With his muse – John Wayne.
Howard Hawks said, “If you want to know how to make movies – all you need to do is watch the movies of John Ford. That’s it.”
Feel free to talk about the movies of his that you love and hold dear in the comments – I’d love to hear! In the meantime – here are some of the anecdotes about this dude that I know off the top of my head.
An impatient producer visited the set of some movie Ford was directing.
The producer said to Ford: “You are two weeks behind schedule!! This is an outrage!”
John Ford then picked up the script, ripped out 20 pages, and barked back, “Now we’re two weeks ahead of schedule.”
Some funny anecdotes about him in this post – including how mean he could be and how he actually brought John Wayne to tears once.
Here’s a post with a link to a terrific Stanley Crouch article on John Wayne and John Ford
And then there are all the quotes from Bogdonavich’s essay about John Wayne – that I posted some of here on the blog.
Here Wayne talks about Ford.
Here on how Ford would shoot reaction shots of Wayne
The Wayne thing (really honed and created by Ford – or, it was a joint production. Ford gave him those parts – and Wayne filled them up)
Wayne and Ford’s first meeting
Happy birthday John Ford (or – should I say: Sean Aloysius O’Fearna??)!
I love his movies,’Stagecoach’ etc. so on an so forth, but I am an absolute sucker for ‘How Green Was My Valley’. This old coot weeps every time Roddy embraces the dying Donald Crisp trapped in the mine. The Welsh singing, Maureen O’Hara’s veil flying in the breeze, Rhys Williams (Dai Bando) giving Roddy’s teacher a boxing lesson, Donald Crisp trying to help Roddy with his math homework – in short, a wonderful movie.
(Brief aside – went to college with Rhys Williams sons. Saw him once. He was using a walker. Terrible arthritis, I do believe.)
Perhaps my favorite director. When you get around to your film fest, don’t forget The Informer.
Dan – I will definitely need recommendations – I haven’t seen nearly enough John Ford. Why do you say The Informer (I haven’t seen it)? What about it do you love?
My favorite, hands down, is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance… John Wayne’s character is such a tragic one.
I love that movie too. It’s been years – I really need to see it again. I wish the Film Forum here would have a John Ford festival – I’ve seen NONE of these on a big screen.
OK – things I love about The Informer:
1. It’s not your usual kind of Ford flick – it’s more of psychological drama.
2. I love the way it’s shot, though I lack the technical vocab to describe it beyond saying it’s moody.
3. I can’t help wondering if Ernie O’Malley, who was a friend of Ford’s, served as some kind of advisor.
I won’t bore everyone repeating things I have said here in the past about Ford and Wayne, but I will refer those who are interested in Ford to this site–http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/ford.html
It’s a quick read, it hits all the right points, and it gives a few details about Ford that most people don’t know. Plus, it makes some interesting suggestions about viewing Ford’s movies, and the best order for such a viewing.
That’s a great link, thanks!
Oh gosh, DBW – that link is so awesome. Thank you!!
And I love to get you all going on John Wayne and John Ford. It’s really exciting to hear you guys talk about this stuff.
Dearest–regarding the Informer–actually Liam O’Flaherty was brought to Hollywood to help with the script. He hated the whole experience and wrote a novel that no one reads today [actually I did]called Hollywood Cemetery [echoes of another ex-pat’s The Loved One–a great movie by the way]. love, dad
I knew John Ford did documentaries during WWII, but I didn’t know he was actually LIVE at the Battle of Midway:
John Ford and the Battle of Midway
Holy Crap, The guy was a stud!
Dad – how’s the book? It sounds hilariouis.
Dearest- it is forgotten for a reason. love, dad
Dearest- it is forgotten for a reason. love, dad
HAHAHAHAH – I officially love your dad! He sees the new obsession percolating… and gently breaks the news.
Dad – HA! Okay, I’ll skip that one then.
steve on the mountain’s post reminds me that I still owe you a passage from How Green Was My Valley (thank’ee, steve). Way back when I first found this blog, you didn’t take my word for how brilliant the novel was, and challenged me to prove it. ;-) I haven’t entirely forgotten, and I’ll do it one day. Heh.
Back on topic: I don’t think I can pick from among John Ford movies–and I didn’t realize he’d directed How Green Was My Valley. I’ll have to get it on the Netflix list.