Reel Injun

the ones we were talking about. 530 00:31:43,118 --> 00:31:45,991 The ones that never existed. 531 00:31:46,121 --> 00:31:47,775 Headbands are an interesting thing. 532 00:31:47,906 --> 00:31:49,733 Certainly certain Americans, Native American tribes 533 00:31:49,864 --> 00:31:51,822 did use headbands, and wear headbands, 534 00:31:51,953 --> 00:31:54,956 but the Plains Indians usually not. But working on a western, 535 00:31:55,087 --> 00:31:58,655 stunt people are gonna fall off horses. You need to keep 536 00:31:58,786 --> 00:32:00,962 their wigs on. That's the best way to do it. 537 00:32:01,093 --> 00:32:04,313 So, Hollywood started putting headbands on Plains Indians. 538 00:32:04,444 --> 00:32:06,620 Then, it just became a thing you saw in every movie. 539 00:32:06,750 --> 00:32:08,230 Headband with an elastic back, 540 00:32:08,361 --> 00:32:11,146 something you'd never find on a Native. 541 00:32:11,277 --> 00:32:13,453 - This is actually, while probably not calculated, 542 00:32:13,583 --> 00:32:17,022 an ingenious act of colonialism. You are essentially 543 00:32:17,152 --> 00:32:18,849 robbing Nations of an identity, 544 00:32:18,980 --> 00:32:21,591 and grouping them into one. 545 00:32:26,379 --> 00:32:27,249 [narrator]: And the western forces all Indians 546 00:32:27,380 --> 00:32:31,645 to live in the deserts of the Southwest. 547 00:32:38,043 --> 00:32:39,000 [narrator]: John Ford shot so many movies here 548 00:32:39,131 --> 00:32:42,873 that tourists come by the thousands 549 00:32:43,004 --> 00:32:45,441 to experience the iconic American West. 550 00:32:48,749 --> 00:32:51,360 And to pick up a memento 551 00:32:51,491 --> 00:32:54,189 of America's greatest Indian fighter. 552 00:33:02,719 --> 00:33:03,155 [chanting] 553 00:33:07,333 --> 00:33:10,727 - Break out the grain! - Yes, sir! 554 00:33:10,858 --> 00:33:12,512 Yes, sir! 555 00:33:12,642 --> 00:33:16,951 - John Wayne is an icon of American cinema, 556 00:33:17,082 --> 00:33:19,214 one of the great action heroes in history. 557 00:33:21,695 --> 00:33:24,263 His actions, which are remarkably violent, 558 00:33:24,393 --> 00:33:28,615 seem excused, actually, that this is 559 00:33:28,745 --> 00:33:31,052 the exact appropriate behaviour one would have. 560 00:33:33,228 --> 00:33:35,274 - In The Searchers, John Wayne literally 561 00:33:35,404 --> 00:33:38,146 uncovers a grave with an Indian person, 562 00:33:38,277 --> 00:33:39,017 a dead Indian person in it. 563 00:33:40,583 --> 00:33:43,238 - Jorgensen! 564 00:33:43,369 --> 00:33:45,632 - Why don't you finish the job? 565 00:33:48,156 --> 00:33:49,070 - And shoots him in the face. 566 00:33:53,683 --> 00:33:56,599 - Ain't got no eyes, he can't enter the spirit land. 567 00:33:56,730 --> 00:33:59,124 Has to wander forever between the winds. 568 00:33:59,254 --> 00:34:02,692 You get it, Reverend! Come on, Blankethead. 569 00:34:04,216 --> 00:34:08,046 - He embodied the idea of the unstoppable American, 570 00:34:08,176 --> 00:34:10,700 that the true American wasn't Native. 571 00:34:10,831 --> 00:34:13,877 Native Americans were the ones that stopped 572 00:34:14,008 --> 00:34:18,186 real Americans from settling their own country. 573 00:34:18,317 --> 00:34:19,057 [ominous music] 574 00:34:29,980 --> 00:34:32,592 [narrator]: I found two Navajo Elders 575 00:34:32,722 --> 00:34:35,421 who were extras in some of John Ford's films. 576 00:34:35,551 --> 00:34:38,728 Effie and James Etna were teenage sweethearts 577 00:34:38,859 --> 00:34:41,340 when they met on set. 578 00:34:41,470 --> 00:34:44,778 They're seeing these films for the very first time. 579 00:34:49,565 --> 00:34:51,480 [laughing] 580 00:34:51,611 --> 00:34:53,308 [narrator]: James can remember 581 00:34:53,439 --> 00:34:55,397 how many of the Navajo actors 582 00:34:55,528 --> 00:34:57,965 would go off script in some scenes, 583 00:34:58,096 --> 00:35:00,750 joking around in their language. 584 00:35:00,881 --> 00:35:03,492 No one ever bothered to translate what was said, 585 00:35:03,623 --> 00:35:05,886 until now. 586 00:35:07,627 --> 00:35:10,456 - If I do not return, general Quaint will find you. 587 00:35:10,586 --> 00:35:12,414 And you will be dead, and all your people. 588 00:35:21,641 --> 00:35:24,426 No! He is not a fool. You are. 589 00:35:31,216 --> 00:35:33,261 [narrator]: After playing the bonehead savage 590 00:35:33,392 --> 00:35:34,828 for so many years, 591 00:35:34,958 --> 00:35:38,266 the Navajo get their sweet revenge. 592 00:35:39,180 --> 00:35:40,181 [ominous western musical theme] 593 00:36:11,212 --> 00:36:14,824 Right next door to the Navajo is a place where anybody 594 00:36:14,955 --> 00:36:17,392 can be a cowboy for a day. 595 00:36:17,523 --> 00:36:19,177 - You're all here on vacation. Come on out 596 00:36:19,307 --> 00:36:20,526 and have a good time. 597 00:36:20,656 --> 00:36:23,529 [narrator]: Even an Indian like me. 598 00:36:23,659 --> 00:36:25,052 Here, they worship one man. 599 00:36:25,18