Josey Wales, Rooster doesn't have any personal vendetta against the person he's tracking down, all he cares about is the money he receives from it because that's his profession. To Rooster, he finds hunting criminals and bringing them back dead or alive to be more of a profitable sport for him, than wanting to serve justice for the common good. If anything Rooster just uses his position of authority just to strike fear into the criminals he's paid to find, feeling that he can do whatever he wants to them as long as the people who pay him see it justifiable. He knows his way around the places he explores to find the person he's after very well, and how the criminals he seeks thinks, which gives him the advantage to take on his opponents when they least expect it. And when he takes his fight to those who challenge him or refuse to obey his commands, he shows no mercy or hesitation when killing them or keeping them in-line. Before being a Marshall, Rooster in the past hasn't been so different from the criminals he catches. During the Civil War, he's taken part in war crimes with Captain Quantrell and revealed to have robbed a federal paymaster after the war, who doesn't consider these illegal acts he's partaken in to be crimes. Above all, despite Rooster being played by John Wayne, the iconic charismatic American hero who we know will do right in the end regardless of his faults, Rooster is shown to be rude, patronizing, and aggressive, who constantly drinks and is very trigger happy. However, (as many would expect from Wayne playing a cowboy) he can be gentle and protective towards Mattie, almost acting like a second Father figure to her. His ways of handling Mattie can be a little too rough and cold, but only because he doesn't want her to get hurt. The relationship shows that underneath Rooster's savage and self-righteous ways is a lonely man who has no real friends or a person to care for, where the only thing that keeps him going in life is killing people for the thrill and making money to drink his pain away. 



Rooster may be flawed, but most of the people he goes after are people who are deserving of their crimes. Josey goes after people of authority who in the justice system are considered to be good guys. After years of killing Union soldiers during the Civil War, when the Union wins, the Confederates are forced to surrender, and Wales still holding a great hatred for the Union Redlegs refuses to bow down to them. His resistance becomes a lucky break for him after discovering that the Union is not only bullying the band of guerrillas he's been fighting with by forcing them to forget their beliefs but has them massacred even though the war is over. And the Captain (John Vernon) who Josey has served faithfully during the war is now slaved by the Union to take out rebels that oppose them, including Wales. The war may be officially over, but for Wales, it will continue as long as he's around and the Union Captain who killed his family is still alive and well. Josey will slaughter every Union Redleg that comes in his path, even with the knowledge that he can't single-handily slaughter them all. But he doesn't care, because just like the protagonists in "True Grit" the only things that keep him moving in life is revenge and violence which makes him become a wanted man. The greatest element to Josey's character is Clint Eastwood's performance because he's nowhere near as predictable as John Wayne is. Eastwood always had a dry and emotionless approach, who seemed like the kind of cowboy who will just do whatever he feels without caring about the consequences of his actions. Unlike how Wayne will shout, make bluffs, and give warnings when going after someone, Eastwood intimidates a person who dares to cross-him with his cold-stare and few threatening words spoken in such a gruff tone. At first, his intimidation backs away the person who is thinking about turning his gun on him, but should that man suddenly make eye contact with him again or look like he's about to pull out his pistol after being given a warning, he kills him in a wink of an eye. Just like Rooster, Josey is shown to be very calculating when coming up with strategies to attack his enemies, and is openly rude to people, except he'll mostly just spit in-front of the people he hates. Underneath his empty appearance, Josey on the inside is very caring and sentimental. He'll kill any Union Jayhawker soldier he finds but will stop his attack to rescue someone who is in need of his help. When about to ride off to face a large Comanche tribe, he leaves the people who he met on his journey who have become like family to him behind so they won't be harmed like his family. And instead of down-right killing the leader of the tribe, he sympathizes with them for their hate of the government stripping them away of everything away that they valued, and joins them as an ally, after how the government supported the people who took everything that meant to him.

