John Ford, original name John Martin Feeny. