Film Journal: Stagecoach

1) Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening. 
During class on March 24th, we started talking about the not so famous actor of the time period, John Wayne. At the time, he was enlisted among dozens of other famous actors and actresses, however Wayne was only known as a B-list, making this his first large scale film. This film was directed by John Ford in 1939, which was the starting year of the greatest period of American Film Making [which ranged from 1939-1941.] At this time, Westerns were also out of favor. Other directors had told Ford that making a Western, especially with John Wayne, would end up ruining his career, yet the two worked extremely well together. 

2) Find a related article (on the film, directed, studio, actor/actress content, etc.) You can use the library or internet. Cite the article or copy the url to your journal entry. Summarize in your own words the related article but do not plagiarize any content. 
The article that I have found relating to the film is an article that can be found here [http://www.film.com/movies/whats-the-big-deal-stagecoach-1939] which covers almost every aspect of the film Stagecoach. The article notes some of the very large movies that came out the same year as Stagecoach, noting Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Of Mice & Men as some of the biggest releases. As mentioned before, the Great Period of American Film Making had taken all of these movies and made them revolutionary, even today. Stagecoach influenced the entirety of John Wayne's future career simply by having him star in the film as the big, bad cowboy that saves the day. Generally, as I said in the last paragraph, Westerns were starting to not be taken as seriously in the big picture anymore, but this is a film that made the genre popular again. 

3) Apply the article to the film screened in class. How did the 
article support or change the way you thought about the film, 
director, content, etc.?
This article heavily mentions how important Stagecoach was for the time frame, and although it has to be one of the films that I didn't really enjoy watching so far, I have to admit now that after watching it and reading some reviews of it, that yes it was important to the history of film. Not only did it make John Wayne popular, but it set the stage for many other big names such as Clint Eastwood, who came later on. The article changed the way I looked at Stagecoach because now I can appreciate it much more knowing that it shaped the history of film as much as it did.

4) Write a critical analysis of the film, including your personal 
opinion, formed as a result of 4 things: the screening, class discussions, text material, and the article. 
The screening was boring, to be honest. The set that they used was beautiful, but the way it was applied was almost appalling. With all of the shots that could have been implemented to the background that they had, in comparison to how it was used wasn't impressing. I did like how the chase scene between the coach and the Native Americans played out though. There were some great shots in there. The class discussion set the stage for Stagecoach [had to be as punny as possible there.] I had heard of the film prior to taking this class because my mother is heavily in love with old style Western films, so she had talked to me about this one on many occasions. As our professor said, it's a film that needs some growing into. The text material focused more on the period of film making rather than the movie itself, but also gave some of a backstory. As for the article though, it definitely changed how I looked at the film. I didn't think I was going to give it another chance, and I was going to close the book on it, but seeing it from the perspective of how great John Wayne became through this, I kind of feel opt to watch it one more time and get a better understanding of the movie as a whole.

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM 

1) (X) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class. 

2) (X) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper. 

3) (X) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text. 

4) (X) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper. 

5) (X) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read. 

6) (X) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography. 

7) (X) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality. 

8) (X) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.