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The Searchers: The Making of an American…
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The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend (original 2013; edição 2013)

por Glenn Frankel

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2931489,196 (4.02)37
History. Performing Arts. Nonfiction. HTML:New York Times Bestseller

Named one of the best books of the year by:
Parade
The Guardian
Kirkus
Library Journal

The true story behind the classic Western The Searchers by Pulitzer Prize-wining writer Glenn Frankel that the New York Times calls "A vivid, revelatory account of John Ford's 1956 masterpiece."

In 1836 in East Texas, nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanches. She was raised by the tribe and eventually became the wife of a warrior. Twenty-four years after her capture, she was reclaimed by the U.S. cavalry and Texas Rangers and restored to her white family, to die in misery and obscurity. Cynthia Ann's story has been told and re-told over generations to become a foundational American tale. The myth gave rise to operas and one-act plays, and in the 1950s to a novel by Alan LeMay, which would be adapted into one of Hollywood's most legendary films, The Searchers, "The Biggest, Roughest, Toughest... and Most Beautiful Picture Ever Made!" directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne.

Glenn Frankel, beginning in Hollywood and then returning to the origins of the story, creates a rich and nuanced anatomy of a timeless film and a quintessentially American myth. The dominant story that has emerged departs dramatically from documented history: it is of the inevitable triumph of white civilization, underpinned by anxiety about the sullying of white women by "savages." What makes John Ford's film so powerful, and so important, Frankel argues, is that it both upholds that myth and undermines it, baring the ambiguities surrounding race, sexuality, and violence in the settling of the West and the making of America.
… (mais)
Membro:AndrewMcBurney
Título:The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend
Autores:Glenn Frankel
Informação:Bloomsbury USA (2013), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 416 pages
Coleções:A sua biblioteca
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Etiquetas:Mass Media, Movies

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The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend por Glenn Frankel (2013)

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Mostrando 1-5 de 14 (seguinte | mostrar todos)
An excellent concept for a book, this volume has three successive sections, all tied together by the tough cord of John Ford's masterpiece, the classic Western film THE SEARCHERS. In the first section, author Glenn Frankel explores with intelligence and amazing depth the true story of Cynthia Ann Parker, kidnapped by Comanches from her family in 1836 Texas, raised as an Indian while her uncle spent years looking for her, and re-abducted back into white society as a grown woman with children -- one of whom grew up to be the face of the Comanche nation, Quanah Parker. Frankel writes well and with extraordinary detail of the contradictions and ambiguities of the story, complexities that fascinated Western novelist Alan Le May, who researched and wrote a compelling novel based loosely on these events. That novel became, in the hands of director Ford and screenwriter Frank Nugent, a film considered by many to be the greatest Western ever made and, in the recent Sight & Sound critics poll, one of the ten best films ever made. Frankel covers all three aspects superbly, drawing on mountains of material on the Parker case and similar abductions in early Texas, as well as on family sources for his coverage of Le May's career and efforts to dramatize the story in novel form. Frankel uses first-hand interviews and documents as well as leaning on published accounts (including Michael Blakes's superb CODE OF HONOR, about the making of THE SEARCHERS and two other classic Westerns) to give the fullest picture yet of the processes before and during the filming of the landmark Western. This is a book that transcends the movie behind it. It portrays real history with insight and intensity and gives enormous resonance to the book and movie drawn from that history. ( )
  jumblejim | Aug 26, 2023 |
Combining my interests in history, books, and movies into a single volume is "The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend" by Glenn Frankel. The author Frankel, being a former Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and current director of the School of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, is the perfect guide to examine this multi-faceted story that has blended fact and fiction from the outset with a narrative that has been shaped and shifted to fit the needs of each generation. The story blended fact & fiction, myth & legend, fear & prejudice all of which has echoed through the history, novel, and film it inspired. Frankel starts out by telling the story of the tragic collision on the Texas frontier between the pioneering Parker family and Comanche Indians. The massacre at Fort Parker lead to the killing and capture of several members of the Parker family and while Frankel illuminates several of their stories the main focus is on Cynthia Ann Parker and her son Quanah who eventually became a Comanche chief. Frankel then introduces us to Alan Lemay author of many novels including "The Searchers" and Lemay's story is also our first foray into Hollywood where he labored as a well-paid screenwriter who could never quite breakout to be a successful producer or director. In fact the writing of "The Searchers" came directly out of his retreat from Hollywood and determination to do a work of quality and without interference. Lemay was so done with Hollywood that when his book was sold he made it clear he was not interested in adapting it himself. Thus the book came to be developed into a film by director John Ford for his star John Wayne. Frankel gives an excellent overview of John Ford's career which was marked by his creative genius and destructive personality. John Wayne knew "The Searchers" was one of his best films with an intense performance, yet while the film was well received and successful it was initially viewed as just another western starring the Duke. Somehow this story that started on a tragic day in 1836 has been powerfully received and often misunderstood, yet it generated a film classic that has seen its reputation soar since its debut in 1956 to the ranks of the greatest films of all time. ( )
  ralphcoviello | Jul 12, 2020 |
Two good books in one—not well integrated. Part 1 is about the abducted Cynthia Ann Parker, kidnaped as a child by the Comanche, and her son Quanah Parker, a notable opponent of the Texan settlers destroying the Comanche way of life. Part 2 concerns John Ford's 1956 "The Searchers," an excellent (if often troubling and problematic) Western based on Cynthia Ann's story. I knew bits of both stories already, and I can't help feeling that a full book devoted to each of them would have served me better: maybe S.C. Gwynne's "Empire of the Summer Moon" for the former and Scott Eyman's "Print the Legend" for the latter. In Frankel's book, although the two subjects are treated in a workmanlike and interesting way, there's too little exploration of the resonances between the event and the film and of the culture that enveloped them both, less than a century apart. ( )
  john.cooper | Nov 29, 2017 |
I have been a life-long fan of movie westerns and could not pass up a book on THE SEARCHERS, a film I consider every bit as great as CITIZEN KANE. Not only does author Glenn Frankel give us a look at the making of John Ford’s epic masterpiece, but he gives us the story behind it, thus more than living up to the title, THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN LEGEND.

