Maria Cooper Janis Reflects on Courage & Conscience in They Came to Cordura
Featuring Never-Before-Seen Family Photos!
I think no movie my Father made spelled out these age old questions more clearly than They Came to Cordura: “What is Courage? What is Cowardice?”
Cordura itself is not a place on a map, but a symbolic word, a refuge, meaning sanity in Spanish. Coopers’ character here is labeled a coward for hiding in battle, and is mockingly referred to as “yellow guts,” and demoted to being an ‘Awards Officer.’ He is sent out by the US Army to find 5 heroes to inspire recruits for fighting in WW1, then bring them back to their base so they can receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. What takes place along their journey is the “guts” of the story.
There is a TCM documentary about my father—Gary Cooper: American Life, American Legend, in which there is a theme composed by my husband Byron Janis called “Song For a Hero”. Part of the lyrics put forth the questions of this film:
WHY DOES ONE MAN RISK HIS FUTURE?
WHY DOES ONE MAN WALK THROUGH FIRE?
IS IT COURAGE? IS IT CONSCIENCE?
IS IT DUTY OR DESIRE?
My mother and I spent a few days on location with my father out in St. George, Utah. It was pretty desolate in those days, but they were shooting in beautiful, stark, dramatic land, desert harshness, cruel hot sun, and a railroad track that was constructed and led to nowhere. However there was a small paved road that led to Las Vegas some 120 miles to temptation!
That proved dangerous for one of the cast members who had a serious gambling habit. When daily shooting would finish, he would high tail it out of there and down to Vegas. It became necessary for someone to accompany him and scoop him back up into a car at 3 am to be ready for shooting the following day. He’s lucky they all had to look like hell for their roles at that point. He didn’t need any make-up!
By contrast, it was a grueling and hard location for my father, but he was deeply commitment to telling the greatest possible story. He enjoyed working with his co-stars, Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, and of course, Rita Hayworth.
There were moments at times when she had trouble with her lines. Nobody knew much really about Alzheimers then, and she was a real professional trying to keep it—her life & character––together. Talk about courage! She did so well, but there were rough and ignorant comments made behind her back which made my father furious.
His desire to always choose roles that portrayed “the best man can be” was manifested in this story. But it comes to it’s conclusion, not in a simple way, but through asking with important questions that make up so much of our lives.
