The black hawk

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Movie
German title The black hawk
Original title The Searchers
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1956
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director John Ford
script Frank S. Nugent
production CV Whitney for
Warner Brothers
music Max Steiner
camera Winton C. High
cut Jack Murray
occupation
synchronization

The Black Hawk (original title: The Searchers ) is an American western from 1956. John Ford's 115th feature film is an adaptation of a novel by Alan Le May . The film takes up some of the true fate of Cynthia Ann Parker .

The leading roles in John Ford's epic are played by John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter , while Vera Miles and Natalie Wood as well as Ward Bond and Hank Worden took on important supporting roles . John Wayne often referred to the film as his most beautiful. Both John Ford and John Wayne thought The Black Hawk was the best movie they'd ever made together.

Over the years, more and more film critics and cineastes have followed this opinion. In 1995, German film directors voted the work the best film of all time, and in 2012 The Black Falcon was voted 7th among the best films of all time in a survey of film critics in Sight & Sound magazine . In the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Best American Movies of All Time, the Western ranks twelfth.

action

The film tells the long odyssey of Ethan Edwards, who returns from the Civil War and drops in on his brother Aaron and his wife Martha. What Ethan has been doing since the end of the war - the war has been over for three years - can only be guessed at; in the opinion of the leader of the Texas Rangers , many profiles could fit him. He pushes freshly minted gold pieces into his brother Aaron’s hand with the words: “I will not be on your pocket.” He turns lovingly to the three children of the family; He gives his saber to his nephew Ben and bequeaths his Mexican medal to little Debbie. The family also includes Lucy and Martin Pawley, who with his eighth Cherokee blood looks "almost like a half-blood" to Ethan. The way Ethan looks at his sister-in-law Martha and the way she takes his coat, it quickly becomes clear that he loves her - a love that remains hidden from everyone except Reverend Samuel Clayton.

The men fall for a trick by the Indians to track down alleged cattle thieves so that they are far away from the ranch when they attacked and burned the parents by Comanches under the leadership of Chief Scar (in the German dubbed version Chief Black Falcon ) and their son Ben are killed and the family's two daughters, Lucy and little Debbie, are abducted. Ethan has had a hard time being unable to stand by his relatives, especially his beloved sister-in-law. When the men realize that the theft of the cattle was just a diversionary maneuver by the Indians and ride back as fast as possible, they can see the burning farm from afar. Ethan's gaze after looking inside speaks volumes. Ethan prevents Martin from watching the atrocities.

His only concern now is revenge. Together with Martin and the neighbour's son Brad Jorgensen, Lucy's fiancé, he goes in search of the two girls. In a valley, Ethan discovers that four warriors have separated from the main party. He follows their tracks alone and returns completely distraught and without a jacket. The reason for this becomes apparent a little later when Brad believes he discovered his beloved Lucy in the Indian camp. He insists that he saw her in her "blue dress". “You haven't seen Lucy. It was a Comanche who was wearing Lucy's dress. I found Lucy in the ravine. I wrapped it in my skirt and buried it with my own hands. "When Brad then asks for more details, Ethan reacts very emotionally:" Do you want a drawing? Never ask me what happened to her again! ”Brad goes insane and runs to his death.

The seekers keep losing track of the Comanche tribe, which is moving on and on, but after five years they finally succeed in locating Debbie, who has now grown up with the Indians. Ethan, who feels nothing but hatred for the Comanche tribe, believes that Debbie has finally become a Comanchin and wants to shoot her the moment they find her beyond the Indian camp; however, Martin stands protectively in front of her.

When the Comanches camp again near the hometown of Ethan and Martin, the army wants to attack the camp at dawn together with Samuel Clayton and his Texas Rangers. Not even Martin's bride Laurie understands that he is trying to get Debbie out of the camp alive. Although she has always stuck to him so far, she now says: “Who do you want to get? A Comanche bride who has certainly already been auctioned off to the highest bidder? Ethan would put a bullet in her head, and Martha would agree with him. ”However, Martin manages to sneak into the Indian camp, kill Scar and flee with Debbie. Then cavalry and Texas Rangers attack and Ethan scalps the dead chief. Then he follows Debbie. Martin begs him not to kill her and Ethan actually takes the frightened girl in his arms with the words: "We're going home, Debbie!". He rides with her to the Jorgensens farm, but does not go into the house himself, but turns around in front of the door to leave and move on alone. In the last shot of the film, the camera looks over Wayne through an open door to the desert behind him.

production

Prehistory, title

Monument Valley, the most important location for the film. Ford shot many of his westerns here.

