Shouting At The Screen

I loved her then. I love her now. What a face, huh?
The first time I saw her was in the movie Shenandoah. It's a movie that moved me in several ways and I recommend it, but don't watch expecting it to be a "feel good" movie. The movie itself may bum you out, but the end will at least have you crying "happy tears".
Jimmy Stewart plays a family patriarch/pacifist in the Shenandoah Valley as the Civil War is heating up. In a terrible mixup, his youngest son is taken prisoner by Northern soldiers, and the bulk of the movie depicts Stewart's character, "Charlie Anderson's" quest to retrieve his son. He leaves one of his sons, James, to take care of his farm while he and the rest of the family go looking for "the boy".
Near the end of the movie, "James", the husband of Katharine Ross' character is murdered by two outlaws who then enter their home and rape and murder her.

My wife made me suffer through the movie Fear.
Well acted by Mark Wahlberg, Reese Witherspoon, and William Petersen, I found myself shouting at the screen continuously during the movie's last half hour...
"Where's your gun?!!!"

Most would agree, "Shenandoah" is an anti-war movie. "Fear" is just a movie about how a single thug can terrorize an innocent family. In both movies if the good guys had simply had access to a firearm to protect themselves, I'd have been standing on my feet applauding as more bad guys assume ambient temperature and the world became a slightly better place.

"Shenandoah" is worth your time, but if you're like me you'll take a different message from the movie than was intended. The role of victim doesn't fit me well.
"Straw Dogs" left me feeling more satisfied.
But that's just the warrior in me.