Wyatt Earp's Tombstone

John Ford built a standard that many future directors would follow with his classic 1939 film “Stagecoach”. Although there were a plethora of western films made before 1939, the film “Stagecoach” revolutionized the western genre by elevating the genre from a “B” film into a more serious genre. The film challenged not only western stereotypes but also class divisions in society. Utilizing specific aspects of mise-en-scène and cinematography, John Ford displays his views of society.

The film starts off with our main character, Joseph C. Gillis, found dead in a swimming pool. A flashback begins leading moments to his death. Joe Gillis is an unsuccessful screen writer that lives at Alto Needo Apartments in Los Angeles Hollywood, California. Joe Gillis is desperately trying to find a job to pay off his

The sexual politics of the man-woman relationship, or more specifically the sexual exploitation of women by men, is a clear concern in Margaret Atwood's "Backdrop Addresses Cowboy." Although the oppressor-as-male theme is by no means an original source of poetic inspiration, Atwood's distinction is that she views the destructive man-woman relationship as a metaphor for, symptom and symbol of, bigger things. From the vantage-point of feminine consciousness, Margaret Atwood empahsizes the "backdrop" as being not only the woman, but also the land and the spiritual life of the universe; the "cowboy" is both a man bent on personal gain (possibly an American based

In the movie Tombstone Wyatt Earp is made to appear like a hero who does his heroic acts in a way that could make him seem like a criminal. In the film Wyatt is seen shooting and killing people out of what seems like vengeance. But like all hero movies the Tombstone film also follows a hero quest. A hero’s quest is a outline of what the hero goes through in his journey. The hero’s quest contains the three crucial parts of the separation, the initiation, and the return.

This is a pivot point in history because the following year tens of thousands of men migrated to California in the hopes of quick fortune. Tens of thousands of “forty-niners” took part in the California gold rush by mining and panning for gold. Although some “forty-niners” did make quick fortunes, many did not find much gold. For those who did not find enough gold to pay for their expenses, “many forty-niners took wage-paying jobs with large mining companies that used dangerous machinery to cut deep into the earth’s surface.” (Norton, et. al., Mindtap, 11-5f) Although the mines were extremely dangerous, the men all cared for one another and would help collect money for men who were hurt in explosions, “and in less than half an hour there was collected five thousand dollars for the blind man.” (J. E. Pleasants, "Life in the Mines in 1849" in Connecting California, 204) The California Gold Rush was such a pivot in history because it began a huge influx of people into the west prompting large-scale agriculture, city developments and consequently decreased the remaining Native American population significantly from 200,000 to 30,000 by

Ford’s Stagecoach is an epic and revolutionary approach that displays the desert terrain and western inhabitant’s struggles. Stagecoach follows the lives of seven strangers in their attempt to arrive to Lordsburg, New Mexico. Each of these characters reflects the various types of people found in the western world. The film is laced with many American ideals of the time such as xenophobia, chivalry, the conventional standards of women, and much more. Stagecoach defies the conventional western film because it is no longer just men in a desert terrain with rifles.

Almost two decades ago, a film known as Tombstone was produced, featuring a star-studded cast. This action-packed western portrays the legendary feud between the Earp’s and the Clanton’s. For the most part I believe it to be a respectable movie containing a powerful storyline. This film portrays the life and times of the famous cowboy, Wyatt Earp, focusing on what led to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Tombstone provides a mixture of both fact and fiction, however I believe this film to be mainly accurate. After seeing this particular film, I have resulted in finding some of the accurate and incorrect scenes and facts. Just to name a couple of the films inaccuracies are the misleading facts about the

The opening shot of a film is one of the most crucial parts of a movie. In the same way that an establishing shot introduces us into the scene, the opening shot introduces us into a movie. Although not the most memorable, the opening shot is important because the director can use it to convey the film’s main ideas, premises or character arcs. Inglourious Basterds (2009) opens with a long shot of a farm: lush fields of green, small farmhouse, and a man (Denis Ménochet) chopping wood at the center. This is where action will take place. This is 1941 France and life

