title: Jessica Jones

text: Shawn S. Lealos of "Screen Rant" referred to Jessica Jones as a "huge star," stating, "Jessica Jones became a household name when her Marvel Netflix series was a critical hit. The character is a relative newcomer to the Marvel Universe, debuting in 2001, but she ended up as an important street-level hero and was quickly a member of the Avengers shortly after her introduction into the comics. While the Netflix series followed her as a private investigator, she actually has a rich history in Marvel Comics, although it was always behind the scenes until her official debut. The hero has gone on to marry one of Marvel's strongest heroes and has been part of some of the biggest crossover storylines in the company since her debut, giving her a history that is much deeper than her short time in comics might indicate. [...] Jessica Jones has done a lot since she made her debut in Marvel Comics. However, she has also paid it forward. In much the same way that Captain Marvel helped save Jessica and set her on the path to recovery, Jones saw some teenage heroes in need of direction and was instrumental in helping the Young Avengers form." Gary Walker of "CBR.com" called Jessica Jones one of Marvel's "most seasoned street-level heroes," stating, "Jessica Jones has the abilities of someone who should be helping out Captain Marvel or even the Guardians of the Galaxy. She had issues learning to fly initially, though this has since been mastered. Her strength and durability would allow her to hold court among the chief Avengers. This is not Jessica’s calling however. She’s done a great job battling her own inner demons, trying to become a better person and hero. Her bond with Luke Cage elevated not only her own self-confidence but made both partners better by association. Using her private investigator skill-set, she’s one hell of a vigilante and one resourceful mother!" Rosie Knight of "Nerdist" described Jessica Jones as one of the "most brilliant women who solve crimes in the pages of your fave comic," writing, "Now a very famous sorta-superhero due to her very own show, Jessica Jones began as an unconventional comic book from Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos under Marvel’s mature Max imprint. The story of a retired lesser-known superhero named Jewel who becomes a private eye, the explicit comic explored the harsh realities of being a hero. Jessica tries to uncover the secrets of her past and deal with her trauma all while brushing with other Marvel characters like Captain America, J. Jonah Jameson, and Rick Jones." Ned Beauman of "The Guardian" asserted, "There's still a very long way to go - and you might feel that, if you want to see female characters treated with any respect by their creators, the male-dominated world of superhero comics is just not for you. But there are exceptions. Two of Marvel's most entertaining writers - Buffy creator Joss Whedon and Lost staff writer Brian K Vaughn - have casts full of believable women. (Try Whedon's "Astonishing X Men" Volume 1: Gifted or Vaughn's "Runaways" Volume 1: Pride and Joy.) But perhaps the greatest female superhero of recent years is Brian Michael Bendis's Jessica Jones. Formerly a flying crime-fighter called Jewel, Jones hangs up her cape to become a private investigator. For more than 40 issues - now collected in a series of paperbacks starting with "Alias" Volume 1 - Bendis took us inside her head, creating one of the bravest, wittiest and most sensitive portraits of a female character that superhero comics have ever seen. Plus, she had a realistic body and didn't try to battle evil in a gold bikini and stiletto heels."


title: Jessica Jones

text: According to Diamond Comic Distributors, "Alias" #19 was the 63rd best selling comic book in February 2003. "Alias" #28 was the 73rd best selling comic book in November 2003.


title: Jessica Jones

text: Graeme Mcmillian of "Wired" stated, "The comic book that introduced Jessica Jones launched Marvel's "R-rated" Max imprint, finally letting fans know that their favorite superheroes "did", in fact, know how to swear, they just felt very uncomfortable doing it. Taking full advantage of the freedoms offered by the imprint, creators Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos created Jones to be one of the company's most well-rounded female characters: flawed, bitter, self-destructive, and far more optimistic than she would ever allow anyone else to see. The roots of "Jessica Jones" are all here." Guillermo Kurten of "Screen Rant" ranked the "Alias" comic book series 5th in their "Brian Michael Bendis' best comic books" list, saying, ""Alias" was Bendis' gritty run alongside artist Michael Gaydos on superhero-turned-private investigator Jessica Jones. In this series, Jessica Jones was once known as the superhero Jewel but turned away from that life. "Alias" was praised for its approach as a psychological character study, with the series unraveling pieces of Jessica Jones' past and developing her character as she learns to heal from her trauma."


title: Jessica Jones

text: According to Diamond Comic Distributors, "Jessica Jones" #1 was the 22nd best selling comic book in October 2016.


title: Jessica Jones

text: Jesse Schedeen of "IGN" gave "Jessica Jones" #1 a grade of 8.8 out of 10, writing, "This issue is a perfect showcase for why it was so important to have both creators on board, not just Bendis. Gaydos' heavy black lines and generally moody style showcase a side of the Marvel Universe that's rarely seen anywhere else. The book has a vague noir quality, but also a humble slice-of-life one as well. This is a series that can showcase the shining heroes of the Marvel Universe and its most ordinary citizens. It's been a long time coming, but Jessica Jones has the solo book she deserves again. And with both Brian Bendis and Michael Gaydos back at the helm, this new series has little trouble recapturing the appeal of its predecessor. The fact that so much about Jessica's life has reverted to the old status quo isn't a drawback, but rather one of the book's main selling points." Blair Marnell of "Nerdist" gave "Jessica Jones" #1 a grade of 4 out of 5, stating, "It is a lot of fun to see her back in action, even if she doesn’t quite have the same edge that she did in her original run. There’s some minor swearing in the issue, but it feels a little tame, even though it does come with one of Marvel’s rare “not for kids!” warnings. If we didn’t know that Gaydos drew these pages within the last year, we’d swear that this was a lost story from his original run. Gaydos’ style isn’t for everyone, but he is the definitive "Jessica Jones" artist. It just wouldn’t be the same book without him. Gaydos’ action scenes aren’t flashy, but there was a fun moment when Jessica was confronted by a very angry heroine who was a friend of the family before Jess apparently burned her bridges. However, Gaydos’ best pages capture Jessica’s reactions to her new situation and to the craziness that still inhabits her life. Despite everything she’s lived through, Jessica still carries herself as an outsider. That’s always a compelling lens to view this world through. We’re admittedly quite curious to discover how Jessica blew up her life, considering how angry nearly everyone is at her. Bendis and Gaydos have torn her back down to a nearly pre-"Alias" state. But the fun will be seeing Jessica slowly crawl her way out of this hole that she’s created for herself."


title: Jessica Jones

text: According to Diamond Comic Distributors, "Jessica Jones" #2 was the 78th best selling comic book in November 2016.


title: Jessica Jones

text: Joe Ruggirello of "IGN" gave "Jessica Jones" #2 a grade of 8.9 out of 10, asserting, "It just feels right to have the Bendis/Gaydos version of Jessica Jones back in the pages of Marvel Comics. This issue improves upon last month’s debut, with Jessica and Luke Cage’s cheerful and heartwarming (no wait, what’s the literal exact opposite of that?) reunion setting the stage for a series that seems to pick up right where we left off 12 years ago. As per usual, things are going terribly for Jessica, and along with a fatal twist in her case it appears one of Daredevil’s least favorite foes has a bone to pick with her. The visual of Jessica fly-falling across the rooftops of New York sums things up perfectly. Of course, this new series wouldn’t be the same without Michael Gaydos. His rendering of past Luke and Jessica is made poignant by their current state, the passage of time and damage done clearly expressed in their eyes." Sean Edgar of "Paste" included "Jessica Jones" #2 in their "Best Comic Book Covers of November 2016" list.


title: Jessica Jones

text: According to Diamond Comic Distributors, "Jessica Jones - Marvel Digital Original" #1 was the 460th best selling graphic novel in 2018.


title: Jessica Jones

text: Chase Magnett of "Comicbook.com" gave "Jessica Jones - Marvel Digital Original" #1 a grade of 5 out of 5, saying, "Jessica Jones is in very good hands. This first, surprise issue nails everything that readers have come to want from the character. The dialogue is pitch perfect, taking readers on a tour of the Marvel universe with plenty of small jokes, affectionate exchanges, and banter. There is a great detective story that plays out like a Chandler novel with an excellent added touch of drawing out details with inset panels. Most of all, there is a lot of heart both in Jessica's attitude and the family she has built. There is simply a lot to like about this comic that serves as both an introduction and continuation of one of Marvel's best. What a pleasant surprise." Jesse Schedeen of "IGN" included the "Jessica Jones - Marvel Digital Original" comic book series in their "Top Comics to Buy This Week" list in the week of October 29, 2019, stating, "Jessica Jones is one of the many major new characters Brian Bendis co-created during his long tenure at Marvel, and a heroine in need of a new steward now that Bendis has moved to DC. She found that in Kelly Thompson, the Marvel writer perhaps best suited to continue Jessica's troubled journey. For better or worse, Marvel elected to publish Thompson and Mattia De Lulis' Jessica Jones miniseries in digital-only form earlier this year. Whether it flew under the radar at the time or you simply prefer print to digital, now's your chance to see Jessica flourish under a new creative team." Sam Stone of "CBR.com" called the "Jessica Jones - Marvel Digital Original" comic book series one of the "best Jessica Jones stories," asserting, "Arriving in 2018, "Jessica Jones: Blind Spot" was a three-issue Marvel Digital series by Kelly Thompson and Mattia De Lulis. This was a new team to take on the character, but they smartly kept the private investigation aspects of her story and added a new look. In this, Jessica investigated a serial killer in New York City killing women with powers. When someone framed Jessica, she went to Doctor Strange for help and the body count began to rise. This kept Jones at her street-level best, telling a hard-boiled detective story."


title: Jessica Jones

text: According to Diamond Comic Distributors, "Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter" #1 was the 321st best selling graphic novel in 2019.


