"The trick of this thing and the beauty of this thing is that it's a cowboy movie first and then stuff happens. Even after stuff happens it doesn't change - it hasn't suddenly changed into another kind of movie. It's still a cowboy movie. And that's what's incredible about it because nobody has done that before, that's new territory"
About this Quote
The subtext is a quiet critique of modern filmmaking’s insecurity. Big studio projects often treat genre as a launchpad: start in a familiar sandbox, then “elevate” into something more respectable once the plot complications arrive. Ford’s admiration lands on the opposite move: the story can get stranger, darker, or more emotionally complicated, yet the movie keeps speaking fluent Western. The horse stays in the frame even when the world shifts.
Context matters: Ford is a star whose image was built on genre hybrids (space opera with a smuggler’s swagger, an adventure serial with academic tweaks). He knows how easily “new territory” becomes a marketing slogan. Here, he’s pointing to something rarer: form and identity held steady under pressure. The “trick” is structural discipline. The “beauty” is cultural: it argues that the Western isn’t a museum piece, it’s a living grammar flexible enough to absorb modern anxieties without losing its spine.
Quote Details
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Ford, Harrison. (2026, January 17). The trick of this thing and the beauty of this thing is that it's a cowboy movie first and then stuff happens. Even after stuff happens it doesn't change - it hasn't suddenly changed into another kind of movie. It's still a cowboy movie. And that's what's incredible about it because nobody has done that before, that's new territory. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-trick-of-this-thing-and-the-beauty-of-this-67514/
Chicago Style
Ford, Harrison. "The trick of this thing and the beauty of this thing is that it's a cowboy movie first and then stuff happens. Even after stuff happens it doesn't change - it hasn't suddenly changed into another kind of movie. It's still a cowboy movie. And that's what's incredible about it because nobody has done that before, that's new territory." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-trick-of-this-thing-and-the-beauty-of-this-67514/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The trick of this thing and the beauty of this thing is that it's a cowboy movie first and then stuff happens. Even after stuff happens it doesn't change - it hasn't suddenly changed into another kind of movie. It's still a cowboy movie. And that's what's incredible about it because nobody has done that before, that's new territory." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-trick-of-this-thing-and-the-beauty-of-this-67514/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
