Foreign Correspondent

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

I haven’t discussed an Alfred Hitchcock film in a while so I decided on reviewing Foreign Correspondent (1940). The opening credits have a revolving globe of the Earth above a newspaper building to show the universal need to gather international information. The beginning notes pay tribute to foreign correspondents, saying they were out there investigating dangerous situations while the rest of us were watching “rainbows,” an obvious reference to the Wizard of Oz and the isolationism noted in Casablanca.

Powers (the man who is in charge played by Harry Davenport), who is the city editor of the New York Globe (like the Daily Planet?) says he is not getting enough info from his foreign correspondents. He remembers that Johnny Jones (an everyman name) is a tough reporter. Joel McCrea plays the character and excels in the role. Jones has been proficient in solving criminal activity and Powers wants to find out about the “crime” that Nazi Germany is hatching. He notes that Jones beat up a policeman working on one story, which most likely refers to Hitchcock’s well-known fear of cops.

Jones is ripping up newspapers and making them into snowflakes, showing his cynicism about the profession. Powers doesn’t want a stereotypical foreign correspondent, but instead a “reporter,” someone who has no preconceived ideologies and who can be objective. Powers wants Jones to use an Englishman, Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall), head of the Universal Peace Party, who can help Jones get to a Dutch diplomat named Van Meer (Albert Bassermann), to find out what’s going on in Europe. Powers wants him to use the name Harvey Haverstick which sounds more important. At this point the practical Jones just wants an expense account.

Jones travels by ship to London and meets Stebbins (writer Robert Benchley who contributed dialogue to the screenplay), who is an American journalist who is stationed in England. His character is funny as he complains that he has been drinking alcohol too much and now must drink milk, not the drink of tough newsmen.

Jones sees Van Meer getting into a taxi taking him to Fisher’s dinner in his honor. He gets a ride with Van Meer who dodges questions and then shows he is shrewd because he knows Jones is a reporter. He does admit that he feels helpless about the oncoming possibility of a war, which stresses a tone of pessimism. In contrast, Fisher’s daughter, Carol (Laraine Day), argues with others that people say we stumble into war but never into peace. She implies people can embrace peace just as much as war.

Jones encounters Carol at dinner, not knowing she is Fisher’s daughter, which adds to the humor of the film. His cynical ways about whether Fisher is legit miffs Carol, who says her name is “Smith,” which is a counter to Jones’s generic last name. She will not sit with him even after he sends her thirty notes. Fisher announces that Van Meer can’t attend, which surprises Jones, since the man took him to the affair. Fisher reveals that Carol is his daughter, and Jones looks at her with an adoring stare which throws her off her speech. When she looks for her notes she encounters all the messages that Jones sent, further adding to the unnerving chemistry that is developing between them.

Van Meer went to a peace conference in Holland and Jones receives a message to follow him there. Jones confronts Van Meer as he is entering the building where the gathering is to take place, but Van Meer appears not to recognize Jones. Then a supposed reporter (one of many deceptions in the movie) asks to take Van Meer’s picture but he has a gun next to his camera and shoots Van Meer. The scene shows how appearances can be deceiving as Jones, the true journalist, is contrasted against the phony one. It is raining and Jones chases the shooter through a sea of umbrellas. The umbrellas show how the surface can cover the reality beneath and add to confusion for someone seeking the truth. The killer shoots other as he makes a getaway and has help from a man in a car, suggesting a conspiracy is at work. Jones happens to hop into a car which contains a smiling Carol, happy to see the handsome Jones, and Scott ffolliott (George Sanders), a stereotypical unflappable Britisher, and another journalist. He says the wife of an ancestor who Henry VIII beheaded dropped off the capital letter at the beginning of his name to commemorate her husband (Benchley’s witty dialogue is apparent here). They chase after the car transporting the murderer, who fires shots at them, as the police follow. However, they mysteriously lose the killer in a flat plain near some windmills. The wind causes Jones to lose his hat for the second time (think of the Coesn Brothers film Miller’s Crossing where losing a hat makes one seem unsure and foolish). However, after chasing it he notices that a windmill’s blades reversed their motion, and he suspects that the killer is inside. He sends the other two to retrieve the police.

There is a plane flying by and the smart Jones realizes that the windmill is signaling the plane to land. He goes inside and hears men speaking a foreign language. Those from the plane join them as Jones hides on stairs leading toward the top. He discovers the real Van Meer, who is alive but drugged. He tries to stay coherent, saying that there was an attempt to make it look like he was assassinated by using a double. He becomes mute after scribbling something on a piece of paper. Again, we have appearances being deceiving, as represented by Van Meer’s double and the fake assassination. Hitchcock builds suspense by having Jones’s raincoat getting caught in the mill’s mechanism. But he removes it and grasps it before it can be discovered. In addition, Van Meer looks upward, possibly revealing Jones. Instead, he hides, and the foreigners only see a bird and light coming in from a window. Outside of the latter, Jones holds on, trying to prevent a fall, and escapes. (Light becomes a metaphor in the story, especially at the end).

Later, Jones tries to explain what he has observed to the authorities. They go to the windmill and everyone and the car are gone. There is a man sleeping where Jones found Van Meer and he says he has been sleeping there all day and there were no others. We have here a further example of deceptive appearances, and an attempt to discredit Jones. The police and even Carol doubt his story. Hitchcock often has a truthful man being doubted by others, and he again exhibits his distrust of the police.

Jones is quite observant as he notices that the wires to his hotel room have been cut when two men pretending to be policemen say they need to take him to headquarters. He is cool and funny under pressure when one of the men says they all speak English. Jones says not everybody where he comes from can make that claim, obviously referring to some uneducated Americans. He realizes that he knows too much, and these conspirators are out to get rid of him. He pretends to take a bath and goes out the window to Carol’s room. As he goes along the edge of the building he touches a light that extinguishes which leave a sign that says “Hot … Europe,” a reference to the Nazi threat. She is there trying to get support for her father’s peace movement, and she does not believe his story after what happened at the windmill. Jones continues to be the honest man who others do not believe. He is a true journalist because he says, “There’s something fishy going on around here. There’s a big story in this. I can smell it. I can feel it and I’m going to get to the bottom of it if it’s the last thing I do. And nothing’s going to stop me.”