title: Jessica Jones

text: Peyton Hinckle of "ComicsVerse" wrote, "You can’t really talk about "Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter" without talking about the art and, more specifically, the artist. Mattia De Iulis pulls out what might be his best work for this series. Realistic, yet distinctive, Iulis has a style that naturally lends itself to darker comics (like "Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter"). An artist with heavily stylized linework just wouldn’t have given the series the same weight and sense of reality. Part of the reason why we feel like Jessica’s life really is falling apart is because she has a relatable face. Iulis’ work is so realistic that it almost feels like readers are peaking into Jessica’s non-fictitious story. As emotions run high for Jessica, emotions run high for readers as well. The second artist, Filipe Andrade, penciled the fake reality scene, where Jessica briefly thinks she’s an idyllic little housewife. Iulis’ realistic style definitely wouldn’t have worked for this portion of the story. Andrade’s heavily stylized linework perfectly emphasizes the distance Jessica has from reality at this point in the plot. This series flew under a lot of comic fans’ radar. Since it’s an online-only series, it didn’t get publicity from LCBS or an array of variant covers. It’s not nearly as flashy as most of Marvel’s recent publications but, quality wise, it’s better. From the storyline to the art, this series excels in almost every way. If you’ve never read Jessica Jones, "Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter" is for you…and, honestly, if you’ve read tons of Jessica Jones’ arcs, "Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter" is still for you. It’s what so few comics are nowadays: complex, entertaining, and visually stunning. Don’t miss out on it." Christian Jones of "Stardust" gave "Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter" #1 a 9-star rating, saying, "Kelly Thompson expertly establishes the event that has torn Luke and Jessica’s lives apart and the ensuing trauma of that. As a reader, you feel the doubt, the anger and the helplessness that these characters feel. As a mother, Jessica is placed in the most horrifying position that a parent can be placed in. Absolute and unconditional love for her child whilst having to face her worst nightmare every time she looks at her baby. Jessica Jones creator Brian Michael Bendis’ great talent was humanising his characters, but Thompson has taken it to a whole other level. The artwork by Mattia de Lulis is simply wonderful. There’s a photographic realism to his work that suits the story and characters perfectly. The characters are the focus of every panel with the background being less distinct unless it serves the scene. This allows the reader to be really drawn in by the story without becoming distracted by superfluous details. The use of colour, shading, and lighting is also used to the utmost effect, creating a truly convincing piece of neo-noir on the printed page. If Marvel Comics should ever revisit the Noir universe, a Jessica Jones caper set amongst seedy whiskey-soaked, smoke-filled bars in New York’s criminal underworld is a must. After Brian Michael Bendis’ triumphant run, Kelly Thompson’s assured direction of Jessica Jones looks set to flourish. Bendis created a cynical, flawed, world-weary, reluctant superhero. It’s exciting to see what facets Thompson will bring to one of Marvel Comics most interesting characters."


title: Jessica Jones

text: According to Diamond Comic Distributors, "Jessica Jones: Blind Spot" #1 was the 128th best selling comic book in January 2020. "Jessica Jones: Blind Spot" #2 was the 150th best selling comic book in January 2020.


title: Jessica Jones

text: Grace wright of "Screen Rant" called "Jessica Jones: Blind Spot" #1 a "brilliant new take," saying, "While "Blind Spot" is significant for a number of reasons, Thompson hits on one of the biggest in a letter at the end of the first issue: it's the first time Jessica Jones’s original creative team, Bendis and Gaydos, have passed the torch to a new writer and artist in a solo book. Jessica Jones made her first appearance in "Alias #1" almost two decades ago, and has been making expletive-filled waves in the Marvel Universe ever since. Jessica has certainly come a long way from her days begging for an audience at the front gates of the Avengers mansion, with her marriage to Luke Cage and the birth of their daughter, Dani Cage. Bendis and Gaydos have seen her through a number of trials and evolutions, but Thompson and De Iulis are ready to grab the character's reins and take her back to... a new sort of origin. "Blind Spot" successfully gives readers a new insight into Jessica Jones, without trodding on any of the character’s development in years past. In fact, before one of Jessica's many haunting decisions reappears, she is more intently focused on her domestic life than any sort of imminent doom. Jessica seems to have grown, picking out the correctly-shaped cereal for her toddler, as opposed to whiskey for herself. While that isn't where Jessica is going to stay, it's a nice acknowledgment of Bendis and Gaydos’ work, setting the tone for Thompson and De Iulis as they undertake the mighty feat of forging their own path in Jessica’s story."


title: Jessica Jones

text: According to Diamond Comic Distributors,"The Variants" #1 was the 94th best selling comic book in June 2022.


title: Jessica Jones

text: Hannah Rose of "CBR.com" called "The Variants" #1 an "intriguing first issue," stating, "Simone captures Jessica's essence well, balancing her hardened if heavy-handed cynicism with her vulnerability and humanity. The sequence where Jess tries on varying shades of lipstick under the watchful eye of the sales clerk is one of the best instances of this softer, more insecure, and human side of the otherwise badass and uncompromising character. Similarly, her more compassionate side is forced out by Daredevil as both hero and attorney, calling on her to assist one of his clients, a girl similarly manipulated by the Purple Man. Jess and Daredevil's relationship here is an uneasy one, their trust in one another is tested thanks to Daredevil's lie-detecting powers, yet the respect between them is plain as day. Powerhouse artist Phil Noto takes the reigns in "Variants" #1. His line art is elegant, smooth, fluid, and pretty to look at. He sticks to realistic body proportions with just enough stylistic liberty to keep everything easy on the eye and purely in the realm of fiction. He uses a soft, muted color palette with occasional washes of color, especially blue and fuschia. But, for the most part, he keeps things grounded with an appropriately sad, drab beige. "Variants" #1 demonstrates an excellent understanding of an often underutilized character, exploring her mindset and morals in the aftermath of a harrowing event. Unfortunately, its use of the multiverse leaves viewers wanting more. Time will tell if these different versions of Jessica's character and the alternate worlds they inhabit can be given the attention they deserve." Jenna Anderso of "Comicbook.com" gave "The Variants" #1 a grade of 5 out of 5, asserting, ""The Variants" #1 is not only a beautifully-constructed new look at the Marvel multiverse that fans know and love, it's a truly stunning and revolutionary new chapter in the ongoing story of Jessica Jones. Gail Simone's script brings the heartfelt, but world-weary tone that Jessica uniquely embodies, while laying the groundwork for a fascinating new twist on doppelgangers from another universe. When coupled with Phil Noto's effortlessly cool and timeless art, The Variants is an absolute knockout for Marvel Comics, and I could not be more excited to see what else it has in store."


title: Jessica Jones

text: Multiple versions of Jessica Jones have appeared in Marvel's multiverse. In the 2005 "House of M" storyline, Jessica was apparently dating Scott Lang.


title: Jessica Jones

text: In "What If", Jones accepted Captain America's offer to work for The Avengers. Perceiving that something was amiss with Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch), she alerted the other Avengers, ensuring that the catastrophic events depicted in "Avengers Disassembled" and "House of M" would never occur. Jessica married Captain America.


title: Jessica Jones

text: In "Ultimate Spider-Man", Jones appeared as a senior student in the school Peter Parker attended. She was the executive producer of the school's television network. She later became jealous of Mary Jane Watson's superior film skills. She attempted to deduce Spider-Man's secret identity for the school newspaper and may have been suspicious about Peter Parker. Later on after the events of "Ultimatum", she claimed to have abandoned her attempts to figure out who Spider-Man was and instead wanted to focus on his heroics.


title: Jessica Jones

text: In "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane", Jessica was a student at Mary Jane's high school and was a former friend of Mary Jane until she became a goth. Mary Jane spent more time with Jessica after her breakup with Ned Leeds and became more goth-like until Jessica told Mary Jane it did not fit her.


title: Jessica Jones

text: During the events of "Infinity Wars," Gamora used the Infinity Stones to fold the universe in half, resulting in the creation of Warp World, where characters and histories were merged. Jessica Jones merged with Janice Lincoln and became this universe's version of the Beetle. She was also the fiancé of Scott Banner aka Little Monster (an amalgamation of Scott Lang and Bruce Banner).


title: Jessica Jones

text: In "Spider-Man: Life Story", Jessica briefly dated Peter Parker after his split with Mary Jane and helped him track down the elderly Norman Osborn. Much like her Earth-616 counterpart, Jessica Jones of this universe also began a private investigator and founder of Alias Investigations.


title: Jessica Jones

text: During the "Secret Wars" storyline, different versions of Jessica Jones existed in each of the Battleworld domains:


title: Hitachi

text: Hitachi is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nagoya Stock Exchange and its Tokyo listing is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indices. It is ranked 38th in the 2012 Fortune Global 500 and 129th in the 2012 Forbes Global 2000.


title: Hitachi

text: Hitachi was founded in 1910 by electrical engineer Namihei Odaira (1874–1951) in Ibaraki Prefecture. The company's first product was Japan's first induction motor, initially developed for use in copper mining.


title: Hitachi

text: The company began as an in-house venture of Fusanosuke Kuhara's mining company in Hitachi, Ibaraki. Odaira moved headquarters to Tokyo in 1918. Odaira coined the company's toponymic name by superimposing two "kanji" characters: hi meaning "sun" and tachi meaning "rise".


title: Hitachi

text: World War II had a significant impact on the company with many of its factories being destroyed by Allied bombing raids, and discord after the war. Founder Odaira was removed from the company and Hitachi Zosen Corporation was spun out. Hitachi's reconstruction efforts after the war were hindered by a labor strike in 1950. Meanwhile, Hitachi went public in 1949.


title: Hitachi

text: The Soviet Union started to produce air conditioners in 1975. The Baku factory was established under the license of Japanese company Hitachi. Volumes of production of air conditioners in the USSR were small, about 500,000 per year. However air conditioners were a matter of great pride. Mainly window air conditioners were produced. Most of the output was exported.


title: Hitachi

text: From 2006 to 2010, Hitachi lost US$12.5 billion, the largest corporate loss in Japanese history. This prompted Hitachi to restructure and sell a number of divisions and businesses, a process that is expected to end in 2021.


