Terra Bruta

The cynical and corrupt Marshal Guthrie McCabe (James Stewart) has a comfortable life in Tascosa, receiving percentages of deals. His lover Belle Aragon (Annelle Hayes) owns a saloon with a brothel and has just proposed to marry him. However, Guthrie is summoned by the US Army Major Frazer (John McIntire) that sends a troop commanded by his friend First Lt. Jim Gary (Richard Widmark) to bring him to the Fort Grant.

When Guthrie meets Major Frazer, he explains that the relatives of prisoners of the Comanche tribe are pressing the army to bring them back home, but the soldiers can not trespass the Indian lands due to a treat with the Comanche. The mercenary Guthrie demands a large amount to negotiate with Chief Quanah Parker (Henry Brandon) the freedom of the white captives. Guthrie travels with Lt. Jim Gary and they rescue the two last captives, a teenager that has been raised by the Comanche and a young woman, Elena de la Madriaga (Linda Cristal), who has been the woman of the leader of the Buffalo Shields Stone Calf (Woody Strode) for five years. Once in the white society, they are outcast by the "civilized" white society and their reintegration is almost impossible.

"Two Rode Together" is another great western by John Ford, with a different story about the difficulty of reintegration of captives of Indians into the civilized society of the white man. The plot entwines comical and dramatic situations with powerful dialogs. James Stewart is fantastic, as usual, performing an unethical greedy man that changes his behavior after meeting Elena, performed by the gorgeous Linda Cristal. Both characters find redemption in the end. Richard Widmark shows a magnificent chemistry with James Stewart and Shirley Jones. In the end, it is hard to point out the civilized and uncivilized societies. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Terra Bruta" ("Raw Land")

John Ford's last traditional western was his first with either James Stewart or Richard Widmark; with Stewart first appearing balancing on a chair like Henry Fonda in 'My Darling Clementine' and several of Ford's repertory company still present (including a very eccentric cameo by Mae Marsh).

At first the tone recalls Stewart's subsequent farcical Dodge City interlude in 'Cheyenne Autumn'. But despite the title there's far more talk than riding, and despite a superficial resemblance to 'The Searchers' - from which Henry Brandon returns as a very saturnine Indian chief - Ford plainly wasn't really interested, and the film - as Allan Eyles later wrote - lacks "any real sense of urgency or purpose".

As attractively shot by Charles Lawton in Eastman Color it looks good, however, and it's always good to see either Stewart or Widmark; or Shirley Jones for that matter.

I saw this film first in 1961 at the Riviera Theatre in Rochester, New York with my cousins and I loved it. I found out later that John Ford in his cantankerous dotage dismissed all of the work he did after Wings of Eagles as junk.

Well second rate John Ford is far better than first rate from 90% of directors. The film hasn't lost any charm for me even after 44 years.

Army Lieutenant Richard Widmark takes a patrol into Tascosa to fetch Marshal James Stewart back to the fort where Commandant John McIntire has an assignment for Stewart. It's to negotiate with Comanche Chief Quannah Parker for the return of white captives taken during the Indian wars. The rest of the film is what happens to both our leads during that mission and after.

To watch the chemistry between Stewart and Widmark is something to behold. There is a scene at the beginning of the film during the ride back to the fort where Stewart and Widmark sit on the bank of a stream while the horses are being watered. Ford has them engage in some bantering dialog where the characters are established. In the hands of these two consummate professional actors, the scene almost takes on a sublime quality. It's my favorite scene in the film.

As usual Ford rounds out his cast with a lot of his stock company. I have to single out Willis Bouchey. He plays Henry J. Wringle in this film who is along on this trip very reluctantly. He has the second best scene in the film with Stewart as he makes Stewart an offer that he'll pay him a thousand dollars to bring back any white captive around the age of his wife's son by her first husband. This is so he can get back to his business. Stewart's reactions to this offer are also something to behold. Willis Bouchey did so well in so many of Ford's later films, but here and in The Horse Soldiers I think his career peaked.