Given John Wayne’s heroic reputation, and that his performance as Rooster came late in his career when everyone was already familiar with his characteristics, Eastwood as Josey Wales comes across as a more interesting character. Eastwood had already established his trademark as this kind of cowboy before in the “Dollars Trilogy”, which you can argue makes him almost as predictable as Wayne is at this point too. However, Eastwood's bruiting personality and savage approach makes him less expected when compared to Wayne because you don’t know when he’ll fire or when he’ll stop his plotting just to rescue an innocent bystander or make peace. With that said, despite their differences and one being more foreseen than the other, Wayne and Eastwood still perfectly fit the western genre, for their heroic image, tough personality, and having a soft heart underneath their cold personality. They are the true legends of westerns who will not be forgotten as long as the genre is still around.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK

Allow me to talk a little about my exposure to one of the most popular heroes in cinema, Indiana Jones...



The first time I ever heard of the character was from a trip to Disney World when I was 7 years old. Even though I went on "The Great Movie Ride" (which wouldn't impact my life the way it did until my second trip to the park), I had no memory seeing the character during that portion of the ride. The only bit I remembered during that section was the skeletons. After leaving the park, my Mom had generously bought me a souvenir video called "Around the World with Mickey & Friends", that showcased all 4 parks. Once I saw "The MGM Studios" segment, I was thrilled to see the footage of "The Great Movie Ride" which had helped refresh my memory with certain parts, but I still had no idea who the two people lifting that giant ancient golden box were and what movie was being recreated. Immediately after watching Mickey and Minnie ride "The Great Movie Ride", came Goofy watching a live show titled...



As soon as I saw the actor dressed as Indy climb down a rope to the stage and took notice of its temple setting, I instantly recognized him being the very same character in the temple full of snakes and skeletons on "The Great Movie Ride" (the fedora hat was the big give away). I became dazzled by the amount of action and excitement that was being duplicated from the film. The bits that really mesmerized me was watching spikes pop-out from underneath the floor towards almost every step Indy would take and watching him run away from a giant boulder.



A little after I saw the footage, I re-watched the opening of "The Rugrats Movie" noticing that the scene is supposed to pay homage to Indiana Jones from the giant boulder chasing after the babies, and Tommy holding a jump-rope in place of a whip calling himself "Okey-Dokey Jones". Once after seeing Disney and the Rugrats take on the film, I asked my Dad to rent me a copy. Instead of getting one film, I was given two, which were "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The Temple of Doom". I saw the opening to both films and was thrilled by its sense of action and adventure, however, given how small my attention span was with live-action movies at that age, I began to turn them off as soon the action stopped.



During my second trip to "Disney World" when I was in the 5th Grade, after seeing the trailer for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" during the queue for "The Great Movie Ride", and getting a better view of the animatronics of Indiana Jones and his sidekick Sallah trying to move the ark, I left the ride anxious to see the movie again. My Dad gave me an old VHS copy of the film that he recorded off of HBO (I guess he must have found it when cleaning up the closest, since he rented me a copy a couple of years prior to it), and having more of an attention span to watch a movie in full, I left the film in awe by the character, sets, effects, score, and action. The only thing that disappointed me was that the great stoned gargoyle that contained a jewel protected by the gods was only created for "The Great Movie Ride" than originating from the movie where the scene takes place.

After re-watching it a few more times, I began to grow distant from the film when I went to High School, and haven't had the pleasure re-watching it since then. After previously covering a few of the films from "The Great Movie Ride" last year like "The Searchers" and "Footlight Parade", admiring how extremely well they held-up, it is time for me to once again dig-up this piece of nostalgia to take a closer look at it than I did as a kid. This is...



Taking place in the year 1936, daring archaeologist and college professor Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is contacted by two Army Intelligence agents. Aware of Indy's fearless reputation of finding ancient artifacts in some of the most dangerous places on earth, he is given the task to find the lost Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis with the aid of his rival Dr. Rene Belloq (Paul Freeman) find it in belief that its power will make their army invincible. Indy takes on the task and goes on a series of adventures to recover it with the help of his ex-lover Marion (Karen Allen) and a skilled digger from Cairo, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies).



