Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

There's something about that place....




Monument Valley, Arizona

gorgeous..... tomorrow's banner.......

A very fine image, mnaz:


As you probably know, John Ford loved to shoot his westerns in Monument Valley.

There is something eerily effective ( similar to the use of the desert in "Lawrence of Arabia") seeing John Wayne move through this "mythic" landscape, searching for his niece in "The Searchers", perhaps Ford's greatest film.

Here's a link to a detailed discussion of the film:

http://www.filmsite.org/sear.html


and if you haven't seen it, or seen it lately, you might want to rent it at a video store and take a fresh look. In spite of some of the 1950's corny conventions which assert themselves now and then, the film does deserve to be called "Shakespearean" in some ways.

It is certainly a visual treat, like "Red River", which I think also uses Monument Valley. Could be mistaken about that. Ford used Monument Valley in nine of his films overall.

The interesting twist in "The Searchers", I think, relies on the fact that Ethan, ostensibly searching for his lost niece, instead "finds himself" during the search-- i.e. is forced into self-realization on a traumatic level.


Thanks for the great photo.

--Z

Wonderful Photo!!!
Because I'm stuck on the east coast I haven't seen such sights.
Hopefully one day I'll head west and see a landscape unfamiliar.
I will admitt though your photo reminds me of my teeth. Rrrr.

Doreen.... Yes! Way Cool!

Z...

Thanks for your info-packed and insightful reply...
I'm definitely into the old westerns these days... I wish I had cable just to watch the Westerns Channel..... can't get enough of that wide-open cinematography and whiskey-swillin', gun-totin' misadventure....

I'm a devotee of Sergio Leone.... especially the sprawling genius of 'Once Upon a Time in the West', some of which was also shot in Monument Valley. I love how he turned the furrows of his actors' faces into landscapes in their own right...


Sober Duck...

The great American Southwest. Slip into other dimensions. Highly recommended. It's in my blood now, no doubt.

Thanks!

http://www.arcosanti.org/
Paolo Soleri made a case for his lifestyle, namely that the semi-arid climates are good places to live.