Aging U.S. senator Ranse Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife (Vera Miles) travel across the country to a frontier town for the funeral of a local rancher (John Wayne), a surprising course of action for a famous politician. Through Ranse’s recollections, John Ford both affirms and unravels the mythic version of the American West the filmmaker helped create. But the film’s famous closing sentiment—that “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend”—extends beyond filmographic metaphor, showing how we mold our memories to tell the stories we feel we need.
—Jason Panella
Arts & Faith Lists:
2015 Top 25 Films on Memory — #9