M O V I E S I N T H E M U D D L E Neglected Films Reviewed by Christian Pyle
Two Rode Together (1961) Directed by John Ford Written by Frank S. Nugent (based on the novel "Comanche Captives" by Will Cook) Starring James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Shirley Jones, and Linda Cristal
Marshal Guthrie McCabe (James Stewart) has a sweet deal in the sleepy border town of Tascosa. He has a protection racket that nets him 10% of every business in town, and he's the kept man of the local madam (Annelle Hayes). However, his life of ease is interrupted when his old friend Cavalry Lt. Jim Gary (Richard Widmark) recruits McCabe to handle a crisis. Comanche Chief Quanah Parker (Henry Brandon) has a collection of white captives who were taken as children over the past fifteen years. Because McCabe has dealt successfully with Parker before, the Army wants him to arrange the release of the captives. A large community of settlers have gathered at Fort Grant to await news of their loved ones, including Marty Purcell (Shirley Jones), who's sweet on Lt. Gary.
One could easily dismiss "Two Rode Together" as "The Searchers II" because both films concern the rescue of captives raised by Comanches. However, while "The Searchers" focused on the psychology of its protagonist (John Wayne's character Ethan Edwards), "Two Rode Together" is more interested in exploring societal issues. Director John Ford's westerns often have the thesis that the wilderness breeds savagery and civilization breeds corruption. (In this movie, the two extremes are marked by the vicious Comanche Stone Calf, played by Woody Strode, and rich businessman Harry J. Wringle, played by Willis Bouchey, who wants to buy any captive boy to take home to his wife.) The decent folks are the pioneers and the cavalry who exist between the two poles, but there is always the understanding that these few good souls will inevitably be swallowed by the march of "civilization." Thus, Ford always pursues his tales about the forging of America with a profound ambivalence.
In "Two Rode Together," even Ford's usual repositories of goodness are undercut. The pioneers include the angry and violent Clegg family, who at one point form a lynch mob to hang the only white child McCabe and Gary managed to free. (It's no accident that the Clegg patriarch is a bible-thumping reverend; Ford generally satirizes the supposedly benevolent institutions of the on-rushing society). Many of the cavalry officers behave in a racist and unchivalrous manner towards Elena (Linda Cristal), one of the captives freed from the Comanches. Lt. Gary and Marty stand as the sole embodiments of unassailable virtue amid a world of compromise, greed, violence, and madness.
The role of the selfish Guthrie McCabe is an unusual choice for Jimmy Stewart, who is best known as the selfless hero of Frank Capra classics. However, Stewart is up to the challenge and brings a devilish delight to his performance. As the movie develops, McCabe proves to be a complex character, who in one moment can horrify Marty by describing what her captive brother would look like as a full-grown Comanche warrior and in another defend Elena against the leers of the cavalry soldiers and their wives. Richard Widmark is the perfect counter-point: resolute, honest, brave, kind, loyal, everything an officer and a gentleman should be.
© 2000 Christian L. Pyle
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