‘The Politically Incorrect Truths Old Movies Teach About America and Racism’

Barry Rubin on John Ford’s Stagecoach:

— The stagecoach driver is married to a Mexican-American woman. No negative aspersions are cast at all. This is totally accepted. Incidentally, all three of John Wayne’s wives were “Hispanics.”

— The heroes of the film are an outlaw, whose motives for killing a man are portrayed sympathetically, and a prostitute.

— One theme that runs through the film is how the “respectable” people are mean to the prostitute and that’s a terrible thing.