Harrison Ford came fresh out of the successful "Star Wars" sequel "The Empire Strikes Back" to play Indy in George Lucas' next project. Originally Lucas didn't want Ford to play the role of Indy after Steven Spielberg has suggested it to him because he didn't want him to star in every project he's made since his wide success as Han Solo in the "Star Wars" movies. It's hard to picture anyone else taking the role of this iconic hero if these films were to be made without Ford in the lead role for how perfectly he fits it. And while many people would say that Han Solo is Ford's best role when working with Lucas, I would say that Indiana Jones would be his best. Not to say that there's anything wrong with his performance as Solo because there most certainly isn't. It's just unlike how Ford is required to only be tough, snarky, and show a little emotion when expressing the softer side of Solo, he must be the badass daring hero while still showing a nerdy and passionate side to his character. For all the cool moments that people remember the character for, people tend to overlook that he can be at times awkward and geeky. Given that he is an archaeologist, it wouldn't seem believable if he didn't seem passionate and obsessive when talking about history to the point where it feels a little geeky. And when around women he doesn't try to go for the romance like how a hero like James Bond would, if anything he can be downright uncomfortable or put in an odd situation that leads to a few moments of comedy. It's also intriguing to see Ford play a character who isn't as perfect when fighting against the bad guys. He's calculating, slick, strong, and even at times downright cold when taking on an enemy (which has me wondering why Lucas is fine with Indy killing a person in cold blood, and yet Han shooting an alien holding him at gun-point caused him to make such a controversial change), but he can make serious mistakes and have his weaknesses and downfalls. He can face all these booby traps without fear, and yet snakes scare him to death. He'll take out a few assassins in such a cool fashion, but he winds-up accidentally killing a person who's helping him. He just feels like a more rounded character and performance when compared to his role as Han, as well as having a more distinctive outfit that says so much about his character just by looking at him, which is why I find him more appealing.



Watching this film again after so long, I found myself surprised that Indy's love interest Marion is just as tough and skilled as he is. I remembered her being more as the typical damsel in distress who only exists to be a prize for Indy, and that's not to say there isn't any truth to it. She does get taken hostage numerous times in the film. But with that aside, while containing a charming and sweet personality, she can be strong and feisty. When being interrogated, she can be fearless and rough before being put in a vulnerable position. Though she becomes a prisoner of the Nazis, she uses her beauty and abilities as a means of escape when interacting with one of the main antagonists. And just like our hero, when an action scene unfolds, she doesn't suddenly run, hide, or get caught, she fights back killing any Nazi that stands in her way and saves Indy's skin on a few occasions. Allen herself doesn't look like an innocent when she takes part in the action, she becomes just as much as badass as Ford does. The relationship that both characters share is like the relationship between Han Solo and Princess Leia. They both bicker and argue but show their feelings for each other. In comparison "Star Wars" handles this kind of relationship much better. However, the chemistry that they have is just as engaging for how they both contain a love for adventure and danger, as their reasons for not getting along with each other, are legitimate after discovering (a grim part of the story that completely flew over my head as a kid) that the two were unhappy with the fact they were once lovers when she was a teenager who was ten years apart from Indy's age. Even though she "knew what she was doing" her frustration toward Indy for loving and leaving her is understandable for feeling betrayed and dirty, as Indy feels guilty for it but is trying to stay professional in his search for the ark.



Another surprise that came to me when viewing the film after so many years is discovering that John Rhys-Davies is in the film. The supporting actors in the film all give strong solid performances, but apart from Allen, the villains (will get to shortly), very few of them are memorable since their only purpose is to provide exposition. Davies' character isn't strictly around to give Indy the information he needs to move the plot forward, he also serves as his side-kick during his expedition for the ark by helping him penetrate in restricted areas and locating "The Well of Souls" where the ark is hidden. While being very loyal, Davies brings a lively performance to his character that makes him entertaining to watch, while containing a humble presence where you admire how much he cares for Indy. All he just needs are a few scenes of him getting involved in the action (after all he would later play Gimli in "Lord of the Rings"), otherwise, he makes for a great companion to our leading protagonist.