He persists and wins Carol over. He is shrewd again as he asks for several people to go to his hotel room for assistance as a diversion as a valet gets his clothes. Jones and Carol escape and head for a ship. The humor continues as they both profess their love for each other and the desire to marry. With a wink to the audience Jones says, “Well that cuts our love scene quite short.”

In London, Jones meets Fisher and Krug (Eduardo Ciannelli), and recounts that he saw Van Meer killed, but does not mention the double because he recognizes Krug as one of the men at the windmill. When Krug leaves the room, he tells Fisher what he knows. Fisher talks privately with Krug, and we realize that Fisher is one of the conspirators. Krug leaves and Jones is upset by this act and says he wants to spill the story now. Fisher convinces him to keep his story quiet so as not to endanger Van Meer. He also says Jones can have a private eye to protect him since he is in danger. The man they will use is really an assassin. We have more deception as people who seem friendly are deadly. Fisher almost seems admiring when he describes how the supposed enemy is quite cunning, since he is really talking about himself. However, he almost hesitates to go forward with the plan, since he sees how attached his daughter is to Jones.

Rowley (Edmund Gwenn) is the private eye who is supposed to protect Jones, but pushes him in front of a truck. Jones is not hit, and Rowley covers by saying it was safer to push than to pull. Pretending (deceit again) that they are being followed, Rowley gets a reluctant Jones to go into a church and up to the top of the tower. He tries to push him off. We see a man fall to his death, but there is a delay which heightens the tension until we learn that Jones stepped aside, and it was Rowley that fell. (Hitchcock will kill off a lead character quickly in Psycho, but not here. He also likes cliffhangers as he has falling from heights, for example, in North by Northwest, Saboteur, and Vertigo).

Because it was Fisher who hooked Jones up with Rowley, Jones now knows Fisher isn’t the upstanding man he pretends to be. ffolliott shows up at Stebbins’s office and says he suspected Fisher because of his own investigating. He says that there was some memorized section of a peace initiative that the real kidnappers are trying to extract from Van Meer. He suggests that Jones and Carol hide under the guise of protecting Jones, but ffolliott will say that Carol was kidnapped, as a way to invent leverage over Fisher (false fronts erected all around). Even ffolliott schemes involving his allies as he called Carol earlier to suggest hiding (and he doesn’t tell her about her father), and ffolliott does not tell Jones of the ploy. Everybody here twists the truth.

Carol hears Jones setting up a separate room at a hotel for her to keep her away longer so ffolliott can contact Fisher. She leaves for home when she discovers Jones’s secret scheme and believes he is just using her to get at her father, and spoils ffolliott’s attempt to get Van Meer’s whereabouts. ffolliott follows Fisher after hearing him say the address to a cab driver and tells Stebbins to bring Jones later. He is hoping to discover where Van Meer is. Carol answers the phone and recognizes Kruger’s voice, which make her wonder why that man is calling her father.

ffolliott is caught at the place where they are keeping Van Meer just as Fisher pretends he is still Van Meer’s friend to get the clause of the treaty out of him. The journalist says that Fisher is not his friend, and it is enough for the drugged Van Meer to realize the deception since there are no police to help him. He says there is “no help for the whole poor, suffering world.” Van Meer’s assessment is an accurate prediction of the Nazi onslaught that will follow.

The captors off screen torture Van Meer and he starts to divulge the information. Ffolliott breaks the window, and unlike Rowley, his fall is broken by an awning. However, the bad guys escape as Jones arrives. Van Meer is unconscious and not able to corroborate ffolliott’s story. Thus, Scotland Yard is reluctant to pursue Fisher due to his respected, but false, position. As the conspirators head for the United States, England declares war on Germany.

Carol is on the plane with her father and reveals her knowledge of Fisher’s connection to Kruger. He confesses his deception as a spy for Germany. He feels ashamed now for what he has done. Jones and ffolliott are also on the plane. Carol is still devoted to her father even as Jones says he didn’t come to take down her father, it was only where the story led.

At that moment a German ship shells the plane, mistakenly thinking it’s a bomber. The fog of war is taking hold. Now even the pilots lie to prevent panic, saying that it was target practice and the firing is an accident. Luckily, Carol distributes life vests, realizing lies will not protect anyone. The plane goes into the ocean and Fisher sacrifices himself so others can stay afloat on a wing, gaining some redemption for himself.

An American ship rescues the remaining main characters. Jones does not want to soil Fisher’s name because of his love for Carol. She grants him leave because, as Rick from Casablanca says, their story isn’t that important compared to the rest of the world. The captain of the ship says no information should be released while onboard. Here, Jones uses deception to get the truth out by pretending to talk to his “uncle” while letting the phone stay off the hook as he details the story to his boss, Powers, by arguing for its release to the captain.

The once reluctant foreign correspondent now reports the war from various places in Europe in the epilogue to the story. His broadcast speech over the radio at the end is an argument against isolationism as he reports while bombs rain from the sky. He tells listeners in the United States to rally against the darkness of fascism that is coming when he says it’s, “as if the lights were all out everywhere except in America. Keep those lights burning … they’re the only lights left in the world.” It is a plea for truth to combat lies, which has become an ongoing battle.

The next film is Badlands.

My Darling Clementine

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

A neighbor of mine loves Hollywood Westerns and that inspired me to write a post on one of director John Ford’s most famous films, My Darling Clementine (1946).

The title of the movie refers to the character Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs). The song that shares the same title, and which plays in the film, is about loss, and that sets a tone of sadness for this story.

Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) is herding cattle to California with his brothers, Virgil (Tim Holt), Morgan (Ward Bond, who would star in the TV series Wagon Train), and James (Don Garner). Wyatt runs into the elderly Clanton (Walter Brennan, three-time supporting Oscar winner and later star of the TV show The Real McCoys) and his son Ike (Grant Withers). Clanton tries to buy the scrawny animals, but Wyatt doesn’t want to sell, although he acknowledges the roughness of the land that is depriving his herd of food. That dire observation fits in with the feel of the movie, and so does the name of the nearby town, Tombstone. Despite the welcoming comments by Clanton, the look on his face and that of his son are hostile as they watch the departing Wyatt.

Young James, who is to marry soon, stays with the herd as the other brothers go into Tombstone, which is quite rowdy in the evening. Wyatt goes to get a shave. The barber (Ben Hall) calls his place a “tonsorial parlor,” for which Wyatt needs a translation. When the barber lowers the back of the customer chair, Wyatt nearly topples backward, showing how he is in a precarious position since the chair is a newly acquired acquisition from metropolitan Chicago, an invader from the settled East. Later he is not sure about the city-slicker hair styling he gets and the cologne the barber sprays on him. He may be allowing himself a different look for his attempt to attract Clementine as the story progresses, but this social space is not an area in which he is adept at navigating.

The threatening nature of the locale becomes very immediate as random gunshots bring bullets into what is supposed to be a safe place for male grooming. Indeed, the town of Tombstone is still on the frontier with only a few civilized elements. Wyatt shouts, “What kind of town is this?” and that phrase is repeated by Wyatt when the marshal doesn’t want to confront the drunk man firing his weapon. Wyatt goes into the saloon, punches out the inebriated Native American and kicks him out of the place. The Mayor (Roy Roberts) offers Wyatt the job of Marshal, but Wyatt refuses. The people discover Wyatt’s name and realize he was the marshal of Dodge City, but Wyatt makes it clear that he left that life behind.

But, it appears that past life will not leave him. When the Earps return to their camp they find their cattle gone and their brother, James, dead, shot in a cowardly manner in the back. Wyatt visits the Mayor and says he will be Marshal as long as his brothers are his deputies. He learns from the Mayor that Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) runs the gambling and that Clanton and his sons deal with the cattle business. The film has set the stage for a battle between families, making the conflict very personal. The Clantons arrive in town and Wyatt confronts them, saying his cattle were stolen. Wyatt knows it was the Clantons who are guilty and tells them he is now Marshal. Clanton’s bemused attitude changes when he hears Wyatt’s name, and it’s obvious that Wyatt’s accomplished reputation has preceded him. The darkness of the time of the day and the pouring rain add to the feeling of gloom shrouding the events.

Alone at the grave of his eighteen-year-old brother, James, Wyatt says to his departed sibling that he will be staying there for a while, and “maybe when we leave this country young kids like you will be able to grow up and live safe.” Wyatt hopes that he can achieve that goal, but the filmmakers may be commenting that it is a futile wish since violence has continued into the future.

While at the saloon playing cards, Wyatt avoids the attentions of the saloon showgirl Chihuahua (Linda Darnell), who is the girlfriend of the currently absent Holliday. In retaliation, she sings lines from the title song, stressing the loss of cattle and money, while Wyatt, fittingly, throws in his winless cards. She has helped a gambler discover Wyatt’s hands. Wyatt realizes that, takes Chihuahua outside, and after she slaps him, he dumps her in the horse trowel. The scene shows that Wyatt is no fool and is smart enough to know that a pleasant surface may hide unethical intentions beneath.

Doc shows up and kicks the cheating gambler out of the saloon, which shows that he runs a straight-up game. Wyatt and Doc have a tense conversation which reveals they know about each other’s pasts. Wyatt mentions that Doc has left a trail of graveyards behind him. Doc counters with the observation that there is the largest one right there in Tombstone, and adds, “Marshalls and I get along much better when we understand that right away.” The implication is that there will not be any trouble if the law leaves Doc alone. Wyatt notes Doc has already broken the law by usurping Wyatt’s authority in the town. Doc says they are in “separate camps,” and pulls out his gun, showing how fast he is with the weapon. Wyatt points out his two deputized brothers who are already at the bar with their guns. Wyatt doesn’t arrest Doc, so, it seems there is an understanding, and they seal the deal with a celebratory drink of champagne. But beyond this agreement, Doc’s deadly tuberculosis (symbolically representing the corruption of his soul?), the highlighting of graveyards, and possibly the suggestion that west of the Rocky Mountains can be one huge graveyard, add to the atmosphere of death and loss looming over everything.

That stress on death continues when the visiting drunkard actor, Granville Thorndyke (Alan Mowbray), delivers the “To be, or not to be,” soliloquy from Hamlet. The words ponder the hardships of life, and the possibility of even suicide to escape them, along with the questions of what may follow the end of one’s life. One of the cowboys even addresses the actor as Yorick, Hamlet’s dead court jester, which points to the absurd combination of laughter and loss inherent in mortal life. Thorndyke can’t finish the speech, and the educated Doc completes Hamlet’s words, followed by a coughing fit, reminding us, as does Clint Eastwood’s character in Unforgiven, that “we’ve all got it coming.”

Wyatt is there to acquire the actor for the show at the theater, but the Clanton boys try to stop the Marshal. Wyatt cracks a bottle over the head of one and shoots the gun out of the hand of another. Clanton shows up, and after Wyatt leaves, he beats his boys, telling them if you pull a gun, then you better kill the other guy. There is always a threat to one’s life here.

Clementine arrives on the stagecoach. She is Doc’s former love interest, but he is out of town. The relaxing Wyatt jumps up from his porch chair when he sees Clementine, as if struck by a love lightening bolt. According to Tag Gallagher in his essay, he resides in a different “sphere” than Clementine. That separation is stressed at their first meeting, as he is on one side of a post and she stands behind a rail, the physical objects suggesting how they inhabit different worlds. Wyatt is in black since his road is a dark one that must combat evil. Ford’s heroes are passing through the places they visit, so Wyatt is a wanderer, because he can’t have the comfort of a settled existence as he fights his antagonists.

