Rio Grande (1950), dir. John Ford
I guess it seems very unfortunate that I, someone who spent the past few Summer Under the Stars days, complaining about racism in Old Hollywood films will begin the Maureen O’Hara day with a John Ford western starring John Wayne. Oof.
The story is set among soldiers, Wayne is a Lieutenant, there are many young boys who recently enlisted and need to be trained. Among them, as it turns out, is Wayne’s son he has not seen for fifteen years. Soon the estranged wife (that is the Maureen O’Hara character) shows up too and the whole thing turns into a family reunion accompanied by the sound of a boys’ choir singing western songs.
I LOVE sing-along scenes in film and there are SO MANY of those in Rio Grande, I LOVE the gorgeous black and white cinematography… But I hate the racist caricatures of Native Americans. I hate the Southern nostalgia. I hate the John Wayne as a real American hero trope. I hate that there is one woman in a starring role in this movie and she immediately faints and starts cleaning. I am not going to make excuses for these things.
At Sword’s Point (1952), dir. Lewis Allen
Well, if I did not like the weakness of O’Hara’s character in Rio Grande, I should be happy with what she gets to do here. At Sword’s Point is a musketeer movie and she actually gets to play a musketeer!
It is kind of weird that she goes from playing a mother of a teenager to someone who is, I presume, almost a teenager herself, but what is even weirder is that she shows up looking like… herself, but in a musketeer outfit and everyone thinks she’s a man. But that was kind of charming and an example of the goofy fun At Sword’s Point is. She pretends to be a man to, as Atos’s daughter, join the sons of other three musketeers and save the princess.
She is kind of a Strong Woman™ here, great at fencing, wearing pants, but it somehow does feel genuine, even if a bit naive. To be honest, the film reminded me a bit of Mulan 2 (which I guess is pretty embarrassing, for me more than for the film).
Our Man in Havana (1959), dir. Carol Reed
And finally – Our Man in Havana, a British comedy with Alec Guiness, of which I have seen a lot in these past few months. It’s mostly pleasant. It looks good. Maureen looks great. I will have probably forgetten all about it by tomorrow.
Swingin' at the Seance 