The
great Westerns strike a balance between the opposing experiences that define
life on the frontier; they understand that the thrill of adventure comes hand
in hand with the very real threat of death. Cowboys and cavalry fire their guns
and gallop across the open land like eternal mythic heroes, but all around them
we see evidence of mortality and feel the burden shouldered by survivors.
Nowhere is this memento mori
sensibility more present than in the Westerns of John Ford, where dead
characters frequently function as mute participants in the lives of the
protagonists, watching and listening from the grave while those still living
struggle to make sense of the events that unfold. In three of Ford’s best known
films, My Darling Clementine (1946), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and The Searchers (1956), cemetery scenes
highlight the relationships between the living and the dead and remind us of
the human cost of settling the Western frontier.
In
My Darling Clementine, Henry Fonda’s
Wyatt Earp is a quiet, reflective character, and his visits to the lonely grave
of his youngest brother, James, remind us that Wyatt has already paid dearly
for his life on the range. Only briefly alive in the film, James is the
sacrificial lamb whose murder roots his brothers in Tombstone and spurs them to
action against the corrupt Clanton family. Ironically, Wyatt seems to talk more
to his dead brother than he does to the two who are still alive, perhaps because
James is no longer bound by the masculine code of behavior that normally
governs men’s relationships. The graveside chats with James allow Wyatt to
reveal a more sensitive, communicative side of himself, one that must be
carefully guarded in the world of living men, where stoicism and action are
highly prized. James’ persistent presence, symbolized by his grave, also
reminds the audience why Wyatt and his remaining brothers are in this fight,
not because they enjoy killing but because justice demands it.
The
humanizing element of the cemetery scene is particularly important in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, in which John
Wayne’s aging Captain Nathan Brittles frequently visits the graves of his wife
and daughters. We never learn the exact cause of their deaths, although the
graves indicate that all three died more or less at the same time, suggesting
either an Indian attack or some terrible accident. While the younger men vie
for the attentions of Olivia Dandridge (Joanne Dru), Brittles clearly considers
himself still married to his dead wife, making reports to her about events at
the fort and his own reflections on them. Other reminders of the dead family
appear throughout the film. Photographs of Mrs. Brittles and the two daughters
repeatedly turn up in important shots, and the frame that holds them is
decorated with a yellow ribbon that connects them to Olivia and the other women
of the fort. It’s clear from the way that the film treats the Brittles family
relationship that Olivia functions as a surrogate daughter to Nathan; she is
about the same age that his daughters would be had they lived. Bittersweet and
tender, these moments in the film soften Wayne’s character and suggest the
importance of love and family even to career soldiers on the rugged frontier.
In
The Searchers, the film’s critical
cemetery scene takes place very early, when young Debbie Edwards (Lana Wood) is
kidnapped by the Indian raiding party led by Scar (Henry Brandon). The grave in
question belongs to Debbie’s grandmother, the mother of Wayne’s troubled
protagonist, Ethan Edwards. The grave suggests the way in which the Edwards’
tragic frontier story repeats itself, with the elder Mrs. Edwards also a victim
of Indian attack. Just before her entire family is murdered by the Comanche
raiders, Debbie is sent to the grave to hide, but this time the dead can
provide no consolation to the living. Mrs. Edwards serves only as a silent
witness to her granddaughter’s fate. Driven almost to madness by these repeated
losses at the hands of the Comanche, Ethan launches an obsessive search for his
niece (who might actually be his daughter, but that’s a different thread of the
film’s twisted plot). His goal is to kill Debbie and thus return her to the
family circle symbolized by the Edwards cemetery plot, which will complete the
connection between Debbie and her grandmother, even though Debbie actually
survives the original attack. Although it offers no protection to the little
girl, the grave does offer the audience a better understanding of the Edwards story
and a glimpse into the true origin of Ethan’s hatred.
In
each of these films, the cemetery represents the presence of the past in the
lives of the protagonists. For Wyatt Earp, Nathan Brittles, and the Edwards
clan, the cemetery holds family members who remain crucial to the stories of
the surviving characters, reaching out beyond the grave to motivate, comfort,
or bear witness. In their own ways, they are as important as any of the living
characters in the films, reminding us that the dead are always with us.
This post was originally published at the now defunct classic movie blog, The Cinementals.