Gallagher says Ford stops the plot to let us soak in the images of the characters, how they use their eyes, how they walk. Wyatt escorts Clementine to a room opposite Doc’s. She enters the absent man’s place, and the scene is like a nostalgic trip. There is a picture of Doc with a mustache and there is a photo of her there, too. She asks if Wyatt thinks Doc is a good surgeon, but Wyatt says he wouldn’t know. It’s as if they are looking at a photo album of a life that no longer exists.

That idea flows into the scene where Clementine goes to see Doc when he is again in town. She searched for him for a long time after he left Boston. He is coughing and she believes he fled from her because of his ill health. But he says he is no longer the man she once knew. She thinks he is being self-destructive, and she appears to be right, as he is moving away from those who care about him and engaging in dangerous activity. He later looks in a mirror and then smashes it (once again I’ll mention that mirrors can reflect another part of ourselves, mostly negative). Doc goes to the bar and acts surly with Wyatt and the barkeeper, who tells him that drinking will kill him as he grabs a bottle from him. Doc rejects Chihuahua’s attempt to change his mood with a song and a kiss. He tells her to go away, further isolating himself.

Wyatt tells Doc he is a fool for rejecting someone as wonderful as Clementine, and his complimentary statements show that Wyatt is attracted to the young woman. Wyatt also points out Doc’s dangerous drinking habits given his TB. Doc pulls out his gun to indulge his self-destructive tendencies by challenging anyone who confronts him. Wyatt basically accuses him of attempting suicide by attracting those who would boast of killing the infamous Doc Holliday, which would, he says, be easy given his drunken state. Doc shoots down a candle chandelier which starts a small fire. Wyatt knocks Doc out, at least temporarily preventing his demise.

Later Doc is recuperating in bed, but still drinking, and seems to have changed his mind about Chihuahua, saying he’s going to Mexico for a while and is willing to have her come with him as his bride. He learns from her that Clementine is packing to leave and is most likely relieved that he will no longer inflict his current decrepit state on Clementine. The fact that he is willing to attach himself to Chihuahua shows he doesn’t have the same strong feelings toward her if he is willing to expose her to his decline.

Clementine is in the hotel lobby and Wyatt enters singing “My Darling Clementine.” The song is Wyatt’s “yearning,” for her, according to Gallagher, and his hopeless hope for an average prairie life. When he hears she is leaving he says she is giving up too quickly to get Doc back as her love interest. However, he most likely wants her to stick around for himself. He wasn’t planning on going to the church service, but he is happy when she asks him to go with her. (The church is in the process of being constructed, which may imply some hope for a peaceful life in the future). Wyatt tosses away his hat which symbolizes his discarding his detached lawman role, and dances with Clementine, to the surprise of his brothers. Wyatt even seems happy joining in on the supper that follows the church dedication, smiling while carving the meat. Doc interrupts Wyatt’s moment of social joy when Doc yells at Clementine, saying he told her that if she didn’t leave town, he would. Wyat, resuming his attachment to the law, confronts Doc, saying Doc doesn’t have the authority to run anybody out of town. Doc’s adversarial response is that Wyatt should start carrying his gun, which implies that Wyatt isn’t cut out for a peaceful social life. His words also imply the rivalry between the two concerning their feelings for Clementine. But they also remind Wyatt that he can’t escape his role as an agent of justice.

Doc leaves town in a hurry to escape his physical, and thus emotional, proximity to Clementine, throwing a bag of gold to Chihuahua as he darts by. She is devastated since she thought they would leave together after getting married. She runs off to confront Clementine, blaming her for Doc’s leaving. She doesn’t want to accept that Doc doesn’t really love her. As Chihuahua throws Clementine’s clothes out of the closet to ensure her departure, Wyatt arrives and realizes the medallion Chihuahua is wearing belonged to his dead brother James. She says Doc gave it to her.

 Wyatt leaves to confront Doc about his possible involvement in the death of the young Earp. It’s a furious chase as Doc’s extreme driving of the horses reveals his inner drive to escape his circumstances. The extended chase shows the large expanse of the western territory, the hugeness of the land that dwarfs the individuals trying to deal with it. Wyatt catches up with Doc, who refuses to return to the torment he feels in Tombstone. He draws his gun on Wyatt who shoots it out of his hand.

Wyatt and Doc go to confront Chihuahua, who has Billy Clanton ((John Ireland) in her room. After he slips outside, the other men enter, and Doc says he didn’t give her the jewelry that belonged to James Earp. Doc will be charged with James’s murder, so she is persuaded to say that Billy gave it to her after Doc left her lonely and vulnerable. After the divulging of his name, Billy shoots Chihuahua through the window. Wyatt urges Doc to operate on the woman. In a way, Doc is forced to try to revisit his past life before its decline, and is now called “Doctor,” referring to his profession, and not just as a nickname. After the surgery, Wyatt watches Clementine walking out of the saloon, and asks the bartender if he has ever been in love. Wyatt is, but he, like Doc, is clueless as to how to deal with that emotion.

Wyatt wounded Billy as he tried to escape, and he sent his brother, Virgil, to go after him. Virgil shoots Billy as they ride, and Billy dies just outside the Clanton ranch house. The Clantons bring Billy’s body inside and then invite Virgil in after he pulls up. Again, in a cowardly manner, Old Man Clanton shoots Virgil in the back, killing him.

The Clantons drop Virgil’s body in the town, and Clanton says to meet him and his boys at, you guessed it, the O.K. Corral (an ironic name given the situation). Although other townspeople are willing to help, Wyatt tells them, “This is strictly a family affair.” It’s personal, because a son and brothers are dead, and it is now a family feud. But not quite, since Chihuahua dies, and Doc wants his revenge, but he is also feeling like he’ll never revisit his past status as a respected physician. He may be suicidal going to the shootout, but, in a way, he becomes an adopted Earp brother.