Second rate Ford is still good enough for me.

Two Rode Together is directed by John Ford and adapted to screenplay by Frank Nugent from the novel Comanche Captives written by Will Cook. It stars James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Shirley Jones, Linda Cristal and Andy Devine. Music is scored by George Duning and Eastman Color cinematography is by Charles Lawton Junior.

The US Army is under pressure to negotiate the release of Comanche captives and send in a party to ransom for their release. Heading the party are cynical hard drinking Marshal Guthrie McCabe (Stewart) and his pal First Lt. Jim Gary (Widmark). The two men are at odds in how to go about dealing with the problem to hand, but bigger issues are just around the corner.....

The Searchers lite it is for sure, Two Rode Together is a mixed bag that hasn't been helped by the quotes attributed by its director. It's well documented that John Ford only did the film out of kindness and a love of money, the great man going on record to say he hated the film, the source and etc. The shoot was far from being a happy one, with the director pitching his two stars against each other whilst grumpily putting his film crew through the mangler. The end result shows the film to be psychitzophrenic in tone and structure, where airy comedy tries to sit alongside some serious themes and fails miserably. When the moral implications of the picture are to be born out, Ford, in his half-hearted approach to the production, comes off as being either clueless, sarcastically mean or going through the motions since he had already made this film as The Searchers. Well clueless is not something you can comfortably say in relation to this particular director....

However, film has strengths, not least with Stewart's over the top portrayal of McCabe. The actor is really giving it the full treatment, no doubt prompted by his director, this is a shallow man, motivated by ale and cash. This is non heroic stuff, he calls it as he sees it, he thinks nothing off telling the longing relatives of the missing that their loved ones are now alien to them. It's a clinical thread in the piece, deftly setting the film up for its telling last quarter as the moral questions are raised and the bitter irony leaves its sour taste. It's a mixed bag indeed, but hardly a disaster, though, and in spite of Ford's irreverence towards it, there's a worthy viewpoint in amongst all the causticism. It's just a shame that all the great individual aspects don't make a complete and rewarding whole, the blend of comedy and drama, this time, not making for a great John Ford picture. 6.5/10

Desperate relatives spend years searching for their loved beings abducted by Indians in this lengthy Western . The US Army is under pressure from the families of white captives of the Comanches . A Texas marshal, Guthrie McCabe (James Stewart), is persuaded by an army lieutenant (Richard Widmark) and a Major (John McIntire) to negotiate with the Comanches to secure their rescue and for the return of captives . But the expedition results to be a flop. However, just two prisoners are released ; their reintegration into community proves to be highly difficult , and complications , problems ensue .

This nice Western contains interesting characters , full of wide open space and dramatic moments . Outdoors are pretty good and well photographed by Charles Lawton Jr , story first-rate and powerful told too. Good Western with James Stewart sort playing himself as corrupt and cynical marshal who takes a percentage on his works . Entertaining film thanks to James Stewart for his cynical character and ironic point of sight . Also Widmark is excellent , while a great featured-role acting by veteran John McIntire . Solid support cast leads some eye-catching performances which include Andy Devine ,Jeanette Nolan ,John Qualen, Ken Curtis , Woody Strode, Henry Brandon as Quanah Parker and many others . ¨Two rode together¨ has a similar plot to ¨The searchers¨ though the Ford's vision about West is pretty cynical and less idealist. This classic picture ranks as one of the main of John Ford's works . It contains Ford's usual themes as familiar feeling , a little bit enjoyable humor, friendship and sense of comradeship but also lots of cynicism . Thought-provoking screenplay portraying in depth characters and brooding events with interesting issues running beneath script surface is written by Frank S. Nugent based on a novel by Will Cook , titled ¨Comanche captives . This may not be Ford or Stewart's best Western , as many would claim , but it's still head ad shoulders above most big-scale movies . You'll find the final terrible or over-melodramatic according to your tastes , though it's lovingly composed by John Ford who really picks up the drama towards the ending . Rating : Better than average .