It’s embarrassing to admit, but I have sat on this blog post for over a year. Blame my rather haphazard administration skills, courtesy of my own private autism! I can function perfectly at work but at home my performance on writing, laundry, cleaning and self care are all subject to change without notice. Anyway, now is the time to post it. With the recent loss of the one and only David Lynch, a man whose cinema affected me so much I felt I knew him personally and even dreamt of meeting him, it is time to celebrate him.

I’ve always been a massive Lynch fan – ever since I saw The Elephant man on TV back in the early 80s. I saw Dune on VHS and, despite all the negative reviews, enjoyed its visual flare and the fascinating story behind its creation. Then I saw Blue Velvet on VHS in the late 80s and, by the time I saw Eraserhead during my first semester of university, Lynch was up there with my favorite directors – alongside Peckinpah, Buñuel, Jodorowsky, Argento and Cronenberg. To this day, Blue Velvet is in my personal top ten films of all time.

Having pledged to watch more classic films, I watched The Searchers the other day. I was struck on how it influenced David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. One influence was more obvious, and has been pointed out online before; however, I saw two more connections between John Ford’s classic film and Lynch’s groundbreaking TV show.

Given these connections, it is perhaps no coincidence that Lynch played John Ford in Steven Speilberg’s film The Fablemans.

It has been pointed out that Hank not only played the eccentric Mose Harper in The Searchers, but also played the elderly waiter who brings warm milk to Agent Cooper’s hotel room after he got shot, first episode of season 2.

https://twinpeaks.fandom.com/wiki/Hank_Worden

In the Searchers, just before the Comanche cross the river and attack, Moses lets out an odd whooping noise, mimicking the Comanche war cries. As soon as I heard it, it hit me – that was the same whoop that the Man from Another Place made in the red room. I always wondered why he made that whopping noise; was it just Lynch’s random sense of humour? No, now I know it was another nod to The Searchers.

Played by Ruth Clifford, she was credited as “Deranged Woman at Fort”.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/characters/nm0166681?ref_=tt_mv_close

In the scene, I was struck by how she was cradling a log, wrapped in a blanket, which slipped off clearly showing her odd preoccupation.

Is this where Lynch got the idea for the Log Lady? Based on his obvious interest in John Ford and other references to The Searchers, I think so.