The sky has threatening, black clouds, fitting in with the dark deeds happening in Tombstone. Ford builds suspense as the opponents maneuver for position. Wyatt tries the legal way, telling Clanton he has a warrant for his arrest, and asks him to surrender. Clanton admits that he killed the Wyatt brothers, and vows to kill the remaining sibling. Wyatt, his brother, Morgan, and Doc shoot and kill the rest of the Clanton sons. Doc is betrayed by his current disease as he coughs, causing him to drop his guard, and is shot. Clanton surrenders, voicing his pain at the loss of his sons. Wyatt will not kill him, or spare Clanton the relief of an execution. Instead, he says, “I hope you live a hundred years, so you’ll feel just a little what my pa’s gonna feel. Now get out of town, start wandering.” Wyatt knows first-hand about the emptiness of being a wanderer. He wants to condemn Clanton to a childless, homeless existence. But not Morgan. He shoots and kills Clanton as the old man slowly rides away. The clouds are now white, possibly reflecting the eradication of the evil that had infested the town. However, Gallagher says Wyatt’s victory here comes at the price of a high body count, so justice is not triumphant.

Morgan and Wyatt are no longer lawmen, and they begin to ride out to tell their father what has happened. Wyatt encounters Clementine, who will stay on as a schoolteacher. She symbolizes putting down roots. He says he may return and resume his original plan of owning some cattle. He kisses her on the cheek (originally a handshake, which producer Darryl F. Zanuck discarded after a negative response from a test audience) before riding away, suggesting some hope for an eventual happy ending, at least for these two, which he underscores by saying how much he likes the name, Clementine. It is an ironic ending because they can’t be together given their separate worlds. His statement is followed by the words of the title song, bookending the film, which declare eternal love. The feeling of love may be everlasting, but it will not be consummated here.

The next film is Foreign Correspondent.

Satisfactory Movie Endings

 A friend of mine complained that she has watched many movies and streaming TV series that did not provide satisfactory conclusions to the stories. She urged me to write about ones that ended well. So, before analyzing the next film, here are a few well known motion pictures that have noteworthy endings.

The Shawshank Redemption

I’m not talking about how Tim Robbins’s character Andy escapes from Shawshank Prison and acquires the corrupt warden’s money, although that is something the audience has reason to cheer about. I want to focus on the very end of the film when Morgan Freeman’s Red has finally received his release from incarceration. He has become what he calls an “institutionalized” man, meaning he has spent so much time behind bars, he doesn’t know how to deal with the outside world. But, Andy left him a note and some money so he could join him on a beautiful beach in Mexico, restoring boats for tourists. Earlier, Red spoke about how dangerous it was to hope in prison, because those dreams would just be crushed. Now he can finally allow himself to look forward to something. He says, “I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.” Some of the best lines ever spoken at the end of a movie.

Casablanca

How could I not include the ending to this movie. It’s not just because of the rounding up of the “usual suspects” line that allows Humphrey Bogart’s Rick to escape arrest for shooting Major Strasser. And yes, the surrendering of Ingrid Berman’s Ilsa to Paul Henreid’s noble Victor as Rick gives his “hill of beans” speech is a wonderful scene of romantic aching. But the ending filled with baptismal rain is a scene of redemption for Rick and Claude Rains’s (appropriate name give the scene) Louis Renault. United now, their “beautiful friendship” will go on to symbolically point toward the movement away from isolationism to battling the Nazi threat before them.

The Maltese Falcon

This film contrasts fantasy with reality, as film noir characters dealing with the seedy underbelly of life seek escape by acquiring an almost mythical object that they hope will transport them away from their dark realm. When Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet), Cairo (Peter Lorre), and Brigid (Mary Astor) realize that the black bird they have sought is a fake they come crashing back to the real world. Brigid must take “the fall” for her crimes, and she boards the elevator, going down, of course, to be arrested. The elevator grating looks like prison bars, so she already appears imprisoned. Humphrey Bogart’s private detective, Sam Spade does not buy into the delusionary vision of the others (his last name reminds one of calling “a spade a spade,” a saying that appreciates facing facts). The quote he uses to describe the phony falcon is perfect for the film. He borrows it from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, as he says the object is, “the stuff that dreams are made of.” The stress here is on the imagined ideal world versus the harshness of transient mortality.

When Harry Met Sally …

At the end of all Hollywood romantic comedies, one person either runs, takes a cab or airplane, whatever, to reconnect with that individual’s love interest, leaving the audience with the fairy tale “They lived happily ever after” ending. This film is no different in that way. Harry (Billy Crystal) is alone on New Year’s Eve and finally decides he wants to be with Sally, so he runs to the party where she is. What’s great is the speech, by screenwriter Nora Ephron, he gives that finally wins her over, which, in my opinion, is the best dialogue about loving another person. Harry delivers it not in a sweet manner, but like he’s delivering an argument to make a point. It’s almost like he wishes the illogical truth weren’t so, but he can’t escape it. He says, “I love that you get cold when it’s seventy-one degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle right there when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you’re the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely. And it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” Doesn’t get much better than that.

The film actually ends, appropriately, on the couch where throughout the film couples briefly state how their long relationships began. Harry and Sally now are included among those others.

The Graduate

This whole film appears to be about protesting the false values of the white upper-middle class, with Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) realizing the banality and hypocrisy of his world, and revolting against it. The conclusion of the film has him driving and running (there it is again) to unite with his love, Elaine (Katharine Ross). He is a Christ-figure, presenting a crucifixion image as he bangs on the glass partition of the church’s second floor as Elaine is about to be wed to a clone of the established order. When she calls out to him he springs into action, wielding a crucifix (director Mike Nichols stressing the Christian symbolism). They run off, supposedly toward that fairy-tale ending.

But wait. Despite taking action here, throughout the film, Benjamin looks like he is passive, letting the world’s current carry him along. We first see him on a conveyor belt at the airport, and he exits the building through the wrong door. He floats in the family pool, and later appears to be running in place as he approaches the church. Is he really able to escape the forces around him holding him back? When he and Elaine get on the bus to take them away, the looks they present are not joyful, but appear to show what is to follow is a letdown. They may be wondering: What do we do now? They are leaving on a bus (again, passively being carried forward), but Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence” plays, as it did in the beginning, repeating its pessimistic message, implying that, in the long run, no progress has been made.  