title: Hitachi

text: In March 2011, Hitachi agreed to sell its hard disk drive subsidiary, HGST, to Western Digital for a combination of cash and shares worth US$4.3 billion. Due to concerns of a duopoly of WD and Seagate Technology by the EU Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, Hitachi's 3.5" HDD division was sold to Toshiba. The transaction was completed in March 2012.


title: Hitachi

text: In January 2012, Hitachi announced it would stop producing televisions in Japan. In September 2012, Hitachi announced that it had invented a long-term data solution out of quartz glass that was capable of preserving information for millions of years. In October 2012, Hitachi agreed to acquire the United Kingdom-based nuclear energy company Horizon Nuclear Power, which plans to construct up to six nuclear power plants in the UK, from E.ON and RWE for £700 million. In November 2012, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries agreed to merge their thermal power generation businesses into a joint venture to be owned 65% by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 35% by Hitachi. The joint venture named Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) began operations in February 2014.


title: Hitachi

text: In October 2015, Hitachi completed a deal with Johnson Controls to form a joint-venture that would takeover Hitachi's HVAC business. Hitachi maintained a 40% stake of the resulting company, Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning. In May 2016, Hitachi announced it was investing $2.8 billion into its IoT interests.


title: Hitachi

text: Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 and the extended temporary closure of most Japanese nuclear plants, Hitachi's nuclear business became unprofitable and in 2016 Hitachi CEO Toshiaki Higashihara argued Japan should consider a merger of the various competing nuclear businesses. Hitachi is taking for 2016 an estimated ¥65 billion write-off in value of a SILEX technology laser uranium enrichment joint venture with General Electric.


title: Hitachi

text: In February 2017, Hitachi and Honda announced a partnership to develop, produce and sell motors for electric vehicles. Also in 2017, private equity firm KKR bought Hitachi Kokusai's (itself a subsidiary of Hitachi) semiconductor equipment division, becoming Kokusai Electric. In 2019, Applied Materials announced that it would acquire Kokusai Electric from KKR for US$2.2 billion. The deal was later terminated in 2021.


title: Hitachi

text: In 2018, Hitachi stopped selling televisions in Japan because its market share had dropped to 1%, opting to sell Sony TVs through its existing dealer network.


title: Hitachi

text: On March 14, 2018, Zoomdata announced its partnership with Hitachi INS Software to help develop big data analytics market in Japan.


title: Hitachi

text: In December 2018, Hitachi Ltd. announced it would take over 80% of ABB Ltd.'s power grid division for $6.4 billion renaming it Hitachi-ABB Power Grids in the process. In October2021, the enterprise was rebranded HitachiEnergy.


title: Hitachi

text: From 2008 to 2018, Hitachi has reduced the number of its listed group companies and consolidated subdiaries in Japan from 22 to 4 and around 400 to 202, respectively, through restructuring and sell-offs. It plans to become a company specializing in IT and infrastructure maintenance in the near future.


title: Hitachi

text: In 2019, Hitachi sold its medical imaging business to Fujifilm for US$1.7 billion. Showa Denko bought Hitachi Chemical from Hitachi and other shareholders, at US$42.97 per share. Until then, Hitachi Chemical had been considered to be a core unit of the group. Hitachi also suspended the ABWR development by its British subsidiary Horizon Nuclear Power as it did not provide an adequate "economic rationality as a private enterprise" to proceed.


title: Hitachi

text: In October 2019, the talks between Honda and Hitachi to consolidate their four automotive parts businesses, Showa, Nissin and Keihin of the former and the latter's Hitachi Automotive Systems, have reportedly begun, resulting in the creation of a "mega supplier" named Hitachi Astemo incorporated in January 2021.


title: Hitachi

text: In September 2020, Hitachi abandoned plans to create nuclear power plants in Gloucestershire and Wales due to issues with funding due to the impact of COVID-19. In the same month, Hitachi Capital agreed to be bought by its second-largest shareholder, business partner, and former rival Mitsubishi UFJ Lease, which has invested in the Hitachi subsidiary in 2016.


title: Hitachi

text: In November 2020, it announced that Hitachi Metals and Hitachi Construction Machinery, both being some of the last remaining listed subsidiaries, will likely be detached from the group according to the restructuring plan. In December, Hitachi sold a 60% stake in its overseas home appliance business to Turkish Arcelik for US$300 million.


title: Hitachi

text: Hitachi Vantara is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi which provides hardware, software and services to help companies manage their digital data. Its flagship products are the Virtual Storage Platform (for enterprise storage), Hitachi Unified Storage VM for large-sized companies, Hitachi Unified Storage for small and mid-sized companies, Hitachi Content Platform (archiving and cloud architecture), Hitachi Command Suite (for storage management), Hitachi TrueCopy and Hitachi Universal Replicator (for remote replication), and the Hitachi NAS Platform.


title: Hitachi

text: Since September 19, 2017, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has become part of Hitachi Vantara, a new company that unifies the operations of Pentaho, Hitachi Data Systems and Hitachi Insight Group. The company name "Hitachi Data Systems" (HDS) and its logo is no longer used in the market. Hitachi Consulting, the group's international management and technology consulting subsidiary with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, was integrated with Hitachi Vantara in 2019.


title: Hitachi

text: Among other things, Hitachi Metals supplies materials for aircraft engines and fuselage components (e.g. landing gear), along with finished components for same and other aerospace applications. It also provides materials, components and tools for the automotive and electronics industries. Among the Hitachi Metals facilities is Hitachi Metal Yasugi Works or Tatara Works, one of the oldest furnaces in Japan, famously featured as a main backdrop in "Princess Mononoke", a Japanese animation film set in the Muromachi period.


title: Hitachi

text: As of September 2020, Hitachi Metals is set to be divested as part of the long-term restructuring plan being executed by the group.


title: Hitachi

text: "Hitachi, Ltd. Railway Systems Business Unit", known as Hitachi Rail is the rolling stock and railway signalling manufacturing division of Hitachi.


title: Hitachi

text: Hitachi built the first railway carriage in 1924 for the domestic japanese market and soon became one of the main railway suppliers in Japan. By 1964 Hitachi was one of only three companies that built the world’s first fleet of high-speed trains, the shinkansen. "Hitachi Rail Europe" (legally "Hitachi Rail Limited") was established in London as the European headquarters of the company in 1999. Other subsidiaries are:


title: Hitachi

text: Hitachi markets a general-purpose train known as the "A-train", which uses double-skin, friction-stir-welded aluminium body construction. Hitachi's products have included the designing and manufacturing of many Shinkansen models, including the N700 Series Shinkansen.


title: Hitachi

text: On February 24, 2015, Hitachi agreed to purchase the Italian rolling stock manufacturer AnsaldoBreda and acquire Finmeccanica's stake in Ansaldo STS, the railway signaling division of Finmeccanica The purchase was completed later that year, at which point the company was renamed as Hitachi Rail Italy. Since then, Hitachi has obtained a majority stake in Ansaldo STS.


title: Hitachi

text: In July 2020, Hitachi signed an exclusive agreement with Hyperdrive, a UK-based lithium-ion battery company, to bring battery-powered trains to the country.


title: Hitachi

text: Late in 2021 Alstom announced the transfer of business relating to Bombardier Zefiro to Hitachi Rail and should be completed in early 2022.


title: Hitachi

text: Late 2022 Hitachi Rail won the contract to supply train sets for Ontario Line being planned in Toronto.


title: Hitachi

text: Hitachi Astemo, which stands for "Advanced Sustainable Technologies for Mobility", is a 67-33 joint venture between Hitachi and Honda, which merged their four auto parts affiliates and division, the latter's three keiretsu companies Showa Corporation, Keihin Corporation, and Nissin Kogyo, and the former's wholly owned Hitachi Automotive Systems, to be better equipped for the changing car market environment, frequently represented as CASE, for which they will integrate their assets to accelerate development of new technology and software.


title: Hitachi

text: Hitachi Astemo is considered a "mega supplier", as annual sales of the four predecessors combined stood at $17 billion, placing it as the second largest among the compatriot auto suppliers.


title: Hitachi

text: Spin-off entities from Hitachi Works include Hitachi Cable (1956) and Hitachi Canadian Industries Limited (founded 1988 in Saskatoon and closed in 2016 as Mitsubishi-Hitachi Power Systems).


title: Hitachi

text: As Hitachi pulled out of MHPS and handed over the control to MHI, Hitachi Works was also transferred, becoming part of Mitsubishi Power.


title: Hitachi

text: In August 2011, it was announced that Hitachi would donate an electron microscope to each of five universities in Indonesia (the University of North Sumatra in Medan, the Indonesian Christian University in Jakarta, Padjadjaran University in Bandung, General Soedirman University in Purwokerto and Muhammadiyah University in Malang).


title: Head of government

text: The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a group of ministers or secretaries who lead executive departments. In diplomacy, "head of government" is differentiated from "head of state" although in some countries, for example the United States, they are the same person.


title: Head of government

text: The authority of a head of government, such as a president, chancellor, or prime minister and the relationship between that position and other state institutions, such as the relation between the head of state and of the legislature, varies greatly among sovereign states, depending largely on the particular system of the government that has been chosen, won, or evolved over time.


title: Head of government

text: In most parliamentary systems, including constitutional monarchies, the head of government is the "de facto" political leader of the government, and is answerable to at least one chamber of the legislature. Although there is often a formal reporting relationship to a head of state, the latter usually acts as a figurehead who may take the role of chief executive on limited occasions, either when receiving constitutional advice from the head of government or under specific provisions in a constitution.


title: Head of government

text: In presidential republics or in absolute monarchies, the head of state is also usually the head of government. The relationship between that leader and the government, however, can vary greatly, ranging from separation of powers to autocracy, according to the constitution (or other basic laws) of the particular state.