The short story The Avenging Texans by Alan Le May, which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in 1954, about two Texans who spent ten years looking for a woman abducted by Indians, was soon published in book form called The Searchers , which was also published by the American Original version of the film is wearing. The lender decided on the German version of the title Der Schwarze Falke , although this name does not appear in the original version. It is related to the Comanche chief, who in the original version bears the name Scar (scar). The name is also used in the German version by the Indian woman look. He plays a central role in motivating both Scars and Ethan Edwards. In addition, the first dialogue between Ethan and Scar can only really be understood if you keep the original name in mind (“ you can tell right away where you got your name from ”).

Filming

For the outdoor shots for this Vistavision color and widescreen film, John Ford and his team once again moved to Monument Valley , where he loved to shoot. The set-up of the scenery in Monument Valley, including the accommodations for the entire crew, began on May 31, 1955. Shooting began shortly thereafter. Further recordings were made in Colorado and Canada as well as in Bronson Canyon in Griffith Park in Los Angeles and in the RKO-Pathé Studios . The film was completed in August 1955.

Homage

The Searchers is the second John Ford-directed western, along with 3 Godfathers , to be seen as a tribute to his friend (and alter ego ) Harry Carey , the leading actor in his early silent film wests. Carey's widow Olive and son Harry also play Mother and Son (Jorgensen) in the film. Leading actor John Wayne draws on gestures and expressions that Carey had shaped as one of the legendary silent film cowboys. For example, the film's famous farewell scene, when Ethan hands the retrieved Debbie over to Mrs. Jorgensen and then leaves home again, symbolized by the open door, is a clear reminiscence of Harry Carey. He had a habit of reaching over his chest with his right hand while his left hand supported his elbow. Wayne was standing there when he looked out the door. Wayne: "When I did that, I could see Olive standing next to the camera and see the tears running down her cheeks." (Olive Carey later presented her late husband's cowboy relics to John Wayne, whom she is his legitimate successor.)

Inspired by his role, John Wayne named his son Ethan, born in 1962 . Wayne's son Patrick plays the role of a young army soldier in this film. It is said that Natalie Wood fell in love with John Wayne's son Patrick while they were filming. Natalie Wood portrayed Debbie as a young adult and her younger sister Lana Wood portrayed little Debbie at the beginning of the film.

Initial release

Premiered in the United States experienced The Searchers on March 13, 1956. On August 13, 1956, he was then generally in the cinemas of the United States. In the Federal Republic of Germany the film was released on October 5, 1956, in Austria on January 25, 1957.

Synchronization of the German version

The German dubbing was done in 1956 in the dubbing studio of Deutsche Mondial Film GmbH, Munich and Berlin .

role actor Voice actor
Ethan Edwards John Wayne Heinz Engelmann
Martin Pawley Jeffrey Hunter Herbert Stass
Laurie Jorgensen Vera Miles Margot Leonard
Reverend Samuel Johnson Clayton Ward Bond Wolf Martini
Mr. Lars Jorgensen, Laurie's father John torments Hans Hessling
Mrs. Jorgensen, Laurie's mother Olive Carey Ursula War
Brad Jorgensen, Laurie's brother Harry carey jr. Peter Schiff
Charlie McCorry Ken Curtis Gerd Martienzen
Moses Harper Hank Worden Walter Bluhm
Emilio Gabriel Fernandez y Figueroa, Mexican Antonio Moreno Erich Poremski
Aaron Edwards Walter Coy Heinz Giese
Mr. Jerem Futtermen, businessman Peter Mamakos Eduard Wandrey
Nesby, injured Majority Member William Steele Erich Dunskus
Mexican barman Nacho Galindo Alexander Welbat
Colonel Greenhill Cliff Lyons Hans Emons

criticism

Joe Hembus finds in his Western Lexicon 539: “The Moby Dick of the Western, a revised leather sock ... The door to a new country has opened. The door to a new country has closed. The country is defeated. The native American is dead and scalped ... The white American who rises to the challenge of the wild is Ethan Edwards who goes to the savages, like leather socks went to the savages, and is how John Ford goes to the savages with this film damned to wander between the winds like a dead warrior whose eyes have been shot out. Ahab has crossed the sea of ​​deserts, prairies and rocky mountains, killed his white whale and goes under with it. He sinks into the country whose buffalo he shot, whose people he massacred, whose earth he worked with knives, bullets and his fists. ”( This film is the only four-star western in Joe Hembus' Western Lexicon )

