Tag: John Wayne

Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie

Oh Bury Me NotThe song “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” is largely considered one of the most famous cowboy ballads of all time. Although first published in 1910 in John Lomax‘s Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, the song’s roots go back even further. More recently, Colter Wall made a beautiful version along with a video.

“Bury Me Not” originated as a song about the sea, called “O Bury Me Not in the Deep Deep Sea.” The lyrics to the song, “The Ocean Burial” (or “The Sailor’s Grave”), were written by preacher and poet Edwin Hubbell Chapin and published in 1839 in a literary magazine. Chapin was born in New York on December 29, 1814, later living in Vermont, Virginia, and Massachusetts. George N. Allen later put music to the words of Chapin’s poem.

“Oh, bury me not in the deep, deep sea.”
These words came low and mournfully,
From the pallid lips of a youth who lay
In his small cabin bed at the close of day.

At some point, the song developed into a cowboy lament regarding the prairie. “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” appeared in various publications in the early 1900s. The song remains very similar to “The Ocean Burial,” as one may see by comparing the opening verse above to the opening verse of “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” below.

“O bury me not on the lone prairie.”
These words came low and mournfully,
From the pallid lips of the youth who lay
On his dying bed at the close of day.

The song is partly about death but also about loneliness and being away from home. The dying cowboy (or sailor) laments that they are far from home and worries that his body will be buried far from home where loved ones cannot “come and weep o’er me.” The real cowboys must have related to the song, feeling isolated from their homes while out on the wide open prairie. It made for a lonely life. In the song lyrics, the cowboy’s comrades “took no heed to his dying prayer. / In a narrow grave, just six by three/ They buried him there on the lone prairie.”

In more recent years, many artists, such as Johnny Cash, recorded the song. “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” appeared in the theme music for the movie Stagecoach (1930). The film featured John Wayne’s breakout performance that helped make him a star.

More recently, Colter Wall recorded his own more introspective version. Here is Wall’s video for “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie,” Live from Speedy Creek.

Illustration of Edwin Hubbell Chapin via public domain.  What is your favorite cowboy song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    A Dark Humorless Somewhat Revisionist Western: “Hostiles” (Short Review)

    Hostiles movie Critics seem divided on the latest interpretation of the great American Western, Hostiles (2018).  Is it an “excellent modern take on the Western” or is it “a brutal, shallow Western“?  Well, there is truth in both views about the new movie directed by Scott Cooper.

    The film is set in the West during 1892 in the waning period of the American Indian wars, around six years after Geronimo has surrendered and less than two years after the Wounded Knee massacre.  Christian Bale stars in Hostiles as Joseph Blocker, a captain nearing retirement.  BLocker has seen and done horrible things during the wars with the Native Americans.

    Blocker’s final assignment is to escort an ill chief (Wes Studi) from New Mexico back to his tribe’s lands in Montana so the chief may die on his own soil.  Blocker, who has nothing but hatred for the Native Americans, does not want the assignment.  But he is forced into it.  So, he sets off with a few men and the chief and the chief’s family.

    Along the way, Blocker’s group picks up new people and loses others.  The film opens with some Native Americans killing a family, with the only survivor being Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike).  Soon, Blocker’s group finds Quaid, still traumatized from her own experience.

    The movie follows Blocker’s struggles with his beliefs about duty and about his old foes as he also tries to get his group to safety in a hostile land.  Some of the travelers have their own demons.  And other characters are somewhat developed, but the film mainly focuses on Bale’s character.

    Not the Greatest, But a Good Addition to the Western Canon

    There are echoes of other Westerns here.  Blocker’s changing assortment of traveling characters may remind one  of The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), for example.  But the most obvious connection here is to John Ford’s beautiful classic, The Searchers (1956).  That film followed John Wayne’s racist character searching for his niece.  One may also recognize echoes of the final shot from The Searchers in the final scene of Hostiles, one of my favorite touches in the new film.

    Hostiles does not rank among my favorite Westerns.  But it does a decent job telling a story steeped in realism as do many revisionist Westerns, even if one may debate how far the movie deviates from traditional Western stereotypes.  And the acting is superb all around.  The movie features another great performance from the always fascinating Bale, who also did a very good turn in the recent Western 3:10 to Yuma (2007).