title: Head of government

text: In semi-presidential systems, the head of government may answer to both the head of state and the legislature with the specifics provided by each country's constitution. A modern example is the present French government, which originated as the French Fifth Republic in 1958. In France, the president, the head of state, appoints the prime minister, who is the head of government. However, the president must choose someone who can act effectively as an executive, but who also enjoys the support of France's legislature, the National Assembly, to be able to pass legislation. In some cases, the head of state may represent one political party but the majority in the National Assembly is of a different party. Given that the majority party has greater control over state funding and primary legislation, the president is in effect forced to choose a prime minister from the opposition party to ensure an effective, functioning legislature. In this case, known as cohabitation, the prime minister, along with the cabinet, controls domestic policy, with the president's influence largely restricted to foreign affairs.


title: Head of government

text: In communist states, the General Secretary of the Communist Party is the supreme leader, serving as "de facto" head of state and government. In China, the "de jure" head of government is the Premier. The Chinese President is legally a ceremonial office, but the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (top leader in a one-party system) has always held this office since 1993 except for the months of transition.


title: Head of government

text: In directorial systems, the executive responsibilities of the head of government are spread among a group of people. A prominent example is the Swiss Federal Council, where each member of the council heads a department and also votes on proposals relating to all departments..


title: Head of government

text: The most common title for a head of government is Prime Minister. This is used as a formal title in many states, but may also be an informal generic term to refer to whichever office is considered the principal minister under an otherwise styled head of state, as "minister" — Latin for servants or subordinates — is a common title for members of a government (but many other titles are in use, e.g. chancellor and secretary of state). Formally the head of state can also be the head of government as well (ex officio or by ad hoc cumulation, such as a ruling monarch exercising all powers himself) but otherwise has formal precedence over the Head of Government and other ministers, whether he is their actual political superior (ruling monarch, executive president) or rather theoretical or ceremonial in character (constitutional monarch, non-executive president). Various constitutions use different titles, and even the same title can have various multiple meanings, depending on the constitutional order and political system of the state in question.


title: Head of government

text: In addition to prime minister, titles used for the democratic model, where there is an elected legislative body checking the head of government, include the following. Some of these titles relate to governments below the national level (e.g. states or provinces).


title: Head of government

text: In a broader sense, a head of government can be used loosely when referring to various comparable positions under a dominant head of state (especially is the case of ancient or feudal eras, so the term "head of government", in this case, could be considered a contradiction in terms). In this case, the prime minister serves at the pleasure of the monarch and holds no more power than the monarch allows. Some such titles are diwan, mahamantri, pradhan, wasir or vizier.


title: Head of government

text: However, just because the head of state is the "de jure" dominant position does not mean that he/she will not always be the "de facto" political leader. A skilled head of government like 19th-century German statesman Otto von Bismarck, Minister President of Prussia and later Chancellor of Germany under Emperor/King Wilhelm I, serves as an example showing that possession of formal powers does not equal political influence.


title: Head of government

text: In some cases, the head of state is a figurehead whilst the head of the government leads the ruling party. In some cases a head of government may even pass on the title in hereditary fashion. Such titles include the following:


title: Head of government

text: An alternative formula is a single chief political body (e.g., presidium) which collectively leads the government and provides (e.g. by turns) the ceremonial Head of state. The only state in which this system is currently employed is Switzerland but other countries such as Uruguay have employed it in the past. This system is described as the directorial system.


title: Head of government

text: All of these requirements directly impact the Head of government's role. Consequently, they often play a 'day to day' role in parliament, answering questions and defending the government on the 'floor of the House', while in semi-presidential systems they may not be required to play as much of a role in the functioning of parliament.


title: Head of government

text: In many countries, the Head of government is commissioned by the Head of state to form a government, on the basis of the strength of party support in the lower house; in some other states, the head of government is directly elected by parliament. Many parliamentary systems require ministers to serve in parliament, while others ban ministers from sitting in parliament (they must resign on becoming ministers).


title: Head of government

text: Constitutions differ in the range and scope of powers granted to the head of government. Some older constitutions; for example, Australia's 1900 text, and Belgium's 1830 text; do not mention their prime ministerial offices at all, the offices became a "de facto" political reality without a formal constitutional status. Some constitutions make a Prime Minister (first among equals) and that remains the practical reality for the Prime Minister of Belgium and the Prime Minister of Finland. Other states however, make their head of government a central and dominant figure within the cabinet system; Ireland's Taoiseach, for example, alone can decide when to seek a parliamentary dissolution, in contrast to other countries where this is a cabinet decision, with the Prime Minister just one member voting on the suggestion. In Israel, while the Government is nominally a collegiate body with a role for the Prime Minister, the Israeli Prime Minister is the dominant figure in the executive branch in practice. The Prime Minister of Sweden, under the 1974 Instrument of Government, is a constitutional office with all key executive powers either directly at his or her disposal or indirectly through the collegial Government, whose members are all appointed and dismissed at the Prime Minister's sole discretion.


title: Head of government

text: Under the unwritten British constitution, the prime minister's role has evolved, based often on the individual's personal appeal and strength of character, as contrasted between, for example, Winston Churchill as against Clement Attlee, Margaret Thatcher as against John Major. It is alleged that the increased personalisation of leadership in a number of states has led to heads of government becoming themselves "semi-presidential" figures, due in part to media coverage of politics that focuses on the leader and his or her mandate, rather than on parliament; and to the increasing centralisation of power in the hands of the head of government. Such allegations have been made against two former British Prime ministers: Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. They were also made against Italian prime ministers Silvio Berlusconi and Matteo Renzi, Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau and Federal Chancellor of West Germany (later all of Germany), Helmut Kohl, when in power.


title: Head of government

text: The head of government is often provided with an official residence, often in the same fashion as heads of state often are. The name of the residence is often used as a metonym or alternative title for 'the government' when the office is politically the highest, e.g. in the UK "Downing Street announced today…"


title: Head of government

text: Similarly, heads of government of federal entities below the level of the sovereign state (often without an actual head of state, at least under international law) may also be given an official residence, sometimes used as an opportunity to display aspirations of statehood:


title: Head of government

text: Usually, the residence of the heads of government is not as prestigious and grand as that of the head of state, even if the head of state only performs ceremonial duties. Even the formal representative of the head of state, such as a governor-general, may well be housed in a grander, palace-type residence. However, this is not the case when both positions are combined into one:


title: Protagonist

text: A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a story contains a subplot, or is a narrative made up of several stories, then each subplot may have its own protagonist.


title: Protagonist

text: The protagonist is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who is opposed by the antagonist. The antagonist provides obstacles and complications and creates conflicts that test the protagonist, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist's character, and having the protagonist develop as a result.


title: Protagonist

text: The term "protagonist" comes , combined of (, 'first') and (, 'actor, competitor'), which stems from (, 'contest') via (, 'I contend for a prize').


title: Protagonist

text: The earliest known examples of a protagonist are found in Ancient Greece. At first, dramatic performances involved merely dancing and recitation by the chorus. Then in "Poetics", Aristotle describes how a poet named Thespis introduced the idea of one actor stepping out and engaging in a dialogue with the chorus. This was the invention of tragedy, and occurred about 536 B.C. Then the poet Aeschylus, in his plays, introduced a second actor, inventing the idea of dialogue between two characters. Sophocles then wrote plays that included a third actor.


title: Protagonist

text: A description of the protagonist's origin cited that during the early period of Greek drama, the protagonist served as the author, the director, and the actor and that these roles were only separated and allocated to different individuals later. There is also a claim that the poet did not assign or create the protagonist as well as other terms for actors such as "deuteragonist" and "tritagonist" primarily because he only gave actors their appropriate part. However, these actors were assigned their specific areas at the stage with the protagonist always entering from the middle door or that the dwelling of the "deuteragonist" (second most important character) should be on the right hand, and the "tritagonist" (third most important character), the left.


title: Protagonist

text: In Ancient Greece, the protagonist is distinguished from the term "hero", which was used to refer to a human who became a semi-divine being in the narrative.


title: Protagonist

text: In literary terms, a hero (masculine) or heroine (feminine) protagonist is typically admired for their achievements and noble qualities. Heroes are lauded for their strength, courage, virtuousness, and honor, and are considered to be the "good guys" of the narrative.


title: Protagonist

text: An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who lacks conventional heroic qualities and attributes such as idealism, courage, and morality.


title: Protagonist

text: Examples include Holden Caulfield from "The Catcher in the Rye", Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone With the Wind" and Jay Gatsby from "The Great Gatsby".


title: Protagonist

text: The protagonist is not always conventionally good. Contrasting the hero protagonist, a villain protagonist is a protagonist who is a villain, driving the story forward regardless of the evil qualities the main character has. These traits can include being cruel, malicious, and wicked.


title: Protagonist

text: Examples include Humbert Humbert in Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" and Richard III in William Shakespeare's eponymous play.


title: Protagonist

text: When a supporting protagonist appears, the story is told from the perspective of a character who appears to be minor. This character may be more peripheral from the events of the story and are not as involved within the "main action" of the plot. The supporting protagonist may be telling the story while viewing another character as the main influence of the plot.


title: Protagonist

text: Euripides' play "Hippolytus" may be considered to have two protagonists, though one at a time. Phaedra is the protagonist of the first half, who dies partway through the play. Her stepson, the titular Hippolytus, assumes the dominant role in the second half of the play.


title: Protagonist

text: In Henrik Ibsen's play "The Master Builder", the protagonist is the architect Halvard Solness. The young woman, Hilda Wangel, whose actions lead to the death of Solness, is the antagonist.


title: Protagonist

text: In Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet", Romeo is the protagonist. He is actively in pursuit of his relationship with Juliet, and the audience is invested in that story. Tybalt, as an antagonist, opposes Romeo and attempts to thwart the relationship.


title: Protagonist

text: In Shakespeare's play "Hamlet", Prince Hamlet, who seeks revenge for the murder of his father, is the protagonist. The antagonist is the character who most opposes Hamlet, Claudius (though, in many ways, Hamlet is his own antagonist).


title: Protagonist

text: Sometimes, a work will have a false protagonist, who may seem to be the protagonist, but then may disappear unexpectedly. The character Marion in Alfred Hitchcock's film "Psycho" (1960) is an example.