Lexicon of the international film : “Epic Western about a brittle, lonely Westerner (...) The five-year search develops into a journey into the soul landscape of one of the most complex characters in Western history. Sensitivity and despair become visible behind the surface of the stubborn loner. (...) A masterpiece of the genre, perfectly composed down to the last detail. "

Prisma Online : “A great western - one of the best of all time - about the rugged westerner Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), who goes in search of his nieces. A western classic from master director John Ford. The search of Ethan Edwards is not only the description of an endless odyssey, but also a differentiated journey into the soul world of the lonely hero. Exciting masterpiece, photographed absolutely brilliantly by Oscar winner Winton C. Hoch. "

Thomas Jeier , author of Der Western-Film : “John Ford, as you know him from many other films, just a little more perfect and better than usual. […] The Searchers - the definitive western. A work of art, a character study in the middle of the mythical landscape of Monument Valley. "

Loren D. Estleman , especially in the USA respected and successful author of western novels, may not join in the hymns of praise for The Searchers. For him, Shane is the best western film, he sees The Searchers as a rather mediocre film in which the acting is 'not so outstanding'. Above all, deviations from Alan LeMay's novel bothers him, first and foremost the changed ending. He ranks the novel among the ten best western novels. The film does not do justice to the novel. In addition, the film is too long.

Impact history

On the occasion of the presentation of the film, Ronald M. Hahn and Volker Jansen raised the following question as part of a description of modern “cult films”: “How can a film whose hero is a narrow-minded, racist , murderous-brutal reactionary, become a cult film? A cult film that at least has people like Martin Scorsese , Paul Schrader , Steven Spielberg , Michael Cimino , Stuart Byron , John Milius , Wim Wenders , George Lucas , David Lean , Sergio Leone , Robert Aldrich and Francis Ford Coppola among its followers? " And found: "Probably because most of the attributes that apply to Ethan Edwards must be seen in a historical context: The average American citizen of 1868 was - and if he came from the South, especially - a narrow-minded, racist reactionary." The aforementioned filmmakers were inspired and influenced by The Searchers and paid homage to the film in some form in their work.

Martin Scorsese commented on the western The Black Falcon : “The dialogues are like poetry, the change in expression: so haunting, so wonderful. I see him once or twice a year. ” James Stewart is said to think that Wayne's performance in The Searchers was one of the greatest of all time. Jean-Luc Godard stated that he “couldn't see the film without crying.” Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying: “Before I start making a new film, I always look at four others . Namely The Seven Samurai , Lawrence of Arabia , Isn't life beautiful? and The Black Hawk . "

In David Lean's work, for example, the landscape shots in his monumental film Lawrence of Arabia are influenced by Ford's classic films. Sergio Leone also confirmed that this film had an influence on his style, for example in his highly acclaimed spaghetti western play me the song of death in the sequences shortly before the Indians raid the Edwards farm. Martin Scorsese expressed that he in his film drama Taxi Driver on the role of John Wayne in The Searchers have thought, "the risks everything to save a young girl." Even Paul Schrader, Scorsese co-wrote Taxi Driver , was by John Ford's film is fascinating. For him, The Searchers is one of the two best films of all time, alongside Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo . In Schrader's second film as director Hardcore - A Father Sees Red , he shows a man who is in the porn industry to look for his missing daughter. In addition to other films by Schrader, his horror film Dominion: Exorcist - The Beginning of Evil shows references to The Searchers , where in the last shot Father Lankaster Merrin leaves the hospital, framed by an entrance door and shortly afterwards swallowed by a cloud of dust. Steven Spielberg's work is pervaded by influences from Ford's film, such as a transition of scenes in his film debut Sugarland Express , which turns a closing and an opening door into a fade to black out of the game, based on the first shot of The Black Falcon . The door frame motif also appears in one of the best-known shots from Close Encounters of the Third Kind when a little boy sees a brightly glowing alien spaceship through a door that opens. Also in War of the Worlds , one of the last shots shows Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier, analogous to John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, in the closing shot of Ford's film through an open door, in which - as with Ford - a reunited family looks outside at him, the outsider , looks. One of the most famous tributes can be seen in George Lucas' first Star Wars film from 1977. The scene when Ethan Edwards comes home and sees that his family was killed by the Comanches is taken over by George Lucas 1-1. When Luke Skywalker comes home, he sees that his home has burned down and that his relatives have been killed by the stormtroopers.

