John Ford Movies
Maine-born John Ford (born Sean Aloysius O'Fearna) originally went to Hollywood in the shadow of his older brother, Francis, an actor/writer/director who had worked on Broadway. Originally a laborer, propman's assistant, and occasional stuntman for his brother, he rose to became an assistant director and supporting actor before turning to directing in 1917. Ford became best known for his Westerns, of which he made dozens through the 1920s, but he didn't achieve status as a major director until the mid-'30s, when his films for RKO (The Lost Patrol [1934], The Informer [1935]), 20th Century Fox (Young Mr. Lincoln [1939], The Grapes of Wrath [1940]), and Walter Wanger (Stagecoach [1939]), won over the public, the critics, and earned various Oscars and Academy nominations. His 1940s films included one military-produced documentary co-directed by Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland, December 7th (1943), which creaks badly today (especially compared with Frank Capra's Why We Fight series); a major war film (They Were Expendable [1945]); the historically-based drama My Darling Clementine (1946); and the "cavalry trilogy" of Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Rio Grande (1950), each of which starred John Wayne. My Darling Clementine and the cavalry trilogy contain some of the most powerful images of the American West ever shot, and are considered definitive examples of the Western.Ford also had a weakness for Irish and Gaelic subject matter, in which a great degree of sentimentality was evident, most notably How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Quiet Man (1952), which was his most personal film, and one of his most popular. It also earned more Oscars and nominations than any other movie ever produced at Republic Pictures. Poor health dogged Ford's career during the 1950s, but he still managed to create The Sun Shines Bright (1953) -- one of his favorite films, dealing with politics and race relations in the 19th century South -- Mogambo (1953), and The Searchers (1956), which is considered one of the most powerful Western dramas ever made. The Horse Soldiers (1959) showed some of Ford's flair, but was marred by production problems, and Ford later directed the John Wayne/Harry Morgan section of How the West Was Won (1963). His concern with social justice, which manifested itself in The Sun Shines Bright also became more evident during the early '60s, in films such as Sergeant Rutledge (1960), Donovan's Reef (1963), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), all of which sought to address problems of racial prejudice.
Ford was the recipient of the first Life Achievement Award bestowed by the American Film Institute, and was the subject of Peter Bogdanovich's documentary, Directed by John Ford (1971). He died in 1973. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
In this documentary centered on legendary filmmaker John Ford's cinematic contributions to Allied morale during World War II, actor/musician Kris Kristofferson narrates as the How Green Was My Valley director turns his back on Tinseltown in order to fulfill his patriotic duty. By the time the United States became involved in World War II, John Ford was already a film legend, but when Uncle Sam came calling the veteran filmmaker eagerly packed his bags and set his sites on the frontlines. Though Ford did sustain battlefield injuries during the production of the Oscar-winning documentary The Battle of Midway, the remarkable film endeared him to patriotic American audiences across the country and his next wartime effort, 1943's December 7th, proceeded to earn the filmmaker yet another Oscar. In addition to featuring footage from these and other, lesser-known wartime films from Ford, this documentary also offers an intimate look at the complex filmmaker and explores his remarkable legacy through both archive footage and interviews with such notable directors as Oliver Stone and Peter Bogdanovich. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 1990
This documentary respectfully interviews a number of important American directors who have in one way or another "bucked the system." It also explores the life and work of earlier American mavericks through the tributes, reflections, and recollections of the first group. Prominent among the living directors interviewed are Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Schrader, and David Lynch. Among the directors who are discussed are Orson Welles, D.W. Griffith and Samuel Fuller. Clips from the films of these men, and interviews with important actors who have worked with them (e.g. Robert DeNiro) are another feature of this documentary, commissioned by Japanese public television corporation NHK. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader, (more)
- 1973
