Fáilte! Welcome to the Maine Irish Heritage Center

JOHN FORD

“When it comes to evaluating the artistry and achievement of film directors, it has been said that John Ford is, while not above criticism, simply above comparison. The greatest of moviemakers – Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese, to name but a few – have acknowledged their enormous debt to Ford. Several of Ford’s films – The Grapes of Wrath, Young Mr. Lincoln, Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – are consistently rated by film critics and scholars as being among the greatest American movies ever made. Ford was the first and only filmmaker to have won six Oscars as a film director, including two that were earned for his heroic work in shooting wartime documentaries for the United States Navy. And his style of filmmaking has sometimes been likened to a kind of visual poetry that flowed from some mysterious but brilliant source of inner cinematic genius. After his fellow Portlander Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Ford might well be called Maine ’s second greatest poet, though a poet of the moving image rather than of the word.”

Selective Biography:

Born John Martin Feeney on February 1, 1894 , in Cape Elizabeth (Spurwink) Maine .
Baptized on March 13, 1894 , at St. Dominic’s Cathedral, Danforth Street , Portland , ME.
Raised and educated in Portland , Maine . Served as an altar boy at his family’s church, St. Dominic’s Cathedral, and graduated from Portland High School as a star athlete.
Followed his older brother Francis to Hollywood and adopted the surname “Ford” as Francis had done before him. Worked with his brother acting and directing in early motion pictures.
Winner of six Academy Awards as Best Director, among many other awards for his remarkable filmmaking achievements.
Earned status of Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy for his service as a documentary filmmaker.
Received the American Film Institute’s first Life Achievement Award in 1973.
Awarded the Medal of Freedom, America ’s highest civilian honor, by President Nixon in 1973.
Died of cancer on August 31, 1973 , in Palm Desert , California .

Excerpts from Joseph McBride’s 2001 biography Searching for John Ford: A Life:

John Ford: “I love Portland ; I don’t even know if they like me …” (p. 27)

John Ford: “[T]he only thing I always had was an eye for composition – I don’t know where I got it – and that’s all I did have …” (p. 39)

John Ford: “I have never thought about what I was doing in terms of art, or ‘this is great’, or ‘world-shaking’, or anything like that. To me, it was always a job of work – which I enjoyed immensely – and that’s it.” (1966) (p. 101)

John Ford: “My name is John Ford. I am a director of Westerns.” (Ford’s controversial identification of himself at a famous meeting of the Screen Directors Guild in 1950)

John Ford: “You say someone’s called me the greatest poet of the Western saga. I am not a poet, and I don’t what a Western saga is. I would say that is horseshit.” (title quote)

McBride: “When Kenneth Tynan asked Orson Welles in 1967 which directors he most admired, Welles gave an oft-quoted response: ‘The old masters. By which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.’ In other interviews, Welles elaborated: ‘John Ford was my teacher. My own style has nothing to do with his, but Stagecoach was my movie textbook. I ran it over forty times … I wanted to learn how to make movies, and that’s such a classically perfect one …’” (pp. 299-300)

McBride: “Orson Welles, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Frank Capra, Howard Hawks, Elia Kazan, Samuel Fuller, and others described Ford as the greatest living director; Sam Peckinpah and Arthur Penn emulated his work even while boldly challenging it with their revisionist Westerns; the American cinema’s brightest newcomers, such as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, regarded Ford as one of their masters; and Sidney Lumet declared, ‘There’s one general premise: almost anything that any of us has done you can find in a John Ford film.’”(707)

Excerpts from Tag Gallagher’s John Ford: The Man and His Films:

Gallagher: “John Ford’s career – from 1914 to 1970 – spanned almost the entire history of the motion picture industry, and for most of that time he was recognized as America ’s finest moviemaker. His movies told good stories, had vivid characters, provoked thought, kindled down-home charms; and his own personality was apparent in them. His compositional eloquence made dialogue virtually unnecessary – scarcely for dearth of scripted richness, but because literary structure was only a single aspect of the intricate formal beauty and intelligence of his cinema.” (Preface, p. viii)

Gallagher: “John Ford, by 1927, was becoming an artist. Henceforth – and progressively more so as the decades pass – understanding his pictures is the key to (and more important than) understanding the man.

