Release Date: 20 July 1959
Director: Howard Hawks
Brief Synopsis
The sheriff of a small town in southwest Texas must keep custody of a murderer whose brother, a powerful rancher, is trying to help him escape. After a friend is killed trying to muster support for him, he and his deputies - a disgraced drunk and a cantankerous old cripple - must find a way to hold out against the rancher's hired guns until the marshal arrives. In the meantime, matters are complicated by the presence of a young gunslinger - and a mysterious beauty who just came in on the last stagecoach.
Analysis of Opening Minutes:
This film is all linked in with the American dream and we can tell this from the opening shot as it shows the deep south of America and all the mountains, which is iconic to America and civilisation all inter linking with the American dream. The credits are in a western looking format; they look as if there covered in sand and like they’re burning all linking with the genre of Western. The font of the film is rocky which helps set the scene and it matches with the backdrop. There are many objects and elements in the opening to give the audience the idea of the film being a western for example, the wagons and cowboys, the guns and holsters, there is even a difference in the cowboy hat colour which has a significance as it shows to the audience who is `good` and who is `bad`. The harmonica music is very typical of a western genre, immediately linking to the film. The first shot is a very wide landscape one, which locates the audience straight away. This is the establishing shot. The way the camera looks up at John Wayne gives him this sense of great power and importance, where as the angle looking down on Dean Martin it gives the audience the impression that he is a weak character and makes us the audience feel sorry for him.
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