After several feature-length documentaries (Elvis: That's The Way It Is, Soul to Soul), filmmaker Denis Sanders returned to the short-length form with The Great American West. This 55-minute film was initially a TV special, titled The Great American West of John Ford. The life story of the fabled film director is depicted via interview sequences with Ford, and lengthy clips from such classics as Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, the "Cavalry Trilogy", The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Sharing hosting duties are Ford collaborator Henry Fonda, James Stewart, and, of course, John Wayne. The Great American West of John Ford was first telecast December 5, 1971. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Ford, Henry Fonda, (more)
This documentary profiles the great American filmmaker John Ford (1895-1973). Among the films he directed were The Young Lincoln, Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Grapes of Wrath. Ford's work was distinguished by its great emotional clarity, which some see as sentimentality, and storytelling which evokes and defines what it is to be American. The film features interviews with Ford and with many of his stars, as well as exemplary clips from his films. Many of Ford's films were westerns, and interviews with him are filmed in Monument Valley, one of his favorite film settings. It is narrated by director Peter Bogdonavich, whose own work shows Ford's influence. Among the actors interviewed are John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1966
John Ford's final film is set in China in 1935, where a group of American women, led by Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton), work as missionaries. One of the women, Florrie (Betty Field), is pregnant and accompanied by her husband, Charles (Eddie Albert), while the others are single and on their own. The mission has become crowded after a cholera epidemic forced several outsiders to flee a nearby British mission and seek shelter with the American group, while a Mongol warrior, Tunga Khan (Mike Mazurki), has assembled troops who are sacking the area. When a female doctor, Dr. D.L. Cartwright (Anne Bancroft), enters the picture, she attempts to bring humor and civility to the group, but her tough yet compassionate nature clashes with Agatha's by-the-book approach, and when Cartwright is willing to put her own safety at risk to gain the attentions of Tunga Khan and slow his onslaught, the group is strongly divided -- most of the women admire the doctor's bravery, but Agatha (who seems to have a non-professional interest in Cartwright herself) considers her foolish and reckless. Seven Women was originally planned to star Patricia Neal as Dr. Cartwright, but when she suffered a stroke during filming that put her acting career on hold for several years, Anne Bancroft was recast in the role. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anne Bancroft, Sue Lyon, (more)
- 1965
Young Cassidy is based upon the autobiographical writings of firebrand Irish author Sean O'Casey. Rod Taylor is Cassidy, a boisterous boy who digs ditches to support his mother (Flora Robson) and sister (Sian Phillips). In his spare time, Cassidy is active with the Irish revolutionary movement against the occupying British. He still finds time enough for romance, notably with trashy chorine Julie Christie (in her first major role) and timid librarian Maggie Smith. Cassidy's latent writing talents are encouraged by such Irish literary giants as W.B. Yeats (Michael Redgrave) and Lady Gregory (Edith Evans), and in typically expeditious Hollywood fashion Our Hero almost instantly becomes a Man of Letters. John Ford began the direction of Young Cassidy, but fell ill and had to relinquish his responsibilities to Jack Cardiff; even the most diehard auteurist will have trouble discerning the personal "signature" of either director. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rod Taylor, Julie Christie, (more)
John Ford's last western film, Cheyenne Autumn was allegedly produced to compensate for the hundreds of Native Americans who had bitten the dust in Ford's earlier films (that was the director's story, anyway). Set in 1887, the film recounts the defiant migration of 300 Cheyennes from their reservation in Oklahoma territory to their original home in Wyoming. They have done this at the behest of chiefs Little Wolf (Ricardo Montalban) and Dull Knife (Gilbert Roland), peaceful souls who have been driven to desperate measures because the US government has ignored their pleas for food and shelter. Since the Cheyennes' trek is in defiance of their treaty, Captain Thomas Archer (Richard Widmark), who agrees with the Indians in principle, reluctantly leads his troops in pursuit of the tribe. While there was never any intention to shed