Film critic Stuart Byron wrote about The Searchers in New York Magazine in 1979 , claiming that the film was the super-cult movie of the New Hollywood , and went on to claim that all modern American cinema descended from The Searchers . AO Scott , an American reviewer for the New York Times , believes The Searchers has had an impact on current films, especially when it comes to the famous closing shot. Scott quotes Ernest Hemingway , who once said that “all American literature is based on one book, namely Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn .” “It is similar with American cinema and The Searchers .” Scott believes, that "this film is one of the films that you can find in excerpts in all films made after it." Stuart Byron had made a similar judgment 25 years earlier.

The film also influenced popular music at the time. The rock 'n' roll musician Buddy Holly , who, like many young people at the time, watched the film with enthusiasm, took the phrase "That'll be the day" repeated by John Wayne several times in the storyline (German version: Der Tag will come ) 1957 as the title for his first major success. Jerry Allison , the drummer for the band Buddy Holly and The Crickets , is considered the lyricist of "That'll Be the Day". The song even climbed to number one on the US Billboard charts. Legend has it that it was the first piece that John Lennon learned to play the guitar. The rock number also gave its name to the 1973 film That'll Be the Day starring David Essex . The British pop band The Searchers , founded in 1960, was named after the film. In his film Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders quotes the final scene from The Black Falcon .

Awards

Patrick Wayne , the son of lead actor John Wayne, was awarded the Golden Globe Award for "Best Young Actor" in 1959 . John Ford was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award in 1957 . The film was also nominated for an Oscar in the “Best Picture” category (but it won the Jules Verne film around the world in 80 days ). More than 30 years after its premiere, The Black Falcon was included in the National Film Registry in 1989 , a directory of American films that are considered particularly worth preserving.

In 1998, The Searchers was named number 96 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best US films of the 20th century. In a 2007 reprint of this list, The Black Falcon jumped to number 7 of the best films. In 2008, the film magazine Cahiers du cinéma listed him in its list of the 100 best films of all time. In a survey by the film magazine Sight & Sound among numerous film critics, The Black Falcon was voted number 7 of the best films of all time in 2012.

See also

media

Publications

  • The black hawk . Published by Warner Home Video June 28, 2000, 114 minutes.
  • John Wayne Collection Box Set with the films The Black Hawk , The Cowboys and Rio Bravo . Published by Warner Home Video on August 30, 2001, 374 minutes.
  • The black hawk . Special edition. Published by Warner Home Video on August 18, 2006, 114 minutes.
  • The black hawk . Blu-ray. Released by Warner Home Video on December 8, 2006. 119 minutes.
  • The black hawk . Focus edition. Published by CMS Complete Media Services GmbH on August 6, 2007, 114 minutes.
  • The Black Falcon The large John Wayne DVD collection from DeAgostini (DVD No. 2, always with a detailed booklet about the respective film).

Soundtrack

  • Max Steiner : The Searchers. Original motion picture soundtrack . Brigham Young University / Film Music Archives / Screen Archives Entertainment 1996. Sound carrier no. FMA / MS101 - Original recording of the film music, recorded under the direction of the composer
  • ders .: The Searchers. Suite , on: True Grit. Music From the Classic Films of John Wayne . Silva Screen Records, London 1994, sound carrier no. FILM CD 153 - digital new recording by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Paul Bateman

