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talks about Lincoln pleading that 'the free West (emphasis added) should be allowed toremain free and warns of the hazards of a house divided against itself.' 78 This call forfreedom and unity paralleled the times. The film opened at the end of 1962 following theCuban missile crisis in which Kennedy led a united nation ready to defend itself at thesame time as the internal conflict over civil rights was creating disunity. The followingyear Advance to the Rear suggested that, negotiated agreements, while not solvingconflicts, preserved an armed peace if both sides kept to the terms. In the film, Union andConfederate forces have agreed to fire salvos at specified times, which enabled them toavoid any casualties - a parody of the Cold War 'balance of terror.' The Test Ban Treaty ofthat year showed that military power could be constrained through negotiations and, byanalogy, the conflict over civil rights could equally be addressed by positive action andfirm commitment by the federal government.Whilst Hollywood was wary of tackling the issue of slavery it continued its change ofemphasis with the northerner as hero and the southerner as villain. In The DeadlyCompanions a Union soldier is pursuing the Confederate who had partially scalped him ashe lay wounded on the battlefield. Scalping is an act of savagery that distinguishes thecivilised white man from the uncivilised forces - the Native Americans - therefore it placesthe southerner in the same category. This marked a change as, in 1955, the PCA hadwritten to John Ford forbidding him to allow Ethan, in The Searchers, 'to scalp an Indian'as it was 'a savage act.' 79 Instead Ethan shoots the dead Comanche through his eyes toprevent him entering the spirit land. The other story line in The Deadly Companionsinvolves the transport of a child's body, accidentally shot by the northern hero, across ahostile country to be buried next to his father. In the context of the day the journey can beseen as the North expiating its guilt of not carrying out its promise to the AfricanAmericans (the dead child) and in successfully challenging Jim Crow and rebellion byfrustrating Turk's plans of secession and the reintroduction of slavery.The collapse of the southern code of honour was highlighted in the brief Civil War episodein How the West Was Won (1962). In this film a young Texan attempts to shoot at Uniongenerals Grant and Sherman as they discuss the future after the Battle of Shiloh. He isprevented by a Union soldier, who kills him. This was a similar situation to Run of theArrow. In that film, O'Meara had an opportunity to shoot Grant at Appomattox but lowershis gun as he is told that he would have to shoot the Confederate General Lee as well, as105