blood, the white press finds it politically expedient to distort the Cheyennes' action into a declaration of war. Thanks to the cruelties of such chauvinistic whites as Captain Oscar Wessels (Karl Malden), the Cheyennes are forced to defend themselves--and whenever Indians take arms against whites in the 1880s, it's usually misrepresented as a massacre. Only the intervention of US secretary of the interior Carl Schurz (Edward G. Robinson) prevents the hostilities from erupting into wholesale bloodshed. Based on a novel by Mari Sandoz, Cheyenne Autumn is a cinematic elegy--not only for the beleaguered Cheyennes, but for John Ford's fifty years in pictures. It is weakest when arbitrarily throwing in a wearisome romance between Richard Widmark and pacifistic schoolmarm Carroll Baker, who out of sympathy for the Indians has joined them in their 1500-mile westward journey. When the Warner Bros. people decided that the film ran too long, they chopped out the wholly unnecessary but very funny episode involving a poker-obsessed Wyatt Earp (James Stewart). Contrary to popular belief, this episode was included in the earliest non-roadshow prints of Cheyenne Autumn; the scene was excised only when the film went into its second and third runs in 1966 (it has since been restored). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, (more)
John Ford's last film to deal with World War II, Donovan's Reef is an alternately comical and sentimental look back on the fighting Navy men from that war, and how and where -- in Ford's eyes, and Frank Nugent and James Edward Grant's script -- they should have ended up. Michael "Guns" Donovan (John Wayne), Thomas "Boats" Gilhooley (Lee Marvin), and Dr. William Dedham (Jack Warden), a trio of navy veterans who fought on the Pacific island of Haleakalowa during the war, now live on the island. Donovan and Gilhooley, biding time and enjoying themselves, engage in rough-house hijinks among themselves, and are both part of the doctor's extended family, enjoying the good will of the islanders for whom they fought during the war. While Dedham is away on a call to a neighboring island, his grown daughter, Amelia (Elizabeth Allen), from his first marriage, whom he has never seen, announces that she is arriving from Boston to determine Dedham's fitness of character to inherit the majority shares in the family shipping business. Donovan contrives to present Dedham's three Polynesian children, whom the doctor had with the island's hereditary princess, as his own, and also squires Amelia around the island in her father's absence. In the process, the cold Bostonian woman discovers a whole world -- of passion, joy, heroism, and a life among men and women whose lives have been about something other than making money -- that she's never known. She also understands all of the good that her father has accomplished away from Boston, even though it entailed abandoning her. Sparks and even a few fists fly between Donovan and Amelia (and between Donovan and several other characters), in the usual Ford rough-house manner, before their eventual reconciliation and a romantic clinch at the end, in this sweet, sentimental comedy-drama. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Lee Marvin, (more)
- 1962
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Like Pontius Pilate, director John Ford asks "What is truth?" in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--but unlike Pilate, Ford waits for an answer. The film opens in 1910, with distinguished and influential U.S. senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) and his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) returning to the dusty little frontier town where they met and married twenty-five years earlier. They have come back to attend the funeral of impoverished "nobody" Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). When a reporter asks why, Stoddard relates a film-long flashback. He recalls how, as a greenhorn lawyer, he had run afoul of notorious gunman Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), who worked for a powerful cartel which had the territory in its clutches. Time and again, "pilgrim" Stoddard had his hide saved by the much-feared but essentially decent Doniphon. It wasn't that Doniphon was particularly fond of Stoddard; it was simply that Hallie was in love with Stoddard, and Doniphon was in love with Hallie and would do anything to assure her happiness, even if it meant giving her up to a greenhorn. When Liberty Valance challenged Stoddard to a showdown, everyone in town was certain that the greenhorn didn't stand a chance. Still, when the smoke cleared, Stoddard was still standing, and Liberty Valance lay dead. On the strength of his reputation as the man who shot Valance, Stoddard was railroaded into a political career, in the