    The movie, though, is not an enjoyable ride.  While there are scenes of horrible violence, the movie lacks the excitement and pace of most Westerns.

    Darker Westerns can still show flashes of joy or humor — as do The Searchers, Unforgiven (1992), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and The Outlaw Josey Wales. But there is little human joy or laughter in Hostiles.  The story reveals some friendships and human connections.  But the dour movie could have done more with them.  Those few moments still seem buried in the darkness of the story, perhaps because the camera rarely leaves the grim Blocker.

    Hostiles is a good movie and anyone who enjoys Westerns should check it out.  I see why critics and viewers are somewhat split on the film, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 72% Critics Rating and a 71% Audience Rating. While Hostiles is not a fun ride and one may debate its success as a Revisionist Western, the film gets credit for trying to do something deeper than most recent action movies.

    What did you think of Hostiles? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Gary Cooper’s Three Oscars

    Gary Cooper Oscar

    On May 7, 1901, Frank James Cooper was born in Helena, Montana. After some work as a salesman and promoter, he started working as an actor in 1925, changing his first name to Gary when he signed a contract with Paramount. Reportedly, a casting director suggested the new name after her tough hometown of Gary, Indiana.

    Gary Cooper went on to star in many memorable films including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Meet John Doe (1941), Pride of the Yankees (1942), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), and The Fountainhead (1949). Cooper was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and lost for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Pride of the Yankees, and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

    Cooper’s First Best Actor Oscar

    He received the Best Actor Oscar twice. First, he won the honor in 1942 for Sergeant York (1941).

    Sergeant York features a terrific performance, even if some note that Hollywood may have been motivated to honor the World War I film about a pacifist becoming a soldier to encourage Americans to sign up to fight in the new war. Below is the trailer.

    Cooper’s Second Oscar & The Meaning of High Noon

    More than a decade later, he won the Best Actor Oscar for High Noon (1952), the last time he was nominated for Best Actor. It is hard to pick a favorite Gary Cooper movie, but I am not sure anything tops High Noon (1952).

    We liked Cooper as a hero.

    At the 25th Academy Awards in 1953, Cooper was filming another movie in Mexico and was ill.  So, John Wayne accepted the award for him.

    Below, actress Janet Gaynor announces Cooper’s win, and Wayne accepts the statue.

    Interestingly despite Wayne’s joke wondering why he did not get the High Noon role, Wayne reportedly did not like the movie. There are various theories about why, but Garry Wills in John Wayne’s America explained that Wayne thought the movie ended on a note of disrespect for the law when Cooper dropped his badge in the dirt at the end.

    Like Wayne, a number of people found political messages in High Noon. Some suspected High Noon had a “leftist” message. By contrast, though, others believed the script, written by Carl Foreman, who would later be blacklisted, was not sending a left-wing message but exploring the way people had cowered to the bully Sen. Joe McCarthy.

    Other viewers find in High Noon a conservative message about how one man has to stand up when the justice system breaks down. Or they find an allegory about the Cold War. In Bright Lights Film Journal, Prof. Manfred Weidhorn summed up the contrasting theories about the movie, saying “High Noon, bristling with ambiguity, is a veritable Rorschach test.”

    But High Noon is deep down a great movie, however you want to interpret any messages about the man (and his wife) standing up to the bad guys. And maybe the possibility of so many interpretations adds to its American character.

    Many years ago when I was in college in the pre-Internet days and had some friends visiting from Sweden, I took them to a revival theater to see High Noon.  I thought it was a wonderful example of an American movie, or at least of an example regarding how Americans see themselves.

    Another former actor, Ronald Reagan, recognized how the movie remained in America’s consciousness decades later. He invokes the movie in this clip, discussing what it was like for a Republican to be in Democratic territory.

    Cooper’s Third Oscar

    Nearly a decade after High Noon, Cooper would be awarded a third and final Oscar. In April 1961, the Academy gave Cooper a Lifetime Achievement Oscar for his great career.

    Cooper again could not accept the award.  But this time, unknown to many, it was because of a serious illness.

