John Ford's America - A Shared Humanity

[ken123]

The first time that I saw The Last Hurrah was about 1961. One of the best scenes of the film is early on when Mayor Skeffington ( Spencer Tracey ) tells his nephew Adam ( Jeffery Hunter ) a local ( Unnamed New England City - Boston ) sports writer about his ( Tracey's ) mother and Hunter's grandmother ( a maid - cook ) being chewed out, humiliated,and fired by the WASP'ish Forbes family for " stealing " an overripe banana, among other things, as she left for home. As Tracey tells it this
" thievery " was common among the Irish servants and nobody seemed to mind.About 25 years earlier Ford directed Judge Priest starring Will Rogers, were there is a scene involving the black ( lady ) servants cleaning up after a Confederate Veterans Chicken Dinner and their
" making off " with the leftovers with Roders smiling his approval after first feigning disapproval . IMHO these two scences and films made many years apart have Ford again showing that for all the alleged differences among peoples we are more alike than some people would care to admit.

[Lzcutter]

FrankGrimes over at TCM City asked that I post my 10 fave Ford films here for him to see. I figured I should post them here to, so here goes:

1) The Searchers- Ethan Edwards is one of the darkest characters in cinema and the fact that he is portrayed by John Wayne makes it even more chilling. A film I don't think Ford could have made had he not served in WWII. Filled with nuance and subtlety When I was first discovering this film, reviewers were all abuzz about the hinted at relationship between Martha and Ethan It had always been there but it took them about 15+ years to catch on. Look for the blue eyes.

2) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance- The story of legend vs truth and how it destroys three people. I have written a small tome around here about my love for this film.

3) How Green Was My Valley- With Ford it is about ritual- military, societal and/or family. In this wonderful tale of a Welsh coal mining family you get Ford at his most familial.

4) The Iron Horse - In this silent epic Ford starts to find his voice and in doing so creates the template for westerns. In the years ahead, he will evolve that template into his masterpieces.

5) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon- One of my favorites. Wayne as Nathan Brittles, playing older than he was, is wonderful. The interplay between him and Quincannon along with the hinted at back story that is almost a throw away is great. Add Ben Johnson and the Technicolor cinematography and you have a Remington painting come to life.

6) Fort Apache - Here Ford first approaches the idea of truth vs legend that he will revisit 15+ years later. A wonderful look at the ritual of a military fort on the edge of the frontier. Anna Lee and George O'Brien are heartbreaking. Fonda is great as the egomanical Thursday.

7) Stagecoach- Could be the grand-daddy of disaster flicks. A disparate group of people traveling by stage to Lordsburg meet with peril at every turn. Wonderful introduction shot of Wayne. What would Ford and Wayne have done had they not made this film together?

The Grapes of Wrath- Wonderful, heartfelt performances that speak through the ages for the little guy. Wonderful cinematography by Gregg Toland and a performance by Fonda that almost breaks your heart. Jane Darwell will.

9) Rio Grande- The haunting looks that Wayne and O'Hara give one another coupled with the army ritual. I will take you home, Kathleen is a keeper. Again, the cinematography is exquisite

10) Cheyenne Autumn- Ford turns the coin over and gives us a look at the Native American experience. Not as brash and uncompromising as it could be but still a worthy effort.

I need to see Four Sons and Pilgrimage.

[movieman1957]

Great list. I like "Cheyenne Autumn" but htat scene in the middle of the picture with Jimmy Stewart in the wagon chase always seemed like a huge interuption. Maybe they thought the weight of the story needed a break but I thought it just gets in the way.

It's tough keeping it at ten. "They Were Expendable" would get honorable mention from me.

[Lzcutter]

Chris,

I agree it is hard to keep it to ten. Frank asked for my next five and I will probably post that later tonight and post it here as well.

Gotta work in one of the Judge Priest films as well as "Expendable".

[mrsl]

movieman1957:

It took me a while to realize why they put that bit in with Jimmy Stewart, and when I finally understood, I thought, how dumb. Cheyenne Autumn was a serious movie from beginning to end and it really didn't need any comic relief. In fact, it was an irritation, I kept saying 'get back to the story'. Also, this is one of the movies that makes me wonder why Caroll Baker never got more attention than she did. Her best performance IMO was in The Miracle with Roger Moore. I thought she would really take off after that came out, but no go. The Miracle must be one of the ones that never made the cut for letterboxing, or it self destructed in the can, because I never see any mention of it anywhere.

Has anyone else ever seen The Miracle?

Anne

[ChiO]

Don't know how I missed this, but here is a Jonathan Rosenbaum salute to underappreciated Ford films.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/articles/ ... _films.htm

[MissGoddess]

Also, this is one of the movies that makes me wonder why Caroll Baker never got more attention than she did. Her best performance IMO was in The Miracle with Roger Moore. I thought she would really take off after that came out, but no go. The Miracle must be one of the ones that never made the cut for letterboxing, or it self destructed in the can, because I never see any mention of it anywhere.

Has anyone else ever seen The Miracle?

Anne, I like Carroll and I've never seen or heard of The Miracle. Is it a drama? I know Roger Moore got to do precious few of them once 007 took off. I wonder if Stuart has seen this movie, he knows Sir Roger's career pretty well. I'd love to get my hands on a copy, if one exists.


ChiO: Thanks for posting that link. I thought I had posted it here a while back on one of the Ford threads, but maybe I only did so at TCM. Shame on me, then.

