Film Focus
John Ford

"It's no use talking to me about art, I make pictures to pay the rent."
--John Ford 

In spite of the above quote, when one looks at the short list of the greatest film directors of all time is John Ford (1894--1973) will be at or near the top, with such films as Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Mogambo (1953), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and The Searchers (1056), considered by many to be the greatest westrn ever made, to his credit. He received 4 Academy Awards as Best Director--for The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941) and The Quiet Man (1952)--a record that still stands more than 30 years after his death. Two documentaries he directed also won Oscars. His films have influenced directors as diverse as Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, and Clint Eastwood.

In one of film history's most enduring collaborations, John Wayne appeared in more than 20 of Ford's films. As irascible as he was brilliant behind the camera, Ford was renowned for his persistent mistreatment of actors (Wayne was no exception). But he was also intensely loyal, using the same group of actors for many of his films, a "stock company" that included Henry Fonda, John Carradine, Ward Bond, Harry Carey, Jr., Mildred Natwick, and Victor McLaglen as well as many others whose careers were otherwise fading into the sunset.

Books About John Ford and His Films

John Ford and the American West, by Peter Cowie. Abrams, 2004.

Searching for John Ford: A Life, by Joseph McBride. St. M., 2001.

John Ford Made Westerns: Filming the Legend in the Sound Era, by Gaylyn Studiar & Matthew Bernstein. Indiana UP, 2001.

John Ford: Interviews, ed. by Gerald Peary. U of MS, 2001.

Print the Legend: The Life & Times of John Ford, by Scott Eyman. S&S, 1999.

John Ford: A Bio-Bibliography, by Bill Levy. Greenwood, 1998.

John Ford: Hollywood's Old Master, by Ronald L. Davis. U of OK, 1995.

Italian & Irish Fillmaker's in America: Ford, Capra, Coppola & Scorsese, by Lee Lourdeaux. Temple, 1990.

John Ford: The Man and His Films, by Tag Gallagher. U. of CA, 1986.

John Ford, by Peter Stowell. Twayne, 1986.

My Darling Clementine: John Ford, Director (Rutgers Filsm in Print), ed. by Robert Lyons. Rutgers, 1984.

About John Ford, by Lindsey Anderson. MH, 1983, 1981.

John Ford, by Andrew Sinclair. Dial, 1979.

Pappy: The Life of John Ford, by Dan Ford. PH, 1979.

The John Ford Movie Mystery, by Abdrew Sarris. Indiana UP. 1976, 1975.

John Ford, by Joseph McBride & Michael Wilmington. Da Capo, 1975, 1974.

John Ford, by Peter Bogdanovich. U. of CA, 1968.

Books About John Wayne

John Wayne: The Man behind the Myth, by Michael Munn. NAL, 2004.

John Wayne: There Rode a Legend: A Western Tribute, by Jane Pattie, Western Classics, 2000.

Duke: The Life and Image of John Wayne, by Ronald L. Davis. U of OK, 1998.

John Wayne's America: The Politics of Celebrity, by Garry Wills. S&S, 1997.

Duke, We're Glad We Knew You: John Wayne's Friends & Colleagues Remember His Remarkable Life, by Herb Fagen. Carol, 1996.

John Wayne: American, by Randy Roberts & James S, Olson. Free Press, 1995.

Other Actors in John Ford Films

'Tis Herself, by Maureen O'Hara. S&S, 2004.

Company of Heroes: My Life as an Actor in the John Ford Stock Company, by Harry Carey, Jr. Scarecrow, 1994.

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