A treasure hunt action-adventure film wouldn't be complete without containing villains who are menacing and colorful, and this film certainly does deliver by providing a wide variety of different types of villains. The film's main antagonist is Indy's arch-rival Dr. Rene Belloq, who is a dark sophisticated counterpart of our leading hero. As Indy goes into life-threatening situations and fights against bad guys to find the artifact he's looking for, Belloq would always be a step ahead of him joining forces with such awful people like Nazis and terrorists to aid him in his quest. And unlike how Indy searches for these ancient artifacts for his love of history and preserving them, Belloq though is very knowledgeable about the items he's after only wants the money, power, and recognition. He's a character so nasty that a fly crawling inside his mouth doesn't faze him. Paul Freeman's performance hams up the character as if he was playing a Bond villain, he's just enjoyably dastardly as Indy's rival. Upstaging Belloq is the Gestapo agent Major Arnold Ernst Toht (Ronald Lacey). Like the villain Angel Eyes in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly", despite doing very little, his appearance and personality are so slimy and vicious while showing great enjoyment over the people he intimidates that his presence alone is what makes him so chilling. You're never sure when he's going to strike or how far he goes when using brutal force on the people he meets, all you know is that it's going to be slow and incredibly painful where your screams will just increase his pleasure. There are other villains who stand-out in the film too, like the eye-patch terrorist with his Nazi saluting monkey, the giant bald head Nazi, and Alfred Molina as Indy's backstabbing guide, but they're only in the film for a short time.



The film's villains are indeed threatening, but nowhere near as fleshed-out as our hero, and for a film like this, that's fine. The film's focus is not about Indy and his rival challenging each-other wits, it's your simple point A to point B adventure film where the hero, the action he takes part in, and the treasure he seeks is the primary focus, like in a Bond film from the time or an old film serial. As a matter of fact, a lot of the film was inspired by old Saturday Matinees from the '30s and '40s (particularly the ones made from "Republic Pictures) for their fast-paced action, stunts, adventure setting, and thrilling cliff-hangers. Only instead of the film being shot on the same small scale as these types of films were, it's made to look as big and grand as classics like "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Citizen Kane". It takes the same kind of influences as the "Star Wars" films did, except Lucas' idea of having the film centered on an archaeologist when paying tribute to serials was the first idea he had in mind before deciding to set his tribute to the genre in space.



Most audiences and critics would consider the action in this film to be some of cinema's greatest, and they certainly aren't wrong. I was blown away at how well the action in this film holds-up. There's not a single sequence that bores or drags-on. Scenes such as Indy escaping booby traps in a temple, the fist-fight by a spinning plane, the shoot-out in the bar, and Indy dangling on a moving truck are all just one big thrill ride. The tension and obstacles that Indy faces in these scenes never die-down and only get worse by creating new problems for him thus making the situations more captivating for how high the stakes are. The pacing itself perfectly moves from slow and intense to fast and exhilarating when the action begins to start as you're still given time to breathe and admire the images in front of you through terrific editing that doesn't rush. Being able to see everything, unlike today's action movies where most of it uses CGI to the point where you can't fully appreciate the stunt-work, since this film was made at a time when these advantages weren't around, the stunts performed here (some by Ford himself) are breathtaking for how dangerous and insane they are. The stunts not only still stand the test of time, but so does most of the effects. This film uses nearly every single effect that was around at the time, such as blue-screen, matte paintings, miniatures, animation, live animals, sets, on-location shots, and so much more. It's incredibly impressive the kind of imagination and effort that went into making these effects look so dazzling, especially in the film's climax! The only effects that haven't aged too well are some of the blue-screen effects, but even so, they still add so much to the atmosphere of the scenes they're used in that it doesn't matter if its obvious or not. Adding to weight to the parallel for the stunts being performed and the special effects looking so grand are the sound effects. Hearing people being punched, the giant boulder rolling, the slithers of a thousand snakes, and Indy's whip being cracked, add a large thrill for how brutal they sound (you'd be amazed at what was being used behind the scenes when creating these sounds). The element that overpowers the sound effects is John Williams score. The score may have similar cues to the music he composed for "The Superman" movies, but it's still a score as spectacular as the very scenes it plays for, coming across as exciting, triumphant, and big, while still maintaining a sound reminiscent to themes for adventure serials back in the day. This is another one of those films directed by Spielberg that if Williams score was absent the impact wouldn't be as strong regardless of how epic the action scenes are.



