Commenting on Film Commentary

In his Dec. 23 article “Dances With Oscar,” Jack Mathews praises “Dances With Wolves” for the casting of real Native Americans, commenting that this (to him) innovative action “seems to right some of the wrongs done in all those cowboy ‘n Injun movies of the past.” He then amuses us with the notion that if the late John Ford had directed “Wolves,” Timothy Hutton might have played Kicking Bird.

From 1914 to 1966, Ford made films featuring, as best I can discover, 41 Indian characters with speaking roles. Of these, at least 29 (almost 71%) were played by Native Americans or actors with substantial Native American heritage. Of the remaining 12, about half were played by actors whose exact heritage I have not discovered but who were very likely of some Native American extraction. Even Woody Strode, the black actor who has played Indians for Ford and other directors, is part Creek and Blackfoot.

The truth is, Ford had been making Westerns for 40 years before he gave a substantial Indian role to a white actor, and even when bowing to box-office demands, as for “Cheyenne Autumn,” he gave most of the Native American starring roles to Mexican actors, rather than Caucasian players, for which some credit seems allowable.

Ford may be guilty of not making perfect, socially conscious Westerns in a socially unconscious era, but he has too long been the whipping boy for critics who choose targets by pulling the most famous name out of the hat.

What did Ford (an adopted Navaho) really feel about the Indians? The answer is evident to anyone willing to watch “The Searchers,” “Cheyenne Autumn,” “Fort Apache” or “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” in the context of that question. Hint: You probably won’t see feathers on the bad guys.

JIM BEAVER

Van Nuys