title: Protagonist

text: A novel may contain a number of narratives, each with its own protagonist. Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "The First Circle", for example, depicts a variety of characters imprisoned and living in a gulag camp. Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" depicts fifteen major characters involved in or affected by a war.


title: Protagonist

text: Though many people equate protagonists with the term hero and possessing heroic qualities, it is not necessary, as even villainous characters can be protagonists. For example Michael Corleone from "The Godfather" (1972–1990) film series (1978–1983).


title: Protagonist

text: In some cases, the protagonist is not a human: in Richard Adams' novel "Watership Down," a group of anthropomorphised rabbits, led by the protagonist Hazel, escape their warren after seeing a vision of its destruction, starting a perilous journey to find a new home.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role as Captain Jonas Grumby, better known as The Skipper, on the 1960s CBS comedy series "Gilligan's Island" (1964–1967), a role he reprised in three "Gilligan's Island" television films and two spin-off cartoon series.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Hale appeared in more than 200 films and television roles from 1941. He appeared primarily in Westerns, portraying the Sundance Kid in "The Three Outlaws" (1956) opposite Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy, performing with Kirk Douglas in "The Big Trees" (1952), Audie Murphy in "Destry" (1954), Ray Milland in "A Man Alone" (1955), Robert Wagner in "The True Story of Jesse James" (1957), and Hugh Marlowe in "The Long Rope" (1961). He also appeared in musical comedies opposite Don DeFore in "It Happened on Fifth Avenue" (1947), James Cagney in "The West Point Story" (1950), and Judy Canova in "Honeychile" (1951). He also appeared on several talk and variety shows.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Alan Hale MacKahan was born in Los Angeles, California. His father was character actor Rufus Edward MacKahan, who used the stage name of Alan Hale, and his mother was silent film actress Gretchen Hartman. His father appeared in more than 235 films and had a successful screen career, both as a leading man in silent films and as a supporting actor in sound movies. Hale Jr. was in the silent movies as a baby.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Hale served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II. He dropped the "Junior" from his name after his father died in 1950.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: In 1931, Hale made his Broadway stage debut in "Caught Wet". The play opened on November 4 and closed later that month. He made his screen debut in "Wild Boys of the Road" which was released in 1933. Although his role was deleted from that film's final release, he still received screen credit for his performance. He later appeared in roles in "To the Shores of Tripoli" (1942), "Yanks Ahoy" (1943), "Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" (1946), and "When Willie Comes Marching Home" (1950). During the late 1940s and early 1950s, he frequently appeared in Gene Autry films and also had a recurring role from 1950 to 1952 on "The Gene Autry Show".


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: By the early 1950s, Hale began to work in television. In 1952, he landed the starring role in CBS's "Biff Baker, U.S.A.". The series was canceled in 1954. He continued his career on the small screen by appearing in guest spots on a variety of other series, such as "The Range Rider" (five times), "Annie Oakley", "Fireside Theater", "Frontier", "Matinee Theater", "Fury", "Northwest Passage", and "The Man from Blackhawk".


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: The year 1957 proved to be an especially busy one for Hale on television series. In addition to performing the role of Shawnee Bill on the Western "Wanted Dead or Alive", he played a folksy rancher, Les Bridgeman, in "Hired Gun", an episode of the ABC/Warner Brothers series "Cheyenne". Later that year Hale landed another starring role in the syndicated television series "Casey Jones", which lasted for thirty-two half-hour episodes before its cancellation in 1958. Then, from 1958 to 1960, he was cast in a recurring role on Rory Calhoun's CBS Western "The Texan". Hale also returned to the series "Cheyenne" in 1960 to portray the character Tuk in the episode "Road to Three Graves".


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Throughout the early 1960s, Hale continued in guest-starring roles on episodes of "Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", "Rawhide", "The Real McCoys", "Mister Ed, Green Acres, ", "Hawaiian Eye", "Adventures in Paradise", "Lock Up", "The Andy Griffith Show", "Lassie", "Tales of Wells Fargo", "Route 66" and "Hazel". He was featured in two episodes of "Perry Mason", first as murderer Lon Snyder in the 1961 episode "The Case of the Unwelcome Bride", and then in 1963 as Nelson Barclift in "The Case of the Bouncing Boomerang".


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Despite his growing commitment to roles on television, Hale throughout the 1950s and into 1960s continued his work in supporting roles in feature films. Some of those include "The Gunfighter" (1950) with Gregory Peck, "At Sword's Point" (1952) with Cornel Wilde and Maureen O'Hara, "The Man Behind the Gun" (1953) with Randolph Scott, "Silver Lode" (1954) with John Payne and Dan Duryea, "The Sea Chase" (1955) with John Wayne and Lana Turner, "The Three Outlaws" (1956) with Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy and Hale as the Sundance Kid, "The True Story of Jesse James" (1957) with Robert Wagner as Jesse James and Jeffrey Hunter as Frank James, "Up Periscope" (1959) with James Garner and Edmond O'Brien, "Thunder in Carolina" with Rory Calhoun (1960), "The Long Rope" with Hugh Marlowe (1961), "Bullet for a Badman" (1964) with Audie Murphy and Darren McGavin, "Advance to the Rear" (1964) with Glenn Ford and Stella Stevens, and "Hang 'Em High" (1968) with Clint Eastwood.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: In 1964, Hale won the co-starring role as the Skipper on the CBS sitcom "Gilligan's Island". The series aired for a total of 98 episodes from 1964 to 1967. His character proved to be the most prominent role of Hale's career, as the show continued in reruns. The popularity of the show typecast its actors, making it difficult for them to successfully pursue different roles. Hale did not mind being so closely identified with the Skipper. According to Sherwood Schwartz, he often visited children in hospitals dressed as the Skipper.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Hale reprised the role of the Skipper in three television films, "Rescue from Gilligan's Island" (1978), "The Castaways on Gilligan's Island" (1979), and "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" (1981). He also voiced the Skipper in two cartoon versions of the series, "The New Adventures of Gilligan" from 1974 to 1977 and "Gilligan's Planet" from 1982 to 1983. Hale also appeared as the Skipper in two unrelated sitcoms, "The New Gidget" and "ALF" in 1987. Hale also played a Skipper look-a-like taxi cab driver named J. Grumby on "Growing Pains". He also promoted "Gilligan's Island" reruns on TBS, alongside Bob Denver. Denver and Hale also appeared as their characters at various promotional events.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Dawn Wells said in a 2014 interview on CRN.com with Larry and Nancy Manetti, when asked if Alan Hale Jr. was the consummate professional of the "Gilligan's Island" series: "Well, that is so interesting, because Alan Jr. and his father looked so much alike, you don't know, who was who. His father did all the Errol Flynn ... I used to say to Alan, 'How was it growing up in a household, with all those movie stars?' Alan was absolutely, the consummate professional, wonderful gentleman, jovial, never complained ... he was the exact same size of my dad. Every time he picked me up and hugged me, I thought he was my father, he was my dad." Wells also responded to the question if she ever went to her acting mentor's restaurant (that Hale once owned in Los Angeles): "It was a lobster house on La Cienega Blvd., and he would greet you with his sea hat on, as you can... but that was after the show; and he had his friend, Anthony, there, with some good food, too." The last question asked of Dawn was if "Gilligan's Island," was nearly his (Hale's) show: "No, no... as a matter of fact, it was interesting when you go back and find the people that they thought should play the other characters, and I understand Alan was doing a movie in Utah and they wanted to bring him to audition and he couldn't get a flight out, so ... he hitchhiked, hitchhiked on the highway and then, he came in to audition." After the show's cancellation, and until Hale's death, Wells not only stayed in touch with him but they were also frequently neighbors. After Hale's mother Gretchen died in 1979 the friendship between Hale and Wells grew closer.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: After the end of "Gilligan's Island", Hale continued his career in television. He guest-starred on several more series, including "The Wild Wild West", "Here Come the Brides", "Land of the Giants", "The Virginian", "Here's Lucy", "Marcus Welby, M.D.", "The Paul Lynde Show", "The Love Boat" and "Crazy Like a Fox".


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Hale performed as well in additional feature films during the 1970s and the 1980s. He starred in "The Giant Spider Invasion" (1975) and "Angels Revenge" (1978). In 1983, Hale co-starred in comedy-drama film "Hambone and Hillie", starring Lillian Gish. The following year, he had a role in the comedy "Johnny Dangerously" and became a spokesman for a car dealership in Victoria, British Columbia. In 1987, Hale starred in the horror film "Terror Night". Later that same year, he made his final film appearance in a cameo role with Bob Denver in "Back to the Beach." Also in 1987, he reprised his role as the Skipper on "The New Gidget" with his childhood friend and classmate William Schallert and Bob Denver, and on an episode of "ALF".


