The Horsemen: this great friend of John Ford died tragically on the set of the film

It happens, during a shoot, that security measures and the most professional behavior are powerless in the face of fate. The best known case in France remains that of Gil Delamare. This athlete and stuntman, among the most renowned in the profession, who introduced his friend Jean-Paul Belmondo to stunts on The Man from Riowas absolutely rigorous but had to lose his life at the same time as the control of his vehicle by overtaking Jean Marais, in the car, on an ordinary spy film: The Saint takes the lookout. Directors of westerns frequently had to confront these “risks of the profession”. Thus, John Ford, during the filming of Riders, with John Wayne, broadcast this Monday, September 18, 2023, at 8:50 p.m., on Arte. The Hollywood master, whose companionship with the technical team was as strong as with the performers, was to lose one of his loyalists during the filming of this umpteenth Western opus…

John Wayne & Co

On a plot that resembles a hundred others, but which is inspired by true events that took place during the Civil War, The knights benefits from Ford’s incomparable know-how. The latter tells the story of a detachment of Union cavalry, led by the inflexible Colonel John Marlowe (John Wayne), sent behind enemy lines to destroy railroad tracks. This superior officer is assisted by a medical officer (William Holden), with a character opposite to his own, but he is also accompanied by a southerner, forced to follow them after being caught spying on Marlowe’s staff. ..

No feelings, really?

John Ford had an ambivalent reputation. Of How green was my valley has The Quiet Man, masterpieces of his filmography, he lets a real sensitivity shine through, all the stronger because it is bravado, as if in restraint. Nevertheless, she pearls in every shot. Furthermore, while appearing conservative and Republican, the man was an enemy of blacklists and McCarthyism and did not offer a Manichean image of Native American tribes. On the other hand, a notorious alcoholic, he could be sadistic, even cruel, especially with certain people close to him… like John Wayne! But he was also faithful. When, in the last days of filming, stuntman Fred Kennedy, one of his old friends, lost his life while simulating a fall, the grieving filmmaker made a symbolic decision. That of not shooting the final sequence that he had initially planned and showing the return of the cavalry with fanfare, banner in the wind. Such triumphalism no longer corresponded with his state of mind and with what he had just experienced, with the film crew…