Stagecoach

            During the class period it was mentioned how John Wayne was able to act very well with just his facial expressions.  Some characters in the movie were not happy about John Wayne  being in the stagecoach he was not welcome to talk much.  While in the stagecoach many times he was scorned at and all he could to was look at the people to communicate and it was very easy to read his facial expressions.  Also discused in class was how this western was the first serious western movie.  The movie had many adult themes.  The doctor was an alcoholic and another character stole from the local bank while some others were trying to find men to kill to satisy John Wayne's revenge.  There were serious fights and A woman that joined them had a child.  The characters had their chalenges were a constant in the movie and were concured throughout the movie.
           Stage Coach was based on a short story titled "Stage to Lodsburg" by Ernest Haycox.  The movie was filmed in Monument Valey.  The location was tough to get to because he only way to get there was to take a 20mile dirt road.  The location was near a reservation where unemployment was very high.  John Ford employed many Apaches and it helped them very much.  The entire Stagecoach movie was not filmed entirely at Monument Valey but the most striking monent were.  he movie was also filmed Southern California near Chatsworth and Calabasas.  The real journey of the movie was shot at Republic Studios in teh Goldwyn Studios were the interiors were filmed.  I definetly earned more respect for the crew and cast when I discovered that the film was shot in such a secluded and hard to get area.  I connot really imagine taking all the equipment required for a film 200 miles on a dirt road.http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/s/stagecoach.html
           I thought this movie was funny and the actions sequences were very good.  Because there were not many special effects then the stunt man played a big role.  As far as an actual star actor doing dangerous stunts that is not really seen today.  John Wayne did a few stunts and rode hanging out of a fast moving woden bouncy stagecoach.  I liked how when John Wayne was doing stunts you could actually see his face and knew that he was doing the stunt.  Now you would see a man with a bad wig from behind as he does the stars stunts.