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: In addition to acting, Hale co-owned Alan Hale's Lobster Barrel, a restaurant he opened in the mid-1970s. The Lobster Barrel was located on La Cienega Boulevard on Los Angeles's Restaurant Row. According to Hale's agent, Hale was "phased out" of the business in 1982. He later opened Alan Hale's Quality and Leisure Travel office.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Hale was married twice; his first marriage was on March 12, 1943 in Hollywood to Bettina Reed Doerr, with whom he had four children: Alan Brian, Chris, Lana, and Dorian. The couple later divorced. In 1964, Hale married former singer Naomi Grace Ingram, to whom he remained married until his death.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: Hale died on January 2, 1990, of thymus cancer at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles at age 68. His body was cremated, and his ashes were sprinkled into the Pacific Ocean. His "Gilligan's Island" co-star Dawn Wells was in attendance, representing the surviving members of the cast.


title: Alan Hale Jr.

text: For his contribution to the television industry, Alan Hale Jr. has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6653 Hollywood Boulevard.


title: Supermarket

text: A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limited in the range of merchandise than a hypermarket or big-box market. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is synonymous with supermarket, and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries.


title: Supermarket

text: The supermarket typically has places for fresh meat, fresh produce, dairy, deli items, baked goods, etc.


title: Supermarket

text: Shelf space is also reserved for canned and packaged goods and for various non-food items such as kitchenware, household cleaners, pharmacy products and pet supplies. Some supermarkets also sell other household products that are consumed regularly, such as alcohol (where permitted), medicine, and clothing, and some sell a much wider range of non-food products: DVDs, sporting equipment, board games, and seasonal items (e.g., Christmas wrapping paper in December).


title: Supermarket

text: A larger full-service supermarket combined with a department store is sometimes known as a hypermarket. Other services may include those of banks, cafés, childcare centers/creches, insurance (and other financial services), mobile phone services, photo processing, video rentals, pharmacies, and gas stations. If the eatery in a supermarket is substantial enough, the facility may be called a "grocerant", a blend of "grocery" and "restaurant".


title: Supermarket

text: The traditional supermarket occupies a large amount of floor space, usually on a single level. It is usually situated near a residential area in order to be convenient to consumers. The basic appeal is the availability of a broad selection of goods under a single roof, at relatively low prices. Other advantages include ease of parking and frequently the convenience of shopping hours that extend into the evening or even 24 hours of the day. Supermarkets usually allocate large budgets to advertising, typically through newspapers. They also present elaborate in-shop displays of products.


title: Supermarket

text: Supermarkets typically are chain stores, supplied by the distribution centers of their parent companies, thus increasing opportunities for economies of scale. Supermarkets usually offer products at relatively low prices by using their buying power to buy goods from manufacturers at lower prices than smaller stores can. They also minimise financing costs by paying for goods at least 30 days after receipt and some extract credit terms of 90 days or more from vendors. Certain products (typically staple foods such as bread, milk and sugar) are very occasionally sold as loss leaders so as to attract shoppers to their store. Supermarkets make up for their low margins by a high volume of sales, and with of higher-margin items bought by the attracted shoppers. Self-service with shopping carts (trolleys) or baskets reduces labor costs, and many supermarket chains are attempting further reduction by shifting to self-service check-out.


title: Supermarket

text: In the early days of retailing, generally an assistant fetched products from shelves behind the merchant's counter while customers waited in front of the counter, indicating the items they wanted. Most foods and merchandise did not come in individually wrapped consumer-sized packages, so an assistant measured out and wrapped the precise amount requested by the consumer. This offered opportunities for social interaction: many regarded this style of shopping as "a social occasion" and would often "pause for conversations with the staff or other customers". These practices were by nature slow and had high labor intensity and therefore also quite expensive. The number of customers who could be attended to at one time was limited by the number of staff employed in the store. Shopping for groceries also often involved trips to multiple specialty shops, such as a greengrocer, butcher, bakery, fishmonger and dry goods store, in addition to a general store. Milk and other items of short shelf life were delivered by a milkman.


title: Supermarket

text: The concept of an inexpensive food market relying on economies of scale was developed by Vincent Astor. He founded the Astor Market in 1915, investing $750,000 of his fortune into a 165′ by 125′ (50×38-metre) corner of 95th and Broadway, Manhattan, creating, in effect, an open-air mini-mall that sold meat, fruit, produce and flowers. The expectation was that customers would come from great distances ("miles around"), but in the end, even attracting people from ten blocks away was difficult, and the market folded in 1917.


title: Supermarket

text: The concept of a self-service grocery store was developed by entrepreneur Clarence Saunders and his Piggly Wiggly stores, the first of which opened in 1916. Saunders was awarded several patents for the ideas he incorporated into his stores. The stores were a financial success and Saunders began to offer franchises.


title: Supermarket

text: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which was established in 1859, was another successful early grocery store chain in Canada and the United States, and became common in North American cities in the 1920s. Early self-service grocery stores did not sell fresh meats or produce. Combination stores that sold perishable items were developed in the 1920s.


title: Supermarket

text: The general trend since then has been to stock shelves at night so that customers, the following day, can obtain their own goods and bring them to the front of the store to pay for them. Although there is a higher risk of shoplifting, the costs of appropriate security measures ideally will be outweighed by reduced labor costs.


title: Supermarket

text: Historically, there has been debate about the origin of the supermarket, with King Kullen and Ralphs of California having strong claims. Other contenders included Weingarten's and Henke & Pillot. To end the debate, the Food Marketing Institute in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution and with funding from H.J. Heinz, researched the issue. They defined the attributes of a supermarket as "self-service, separate product departments, discount pricing, marketing and volume selling".


title: Supermarket

text: They determined that the first true supermarket in the United States was opened by a former Kroger employee, Michael J. Cullen, on 4 August 1930, inside a former garage in Jamaica, Queens in New York City. The store, King Kullen, operated under the slogan "Pile it high. Sell it low." At the time of Cullen's death in 1936, there were seventeen King Kullen stores in operation. Although Saunders had brought the world self-service, uniform stores, and nationwide marketing, Cullen built on this idea by adding separate food departments, selling large volumes of food at discount prices and adding a parking lot.


title: Supermarket

text: Other established American grocery chains in the 1930s, such as Kroger and Safeway Inc. at first resisted Cullen's idea, but eventually were forced to build their own supermarkets as the economy sank into the Great Depression, while consumers were becoming price-sensitive at a level never experienced before. Kroger took the idea one step further and pioneered the first supermarket surrounded on all four sides by a parking lot.


title: Supermarket

text: As larger chain supermarkets began to dominate the market in the US, able to supply consumers with the desired lower prices as opposed to the smaller "mom and pop" stands with considerably more overhead costs, the backlash of this infrastructure alteration was seen through numerous anti-chain campaigns. The idea of "monopsony", proposed by Cambridge economist Joan Robinson in 1933, that a single buyer could out-power the market of multiple sellers, became a strong anti-chain rhetorical device. With public backlash came political pressure to even the playing field for smaller vendors lacking the luxury of economies of scale. In 1936, the Robinson-Patman Act was implemented as a way of preventing such larger chains from using this buying power to reap advantages over smaller stores, although the act was not well enforced and did not have much impact on the prevention of larger chains overtaking power in the markets.


title: Supermarket

text: Supermarkets proliferated across Canada and the United States with the growth of automobile ownership and suburban development after World War II. Most North American supermarkets are located in suburban strip shopping centers as an anchor store along with other smaller retailers. They are generally regional rather than national in their company branding. Kroger is perhaps the most nationally oriented supermarket chain in the United States but it has preserved most of its regional brands, including Ralphs, City Market, King Soopers, Fry's, Smith's, and QFC.


title: Supermarket

text: In Canada, the largest such company is Loblaw, which operates stores under a variety of banners targeted to different segments and regions, including Fortinos, Zehrs, No Frills, the Real Canadian Superstore, and Loblaws, the foundation of the company. Sobeys is Canada's second largest supermarket with locations across the country, operating under many banners (Sobeys IGA in Quebec). Québec's first supermarket opened in 1934 in Montréal, under the banner Steinberg's.


title: Supermarket

text: In the United Kingdom, self-service shopping took longer to become established. Even in 1947, there were just ten self-service shops in the country. In 1951, ex-US Navy sailor Patrick Galvani, son-in-law of Express Dairies chairman, made a pitch to the board to open a chain of supermarkets across the country. The UK's first supermarket under the new Premier Supermarkets brand opened in Streatham, South London, taking ten times as much per week as the average British general store of the time. Other chains caught on, and after Galvani lost out to Tesco's Jack Cohen in 1960 to buy the 212 Irwin's chain, the sector underwent a large amount of consolidation, resulting in 'the big four' dominant UK of today: Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.


title: Supermarket

text: In the 1950s, supermarkets frequently issued trading stamps as incentives to customers. Today, most chains issue store-specific "membership cards", "club cards", or "loyalty cards". These typically enable the cardholder to receive special members-only discounts on certain items when the credit card-like device is scanned at check-out. Sales of selected data generated by club cards is becoming a significant revenue stream for some supermarkets.


title: Supermarket

text: Traditional supermarkets in many countries face intense competition from discounters such as Wal-Mart, Aldi and Lidl, which typically is non-union and operates with better buying power. Other competition exists from warehouse clubs such as Costco that offer savings to customers buying in bulk quantities. Superstores, such as those operated by Wal-Mart and Asda, often offer a wide range of goods and services in addition to foods. In Australia, Aldi, Woolworths and Coles are the major players running the industry with fierce competition among all the three. The rising market share of Aldi has forced the other two to cut prices and increase their private label product ranges. The proliferation of such warehouse and superstores has contributed to the continuing disappearance of smaller, local grocery stores; increased dependence on the automobile; suburban sprawl because of the necessity for large floor space and increased vehicular traffic. For example, in 2009 51% of Wal-Mart's $251 billion domestic sales were recorded from grocery goods. Some critics consider the chains' common practice of selling loss leaders to be anti-competitive. They are also wary of the negotiating power that large, often multinationals have with suppliers around the world.


title: Supermarket

text: During the dot-com boom, Webvan, an online-only supermarket, was formed and went bankrupt after three years and was acquired by Amazon. The British online supermarket Ocado, which uses a high degree of automation in its warehouses, was the first successful online-only supermarket. Ocado expanded into providing services to other supermarket firms such as Waitrose and Morrisons.


title: Supermarket

text: Grocery stores such as Walmart employ food delivery services offered by third parties such as DoorDash. Other online food delivery services, such as Deliveroo in the United Kingdom, have begun to pay specific attention to supermarket delivery.


title: Supermarket

text: Micro-fulfillment centers (MFC) are relatively small warehouses with sophisticated automated rack-and-tote systems which prepare orders for pickup and delivery. Once the order is complete, the customer will pick it up (i.e. "click-and-collect") or have it fulfilled via home delivery. Supermarkets are investing in micro-fulfillment centers with the hope that automation can help reduce the costs of online commerce and ecommerce by shortening the distances from store to home and speeding up deliveries. In short, MFCs are said by many to be the key to profitably fulfilling online orders.


