It’s time for another edition of Western Wednesdays Again. This time we’re talking about John Ford’s 1939 classic Stagecoach.

I thought this week’s selection ought to be about the necessity of speed and keeping to a schedule. As I have managed to go through my 20-odd years without having seen John Ford’s Stagecoach, what better pick could there be?

But even if you haven’t seen Stagecoach, you know it. At its center is a classic Western image — the howling Indians shooting at a racing stagecoach, exchanging shots with frantic passengers — and its plotline has been used a thousand times over.

A motley group of people are thrown together, and eventually become fast friends because their lives could end at any moment. Through the lens of the eternally optimistic Ford it becomes a miniature version of the American promise, a magical West where even an outlaw and a prostitute can find redemption and a better life.

Welcome back to another edition of Western Wednesdays Again. This week we’re highlighting the John Ford classic The Searchers.

I’ve been anxious to revisit The Searchers. I haven’t seen it in years, and it’s the kind of film that’s referenced so often that it practically buries an individual memory.

Am I remembering actual film, or simply George Lucas or Quentin Tarantino’s visual quotation of it? The lines can really blur. So when it popped up online recently, I grabbed the chance to watch it again.

This is a fascinating film, though I’m not sure it’s a particularly enjoyable one. It goes without saying that it’s visually stunning — the sunsets, the famous door frame shots, those endless expanses of Monument Valley, a snowbound herd of buffalo.

You’ve seen The Searchers even if you’ve never actually sat down and watched it.  Every shot has been imitated a dozen times over by other directors in other films, but that doesn’t make them any less stunning.

But I’ve never felt the story was entirely sure of itself. Is Ford criticizing the treatment of Native Americans and the racist opinions of his characters? Or does the film uphold them by its uneasy worship of John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards, and its laughter over Marty Pawley’s abuse of his “wife”? Is it saying that violence merely begets more violence?

Like most weeks, this time around we’ve got another bunch of new movies and TV shows hitting DVD and Blu-ray. Some of them are new, some are old and some are hitting Blu-ray for the first time.

Of the ones hitting stores today, we’re most interested in the Blu-ray release of The Road, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, the Criterion edition of Stagecoach, True Blood Season Two, Royal Pains Season One, the western Django and the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film Spartacus (pictured above with Woody Strode and Kick Douglas).

Movies

Babysitter Wanted ~ Bill Moseley, Matt Dallas, Bruce Thompson (Blu-ray and DVD)

City of the Living Dead ~ Christopher George, Giovanni Lombardo Radice (Blu-ray)

Clash of the Titans ~ Laurence Olivier, Burgess Meredith, Harry Hamlin (Blu-ray)

Dear John ~ Channing Tatum (Blu-ray and DVD)

Django ~ Franco Nero, Loredana Nusciak, Angel Alvarez (Blu-ray)

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog ~ Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day (Blu-ray and DVD)

Flashbacks Of A Fool ~ Daniel Craig, Olivia Williams, Claire Forlani (Blu-ray and DVD)

Welcome back to Western Wednesdays’ properly scheduled day and time. In honor of its return to normalcy, I’ve chosen the weightiest film I could outside of Unforgiven: John Ford’s The Searchers.

I’ve been anxious to revisit The Searchers. I haven’t seen it in years, and it’s the kind of film that’s referenced so often that it practically buries an individual memory. Am I remembering actual film, or simply George Lucas or Quentin Tarantino’s visual quotation of it? The lines can really blur. So when it popped up on Netflix Instant, I grabbed the chance to watch it again.

This is a fascinating film, though I’m not sure it’s a particularly enjoyable one. It goes without saying that it’s visually stunning — the sunsets, the famous door frame shots, those endless expanses of Monument Valley, a snowbound herd of buffalo. You’ve seen The Searchers even if you’ve never actually sat down and watched it.  Every shot has been imitated a dozen times over, but that doesn’t make them any less stunning.

But I’ve never felt the story was entirely sure of itself.  Is Ford criticizing the treatment of Native Americans and the racist opinions of his characters? Or does the film uphold them by its uneasy worship of John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards, and its laughter over Marty Pawley’s abuse of his “wife”? Is it saying that violence merely begets more violence?

When you write a feature titled Western Wednesday, you’d think you could actually make the deadline, wouldn’t you?  But this is the Wild Wild West and there are a lot of dangers between my keyboard and Monument Valley. Sometimes you don’t make it — but I promise you by my imaginary spurs that I’ll return to my titular day next week.

Given my tardiness, I thought this week’s selection ought to be about the necessity of speed and keeping to a schedule.  As I have managed to go through my 20-odd years without having seen John Ford’s Stagecoach, what better pick could there be?

But even if you haven’t seen Stagecoach, you know it. At its center is a classic Western image — the howling Indians shooting at a racing stagecoach, exchanging shots with frantic passengers — and its plotline has been used a thousand times over. A motley group of people are thrown together, and eventually become fast friends because their lives could end at any moment. Through the lens of the eternally optimistic Ford it becomes a miniature version of the American promise, a magical West where even an outlaw and a prostitute can find redemption and a better life.