“His was a complex personality, and, indeed, he adored paradox. In himself, in the world, in existence itself, he searched out contradictions dear and dreadful to beggar his comprehension. Like any well-raised Irish Catholic, he strove compulsively to be a saint and to understand. Such understanding entails reconciling irreconcilables …” (p. 46)

John Ford: “The secret [of moviemaking[ is people’s faces, their eye expression, their movements.” (Conclusion, p. 482)


John Ford statue located at Gorham’s Corner, Portland, Maine

Selective Filmography: (For a More Complete Filmography - Click Here)

1914-1916: “Jack Ford” worked primarily as an actor in silent films, especially those directed by his brother, Francis Ford. He supposedly played a Ku Klux Klansman in D. W. Griffith’s landmark The Birth of a Nation (1915). Griffith was a major influence on the early Ford, as were the early German expressionist films (especially the classic Sunrise by F. W. Murnau).

1917-1929: Jack Ford directed many silent films, especially early westerns with Harry Carey (as “ Cheyenne Harry”) as well as with his brother Francis and cowboy star Tom Mix. A particularly influential silent film was 1924’s The Iron Horse, about the building of the transcontinental railroad, with George O’Brien. His 1922 silent The Village Blacksmith was based upon a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, another native son of Portland , Maine .

Arrowsmith (1931), with Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes. 4 Oscar nominations.

Pilgrimage (1933). A mother realizes her guilt after sending her son to war.

Doctor Bull (1933), Judge Priest (1934), Steamboat Round the Bend (1935), all starring the legendary American humorist Will Rogers.

The Lost Patrol (1934). With Victor McLaglen and Boris Karloff.

The Informer (1935). Best Actor Oscar: Victor McLaglen. Best Director Oscar, along with Oscars for best screenplay (Dudley Nichols) and best musical score (Max Steiner). Nominated for Best Picture Oscar. Based on novel by Ford’s Irish cousin Liam O’Flaherty. An Irish revolutionary informs on his good friend and suffers the consequences during one drunken night. Heavily influenced by German expressionism (fog, shadows, dramatic camera angles, etc.).

Mary of Scotland (1936). With Katharine Hepburn and Fredric March.

The Plough and the Stars (1936). With Barbara Stanwyck and Preston Foster. Based on the play by Irish dramatist Sean O’Casey. Life in Dublin during the Easter Rebellion.

Stagecoach (1939). Won two Oscars (Thomas Mitchell for best support actor and Richard Hageman for best musical score). Nominated for Best Picture, Director, Art Direction, Photography, and Editing (losing out generally to Gone with the Wind, though Ford won that years New York Film Critics award for best director). A landmark western.

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). Henry Fonda, Alice Brady. Young Abe discovers the importance of the law, becomes an attorney, and falls in love with Ann Rutledge.

Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). Henry Fonda. Pioneer life during the American Revolution.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Based on the John Steinbeck novel. An evicted family from the Ozarks seeks a new life in California in the 1930s but continues to suffer hardship. Won Best Director Oscar as well as Oscar for best supporting actress (Jane Darwell). Nominated for best picture, actor (Henry Fonda), script, editing, and sound. Rated by many critics as one of the best American films ever made.

The Long Voyage Home (1940). Based on several one-act plays by Eugene O’Neill. Starring John Wayne and Thomas Mitchell. Seven Oscar nominations, but no wins.

Tobacco Road (1941). Charley Grapewin, Gene Tierney. Life in rural Georgia .

How Green Was My Valley (1941). Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara. Based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn. Portrait of joys and sufferings in the life of a Welsh mining family in the 1890s. This film beat out Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane for Best Picture Oscar. Also won for best direction, photography, art direction, and best supporting actor (Donald Crisp). A heartbreaking as well as heartwarming classic.

1941-1946. Ford supervised the production of many training films and documentaries for the US Navy. Ford was made Lieutenant Commander, USNR, for his work.

The Battle of Midway (1942). US Navy documentary film. Oscar for best documentary.

December 7^th (1943). Navy documentary on Pearl Harbor . Oscar for best documentary.