hope that he'd rid the territory of corruption. Stoddard balked at the notion of winning an election simply because he killed a man-until Doniphon, in strictest confidence, told Stoddard the truth: It was Doniphon, not Stoddard, who shot down Valance. Stoddard was about to reveal this to the world, but Doniphon told him not to. It was far more important in Doniphon's eyes that a decent, honest man like Stoddard become a major political figure; Stoddard represented the "new" civilized west, while Doniphon knew that he and the West he represented were already anachronisms. Thus Stoddard went on to a spectacular political career, bringing extensive reforms to the state, while Doniphon faded into the woodwork. His story finished, the aged Stoddard asks the reporter if he plans to print the truth. The reporter responds by tearing up his notes. "This is the West, sir, " the reporter explains quietly. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Dismissed as just another cowboy opus at the time of its release, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has since taken its proper place as one of the great Western classics. It questions the role of myth in forging the legends of the West, while setting this theme in the elegiac atmosphere of the West itself, set off by the aging Stewart and Wayne. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, James Stewart, (more)
Filmed in panoramic Cinerama, this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic. Three legendary directors (Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall) combine their skills to tell the story of three families and their travels from the Erie Canal to California between 1839 and 1889. Spencer Tracy narrates the film, which cost an estimated 15 million dollars to complete. In the first segment, "The Rivers," pioneer Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden) sets out to settle in the West with his wife (Agnes Moorehead) and their four children. Along with other settlers and river pirates, they run into mountain man Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), who sells animal hides. The Prescotts try to raft down the Ohio River in a raft, but only daughters Lilith (Debbie Reynolds) and Eve (Carroll Baker) survive. Eve and Linus get married, while Lilith continues on. In the second segment, "The Plains," Lilith ends up singing in a saloon in St. Louis, but she really wants to head west in a wagon train led by Roger Morgan (Robert Preston). Along the way, she's accompanied by the roguish gambler Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck), who claims he can protect her. After he saves her life during an Indian attack, they get married and move to San Francisco. In the third segment, "The Civil War," Eve and Linus' son, Zeb (George Peppard), fights for the Union. After he's forced to kill his Confederate friend, he returns home and gives the family farm to his brother. In the fourth segment, "The Railroads," Zeb fights with his railroad boss (Richard Widmark), who wants to cut straight through Indian territory. Zeb's co-worker Jethro (Henry Fonda) refuses to cut through the land, so he quits and moves to the mountains. After the railway camp is destroyed, Zeb heads for the mountains to visit him. In the fifth segment, "The Outlaws," Lilith is an old widow traveling from California to Arizona to stay with her nephew Zeb on his ranch. However, he has to fight a gang of desperadoes first. How the West Was Won garnered three Oscars, for screenplay, film editing, and sound production. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Henry Fonda, (more)
- 1961
One of director John Ford's least characteristic films, it derives from the latter part of his career, when the director's belief in the myth of the West had faded, and he was beset by failing health and personal problems. In the cynicism of its humor, the director seems be to taking a page from the work of his friend Howard Hawks. James Stewart stars as Guthrie McCabe, the marshal of a Texas town who spends most of his time in front of the local saloon, where he gets 10 percent of the action, in addition to favors from its owner, Belle Aragon Anelle Hayes. Based on his knowledge of the Commanche tribe, his friend, cavalry officer Jim Gary (Richard Widmark), asks him to help the army to recover long-missing white captives. Despite his initial reluctance, the ability of the opportunistic McCabe to neogotiate a lucrative per capita deal for his recovery of the captives, in addition to his desire to evade the marital intentions of Belle, seal the deal. Even after interviewing the captives' desperate relatives, the hardened McCabe is unmoved, although he believes their chance of ever seeing their relatives again as they once knew them is remote. However, as events unfold, the all-knowing marshal find he has a few things to learn. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Richard Widmark, (more)