title: Supermarket

text: The U.S. FMI food industry association, drawing on research by Willard Bishop, defines the following formats (store types) that sell groceries:


title: Supermarket

text: Some supermarkets are focusing on selling more (or even exclusively) organically certified produce. Others are trying to differentiate themselves by selling fewer (or no) products containing palm oil. This as the demand of palm oil is a main driver for the destruction of rainforests.


title: Supermarket

text: As a response to the growing concern on the heavy use of petroleum-based plastics for food packaging, so-called "zero waste" and "plastic-free" supermarkets and groceries are on the rise.


title: Supermarket

text: Beginning in the 1990s, the food sector in developing countries has rapidly transformed, particularly in Latin America, South-East Asia, India, China and South Africa. With growth, has come considerable competition and some amount of consolidation. The growth has been driven by increasing affluence and the rise of a middle class; the entry of women into the workforce; with a consequent incentive to seek out easy-to-prepare foods; the growth in the use of refrigerators, making it possible to shop weekly instead of daily; and the growth in car ownership, facilitating journeys to distant stores and purchases of large quantities of goods. The opportunities presented by this potential have encouraged several European companies to invest in these markets (mainly in Asia) and American companies to invest in Latin America and China. Local companies also entered the market. Initial development of supermarkets has now been followed by hypermarket growth. In addition there were investments by companies such as Makro and Metro Cash and Carry in large-scale Cash-and-Carry operations.


title: Supermarket

text: While the growth in sales of processed foods in these countries has been much more rapid than the growth in fresh food sales, the imperative nature of supermarkets to achieve economies of scale in purchasing means that the expansion of supermarkets in these countries has important repercussions for small farmers, particularly those growing perishable crops. New supply chains have developed involving cluster formation; development of specialized wholesalers; leading farmers organizing supply, and farmer associations or cooperatives. In some cases supermarkets have organized their own procurement from small farmers; in others wholesale markets have adapted to meet supermarket needs.


title: Supermarket

text: Larger supermarkets in North America and in Europe typically sell many items among many brands, sizes and varieties. U.S. publisher "Supermarket News" lists the following categories, for example: Hypermarkets have a larger range of non-food categories such as clothing, electronics, household decoration and appliances.


title: Supermarket

text: Most merchandise is already packaged when it arrives at the supermarket. Packages are placed on shelves, arranged in aisles and sections according to type of item. Some items, such as fresh produce, are stored in bins. Those requiring an intact cold chain are in temperature-controlled display cases.


title: Supermarket

text: While branding and store advertising will differ from company to company, the layout of a supermarket remains virtually unchanged. Although big companies spend time giving consumers a pleasant shopping experience, the design of a supermarket is directly connected to the in-store marketing that supermarkets must conduct to get shoppers to spend more money while there.


title: Supermarket

text: Every aspect of the store is mapped out and attention is paid to color, wording and even surface texture. The overall layout of a supermarket is a visual merchandising project that plays a major role. Stores can creatively use a layout to alter customers' perceptions of the atmosphere. Alternatively, they can enhance the store's atmospherics through visual communications (signs and graphics), lighting, colors, and even scents. For example, to give a sense of the supermarket being healthy, fresh produce is deliberately located at the front of the store. In terms of bakery items, supermarkets usually dedicate 30 to 40 feet of store space to the bread aisle.


title: Supermarket

text: Supermarkets are designed to "give each product section a sense of individual difference and this is evident in the design of what is called the anchor departments; fresh produce, dairy, delicatessen, meat and the bakery". Each section has different floor coverings, style, lighting and sometimes even individual services counters to allow shoppers to feel as if there are a number of markets within this one supermarket.


title: Supermarket

text: Marketers use well-researched techniques to try to control purchasing behavior. The layout of a supermarket is considered by some to consist of a few rules of thumb and three layout principles. The high-draw products are placed in separate areas of the store to keep drawing the consumer through the store. High impulse and high margin products are placed in the most predominant areas to grab attention. Power products are placed on both sides of the aisle to create increased product awareness, and end caps are used to receive a high exposure of a certain product whether on special, promotion or in a campaign, or a new line.


title: Supermarket

text: The first principle of the layout is circulation. Circulation is created by arranging product so the supermarket can control the traffic flow of the consumer. Along with this path, there will be high-draw, high-impulse items that will influence the consumer to make purchases which they did not originally intend. Service areas such as restrooms are placed in a location which draws the consumer past certain products to create extra buys. Necessity items such as bread and milk are found at the rear of the store to increase the start of circulation. Cashiers' desks are placed in a position to promote circulation. In most supermarkets, the entrance will be on the right-hand side because some research suggests that consumers who travel in a counter-clockwise direction spend more. However, other researchers have argued that consumers moving in a clockwise direction can form better mental maps of the store leading to higher sales in turn.


title: Supermarket

text: The second principle of the layout is coordination. Coordination is the organized arrangement of product that promotes sales. Products such as fast-selling and slow-selling lines are placed in strategic positions in aid of the overall sales plan. Managers sometimes place different items in fast-selling places to increase turnover or to promote a new line.


title: Supermarket

text: The third principle is consumer convenience. The layout of a supermarket is designed to create a high degree of convenience to the consumer to make the shopping experience pleasant and increase customer spending. This is done through the character of merchandising and product placement. There are many different ideas and theories in relation to layout and how product layout can influence the purchases made. One theory suggests that certain products are placed together or near one another that are of a similar or complementary nature to increase the average customer spend. This strategy is used to create cross-category sales similarity. In other words, the toothpaste is next to or adjacent the toothbrushes and the tea and coffee are down the same aisle as the sweet biscuits. These products complement one another and placing them near is one-way marketers try to increase purchases.


title: Supermarket

text: For vertical placement, cheap generic brands tend to be on the lowest shelves, products appealing to children are placed at the mid-thigh level, and the most profitable brands are placed at eye level.


title: Supermarket

text: The fourth principle is the use of color psychology, and the locations of the food, similar to its use in fast food branding.


title: Supermarket

text: Consumer psychologists suggest that most buyers tend to enter the store and shop to their right first. Some supermarkets, therefore, choose to place the entrance to the left-hand side as the consumer will likely turn right upon entry, and this allows the consumer to do a full anticlockwise circle around the store before returning to the checkouts. This suggests that supermarket marketers should use this theory to their advantage by placing their temporary displays of products on the right-hand side to entice you to make an unplanned purchase. Furthermore, aisle ends are extremely popular with product manufacturers, who pay top dollar to have their products located there. These aisle ends are used to lure customers into making a snap purchase and to also entice them to shop down the aisle. The most obvious place supermarket layout influences consumers are at the checkout. Small displays of chocolates, magazines, and drinks are located at each checkout to tempt shoppers while they wait to be served.


title: The Searchers

text: The Searchers is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (Natalie Wood), accompanied by his adopted nephew Martin (Jeffrey Hunter).


title: The Searchers

text: The film was a critical and commercial success. Since its release, it has come to be considered a masterpiece and one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. It was named the greatest American Western by the American Film Institute in 2008, and it placed 12th on the same organization's 2007 list of the 100 greatest American movies of all time. "Entertainment Weekly" also named it the best Western. The British Film Institute's "Sight & Sound" magazine ranked it as the seventh-best film of all time based on a 2012 international survey of film critics and in 2008, the French magazine "Cahiers du Cinéma" ranked "The Searchers" number 10 in their list of the 100 best films ever made.


title: The Searchers

text: In 1989, "The Searchers" was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry; it was one of the first 25 films selected for the registry.


title: The Searchers

text: "The Searchers" was the first major film to have a purpose-filmed making-of, requested by John Ford. It deals with most aspects of making the film, including preparation of the site, construction of props, and filming techniques.


title: The Searchers

text: In 1868, Ethan Edwards returns after an eight-year absence to the home of his brother Aaron in West Texas. Ethan fought in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy, and in the three years since that war ended, he apparently fought in the Mexican revolutionary war, as well. He has a large quantity of gold coins of uncertain origin in his possession, and a medal from the Mexican campaign that he gives to his eight-year-old niece, Debbie. As a former Confederate soldier, he is asked to take an oath of allegiance to the Texas Rangers; he refuses.


title: The Searchers

text: Shortly after Ethan's arrival, cattle belonging to his neighbor Lars Jorgensen are stolen, and Rev. Captain Samuel Clayton leads Ethan and a group of Rangers to recover them. After discovering that the theft was a Comanche ploy to draw the men away from their families, they return and find the Edwards homestead in flames. Aaron, his wife Martha, and their son Ben are dead, and Debbie and her older sister Lucy have been abducted.


title: The Searchers

text: After a brief funeral, the men set out in pursuit. They come upon a burial ground of Comanches who were killed during the raid. When they find the Comanche camp, Ethan recommends a frontal attack, but Clayton insists on a stealth approach to avoid killing the hostages. The camp is deserted, and further along the trail, the men ride into an ambush. Despite fending off the attack, the Rangers are left with too few men to fight the Native Americans effectively. They return home, leaving Ethan to continue his search for the girls with only Lucy's fiancé, Brad Jorgensen, and Debbie's adopted brother, Martin Pawley. Ethan finds Lucy brutally murdered and presumably raped in a canyon near the Comanche camp. In a blind rage, Brad rides directly into the camp and is killed.


title: The Searchers

text: When winter arrives, Ethan and Martin lose the trail and return to the Jorgensen ranch. Martin is enthusiastically welcomed by the Jorgensens' daughter Laurie, and Ethan finds a letter waiting for him from a trader named Futterman, who claims to have information about Debbie. Ethan, who would rather travel alone, leaves without Martin the next morning, but Laurie reluctantly provides Martin with a horse to catch up. At Futterman's trading post, Ethan and Martin learn that Debbie has been taken by Scar, the chief of the Nawyecka band of Comanches. A year or more later, Laurie receives a letter from Martin describing the ongoing search. In reading the letter aloud, Laurie narrates the next few scenes, in which Ethan kills Futterman for trying to steal his money, and Martin accidentally buys a Comanche wife who runs away when she hears Scar's name, later being among the dead when the two men find a portion of Scar's band killed by soldiers.


