nah, above looms large because of comment that ethan edwards (john wayne) makes at the funeral: 'put an amen on it, there's no more time'...
or maybe as example of western with plot revolving around family unification (biggie theme across genres in post-ww2 period)...
or, perhaps, because of narrative of neurotic/obssessed white guy trying to rescue someone taken by 'aliens' who doesn't want to be rescued, (geez, 'the duker' tries to kill his niece earlier in film, but at end, well, there's that family unification thing, lifting her in his arms, our hero says: 'let's go home, debbie'...
[[theme of rescuing one who doesn't desire rescue, itself, became obssession for host of '70s directors influenced - in various ways - by ford's film: martin scorcese (mean streets/taxi driver), john milius (dillinger/wind and the lion), spielberg (close encounters), lucas (star wars), cimino (deerhunter), schrader (hardcore)]]...
or might be that portrayal of white/indian relations in film was actually closer to 'racial question' issue of 1950s and emerging civil rights era... michael hoover
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