The first big budget Western to feature a black hero, this military courtroom drama from director John Ford starred his long-time stock player Woody Strode. When a cavalry commander and his daughter are discovered murdered, racism amidst the 9th Cavalry immediately leads to suspicions that Sergeant Braxton Rutledge (Strode), a black man, is responsible for the crime. Arrested by Lieutenant Tom Cantrell (Jeffrey Hunter), Rutledge escapes from captivity during an Indian raid but voluntarily returns to warn his fellow cavalrymen that they are about to face an ambush by hostiles, saving the detachment from certain doom. At first among those who accept Rutledge's probable guilt, Cantrell and his love interest Mary Beecher (Constance Towers) become two of the accused man's scarce defenders as he is put on trial and faces testimony from prejudiced "witnesses." ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers, (more)
Based on an actual Civil War mission, Colonel Marlowe (John Wayne) and Major Kendall (William Holden) are ordered by General Grant to take three regiments 300 miles into enemy territory. They must destroy the railroad line between Newton Station and Vicksburg in hopes of choking off supplies to the South. Marlowe encounters a Southern belle loyal to the enemy, and keeps her in sight throughout the journey so she can't warn the Confederates. Kendall, a Northern surgeon, and the crusty Marlowe have their differences along the way. Action, romance and gory battlefield surgery accompany the army as the mission is completed. John Ford directed this film based on a novel by Harold Sinclair. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, William Holden, (more)
Spencer Tracy stars in John Ford's sentimental adaptation of Edwin O'Connor's novel about the final campaign of a big city mayor, loosely based upon the life of Boston politician James Curley. Tracy is Frank Skeffington, the political boss of an Eastern city dominated by Irish-Americans. Skeffington tries to assist the people of the city and avoids cutting political deals with the power elite. But despite his concern for the people, Skeffington has no friends, just flunkies. The Mayor is greatly admired by his idealistic nephew Adam Caulfield (Jeffrey Hunter), who writes for an opposition newspaper run by Amos Force (John Carradine). When Skeffington needs money for a loan, he asks the powerful banker Norman Cass (Basil Rathbone), but Cass steadfastly refuses. In retaliation, Skeffington appoints Cass's retarded son as an interim fire commissioner. To prevent his son from disgracing the family, Cass agrees to the bank loan. But Cass uses his deep pockets to finance the opposition's candidate for mayor. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, (more)
- 1958
Director John Ford traveled to England to film this adaptation of the novel by J.J. Maraca, which details a typical day in the busy life of a detective for Scotland Yard. Inspector George Gideon (Jack Hawkins) begins his working day by confronting one of his fellow officers who is believed to be accepting graft. The sergeant stubbornly denies the charge, but he dies later the same day in a mysterious hit-and-run accident that piques Gideon's curiosity. While confronting internal strife within Scotland Yard, Gideon also has more typical crimes to investigate, including a murder in Manchester and a burglary in London, both of which were performed by the same vicious criminal. Gideon himself becomes the victim of a holdup and is forced to take a bullet for his troubles, while on the home front he finds himself in disfavor with his family when he forgets to bring home salmon for dinner and lets his daughter's recital slip his mind. Along with Jack Hawkins, Gideon's Day features a stellar cast of British actors, including Cyril Cusack, Anna Massey, Laurence Naismith, Dianne Foster, and Billie Whitelaw. For its initial American release, Gideon's Day (also shown as Gideon of Scotland Yard) was cut from 91 minutes to a mere 54, and distributed in black and white prints instead of the original Technicolor. Fortunately, nearly all the prints currently in circulation are of the uncut, color edition. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Hawkins, Dianne Foster, (more)
- 1957
