Ignoring his role as a Confederate soldier in the U.S. Civil War, Ethan Edwards' (John Wayne) quest to rescue his niece Debbie (Natalie Wood), who has been abducted by Comanches, is unquestionably heroic. However, he's got an ambiguous, violent edge to him that makes him more than just another black-and-white John Wayne western hero. For one, he's cagey and cunning, killing three men on his travels who prepare to rob him, and when he eventually discovers that Debbie has decided to become a Comanche, he attempts to kill her rather than see her purity "stained" in such a way. After Debbie's husband Scar (Henry Brandon) is killed, Ethan callously scalps him and returns Debbie home, before departing all on his lonesome once again. Though Edwards completes his mission, he's shown to have an extremely unpleasant, undeniably racist facet to his personality, making him a deeply flawed hero and therefore a brilliant anti-hero. When characters of this type were few and far between, director John Ford opted to push the envelope, rejecting a pure notion of heroism and presenting something much more interesting, a man trying to do the right thing while also unable to disentangle himself from his savage prejudices.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
