How on earth did this 1956 VistaVision spectacle get passed by for an Oscar? It didn’t even get a nomination for an Academy Award, yet it has become a classic and rates among AFI’s top 100 films. Go figure.

John Wayne plays a racist bigot, but he does it so well, you can’t help but applaud his performance. Small part for Natalie Wood in her first film appearance after West Side Story as Wayne’s niece who has been captured by Comanches. Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, and Ward Bond costar. Excellent direction by John Ford. The first time Monument Valley (AZ) was ever used as a location. Worth watching!

There are two reasons to watch this:

1) To see John Wayne as a bad guy (the only movie he is the bad guy)

2) To see the scenes “stolen” for star wars (though they themselves were stolen from Kurosawa)

It’s a really great western though.