To make the Rising of the Moon, American filmmaker John Ford returned to his Irish roots. An obscure and highly personal film for Ford, it is comprised of three episodes--each offering insight into Irish culture and values. All are introduced by Tyrone Power. In "The Majesty of the Law," a police officer is assigned to arrest an Irish curmudgeon who hit the neighbor who sold him a lousy batch of homemade whiskey. But this is no ordinary arrest as the old man is a traditionalist who loathes the new directions his beloved Eire is going. Out of respect, the cop eschews his car and walks to his cottage. The two have a conversation and the old man mourns the loss of the old ways and expresses his frustration over the encroachment of modern amenities that are destroying the Irish heritage. The sympathetic cop offers to free him if the old man will pay a small fine, but though the codger has more than enough to pay it, he refuses on principal. Even when the man who filed the charges offers to pay the fine, the coot refuses to give in and stoically heads off to serve his time. As he walks with the officer to the jail, the whole town comes out to honor the old man. Set at a train station "A Minute's Wait" offers a humorous look at Irish conceptions of time as train's brief scheduled stop to pick up some lobsters for an important dinner stretches out into a long, leisurely pause. The final vignette, "1921" features members of Dublin's Abbey Theatre and tells the story of how they engineer an elaborate rescue of an Irish patriot from prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Noel Purcell, Cyril Cusack, (more)
The Wings of Eagles is filmmaker John Ford's paean to his frequent collaborator--and, it is rumored, drinking buddy--Cmdr. Frank "Spig" Wead. John Wayne stars as Wead, a reckless WW1 Naval aviator who (it says here) was instrumental in advancing the cause of American "air power". In private life, Wead becomes estranged from his wife Minnie (Maureen O'Hara) after the death of their baby. Drinking heavily, Wead tumbles down the stairs of his home, and as a result he is apparently paralyzed for life. With the help of happy-go-lucky Navy mechanic Carson (Dan Dailey), Wead is able to regain minimal use of his legs, but it seems clear that his Naval career is over. Fortunately, he manages to find work as a prolific Hollywood screenwriter, and after the attack of Pearl Harbor he is called back to active duty to oversee the construction of "jeep carriers". Not one of John Ford's more coherent films--in fact, it's downright sloppy at times--The Wings of Eagles nonetheless contains several highlights, not least of which are the "I'm gonna move that toe" scene with John Wayne and Dan Dailey, and Ward Bond's inside-joke performance as irreverent film director "John Dodge". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Dan Dailey, (more)
If John Ford is the greatest Western director, The Searchers is arguably his greatest film, at once a grand outdoor spectacle like such Ford classics as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950) and a film about one man's troubling moral codes, a big-screen adventure of the 1950s that anticipated the complex themes and characters that would dominate the 1970s. John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a former Confederate soldier who returns to his brother Aaron's frontier cabin three years after the end of the Civil War. Ethan still has his rebel uniform and weapons, a large stash of Yankee gold, and no explanations as to where he's been since Lee's surrender. A loner not comfortable in the bosom of his family, Ethan also harbors a bitter hatred of Indians (though he knows their lore and language well) and trusts no one but himself. Ethan and Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), Aaron's adopted son, join a makeshift band of Texas Rangers fending off an assault by renegade Comanches. Before they can run off the Indians, several homes are attacked, and Ethan returns to discover his brother and sister-in-law dead and their two daughters kidnapped. While they soon learn that one of the girls is dead, the other, Debbie, is still alive, and with obsessive determination, Ethan and Martin spend the next five years in a relentless search for Debbie -- and for Scar (Henry Brandon), the fearsome Comanche chief who abducted her. But while Martin wants to save his sister and bring her home, Ethan seems primarily motivated by his hatred of the Comanches; it's hard to say if he wants to rescue Debbie or murder the girl who has lived with Indians too long to be considered "white." John Wayne gives perhaps his finest performance in a role that predated screen antiheroes of the 1970s; by the film's conclusion, his single-minded obsession seems less like heroism and more like madness. Wayne bravely refuses to soft-pedal Ethan's ugly side, and the result is a remarkable portrait of a man incapable of answering to anyone but himself, who ultimately has more in common with his despised Indians than with his more "civilized" brethren. Natalie Wood is striking in her brief role as the 16-year-old Debbie, lost between two worlds, and Winton C. Hoch's Technicolor photography captures Monument Valley's savage beauty with subtle grace. The Searchers paved the way for such revisionist Westerns as The Wild Bunch (1969) and McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and its influence on movies from Taxi Driver (1976) to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Star Wars (1977) testifies to its lasting importance. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, (more)