Frankel’s book is divided up into three parts, the first of which is the story of the large Parker family who came west in the early 1800’s to make lives for themselves in Texas when it was still part of Mexico. This origin story is the tale of a young girl, Cynthia Ann Parker, who witnesses her family being slaughtered by the Comanches in 1836 before she is kidnapped by the tribe and disappears into the vastness of West Texas and Oklahoma. Her uncle, James Parker, would spend years in a fruitless search for his niece, a child who has suffered a Fate Worse Than Death when she was taken by the savages and made one of their own. Not until twenty-four years later, in 1860, would Cynthia Ann be rescued by the United States Cavalry and the Texas Rangers and be reunited with her white relatives. By then she was a grown woman with almost no memories of her life before the Comanches; the wife of a warrior, barely able to speak English and the mother of three half-breed children, Cynthia Ann would never fit back into the white world. Her story would have a sad end, but not so the saga of her son, Quanah, who would become a recognized leader of the Comanches, first in battle against the white settlers and then in peace, as he forged an identity that straddled both worlds, the Comanche and the White, where he tried to make the best of the often sorry situation in which the Comanche (and all the other Indian tribes) found themselves in as they were forced to live on reservations.

In Frankel’s hands, this section of the book reads like a great novel, only better, for it had the ring of bitter truth to it without any false romanticism. It documents the clash between the white settlers pushing west in search of land and the fierce aboriginal Americans, who defended the vast plains where they had roamed and hunted for generations. This was a Culture War of annihilation, and Frankel does not spare any brutal details; the Comanches are not the benign hunter-gatherers of latter day pop mythology, but savage warriors who butchered, mutilated and raped their enemies no matter what the color of their skin. The Whites proved they could give as good as they could take and then some when it came to savagery, butchering the heathen Redskins as if they were animals, which included their women and children, all the better to empty the land of them. It all made for some incredibly hard feelings, especially among the victors.

