...unless his sole intention was to kill Stone Calf. But why risk his life unless he already had eyes for Elena?
shareGuthrie knew Stone Calf would come after them to regain his "squaw". He made camp to lure Stone Calf into an ambush. The plan worked well!
shareYeah, the "plan" happened to work for the purposes of the story, but come on, it was about as ill-conceived, dis-advantageous, and even anti-climactic as it could have been.
I understood that he was going to draw his unseen pursuer into a trap and that he was going to use the woman as bait. Ok. But to sit out in the open completely night blind, hiding next to a woman, not knowing if Stone Calf would arrive with his entire war band, or with a firearm or missile weapon, or unwisely choose to announce his arrival in the camp before attacking (bringing a knife to a gunfight). And, it was strangely timed, as the climax to the second act of the movie. From then on, the balance of the film is just a drawn out drama about the abduction victims` tumultuous reassimilation back into white society.
I was disappointed that Woody Strode was wasted (literally) in this movie after an interesting build-up. (basically, he got the arab swordsman treatment)
I am sorry to the avid fans, but this is one of John Ford's dogs IMO.
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster"
I agree with most of what you say. I found that scene (as well as a few others) confusing as to why they were there.
John Ford, known to not care about a message in his movie as long as there's a good story, must have seen something in this that I don't.
A dog? Maybe for Ford. But a dog by JF is still worth catching, at least once.
If you watch the movie you will see that not once but twice James Stewart gave Elena opportunity not to stay with him but both times she chose to stay with him. Elena also knew Stone Calf was going after her ( she said so). Why did she? As she said "I was waiting five years for someone to rescue me."
share