The story formula for Stagecoach structures around characters in the Tonto and introducing the characters, traveling to Lordsburg, stopping at Dry Fork way station for food and unforgettable dinner table scene, traveling towards Apache Wells in the snow, Mrs. Mallory’s baby born in Apache Wells, finally getting to Lordsburg but got attacked by the Indians, and ended with Ringo Kid in a shooting conflict. Stagecoach did a great job in the characters types. There are the protagonists, prostitute, gambler, schoolmarm. These are the specific character types in Western movies. The setting of the movie is on point. It’s in the American West and takes place in the 1880s. The location of Monument Valley is a favorite location for John Ford. The presentation of Stagecoach has many great exterior shots that collocate the characters with the environment they occupy. The stars in Stagecoach does fit in a Western movie. Like John Wayne, he stars in many Western movies. What makes Stagecoach a western is the traditional western theme. Like the fight between whites and Native Americans. There is a good use of the American West’s open plains and mountains.

How many times has Hollywood taken a true story and turned it into something different? Hollywood took Chris McCandless’s story and turned it into an overdramatic work of art. Unlike Krakauer’s nonfiction best seller Into the Wild, the movie Into the Wild by Sean Penn overemphasizes ideas or fails to include crucial evidence which twists the viewers understanding of Chris McCandless’s life. The movie overemphasizes Chris’s parents’ relationship and the effect it has on him, creates a love interest for him in “Slab City”, and fails to mention Chris’s knowledge of the wild. Sean Penn’s film skews how people will remember Chris

The task of creating a film based on a work of literature sends filmmakers on a challenge of sorting through which parts of the book are incorporated into the movie. The creators had to find a way to turn almost over 200 hundred pages of paper into about two hours of time. Consequently, many details of the original writing are left out, shortened, or changed entirely to “fit” into the script. This concept is shown in the movie version of the book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, which tells the story of young Huck Finn as he travels down the Mississippi with a slave friend. Differences and similarities are apparent between the two adaptations of the story but both remain true to the original plotline. Even though certain literary elements of a novel, such as use of time, events of the story, and the characters, are altered, the main plotline is unaffected as a literature-based film is produced that meets specific real-life constraints.

Another example of a corrupt black cowboy was Cranford Goldsby. Known as Cherokee Bill, he was the black counterpart to Billy the Kid. He was born Cranford Goldsby into a law abiding family; his father was a Buffalo soldier in the West (Katz 155). One of the most famous cowgirls was Belle Starr, she was called the 'Bandit Queen'–a lovely lady who ruled outlaw gangs with her guns, her will and her personal favors. She has been credited with stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, cleaning out crooked poker games with her six-shooters, and galloping down city streets with pistols blazing (Arnott). These evidences tell us that there were really some famous black cowboys and cowgirls in the real West but they weren’t romanticized in western arts as much as the white cowboys. Comparing to the book Shane, homesteaders and ranchers were taking the lands of Native Americans, so there definitely was a conflict between these people. However, Schaefer never mentioned about Native, African, or Asian Americans in the book. It can be seen as a case of discrimination.

The movie exposes the shabby working and living conditions of the Mexican-American community. It provides some historical background on how Hispanic rights were violated by white industrialists. The land where the mine is located was once owned by members of the local Mexican-American community, however the Zinc Company moved in, took over the property and offered them the "choice" of moving or accepting employment at low wage. Additionally, the workers are enticed to live in management-owned houses and buy at management-owned stores. The homes of the Hispanics are shacks compared to those of their white co-workers with poor sanitation and bad plumbing. The stores sell goods at inflated prices, which put the workers in debt.

The storyline jumps from one storyline to the next and presented in nonchronological order. Tarantino gives us bits and pieces of one story then jumps to another. This style of narrative is unusual. Ultimately, the whole story comes full circle. The opening scene ends where the scene began. We see the conclusion of the robbery and how it connects to the film.

The narrative form exhibited in the opening sequence seems simple at first glance, but actually conveys a multitude of