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

John Ford’s Western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) presents the choice for the frontier individual to either rely on the law to deal with those that break society’s rules, or to take matters into one’s own hands and pick up a gun to get justice. In this film, Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart), being a lawyer, wants to go through the legal system to deal with the criminal, Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) represents the option to handle problems individually when the law offers little satisfaction. The film addresses the value of democracy and the threats to the process, which sustains the movie’s relevance.

The story begins at Tom’s funeral and the older Ransom (Rance)(does the name suggest he paid with part of his integrity to get things done?), now a U. S. Senator, and his wife, Hallie (Vera Miles), are paying their respects in the western town of Shinbone (a name that implies a hard and spare lifestyle).  Link Appleyard (Andy Devine) greets the couple at the train station. He used to be the town’s marshal. While Rance talks to the local newspapermen, Link takes Hallie on a ride to the desert. That area has stayed the same, showing how nature remains constant where cactus roses grow, but the world of people changes. They go to the dilapidated ruins of a building where Tom used to live. The locals don’t even know about Tom, which shows how recorded history leaves out the significant acts of some people.

Tom’s African America friend, Pompey (Woody Strode, who was in Spartacus) is at the funeral director’s place, mourning. Rance is angry that Tom’s body is not wearing his boots, spurs, and gun, like a true cowboy. Rance just wants to keep his grief private, but the intrusive editor of the local newspaper, Maxwell Scott (Charleton Young) insists on an explanation for the Senator’s presence for the funeral of an obscure person. Rance decides that the past should not be forgotten so he tells his story, which is presented as an extended flashback.

The camera focuses on the dusty old stagecoach that brought the young recent law school graduate Rance to Shinbone. The image is a sort of time machine that transports us into the past. Rance says he took Horace Greely’s advice to “Go west” and “seek, fame, fortune and adventure.” Just as he speaks those words gunshots go off as the stagecoach is held up by Liberty Valance’s gang, wearing masks, showing how some adventures are not positive ones. Rance voices his outrage, and the response he receives is a beating from Liberty (an ironic name showing how destructive individualism can be if not held subject to laws that protect society as a whole). Liberty laughs at Rance’s suggestion that he will go to jail. When he grabs one of Rance’s law books, he rips out pages, showing how little respect he has for the power of the legal system. He whips Rance, saying he is inflicting “Western law” which comes down to a type of Social Darwinism, where only those that can inflict the most violence survive.

Tom rescues Rance and brings him to Hallie for help (Wayne uses what becomes his signature word, calling Rance “pilgrim” often, which is a traveler with a religious connotation that suggests that Rance is on a righteous crusade, not a vengeful one). (For me Wayne’s voice and delivery of lines is often over-the-top and takes me out of the story. Sorry fans). Tom’s decency is shown by offering to pay for Rance’s food since the lawyer was robbed of everything. Tom also compliments on how pretty Hattie looks, and there is an indication that he might propose to her someday. Rance says the man used a silver-tipped whip on him. Tom recognizes it as Liberty Valance’s weapon, and says Rance better start carrying a gun, suggesting that is the way to deal with men like Liberty. Tom says, “I know those law books mean a lot to you, but not out here. Out here, a man settles his own problems.” Later, Burt Reynolds’s character in Deliverance says rhetorically in the wilderness, “Where is the law?” Ford’s film takes place at a time when there was little policing of the savagery of humans, and the NRA motto of the only way to stop a bad man with a gun is a good guy with a gun was the way of the West.

Unfortunately, law and order in Shinbone comes in the out-of-shape form of the freeloading Link Appleyard, whose cowardly attitude and soft body may indicate the lax enforcement of the authorities in these parts. Andy Divine’s high-pitched, stuttering voice adds to the lack of the character’s toughness. When he finds out that Liberty is involved in Rance’s robbery and beating, the Marshall just wants to run away. He says, “The jail ‘s only got one cell, and the lock’s broke, and I sleep in it.” It’s a funny line, but it shows the sad state the law-abiding citizens of the town are in. Tom introduces himself to Rance and says Rance doesn’t look like a person who can handle a gun, especially against Liberty, who he says is the toughest fellow around, “next to me.” We have the macho image of John Wayne in full force here.

 Rance is helping out in Hallie’s restaurant kitchen since he is getting food there. He reads his law books and thinks he has a loophole to arrest Liberty under the local jurisdiction. Hallie is embarrassed because she cannot read his book. When he offers to teach her, she counters by saying he’s there wearing an apron and washing dishes, which implies his education hasn’t helped him on the frontier. She has a point, but she realizes that reading would enrich her life as she could read the Bible.

Tom shows up and has a cactus rose for Hallie, so we now know why she wanted one at the opening of the story. Rance has his hands on Hallie’s shoulders when Tom walks in as Hallie was announcing the news that Rance was going to teach her to read and write. Tom shows some jealousy by using slight sarcasm about how Rance is now protecting the ladies at the restaurant. Hallie’s affections seem to become divided between the rugged individualism of Tom and the scholarly morality of Rance. Tom sees Rance’s attorney sign he painted and tellingly says that if he hangs it up, he will have to defend it with a gun, and he’s not the type. Again, there is the idealism of Rance countered by the harsh practicality of Tom.

Tom sits down with the dining Dutton Peabody (Edmond O’ Brien), the newspaper editor at that time, who is also a drunk. He’s as hungry for a story as he is for steak and potatoes. He wants to know if Tom has popped the question to Hallie. Tom is not about to be rushed. Meanwhile, Pompey planted the cactus rose, and Rance asks if Hallie has seen a real rose. She says no, but she hopes that she will someday. Their remarks show how she has aspirations beyond the boundaries of this town, and Rance may be the man to help her on her way.

Liberty bursts in with two of his gang, and, as expected, Link rushes out. Liberty goes to a table and sees that the steak is “just right” for him, and wants those men seated to vacate the table, pulling the chair out from under one cowboy. He’s like a bullying Goldilocks. Rance volunteered to wait on tables because the place is so busy, and men did not perform that task back then. Liberty plops his whip on the table, so Rance knows for sure that it is Liberty who whipped him. Liberty laughs at Rance as he enters the room with plates of food and calls him the new “waitress.” There are a number of these emasculation scenes. If one tries to use one’s brains instead of fists, and if a man is trying to be helpful and courteous, he is considered weak. The cliche being invoked here is the one of a man being whipped by a woman, which is supposed to illustrate how weak he is.