[mrsl]

Miss Goddess:

Carroll Baker is a very devoted postulant in a convent in Spain (I think), but meets and falls in love with Roger Moore and gives up her devotion. When he is transferred out, she leaves the convent to follow him. While she is gone, the Madonna comes down from her pedestal and takes Carrolls' place in the convent (thus, the Miracle), causing a draught over the land. That's the basic story, and a lot follows but I don't want to give up any details, except that she becomes a famous cabaret singer 'Miraflores'.

It's in beautiful color, and the soundtrack is by Elmer Bernstein, so you have some idea of how it was put together (1959). Although I love the movie, Carroll doesn't quite capture the sense of religious devotion that guides her in all of her adventures and I think that is why it wasn't too well advertised. It was probably closely compared to Jennifer Jones portrayal of the peasant in the Lourdes story which was perfection itself.

However, for a colorful, action filled film, with some exciting musical spots, this is a good one, although it is hard to find, but oddly its a Warner Bros movie.

Anne

[MissGoddess]

Strange I never heard of that movie. Your description sounds intriguing, though. Elmer Bernstein alone sells it for me.

[movieman1957]

With a couple of new John Ford fans and since he is already a popular topic I thought I'd bump this up just in case anyone wanted to continue it.

[charliechaplinfan]

FrankGrimes over at TCM City asked that I post my 10 fave Ford films here for him to see. I figured I should post them here to, so here goes:

1) The Searchers- Ethan Edwards is one of the darkest characters in cinema and the fact that he is portrayed by John Wayne makes it even more chilling. A film I don't think Ford could have made had he not served in WWII. Filled with nuance and subtlety When I was first discovering this film, reviewers were all abuzz about the hinted at relationship between Martha and Ethan It had always been there but it took them about 15+ years to catch on. Look for the blue eyes.

2) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance- The story of legend vs truth and how it destroys three people. I have written a small tome around here about my love for this film.

3) How Green Was My Valley- With Ford it is about ritual- military, societal and/or family. In this wonderful tale of a Welsh coal mining family you get Ford at his most familial.

4) The Iron Horse - In this silent epic Ford starts to find his voice and in doing so creates the template for westerns. In the years ahead, he will evolve that template into his masterpieces.

5) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon- One of my favorites. Wayne as Nathan Brittles, playing older than he was, is wonderful. The interplay between him and Quincannon along with the hinted at back story that is almost a throw away is great. Add Ben Johnson and the Technicolor cinematography and you have a Remington painting come to life.

6) Fort Apache - Here Ford first approaches the idea of truth vs legend that he will revisit 15+ years later. A wonderful look at the ritual of a military fort on the edge of the frontier. Anna Lee and George O'Brien are heartbreaking. Fonda is great as the egomanical Thursday.

7) Stagecoach- Could be the grand-daddy of disaster flicks. A disparate group of people traveling by stage to Lordsburg meet with peril at every turn. Wonderful introduction shot of Wayne. What would Ford and Wayne have done had they not made this film together?

The Grapes of Wrath- Wonderful, heartfelt performances that speak through the ages for the little guy. Wonderful cinematography by Gregg Toland and a performance by Fonda that almost breaks your heart. Jane Darwell will.

9) Rio Grande- The haunting looks that Wayne and O'Hara give one another coupled with the army ritual. I will take you home, Kathleen is a keeper. Again, the cinematography is exquisite

10) Cheyenne Autumn- Ford turns the coin over and gives us a look at the Native American experience. Not as brash and uncompromising as it could be but still a worthy effort.

I need to see Four Sons and Pilgrimage.

This ties in with what we mentioned on the Lubitsch thread about Ford films. I've seen 3, 6, 7 and 8. I loved 7 and never thought I would. I need to see 6 again. I love the book of number 8 so much, I was always apprehensive of watching the film but the film is very good. Only number 3 fell short in my eyes, I think that's because the difference between our nations views of that time. I love The Quiet Man and it's very romantic view of Ireland.

[movieman1957]

Only number 3 fell short in my eyes, I think that's because the difference between our nations views of that time.

RE: How Green Was My Valley.

Alison:

I'm curious about this. Do you mean the time it was made, or set or the way we look at the subject of the film? Is it a romanticized view? Is it too Americanized for the way it should have been? I'm not disagreeing, I wanted to understand more fully what you think.

Thanks.

[movieman1957]

A headsup.

PBS showed the "American Masters" program of the show "John Ford and John Wayne the other night. The means it could be rebroadcast any day now. I think it is up for my area Friday afternoon.

Check it out if you are interested.

[charliechaplinfan]

Chris I find it both romanticised and Americanised. Too clean, in reality the houses would have been black with soot,the houses are too big, people would have been overcrowded,everyone's too well dressed and clean. It's nothing at all like Wales, more like Ireland, the Welsh valleys were it is set are very distinctive in the way they look. I sound like I'm being picky, I'm not, I know in reality it's got to appeal to the greater audience and to give it more reality is to possibly put a lot of people off seeing it in the first place. I suppose too, although I'm not Welsh there was a lot of mining done around here early last century, members of my own family and tales are passed down and there's the history we learnt at school and some of the books, we were made very much aware of the horrors of mining. It's a subject I'm fimiliar with but I think Ford took the a lot of the true horror out of how I was taught. The ending is true, it happened so often, there are many books on the subject, it was every mother's dream to get her boy educated so he didn't have to go down the pit. That's why it fails for me.

On the otherhand, I love The Quiet Man, that is completely romanticised and I know my Irish history too but I'm a sucker for it. So much so that I organised our Irish holiday so we could stay near were it was filmed.

[movieman1957]

Thanks so much for the answer. It's good to know these things so I can watch it with a broader perspective.