The life story of West Point athletic director Marty Maher was the inspiration for John Ford's The Long Gray Line. Told in flashback, the film recalls the first days at the Point for Irish immigrant Maher (Tyrone Power), a pugnacious boy who can't seem to fit in with the institution's regimen of unquestioning discipline. Athletic director Ward Bond takes a liking to Maher and arranges for the young man to become his assistant; Bond also plays Cupid between Maher and Irish maidservant Mary O'Donnell (Maureen O'Hara). When Mary's baby is stillborn, the Mahers begin to regard the West Point cadets as their surrogate children: this eventually leads to the film's most touching scene, in which Mary bids farewell to her son-substitute as he marches off to World War II. Following Mary's death, Marty stays on at the Point, until the place seems somehow incomplete without his presence. On the occasion of his forced retirement, Maher gently pleads with one of his former students--President Dwight D. Eisenhower--to permit him to remain at his post (Ike is played by Harry Carey Jr. in his early scenes, and by the voice of Paul Frees in the wraparound White House scenes). Based on Marty Maher's autobiography, The Long Gray Line seems at first glance too leisurely for its own good, but this appealing film gradually grows on its audience--just like Marty Maher himself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
Henry Fonda returned to films after an eight-year absence in this masterful adaptation of the actor's Broadway hit Mister Roberts. Written and partially directed by Joshua Logan, the film stars Fonda as Lt. Doug Roberts, chief cargo officer of the supply ship "Reluctant." WW2 is in its last few months, and Roberts is itching for combat duty. But the Reluctant's surly, despotic captain (James Cagney), anxious to use Roberts to expedite his own promotion, refuses to sign any of Roberts' transfer requests. Helping to brighten Mister Roberts' humdrum existence are his best friends, Ensign Frank Pulver (Jack Lemmon, in an Oscar-winning performance) and the ship's philosophical doctor (William Powell, in his final film appearance). Most of the laughs are provided by Pulver, officer "in charge of laundry and morale." When he isn't wheeling and dealing to bring a bevy of beautiful nurses on board the Reluctant, Pulver is concocting elaborate schemes to avenge himself against the Captain -- even though he's spent 14 months on the Reluctant without ever meeting his nemesis. The film's highlights include the efforts by Roberts, Pulver, and Doc to mix a bottle of Scotch from Coca-Cola, Iodine, and other vital ingredients; and Mister Roberts' (and later Ensign Pulver's) assertion of manhood by tossing the Captain's precious palm tree overboard. Halfway through shooting, legendary director John Ford was replaced, ostensibly because of illness, by Mervyn LeRoy. One of the finest service comedies ever made, Mister Roberts spawned a less amusing sequel, Ensign Pulver (1964), as well as a 1965 TV sitcom. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Henry Fonda, James Cagney, (more)
The 1953 Clark Gable film Mogambo is a remake of Gable's 1932 seriocomic adventure Red Dust. Where the earlier film was lensed on the MGM backlot, Mogambo was shot on location in Africa by director John Ford. Gable is safari leader Victor Marswell, who plays "host" to stranded Eloise Y. Kelly (Ava Gardner, who is no better than she ought to be but is just right for our raffish hero -- the Gardner role was originally played along franker pre-Code lines by Jean Harlow). Anthropologist Donald Nordley (Donald Sinden) hires Victor to lead him into the deepest, darkest jungle. Along for the ride is Donald's wife, Linda (Grace Kelly), outwardly cool as a cucumber but secretly harboring a lust for Victor. Scorned, Kelly tries to kill Victor, but true-blue Eloise takes the blame for the shooting. Reportedly, Grace Kelly carried on an off-camera romance with Clark Gable, which ended when the differences in their ages proved insurmountable. Even so, it is the easy rapport between Gable and Ava Gardner which stole the show in Mogambo. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, (more)
- 1953
