The directors: No 4: John Ford
The American film director John Ford, who was born in 1894 and who died in 1973, has often been described as the finest action director of all time. A man who could accurately be described as the strong, silent type, he was responsible for directing...
The American film director John Ford, who was born in 1894 and who died in 1973, has often been described as the finest action director of all time. A man who could accurately be described as the strong, silent type, he was responsible for directing and mentoring one of the most iconic of all movie stars John Wayne.
Technically, Mr Ford was the master of the long shot, wagons and horsemen riding through some dried up riverbed or shot from atop a canyon gorge were his stock in trade.
John Ford was - and remains - extremely influential and is credited with influencing the careers of directors as diverse as Martin Scorsese and Satyajit Ray. Mr Ford was one of the most prolific directors in the history of cinema and one of the few to be just as successful in the silent era as he was when sound arrived.
But it was his work with John Wayne that really marks him out as one of the all time greats. Their collaboration yielded 14 movies, including such classics as The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Quiet Man.
Although generally taciturn and rather shy John Ford is reputed often to have verbally abused and bullied his star John Wayne on set. However,
Mr Wayne apparently took all that was thrown at him by his director with equable grace.
Throughout his long screen career Mr Wayne always deferred to the mentor he called Pappy Ford.
The bond between the two men was in some ways ambivalent. The director was a decorated war hero in World War ll, while the actor remained safe and sound in Hollywood.
Also, Mr Ford espoused decidedly left of centre political views and was an ardent opponent of McCarthyism, while the political convictions of Mr Wayne veered somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan.
What's undeniable is that in Ford's favored shooting spot of Monument Valley, the star who became a patriotic symbol and the autocratic director forged an enduring image of the American frontier at once stirring and ambivalent.
Mr Ford is undeniably one of Hollywood's directing icons and an all time great man of the cinema.
Technically, Mr Ford was the master of the long shot, wagons and horsemen riding through some dried up riverbed or shot from atop a canyon gorge were his stock in trade.
John Ford was - and remains - extremely influential and is credited with influencing the careers of directors as diverse as Martin Scorsese and Satyajit Ray. Mr Ford was one of the most prolific directors in the history of cinema and one of the few to be just as successful in the silent era as he was when sound arrived.
But it was his work with John Wayne that really marks him out as one of the all time greats. Their collaboration yielded 14 movies, including such classics as The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Quiet Man.
Although generally taciturn and rather shy John Ford is reputed often to have verbally abused and bullied his star John Wayne on set. However,
Mr Wayne apparently took all that was thrown at him by his director with equable grace.
Throughout his long screen career Mr Wayne always deferred to the mentor he called Pappy Ford.
The bond between the two men was in some ways ambivalent. The director was a decorated war hero in World War ll, while the actor remained safe and sound in Hollywood.
Also, Mr Ford espoused decidedly left of centre political views and was an ardent opponent of McCarthyism, while the political convictions of Mr Wayne veered somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan.
What's undeniable is that in Ford's favored shooting spot of Monument Valley, the star who became a patriotic symbol and the autocratic director forged an enduring image of the American frontier at once stirring and ambivalent.
Mr Ford is undeniably one of Hollywood's directing icons and an all time great man of the cinema.