The middle section of the book concerns the Indiana born writer, Alan Le May, the man who wrote the best-selling novel based loosely upon the story of Cynthia Ann Parker. Le May worked in Hollywood in the 30’s and 40’s, clocking in some time as a scriptwriter with the autocratic Cecil B. DeMille. He was a versatile writer, but his specialty was the western genre, which enjoyed tremendous popularity, both in book and film, during the middle of 20th Century America. Le May’s book was no light hearted horse opera, but an ultimately dark saga of revenge and heartbreak on the frontier; creating the character of Amos Edwards (his first name changed to Ethan in the film) a man driven by a racial hatred so raging, he is willing to kill the daughter of the woman he loved because she has been defiled after years with the Comanches. It was Le May who came up with the framework for the one of the greatest movies of all time.

The final third of the book concerns the making of the film, THE SEARCHERS, and we meet the formidable duo of John Ford and John Wayne, the director and his star. This part of the book is essential reading for movie buffs as it details how Ford put worked his magic and made his classic film. There are some unsung heroes like producer Merian Cooper, scriptwriter Frank Nugent, money man Sonny Whitney, and New Mexico trading post operator, Harry Goulding, and his wife Leone, who first introduced Ford to Monument Valley. They all played significant parts in making THE SEARCERS come to life on screen. But it is the supremely difficult Ford who dominates this part of the book, a man who always knew what he wanted and rarely felt the need to articulate his vision to his crew and actors, it fell to them always know what The Great Man expected of them. The only thing worse than being on Ford’s bad side was to be on his good side, for long time members of the fabled John Ford Stock Company could always count on feeling the lash of his tongue. This went double for his biggest star, Wayne, who always took the abuse good naturedly, no matter how nasty it got.

Perhaps they did it because in the end, it was always worth it, since anyone associated with a Ford film could guarantee it would be their best work. In Ford’s hands, Ethan Edwards would be The Duke’s finest hour as an actor, giving a towering performance as a man hell bent to avenge the woman he loved while hunting down and killing her daughter who has now become a Comanche. In Ford’s hands, Ethan Edwards pushes far beyond the standard heroics of 50’s western movie leads, creating a man so burning with hatred, we want to look away, but dare not because he is played by the greatest actor who ever rode a horse on the screen. Frankel details how Ford subtly changed the ending of screenplay, cut dialog and exposition, and framed each scene so that nothing is wasted; every word and action advances the story and illuminates the characters. It is such a shame that the taciturn Ford, who was nearly past his prime by the time he made the movie in the summer of 1955, would always resist explaining his method in any depth. To this day, the final image of the cabin door closing on Ethan Edwards is one of the saddest in all of American films, yet we have no idea of how it came to Ford.

The author does not shy away from the many controversies of the film’s legacy; chiefly that Ford’s movie is racist and demeaning to the Indians, that it is another Hollywood epic that excuses the white man’s genocide of Native-Americans. Frankel makes it clear that Ford was never so simplistic, his film is a mature work that sees beyond the myth of the hardy frontiersman who Tamed the West, and starkly depicts the darkness within. It is a film that raises many questions, but withholds the answers, leaving it to the viewer to decide.

