BUY TICKETS: 207.774.0465 www.portlandstage.org 25A Forest Ave, Portland ME PORTLANDSTAGE The Theater of Maine Jamie Hogan Henry Fonda,Ward Bond,John Ford, and John Wayne on a fishing trip. Legends 34 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine 5. Quentin Tarantino has had some rough things to say about Ford– when he isn’t stealing his memorable shots. What’s behind the hate? Also, in Birth of a Nation, one of the Klansmen lifts his hood to improve his view. We see it’s the young John Ford, in an early acting role. It’s a chilling im- age. What was your reaction when you looked into this, and how should Ford’s fans regard it? Regarding Tarantino’s remarks and the idea of Ford as a racist, I think the opposite is [also] true. Though the Apaches and Com- manches and other marauding tribes of Na- tive Americans are conveniently used in his early Westerns [especially Stagecoach] as generic enemies to be slaughtered, he came to regret his depiction of Indian people. His late Western, Cheyenne Autumn, told a tale from the point of view of the Cheyenne Na- tion, showing their mistreatment by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. “I’ve killed more Indians than Custer. This is their side,” he said about the film. He was probably sensitized by work- ing with the Navajos on their reservation in Monument Valley. He came to respect and even love the Navajo people, using them as extras and paying them handsomely, which helped them weather some brutal winters. He was proud of his friendship with them. In Rio Grande, though the Indians are ad- versaries, Ford takes pains to show some of their rituals and customs in an accurate light. Even earlier, in his great silent film The Iron Horse, though he depicts the In- dians as enemies of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, in one scene he humanizes an Indian brave by show- ing a dog lying his head on a slain warrior, mourning his death. Ford was also proud of the fact that he