As Rance walks past Liberty, the man trips him and the food spills to the floor. Rance is ready to rush Liberty, which would be a suicide move. Tom comes to the rescue, because at this moment, in this place, the law and civilized action can’t win. Tom tells Liberty that it was his steak on the floor and Liberty must pick it up. There looks like there is going to be a shootout, with Pompey pointing a rifle from the kitchen. The outraged Rance yells why is everybody so “kill crazy” there. He picks up the meat to diffuse the situation. Liberty takes a drink of whiskey outside, then smashes the restaurant window with it while he and his men start to fire off their weapons as they ride out of town.

Tom rhetorically asks, “Well now, I wonder what scared them off?” Dutton adds to Tom’s sarcasm, saying, “You know what sacred ‘em? The spectacle of law and order – here, risin’ up out of the gravy and mashed potatoes.” More emasculation. Rance admits that it was a gun that was needed to drive Liberty away. However, he points out the stupidity of getting killed over a piece of steak. He tries to assert his individual strength by saying that he fights his own battles. Despite his gruff manner, Tom was trying to prevent Rance from getting killed. Editor Dutton sees Rance as newsworthy and wants to exploit him. He offers to let him hang his attorney-at-law shingle in front of the newspaper office, which can draw Liberty’s fire, literally. Rance rejects Tom’s advice on two counts: he’s neither leaving nor picking up a gun to fight Liberty. The film suggests that at this point putting one’s faith in the law seems like idealism.

The cattle barons are trying to push small homesteaders out of their business. Statehood would protect the less powerful and the barons are fighting against it. Here we have the theme of using democracy to fight those that use their power to destroy the lives of others. Rance reads about what is going on in the newspaper, which stresses the importance of freedom of the press. Rance now is teaching the townspeople, with Hallie helping him out, how to read and write (including Latino children, which points to how immigrants are an important part of the democratic process). They are learning American history, too, and Nora Ericson (Jeanette Nolan), a German immigrant, says the United States is a republic, which means the people are the “bosses,” and if there is a dislike for what the “big shots” in Washington are doing, the people can vote them out. The disdain for elitism is evident here and promotes a type of populism. It’s appropriate that the Black man, Pompey, responds to a question about how Thomas Jefferson wrote that “all men are created equal.” He apologizes for forgetting some of the words, and Rance’s remark that many people forget the equality part allows the film to take a shot at racism.

Rance tells those at the lesson that having a strong representative to fight for their interests is important, so getting out the vote is vital. Tom has been away doing horse trading and he bursts in telling Pompey he needs him working. Tom is the pragmatist who knows that Liberty is working with the cattle barons and hiring guns to ensure the rich men’s interests. Tom acknowledges the nobility of what the newspaper and Rance believe in, but he says that promoting it will bring about bloodshed. Tom says the hired gunmen tried to ambush him, but he killed one of them. Dutton goes off to write the story, and Tom warns that if he prints that information he’ll get himself killed. Here we have the dilemma of the responsibility of the press versus whether news sometimes helps create trouble. While they talk, the camera shot shows the U. S. flag in the background and a portrait of George Washington. The images stress how the history of the nation and democracy are on the line. Tom warns that the gunmen will be there on election day to intimidate the voters. Tom tells Hallie to get out of a school that can turn into “a shooting gallery.” But Hallie strongly asserts her independence by telling him he can’t tell her what to do because he doesn’t “own” her.

Rance dismisses the school and when he erases what he has written on the blackboard, “Education is the basis for law and order,” it’s as if ignorance of what holds civilization together is winning. He is becoming cynical as he tells the protesting Hallie that “when force threatens, talk’s no good anymore.” Rance leaves and Dutton confesses to Hallie that a while back he lent Rance a gun and the lawyer has been going outside town and practicing how to shoot. He is compromising his ideals for Tom’s view of reality.

Hallie asks for Tom’s help, and he catches up with Rance and takes him to his house under construction. Tom says that he plans on marrying Hallie once he has his house fixed up for her. But, because Hallie shows so much worry for Rance, Tom believes that she and Rance have feelings for each other. Tom engages in more humiliation as a way of showing Rance how his being in a shootout is futile. He tells the lawyer to hang up some paint cans to be shot at, but instead Tom fires at them, spilling paint on Rance. He is trying to show how fast a gunslinger can be and that, although he says he doesn’t like “tricks,” Liberty indulges in them. Rance is angry about this further attack on his manhood and punches Tom so hard he knocks him down, saying he doesn’t like tricks, either. The look on Tom’s face reveals some admiration for Rance’s toughness.

Election day comes, as Rance explains to the crowd of men at the bar, to elect two delegates to a state convention to determine whether the territory south of the Picketline River should become a state. (Dutton says humorously that declaring booze off-limits on this day “is carrying democracy too far.”). Only white men can vote at this time, as the film stresses by having the women and Pompey stay outside. Rance emphasizes that statehood means that their ranches will be protected from an open range policy where the rich interests have no legal constraints from taking over the smaller lands of the farmers. Rance nominates Tom, despite their differences. In a way, Rance is trying to draw Tom into the legal framework of democracy. But, Tom refuses, saying he has other plans. We know he means marrying and settling down with Hallie, which shows his focus is on his individual wants, not social ones.

