"RIO GRANDE" (1950, USA)

Jueves, 19 de febrero de 2026: 

 In the evening, I watched the following film in my Japanese-style room.

 It was recorded on a USB-HDD (registration number 3) connected to a DIGA (made in 2017). It was broadcast on NHK BS Premium (BS103) from 13:00 on May 6, 2022.

Premiun Cinema "RIO GRANDE" (1950, USA. Original language: English. Japanese subtitles).

 As it is a film from 76 years ago, there are a few scenes that may be problematic in terms of content when viewed from a modern perspective, but it was an interesting "period drama."

 I was amazed by the scene in which the recruits are made to ride horses "Roman-style" (whether this is true or not, but they place one foot on each of the horses' backs and gallop, making them jump over fences just like in equestrian competitions). The sense of speed is achieved by editing frame by frame, so it probably isn't as fast as in real life, but they really did it.

 The frames were moved so quickly that it was hard to tell whether it was the actors themselves or stuntmen doing the tricks (although it may have been edited that way intentionally), but the scene where one horse fails to jump over a fence and nearly falls over, and the actor quickly jumps off the backs of two horses lined up next to each other, was actually done by the actor himself. This is a location shoot that would be unthinkable today. 

 If the same thing were done today and the actor were seriously injured, it's unclear whether the insurance company would pay, and the production company could also be sued by the actors for huge damages.

 This type of acrobatic feat may have been a way for cavalry soldiers to test their bravery, but it's unclear what use it would be in fighting indigenous peoples or the Mexican army.

 The use of irrational and unreasonable "training," including abnormalities like the one described above, as a way to demonstrate bravery and endurance was also common in Japan's former Imperial Army.

 At the time this film was made, indigenous peoples were still considered savages and it was still thought that they should be exterminated by civilized white military forces, but today, the battles against indigenous peoples in Canada, Australia, the United States, and other countries are seen (in Asia) as a holocaust by white people.