CHISUM

US, 1970, 111 minutes, Colour.
John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Bruce Cabot, Glenn Corbett, Alan Duell. Andrew Prine. Patric Knowles.
Directed by Andrew V. Mc Laglan.

Chisum was the film John Wayne made immediately after his Oscar winning performance in True Grit. He returns to the range as John Chisum, the big landowner involved in the cross-fire between Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Treatment is big and sprawling, so typical of director Andrew V. McLaglan's Wayne Westerns, like McLintock?, The Undefeated, Cahill, All Western themes.

1. Was this a typical John Wayne Western? (What constitutes a typical John Wayne Western?)

2. How heroic and ideal was John Chisum himself meant to be? Note the opening and closing scenes with the profile of Chisum on his horse as he surveys his 'kingdom'.

3. Why was Chisum a 'big' man - stature, his owning of so much land, strength of character, influence, standards, principles of right and wrong?

4. What was Chisum's sense of justice based on? How did he judge right from wrong? How did he right wrongs?

5. The other characters made sense in relation to Chisum. Consider each one in turn:- the girl and her independence, admiration for him. her falling in love; Pat Garrett. a younger version of Chisum; Billy the Kid, full of potential, but liked killing for its own sake rather than justice, had the smell of death around him (he contrasts with Pat Garrett); Sheriff Brady, a tool of the moneyed man; Murphy, his influence, greed, a contrast with the ideals of Chisum, allowing so much bloodshed, hiring killers; the hired killer, ruthless, with no feelings or scruples; the young lawyer (and his wife), idealistic, transferring loyalty to Chisum, dying for it; Tunstall, his old traditions and sense of honour, loyal to Chisum.

6. Was a shoot-out and siege the only way to achieve justice and peace in the West?

7. What code did these men believe in?

8. This violent West is the heritage of the U.S. How has it influenced the Americans' belief in himself, his traditions, his attitudes to justice, stepping in to set things right, to violence?