Then Liberty shows up, who, unlike Tom, whose intentions are honorable, is an agent of chaos. He doesn’t live in the area but says wherever he wants to live is his address. He sees a newspaper headline that says he killed two homesteaders, which shows Dutton has showed a great deal of courage to publicly indict Liberty. The men nominate Rance to be a delegate, with Tom seconding the motion, showing he has gained some respect for the man, acknowledging Rance’s legal background and that he can throw a “punch.” Liberty gets a member of his gang to nominate him. One of the townspeople nominates Dutton, who wants no part of it. He says he must stay outside of politics so he can “build” up politicians, and “tear” them down. He says he is the people’s “conscience,” and “the watchdog that howls against the wolves.” Dutton might be overdramatizing his role in society, and he’ll do almost anything for a drink. However, he does state the purpose of the free press, which, if silenced, allows liars and bullies to escape being held in check. Liberty, not wanting to confront Tom, tells Rance that he has to stop hiding behind Tom’s gun, and Liberty will be waiting for him in the street for a gunfight. Tom offers to get Rance out of town, but at this point we’re not sure if Rance will leave.

The drunk Dutton, laughingly blowing on his whiskey jug mistaking it for a candle, is trying to find the courage to continue his work at the bottom of a bottle of booze. He alters Horace Greeley’s quotation, saying to his shadow (of himself?), “Old Man: go west. And grow young with the country.” His version stresses the newness of the frontier, its uncorrupted nature which brought about it being dubbed the New Eden. The West here is a type of Fountain of Youth to rejuvenate the jaded. When Dutton returns to the newspaper office, Liberty and his men are there. They beat Dutton almost to death and destroy the premises. Liberty also shoots Rance’s lawyer sign. The scene symbolizes how lawlessness can destroy the fair rules that rein in destructive behavior so that the average citizen can live a life without fear.

After seeing what happened to Dutton, Rance tells Marshall Appleyard to let Liberty know that he will meet him outside for a showdown. He is giving into the violent practicality of the times. Hallie tells Pompey to get Tom, while Link calls for the doctor to help Dutton. At the saloon, individuals are now starting to voice their anger at the card-playing Liberty. Even the cowardly Link says that if Liberty shoots the inexperienced Rance, it will be murder (Rance’s lack of gun shooting skills is stressed by his still wearing a restaurant apron).

Outside, Liberty toys with Rance, shooting near him, but then wounding him in his right hand, sending the gun to the ground. He picks it up with his left hand, and when Liberty threatens to shoot him “right between the eyes,” Rance gets a shot off. Liberty is hit and dies. Rance looks at his gun and drops it, looking defeated morally despite surviving.

Tom shows up at the kitchen where Hallie is tending to Rance’s wound. He witnesses Hallie comforting Rance, holding him, kissing his forehead, and sobbing over what could have happened to him. Tom says he is sorry he didn’t arrive in time, and after seeing the affection between the other two, leaves slamming the door. When Liberty’s gang members say Rance murdered Liberty, Tom disarms them and knocks them down. Tom yells at Link to do his job and arrest the two outlaws. Lance then wants to take credit for the apprehensions. It is a foreshadowing of who should really be getting credit for an action. As the town celebrates the demise of Liberty, Tom stands up for Pompey at the saloon when the bartender doesn’t want to serve his Black farmhand. Pompey doesn’t drink and says they have work to do back at home. Tom is now drunk, upset by losing the affection of Hallie, and the business he has in mind back at his ranch is anything but constructive. He sets fire to his house, the one he was adding onto in anticipation of living in it with Hallie. Pompey rescues him from the fire.

After recovering from their ordeal sufficiently both Rance and Dutton attend the statehood convention. Major Cassius Starbuckle (John Carradine), who has become a politician, says he had a speech but does not want to indulge in “oratory.” So, he crumples a piece of paper that is supposed to contain his prepared words. But, a delegate unravels it and it is blank. Thus, the Major is a deceptive character, who puts into a nomination another politician to represent them in Washington. After he speaks, a cowboy on a horse rides in supporting the nominee and does rope tricks. The whole scene satirizes the political process which is seen as a theatrical display with little substance.

Dutton calls the Major “the cattleman’s mouthpiece,” so he is representing the big business interests. He extols the average working person and places in nomination a surprised Rance, who he says is a model for the proper legal way to bring law and order to the frontier. The manipulative Major asks what kind of lawyer is he who killed “an honest citizen,” which is a ludicrous statement considering Liberty’s evil nature. But he indicts Rance for taking “the law into his own hands” and that he “has blood on his hands.” He continues by saying that Rance has, “the mark of Cain” on him. It is an ironic accusation, since Rance wanted nothing to do with killing a fellow brother of the human race when he set out to bring Liberty to justice in a civilized manner.

Tom shows up at the convention and follows the exiting Rance, who says he is going back east because he can’t build a reputation on killing a man. Tom then reveals what really happened and we get a flashback which shows that he is the man who shot Liberty Valance. He’s willing to keep that secret so that Rance can be elected and usher in a righteous change in the way the law is practiced in the territory. The movie suggests that the birth of a decent nation entails undergoing some painful events. Tom says that Hallie is now Rance’s girl, and since he taught her how to read and write Rance has the responsibility to give her something to read and write about. He puts the responsibility of creating decency on Rance’s shoulders.

The story returns to the present. Rance went to Washington and went on to become the governor of the new state and its senator. Nobody remembers Tom now, as his ways faded away. He knew it was time for change and he accepted that inevitability since we are told at the beginning of the movie that in recent times he no longer carried a gun. Rance has told the truth about Tom now to the new editor, Scott, who rips up the notes he was taking and throws them into a stove. He says he is not going to print the story Rance related. Scott says, “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” The implication is that it is detrimental to people to invalidate the myths they needed to believe in.

Back on the train, Hallie admits that she placed the cactus roses on Tom’s coffin. The plant symbolizes the kind of man Tom was – thorny with an appealing side. Now Rance feels his time has come to give up politics after achieving what he wanted, and he wishes to return to Shinbone and maybe open up a law office, which was his original plan. She says he should be “proud,” because he helped in changing the territory from a “wilderness” into a “garden,” a sort of hybrid that combines what is natural with cultivation. Hallie says her “roots” and her “heart” are still in this place in the West, which suggests that a person should stay grounded by keeping connected to one’s origins.

The train conductor lets Rance know that they have made accommodations for him because nothing is too good for the “man who shot Liberty Valance.” Sometimes the legend is mightier than the truth.

The next film is My Darling Clementine.