They Were Expendable (1945). Robert Montgomery, John Wayne, Donna Reed. One of the best WWII films ever made. An authentic look at life on PT-boats during America ’s defeat in the Philippines ( Montgomery was a real-life PT-boat commander). Rated very highly by Ford scholar and filmmaker Lindsay Anderson.

My Darling Clementine (1946). Henry Fonda, Victor Mature. Classic western about Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and their gunfight with the Clantons at the OK Corral.

The Fugitive (1947). Henry Fonda, Delores Del Rio . Based on Graham Greene novel.

Calvary Trilogy.

Fort Apache (1948). John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple, Ward Bond.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949). John Wayne Joanne Dru, John Agar.

Rio Grande (1950). John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Victor McLaglen.

3 Godfathers (1948). John Wayne, Harry Carey Jr.. Beautiful color remake of Ford’s own 1919 silent film Marked Men, based on Peter B. Kyne story “The Three Godfathers.”

Wagon Master (1950). Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Ward Bond. According to Ford, this film (without any major stars) was close to what he wanted to capture with a western.

This is Korea ! (1951). Live action documentary of the US marines in Korean War.

The Quiet Man (1952). John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Victor McLaglen. Won Oscars for best direction and photography. Nominated for six others, including best picture. A clear “labor of love” for Ford as he had been trying to make this romance set in Ireland for many years. Ford shot this near his father’s ancestral home in Spiddal near Galway .

What Price Glory (1952). James Cagney. Word War I drama set in France . Baed on a play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings.

The Sun Shines Bright (1953). A loose remake of Ford’s earlier Judge Priest with Will Rogers. Screenplay by Laurence Stallings, based on stories by Irvin S. Cobb. Portrait of politics in a Kentucky town in 1905. Ford’s favorite among his own films, along with Wagon Master.

Mogambo (1953). Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly. Life on a safari in Africa .

The Long Gray Line (1955). Tyrone Power, Maureen O’Hara. Life of an Irish immigrant at West Point .

Mister Roberts (1955). Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, James Cagney, William Powell. Co-directed with Mervyn LeRoy and Joshua Logan (uncredited). A seriocomic look at life on a cargo boat in World War II. Based on a play by Joshua Logan and Thomas Heggen.

The Searchers (1956). John Wayne, Ward Bond, Jeffrey Hunter. Perhaps Ford’s most influential and most highly admired film, regarded by many as the greatest western ever made. Explores themes of racism and revenge in the Old West. Greatly influenced young filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, among others.

The Last Hurrah (1958). Spencer Tracy plays a New England big city politician who wages his final campaign. Based on the Edwin O’Connor novel.

Sergeant Rutledge (1960). Jeffrey Hunter, Woody Strode. A black cavalry sergeant is tried for the rape and murder of a white girl. One of Ford’s several explorations of racism.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles, and Lee Marvin. Famous line: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Centered in the tiny town of Shinbone rather than in the broad landscapes of Monument Valley like many of Ford’s earlier westerns, this is a tale about the passing of the Old West and the dawning of civilized democracy and statehood amidst the wilderness. Now regarded as one of Ford’s “masterpieces.”

Donovan’s Reef (1963). John Wayne and Lee Marvin. Comic mayhem and family drama on a South Pacific island. Rated highly by Ford expert and scholar Tag Gallagher.

Cheyenne Autumn (1964). Richard Widmark, James Stewart. The film shows the return of the Cheyenne Indians to their home and explores the treatment of Native Americans by the white man, continuing Ford’s later depiction of the brutality and racism behind the Old West mythology.

7 Women (1965). Anne Bancroft, Margaret Leighton, Flora Robson. Ford’s final feature film. Story of female missionaries in China .

-- edited and compiled by Kevin L. Stoehr, professor of humanities, Boston University

John Ford Links:

The Film Journal: Two Big Missing John Ford Stories

http://www.thefilmjournal.com/issue12/fordintro.html

The Film Journal: An Interview With John Ford

http://www.thefilmjournal.com/issue12/ford.html

Index of the John Ford Papers in the Lilly Library, Indiana University :

http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/guides/ford/johnford.html

Excellent article by Tag Gallagher, “John Ford till ‘47”, with photo of Ford’s Sheridan Street home in Portland

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/04/31/john_ford_till_47.html

Excellent article by Tag Gallagher, “Ford Rises From the Dead. Again.”