To me, Frankel’s book is stark contrast to the modern American notion of a multicultural country obsessed with diversity for its own sake. The story of this American Legend is the story of a family, one whose blood ties were forged across the bitter divisions of the Indian Wars of the 19th Century, a family of once bitter enemies who now live in a nation uneasy with the past that made it. It is also story of a larger family, one that included white pioneers who went west to make a new life and the Comanche civilization they clashed with; it’s a family that would come to include a writer, a veteran movie director, one the greatest stars Hollywood would ever produce, along with a crew of lesser performers, camera men, stunt men and all the rest that went into making the movie. It’s a family that would ultimately include all those who have fallen in love with THE SEARCHERS down through the years and the many movie makers of younger generations who were influenced by it. It’s a family that has grown immensely large with time; on any given day online, Ford’s movie is being discussed somewhere by movie lovers. The life and struggle of Cynthia Ann Parker, a woman who lived and died over a 150 years ago, still resonates today. Glenn Frankel’s book truly does her and her legacy justice. ( )
  wb4ever1 | Dec 22, 2016 |
Excellent history book. I can’t recall enjoying a non-fiction book as much as this one. Author Glenn Frankel starts with the classic 1956 film, THE SEARCHERS, starring John Wayne and directed by John Ford. He explains how the film is the retelling of the myth of Cynthia Ann Parker. Frankel then goes on to tells us about the facts and myths of the 1836 Comanche abduction of Cynthia Ann Parker, the fruitless search for her by her uncle, and then how she was found 23 years later as the US Army closed in on the Comanche nation. Cynthia Ann was then re-abducted and placed with her white family, where she believed she was being held captive. In Part II, Frankel talks about Cynthia Ann’s son, Quanah, about his life after his mother was abducted, how he formed his own small band of Comanches, and how he finally was forced surrendered to the US Army. Quanah had the good fortune to play up his white heritage and became the Army’s best go-between the Comanches and the white men. He was befriended by the famous Texan Charles Goodnight, and became a wealthy cattle owner and celebrity. In Part III, Frankel talks about author Alan LeMay, a semi-successful writer of western novels. He became interested in the Cynthia Ann Parker legends, especially the stories of her uncle’s search. In 1952, he published the western novel THE SEARCHERS, a dark western about a tough man searching for his abducted niece. In Part IV, Frankel talks about the careers of director John Ford and actor John Wayne. Ford made a reputation for making western movies in the 1930s. His career peaked with the 1939 movie STAGECOACH, which became John Wayne’s breakout role. But after World War II, Ford seemed to have lost his touch when the western went out of favor. Ford hoped that filming THE SEARCHERS would revive his career. Finding independent financing, Ford was able to express his creativity without studio oversight. THE SEARCHERS was successful at the box office, but was quickly forgotten. It received no Academy Award nominations. With the popularity of television, it would play often, cut to fit in commercials. But with the advent of home video, then DVDs, and with the development of college courses on film, THE SEARCHERS came to the attention of serious academic film critics and was declared a classic. But the main point of this book is how the 1836 abduction of Cynthia Ann Parker became a legend and myth, and how the 1956 movie re-tells the myth for the people of that age. ( )
  ramon4 | Dec 8, 2016 |
Mostrando 1-5 de 14 (seguinte | mostrar todos)
A "fascinating new book about the picture and the history behind it."
 
A "vivid, revelatory account of John Ford's 1956 masterpiece."
adicionada por Glenn_Frankel | editarNew York Times, J Hoberman (Feb 24, 2013)
 
"A must-read for movie fans and anyone interested in myth-making and the American West....Frankel's excellent research and analysis and his fine writing raise the bar for the 'making of' film book."
 
"Impeccably researched....[Frankel's] book is a fascinating journey from fiction to fact, from glorified legend to brutal event...By connecting THE SEARCHERS to the facts of its distant origins, Frankel demonstrates how history and storytelling can become a unified force in national myth-making."
 
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The most disastrous moment of John Ford's illustrious Hollywood career took place at the U.S. Navy base on Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean in September 1954.
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History. Performing Arts. Nonfiction. HTML:New York Times Bestseller

Named one of the best books of the year by:
Parade
The Guardian
Kirkus
Library Journal

The true story behind the classic Western The Searchers by Pulitzer Prize-wining writer Glenn Frankel that the New York Times calls "A vivid, revelatory account of John Ford's 1956 masterpiece."

In 1836 in East Texas, nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by Comanches. She was raised by the tribe and eventually became the wife of a warrior. Twenty-four years after her capture, she was reclaimed by the U.S. cavalry and Texas Rangers and restored to her white family, to die in misery and obscurity. Cynthia Ann's story has been told and re-told over generations to become a foundational American tale. The myth gave rise to operas and one-act plays, and in the 1950s to a novel by Alan LeMay, which would be adapted into one of Hollywood's most legendary films, The Searchers, "The Biggest, Roughest, Toughest... and Most Beautiful Picture Ever Made!" directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne.

Glenn Frankel, beginning in Hollywood and then returning to the origins of the story, creates a rich and nuanced anatomy of a timeless film and a quintessentially American myth. The dominant story that has emerged departs dramatically from documented history: it is of the inevitable triumph of white civilization, underpinned by anxiety about the sullying of white women by "savages." What makes John Ford's film so powerful, and so important, Frankel argues, is that it both upholds that myth and undermines it, baring the ambiguities surrounding race, sexuality, and violence in the settling of the West and the making of America.

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