    When viewers saw Cooper’s friend Jimmy Stewart give an emotional speech at the Oscars, though, they realized Cooper was not well. The news soon came out that Cooper was suffering from prostate cancer.  He died one month later on May 13, 1961, leaving behind a collection of great films that would be the envy of any actor.

    What is your favorite Gary Cooper movie? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Ira Hayes Won’t Answer Anymore

    Ira Hayes Iwo Jima On January 24, 1955, Ira Hamilton Hayes died from alcohol poisoning near where he lived in Sacaton, Arizona. Even if you do not recognize the name, you have seen a photo of Hayes, as the 22-year-old Pima Indian Marine appears in the famous historical photo by Joe Rosenthal of soldiers raising the flag on Mt. Suribachi at Iwo Jima in 1945 during World War II.

    The image was also used as a model for the 1954 Marine Corps War Memorial near Arlington National Cemetery, where Hayes is now buried. The war image and what happened to Hayes after the famous flag raising have since been immortalized in pop culture.

    Ira Hayes in Movies

    If you were not born during World War II but recognize the name of Ira Hayes, you may have seen the movie about Hayes directed by Delbert Mann and called The Outsider (1961). In that movie, Tony Curtis starred as the Native American Hayes. [September 2015 Update: Unfortunately, clips from The Outsider are no longer available on YouTube.]

    Adam Beach portrayed Hayes in Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers (2006). The real Hayes played himself in the John Wayne film, Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). Here is a video of the flag-raising in the movie, even though you cannot single out Hayes in this clip.

    Ira Hayes in Song: “The Ballad of Ira Hayes”

    But most likely those of us in a certain generation recognize the name “Ira Hayes” because of a song.  Songwriter Peter La Farge, inspired by The Outsider film, wrote the song “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.”

    Johnny Cash then recorded the song and made it famous.

    Like many others, I first learned about Ira Hayes through the Cash song. My dad used to play an 8-track with the song on it, and he explained to me the story about Ira Hayes. While the song takes some liberties about Hayes, it captures the essence of his tragic life. Because of the photo, Hayes was hailed as a hero, but he wanted to live a normal life and did not consider himself a hero after seeing so many of his comrades killed.

    Hayes probably suffered from what we now know as post-traumatic stress syndrome.  He fell on hard times and turned to alcohol, resulting in his death.

    Cash’s version of “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” remains the most famous version of the song.  But other artists like Kris Kristofferson have covered the tune.

    Songwriter Townes Van Zandt captured the sadness in the song when he sang “The Ballad of Ira Hayes” as part of Solo Sessions, January 17, 1995.

    While one might complain that the song oversimplifies Ira Hayes by focusing on his downfall, the song remains as a fitting tribute to the man. It helps keep him in our memories, while also reminding us of some of the downsides of war and fame. RIP Corporal Hayes.

    Photo via public domain.

    What is your favorite version of “The Ballad of Ira Hayes”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Marion Michael Morrison Born May 26, 1907

    Stagecoach John Wayne More than one-hundred years ago this May 26, Marion Michael Morrison was born in Winterset, Iowa. Marion’s family moved to Glendale California when he was six, and he grew up to get a football scholarship at the University of Southern California after he was rejected at the U.S. Naval Academy. But it was his work as an assistant prop man on a film directed by John Ford, who saw something in the man, that helped launch the career you know him for. You might know him by another name, “The Duke.” Or maybe you know him by his other name, John Wayne.

    Few actors rise to such iconic status as John Wayne, who stands besides the likes of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean as film stars who became something more, for better or worse. Because of their fame, we often forget that they were great actors too. It is true that John Wayne usually played a certain kind of character and that he became associated with certain political beliefs in his time, but those factors should not distract from the legacy he left with his onscreen performances.

    After Ford discovered Wayne as a prop man, Wayne went on to play in B movies for the next decade before he finally got his big break when Ford put him in Stagecoach (1939). Watch a clip of Wayne in Stagecoach here:

    After Stagecoach, Wayne’s career took off and he starred in many classic films, ending with The Shootist in 1976, three years before Wayne died of cancer.

    What is your favorite John Wayne movie? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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