Director John Ford, notoriously difficult to please, regarded The Sun Shines Bright as his favorite film. Laurence Stalllings' screenplay is based on several short stories by Kentucky humorist Irvin S. Cobb, some of which had previously been cinematized in Ford's 1934 Will Rogers vehicle Judge Priest. Charles Winninger stars as Judge William Pittman Priest, whose down-home, common-sense approach to his job has endeared himself to most of the residents of his small Kentucky home town, while alienating many of the "better" people. Up for election, Judge Priest is challenged by a Yankee upstart who has most of the influential citizens in his pocket. Almost deliberately courting defeat, the doggedly honest Priest champions several unpopular causes. In the film's most memorable scene, the Judge arranges a fancy funeral procession for an impoverished town prostitute. The film retains much of the charm of its predecessor Judge Priest; unfortunately (at least by P.C. standards), The Sun Shines Bright also retains the most questionable aspect of the earlier film: the stereotyped routines of African-American comedian Stepin Fetchit. One hardly knows how to react to the sequence in which the supplicative Fetchit tries to hush up a defiant young black man who is in danger of being lynched (Ford plays this scene for laughs!) While Fetchit's participation will hardly endear the film to modern audiences, it is unfair to write off the rest of The Sun Shines Bright, which otherwise fully lives up to director Ford's affectionate assessment. Long available only in its 90 minute release version, the film has in recent years been restored to the 100-minute "director's cut." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Winninger, Arleen Whelan, (more)
Returning to the Ireland of his birth, director John Ford fashions a irresistable valentine to the "Auld Sod" in The Quiet Man. Irish-American boxer John Wayne, recovering from the trauma of having accidentally killed a man in the ring, arrives in the Irish village where he was born. Hoping to bury his past and settle down to a life of tranquility, Wayne has purchased the home of his birth from wealthy local widow Mildred Natwick, a transaction that has incurred the wrath of pugnacious squire Victor McLaglen, who coveted the property for himself. By and by, Wayne falls in love with McLaglen's beautiful, high-spirited sister Maureen O'Hara. Her insistence that Wayne conduct his courtship in a proper Irish manner-with puckish matchmaker Barry Fitzgerald along for the ride as "chaperone"--is but one obstacle to their future happiness: the other is McLaglen, who spitefully refuses to give his consent to his sister's marriage, or to honor the tradition of paying a dowry to Wayne. Wayne could care less about dowries, but the tradition-bound Maureen refuses to consummate her marriage until McLaglen pays up. Under any other circumstances, Wayne would have punched out the bullying McLaglen long ago, but ever since his tragedy in the ring he has been reluctant to fight. Local priest Ward Bond conspires with several locals to trick McLaglen into paying his due. They intimate that widow Natwick, for whom McLaglen carries a torch, will marry the old brute if he'll give his consent to the marriage and fork over the dowry. But McLaglen finds he's been tricked and the situation remains at a standoff, with the frustrated Wayne locked out of his wife's bedroom. When Maureen accuses him of being a coward and walks out on him, our hero can stand no more. He marches Maureen to McLaglen's home, indicating that he plans to whale the tar out of both brother and sister. As a huge and appreciative crowd gathers the cornered McLaglen truculently tosses the money in Wayne's direction. Big John hands the bills to Maureen, just as she knew he would, and she ceremoniously destroys the money, just as he knew je would. Having proven their love for each other, there is nothing left for Wayne and Maureen to do but head home and perform their nuptual duties. But first there's the matter of giving McLaglen the thrashing he deserves....and it is this spectacular donnybrook, which covers several acres of land and at least two "pit stops" so that the combatants can quench their thirst, which convinces Natwick that the defeated McLaglen is truly worthy of her love (her logic is on a par with everyone else's in the film!) Though it tends to perpetuate the myth that all true Irishmen live only to fight, drink and make love, The Quiet Man is grand and glorious fun, enacted with gusto by a largely Hibernian cast and directed with loving care by a master of his craft. Written by Frank Nugent and graced with a lilting musical score by Victor Young, the film won Oscars for Archie Stout's Technicolor photography and for John Ford's direction-a real coup for "poverty row" Republic Pictures. If you haven't already luxuriated in this wonderful film, be sure to catch in on the tube next St. Patrick's Day. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
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