From all its stunning action, the film does carry tons of enchantment to it as well. The talks about the ark provide a dark sense of wonder for how powerful and yet full mystery it is. Hearing the ominous score and eerie sound effects being played in the background matched with the excitingly intense delivers from the actors becomes incredibly haunting, effectively building-up of what an important find it is, and the chaos that may occur when fallen into the wrong hands. The visuals depicting the ark, and the artifacts that Indy finds on his journey don't disappoint as they are shot and lit to appear to be larger than life despite its size. As beautiful as the treasures are, the set designs for the temple and lost tombs where Indy goes are appropriately the opposite, looking old and grim giving you the feeling that booby traps and snakes aren't the only things protecting the treasures.

SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH!



The only problems that the film really has are the plot-holes that happen in the film's third act. The first two acts are very solid in terms of writing. There are of course historical liberties being taken when portraying the Nazis, and the famous opening scene being pointless to the overall plot of the movie, but nowhere near as questionable as the stuff that happens as soon as Indy rides on top of a Nazi sub to their hidden base. It's amazing how the submarine never dives, nor are there any troops guarding the top. Indy himself doesn't even look dehydrated during a voyage that may have taken days if not weeks to get to his destination. Indy later threatens to blow-up the ark in exchange for Marion when he reaches the Island, but doesn't he realize that blowing-up the ark will also kill her if the Nazi's refuse to turn her loose? A common criticism that people give the film is how Indy's involvement in finding the ark would have no effect on the story. One way or another, the Nazi's are going to die after unveiling it. I don't agree with this criticism for a few reasons. Belloq may have been searching for the ark, but it's made clear that his discoveries are from following Indy around, and without Indy's involvement, Belloq probably wouldn't have come close to discovering it. After all, he had Nazi's following him to retrieve the amulet that will help lead them to it. And if the Nazi's still did discover where the amulet is, Marion would be killed if Indy wasn't there to save her. But the main reason why Indy's involvement matters is that his goal to bring the ark back to the United States before the Nazis grab it, and even though the first troop that opened it up will die, that doesn't mean the Nazi's don't still have it. Indy knew how to keep himself safe from being killed by the angels of death by not looking at them, what makes people think the Nazi's can't learn about it too? They can still use the ark as a weapon to help take over the world after learning how to use it to their advantage. The only problem with the film involving Indy's involvement is we never see him escape the Island (that I'm sure is still crawling with Nazis) with the ark! That's a very important detail to leave out, almost as if there wasn't enough time or money to shoot a final action sequence before the last scene in the movie.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

As massive as the plot-holes are, that doesn't mean they're distracting because the film is so awesome that it doesn't matter. The film has everything you could ever wish for from an adventure film! It's action-packed, atmospheric, dark and edgy, full of wonder, romantic, humorous, has outstanding performances, a relatable daring hero, menacing villains you love to hate, plenty of tension, amazing special effects, fun mind-blowing action-scenes, a variety of different locations, and a tremendous score. It's as perfect as a film like this can get that can appeal to all audiences! To think that every studio in Hollywood (before "Paramount" gave in) would turn down a film like this with the combined talents of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg is very jarring because have this film not been made, we wouldn't have had a timeless classic that has revolutionized action-adventure films the way we see them now.