literature

  • Elisabeth Bronfen : The Black Falcon - The Searchers in Film Genres - Western / Ed. By B. Kiefer u. N. Grob with the collaboration of M. Stiglegger. Reclam junior, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 ; Ss. 200-205
  • Scott Eyman : Print the legend. The life and times of John Ford . New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999. ISBN 0-684-81161-8
  • Joe Hembus : Western Lexicon. Gen., revised. Paperback edition, Munich: Heyne, 1978 (Heyne-Buch; 7048), ISBN 3-453-00767-0
  • Brian Henderson: The Searchers. An American dilemma. In: Bert Rebhandl (Ed.): Western. Genre and History , Vienna, Zsolnay / Kino, 2007, pp. 166–199 (first 1981), ISBN 978-3-552-05380-9
  • Alan Le May : The Black Hawk (OT: The Searchers ). Munich: Heyne, 1988, ISBN 3-453-00676-3
  • Dirk C. Loew: Attempt on John Ford. The Western Films 1939–1964 . BoD, Norderstedt, 2005, ISBN 3-8334-2124-X , pp. 208-235
  • Hans Messias: Der Schwarze Falke / The Searchers in classic films - descriptions and comments / Ed. By Thomas Koebner . 5th edition, Reclam junior, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-15-030033-6 ; Volume 2: 1946-1962, pp. 304-310
  • Jürgen Müller (Ed.): Taschen's 100 classic films, Taschen GmbH , Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-8365-2399-8 ; Volume 1, pp. 354-357: The Black Falcon - The Searchers
  • Peter Osteried: The Great John Wayne Book ; MPW, Hille 2010, ISBN 978-3-931608-99-6 ; Pp. 276-285
  • Janey A. Place: The Westerns of John Ford (OT: The Western Films of John Ford ). Munich: Goldmann, 1984, ISBN 3-442-10221-9
  • Mark Ricci, Joe Hembus (Ed.): John Wayne and his films (OT: The Films of John Wayne ). Citadel Movie Books. Goldmann: Munich 1980, ISBN 3-442-10202-2

Web links

Commons : The Black Hawk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ronald M. Hahn; Volker Jansen: Cult Films. From "Metropolis" to "Rocky Horror Picture Show" . Heyne Film Library No. 32/73, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co. KG and author, 2nd edition 1985, pp. 255, 256.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n The great John Wayne DVD-Collection No. 2: The Black Falcon . By DeAgostini, De Agostini Deutschland GmbH, Hamburg, pp. 4-7, 10-12. Quote: “Wayne and Ford called The Black Hawk the best movie they'd ever made together. And over the years exactly this opinion also caught on with the audience. "
  3. ↑ Favorite movies. Cinepad.com. Retrieved August 4, 2011
  4. ^ BFI: The 50 Greatest Films of All Time
  5. ↑ John Baxter: John Ford The Legendary Hollywood Director . Heyne Film Library No. 32/19. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1980, p. 79.
  6. ↑ Jean-Marc Bouineau; Alain Charlot; Jean-Pierre Frimbois: The 100 Best Western Films . Heyne Film and Television Library No. 32/159, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich, 1991, p. 160.
  7. ↑ a b c d e The Searchers. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  8. ↑ George Carpozi: John Wayne His Films - His Life , Heyne Film Library No. 32/79. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich, 1984, p. 263.
  9. ↑ The Black Falcon launch dates at imdb.com.
  10. ↑ Thomas Bräutigam: Lexicon of film and television synchronization. More than 2000 films and series with their German voice actors etc. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-289-X , pp. 321–322.
  11. ↑ The Black Hawk. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 6, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  12. ↑ The Black Falcon at prisma .de
  13. ↑ Thomas Jeier : The Western Film . Heyne Film Library No. 32/102, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich and Author, 1987, pp. 127, 128.
  14. ↑ cf. the interview with Estleman in: Thomas Jeier, Der Western-Film, Munich: Heyne, 1987 (Heyne Filmbibliothek; 32/102), p. 183ff
  15. ↑ The great John Wayne DVD Collection No. 2 The Black Falcon . By DeAgostini, Verlag De Agostini Deutschland GmbH, Hamburg, 2011, editors: Ariane Ossowski, Holger Neuhaus, Joachim Seidel, p. 7, quote: “The reviews praised the western, it received an Oscar nomination for best film (it won In 80 days around the world ). "
  16. ↑ Cahiers du Cinema 100 films ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.themovingarts.com
  17. ^ BFI: The 50 Greatest Films of All Time
  18. ↑ Der Schwarze Falke Blu-ray version at bluray-disc.de