less beautiful) and socially more acridnand unaccepting. That Ford’s word innthe postwar period was a collectiveneffort has long been accepted in thensense that he created a “John Fordnstock company” of actors with whomnhe was totally comfortable and whomnhe constantly used: John Wayne,nWard Bond, Victor McLaglen, MaureennO’Hara, Ben Johnson, HarrynCarey Jr. Nugent should be added, inna very prominent place, to this list ofninspired performers. Perhaps he evenndeserves a biography of his own.nThe effect of geniuses like Ford andnNugent is shown if you compare AlannLeMay’s original novel The Searchersnwith the movie they made of it. Thenbook is now back in print, but for thosenwho only know the movie, it is andisappointment: surreal, lacking innhistorical detail and flavor, a merensketch of an idea. What Ford andnNugent did was to darken the mainncharacter, Ethan Edwards. In thenmovie, Ethan is looking for his niece,nhis only surviving relative, kidnappednby Comanches—looking for her innorder to kill her. This was JohnnWayne’s greatest role: a brooding, sullennracist who redeems himself only atnthe very end of the film, and then onlynpartly. How different is the book,nwhere the optimistic speech on inevitablenprogress in the harsh land, givennin the movie to Mrs. Jorgensen (“shenused to be a schoolteacher, younknow”), actually belongs to Ethan Edwardsnhimself! By creating an altogethernbleaker and more formidable EthannEdwards, Ford (and Nugent) raisesnhim to truly mythic dimensions: thenHero as Outsider. Wayne named onenof his sons Ethan.nFive years after The Searchers, anlater, much better novel by LeMaynwas made into a movie. The Unforgivennis a brilliant book, an utterly convincingnrecreation of the Texas frontiernof 1874—and the result is a long, dullnfilm directed by John Huston. Thendifference between the two filmsnshows the difference between an inspiredngroup of people (those aroundnJohn Ford) and a group of mere journeymen.nFord and his people took anrather mediocre property, discernednthe classic that it might be, andnbrought that classic to the surface;nHuston and company took a far betternoriginal property and dissipated itsnpower. {The Unforgiven is the mirrornimage oiThe Searchers: It deals with annIndian girl who is brought up bynwhites, and what happens when hernKiowa relatives come searching fornher. With Ford — and Nugent—itnwould have made a great film.)nBut because it remains true that ThenSearchers is one of John Ford’s mostnpersonal films, we must return to thenquestion of his creativity and vision.nFirst, it should be remembered thatnthe aging Ford made this movie after anperiod of terrible personal trauma: anserious stomach operation, an eye operationnthat left him blind for weeks,nthe loss of his home of 35 years (bulldozednto create a parking lot for thenHollywood Bowl!), artistic failure onnthe set of Mr. Roberts and bitter withdrawalnfrom that picture. Second,nFord himself called The Searchers “anpsychological epic,” and its final scenenis famous: Ethan Edwards, having rescuednhis niece (and not killed her),nbrings her back home, but while allnthe other characters enter the house,nEthan remains silhouetted in the doorway,ngripping his left arm with hisnright hand; at last, he turns away fromnthe doorway and wanders out into thenFORTY YEARS AGAINST THE TIDEnCongress & the Welfare Statenby Senator Carl T. Curtis and Regis CourtemanchenIn 1938, Carl T. Cxirtis joined a Republican opposition outnumberednthree to one by New Deal Democrats. It was his firstnstep towards four decades in the U.S. Congress, always in thenminority and always against the tide.nHe played key roles in the investigations of the Social Securitynsystem, Billie Sol Estes and Bobby Baker, and labor racketeeringnin the ’40s and ’50s. Barry Goldwater called him “the little tiger.”nDuring his last term in the Senate, Curtis was influential innrenewing the Republican party after Watergate and the fall ofnPresident Nixon, and originating the Individual Retirement ActnQRA).nForty Years Against the Tide is a living history of practicalnpolitics during an era of rapid change, and a reflective study ofnthe consequences of the welfare state.nPlease send me, post paid,nFORTY YEARS AGAINST THE TIDEnby Senator Carl T. Curtis.n@ $18.95 per copy. I enclose $nshipping and handlingnName.nAddress _n. copies ofnheat and the dust. Why doesn’t Ethannenter the house, return to the community?nPartly it must be punishment fornhis racism (an issue about which Fordnfelt very strongly).nBut in reality, Ethan’s racism, asnFord makes clear, only masks a deepernpsychological trauma: The Comanchesndid what Ethan had wanted tondo. They destroyed his brother’s family.nFor at the beginning of the film (thenbook is far more unclear) Ethan isndepicted in love with his brother’snwife, and his return to the familynranch from the Civil War makes everyonenuneasy. The theme of harsh conflictnbetween brothers sounds familiar.nMoreover, while the image of Waynengripping his left arm is partly a referencento Ford’s old friend Harry Careyn(it was Carey’s “signature”), the fact isnthat Ford himself had been seriouslynwounded in the left arm during thenbattie of Midway, and it constantiynbothered him.nIt may be, then, that the hauntingnimage of Wayne standing in the doorwaynholding his arm, only to walknaway, originates in the deepest levelsnof Ford’s psyche. But in any case.nFord’s closest friends had known allnFOfflYnYEARSnAGAINSTnTHETIDEnCONGRESS & THE WELFARE STATEnSENATORnCARL T.CURTISnand Regis Courtemanchenivitli an introduction by ROSSHInx£ A REGNERY BOOKn. check/M.O. plus $2.00 fornCity. . State. -Zip.nM REGNERYnGATEWAY, INC.n1130 17thstreet.N.W. Siilte620 Wuhlngton.O.C. 20036 (202)457-0978nnnMake checks payable to: Regnery Booksn950 North Shore DrivenLake Bluff, IL 60044nor call tollfreen1-800-448-8311nFEBRUARY 1987 / 39n