title: The Searchers

text: The search leads Ethan and Martin to a military fort, and then to New Mexico, where a Mexican man leads them to Scar. They find Debbie after five years, now an adolescent, living as one of Scar's wives. She tells the men that she has become a Comanche and wishes to remain with them. Ethan would rather see her dead than living as a Native American, and tries to shoot her, but Martin shields her with his body and a Comanche wounds Ethan with an arrow as they escape. Although Martin tends to Ethan's wound, he is furious with him for attempting to kill Debbie, and wishes him dead. "That'll be the day," Ethan replies, as they return home.


title: The Searchers

text: Meanwhile, Charlie McCorry has been courting Laurie in Martin's absence. Ethan and Martin arrive home just as Charlie and Laurie's wedding is about to begin. After a fistfight between Martin and Charlie, a nervous Yankee soldier, Lt. Greenhill, arrives with news that Ethan's half-crazy friend Mose Harper has located Scar. Clayton leads his men to the Comanche camp, this time for a direct attack, but Martin is allowed to sneak in ahead of the assault to find Debbie, who welcomes him. Martin kills Scar to save Debbie, and Ethan scalps him. Ethan then locates Debbie, and pursues her on horseback. Martin fears that he will shoot her as he has promised and chases them desperately, but instead, Ethan sweeps her up into his arms and says, "Let’s go home, Debbie." She is taken to the Jorgensen ranch, and Martin reunites with Laurie. While everyone else enters the house, Ethan departs the homestead as he arrived – alone, clutching his arm – and the cabin door slowly shuts on his receding silhouette.


title: The Searchers

text: "The Searchers" was the first production from "distinguished turfman" C. V. Whitney; it was directed by John Ford and distributed by Warner Bros. While the film was primarily set in the staked plains (Llano Estacado) of northwestern Texas, it was actually filmed in Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah. Additional scenes were filmed in Mexican Hat, Utah, in Bronson Canyon in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, and in Elk Island National Park. The film was shot in the VistaVision widescreen process. Ford originally wanted to cast Fess Parker, whose performance as Davy Crockett on television had helped spark a national craze, in the Jeffrey Hunter role, but Walt Disney, to whom Parker was under contract, refused to allow it and did not tell Parker about the offer, according to Parker's videotaped interview for the Archive of American Television. Parker has said retrospectively that this was easily his worst career reversal.


title: The Searchers

text: As part of its promotion of "The Searchers" in 1956, Warner Bros. produced and broadcast one of the first behind-the-scenes, "making-of" programs in movie history, which aired as an episode of its "Warner Bros. Presents" TV series.


title: The Searchers

text: "The Searchers" is the first of only three films produced by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney's C. V. Whitney Pictures; the second was "The Missouri Traveler" in 1958 with Brandon deWilde and Lee Marvin, and the last was "The Young Land" in 1959 with Wayne's son Patrick Wayne and Dennis Hopper.


title: The Searchers

text: Author Alan Le May's surviving research notes indicate that the two characters who go in search of a missing girl were inspired by Britton Johnson, an African-American teamster, who ransomed his captured wife and children from the Comanches in 1865. Afterward, Johnson made at least three trips to Native American Territory and Kansas relentlessly searching for another kidnapped girl, Millie Durgan (or Durkin), until Kiowa raiders killed him in 1871.


title: The Searchers

text: Several film critics have suggested that "The Searchers" was inspired by the 1836 kidnapping of nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker by Comanche warriors, who raided her family's home at Fort Parker, Texas. She spent 24 years with the Comanches, married a war chief, and had three children (one of whom was the famous Comanche Chief Quanah Parker), only to be rescued against her will by Texas Rangers. James W. Parker, Cynthia Ann's uncle, spent much of his life and fortune in what became an obsessive search for his niece, like Ethan Edwards in the film. In addition, the rescue of Cynthia Ann, during a Texas Ranger attack known as the Battle of Pease River, resembles the rescue of Debbie Edwards when the Texas Rangers attack Scar's village. Parker's story was only one of 64 real-life cases of 19th-century child abductions in Texas that author Alan Le May studied while researching the novel on which the film was based.


title: The Searchers

text: The ending of Le May's novel contrasts to the film's, with Debbie, called Dry-Grass-Hair by the Comanches, running from the white men and from the Native Americans. Marty, in one final leg of his search, finds her days later, only after she has fainted from exhaustion.


title: The Searchers

text: In the film, Scar's Comanche group is referred to as the Nawyecka, correctly the "Noyʉhka" or "Nokoni", the same band that kidnapped Cynthia Ann Parker. Some film critics have speculated that the historical model for the cavalry attack on a Comanche village, resulting in Look's death and the taking of Comanche prisoners to a military post, was the well-known Battle of Washita River, November 27, 1868, when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle's Cheyenne camp on the Washita River (near present-day Cheyenne, Oklahoma). The sequence also resembles the 1872 Battle of the North Fork of the Red River, in which the 4th Cavalry captured 124 Comanche women and children and imprisoned them at Fort Concho.


title: The Searchers

text: Upon the film's release, Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" called it a "ripsnorting Western" (in spite of the "excessive language in its ads"); he credits Ford's "familiar corps of actors, writers, etc., [who help] to give the gusto to this film. From Frank S. Nugent, whose screenplay from the novel of Alan LeMay is a pungent thing, right on through the cast and technicians, it is the honest achievement of a well-knit team." Crowther noted "two faults of minor moment":


title: The Searchers

text: "Variety" called it "handsomely mounted and in the tradition of "Shane"", yet "somewhat disappointing" due to its length and repetitiveness; "The John Ford directorial stamp is unmistakable. It concentrates on the characters and establishes a definite mood. It's not sufficient, however, to overcome many of the weaknesses of the story."


title: The Searchers

text: The "New York Herald Tribune" termed the movie "distinguished"; "Newsweek" deemed it "remarkable". "Look" described "The Searchers" as a "Homeric odyssey". "The New York Times" praised Wayne's performance as "uncommonly commanding". "The Monthly Film Bulletin" wrote, "Though it does not consistently achieve the highest Ford standards, "The Searchers" is surely the best Western since "Shane"."


title: The Searchers

text: Critic Roger Ebert found Wayne's character, Ethan Edwards, "one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created". Ebert writes: ""The Searchers" indeed seems to be two films. The Ethan Edwards story is stark and lonely, a portrait of obsession, and in it we can see Schrader's inspiration for Travis Bickle of "Taxi Driver". [...] The film within this film involves the silly romantic subplot and characters hauled in for comic relief, including the Swedish neighbor Lars Jorgensen (John Qualen), who uses a vaudeville accent, and Mose Harper (Hank Worden), a half-wit treated like a mascot. [...] This second strand is without interest, and those who value "The Searchers" filter it out, patiently waiting for a return to the main story line."


title: The Searchers

text: "The Searchers" has been cited as one of the greatest films of all time, such as in the BFI's decennial "Sight & Sound" polls. In 1972, "The Searchers" was ranked 18th; in 1992, 5th; in 2002, 11th; in 2012, 7th. In a 1959 "Cahiers du Cinéma" essay, Jean-Luc Godard compared the movie's ending to the reuniting of Odysseus with Telemachus in Homer's "Odyssey". In 1963, he ranked "The Searchers" as the fourth-greatest American movie of the sound era, after "Scarface" (1932), "The Great Dictator" (1940), and "Vertigo" (1958). The 2007 American Film Institute 100 greatest American films list ranked "The Searchers" in 12th place. In 1998, "TV Guide" ranked it 18th. In 2008, the American Film Institute named "The Searchers" as the greatest Western of all time. In 2010, Richard Corliss noted the film was "now widely regarded as the greatest Western of the 1950s, the genre's greatest decade" and characterized it as a "darkly profound study of obsession, racism, and heroic solitude".


title: The Searchers

text: The film currently maintains a 94% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: ""The Searchers" is an epic John Wayne Western that introduces dark ambivalence to the genre that remains fashionable today." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 94 out of 100 based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: The Searchers

text: On "They Shoot Pictures Don't They", a site which numerically calculates critical reception for any given film, "The Searchers" has been recognized as the ninth-most acclaimed movie ever made. Members of the Western Writers of America chose its title song as one of the top 100 Western songs of all time.


title: The Searchers

text: Scott McGee stated, "... more than just making a social statement like other Westerns of the period were apt to do, Ford instills in "The Searchers" a visual poetry and a sense of melancholy that is rare in American films and rarer still to Westerns."


title: The Searchers

text: Glenn Frankel's 2013 study of the film calls it "the greatest Hollywood film that few people have seen".


title: The Searchers

text: A major theme of the film is the historical attitude of white settlers toward Native Americans. Ford was not the first to attempt this examination cinematically, but his depiction of harshness toward Native Americans was startling, particularly to later generations of viewers; Roger Ebert wrote, "I think Ford was trying, imperfectly, even nervously, to depict racism that justified genocide." At the heart of "The Searchers" is Wayne's performance as the angry, vengeful Ethan Edwards. From the beginning of his quest, he is quite clearly less interested in rescuing Debbie than in wreaking vengeance on the Comanches for the slaughter of his brother's family.


title: The Searchers

text: In a 1964 interview with "Cosmopolitan", Ford said, Film scholar Ed Lowry writes, "[W]hile the Comanches are depicted as utterly ruthless, Ford ascribes motivations for their actions, and lends them a dignity befitting a proud civilization. Never do we see the Indian commit atrocities more appalling than those perpetrated by the white man. "Wayne is plainly Ahab", wrote cultural critic Greil Marcus. "He is the good American hero driving himself past all known limits and into madness, his commitment to honor and decency burned down to a core of vengeance." For Brenton Priestley, Ford indicates that Scar's cruelty is also motivated by revenge ("Two sons killed by white men. For each son, I take many... scalps.")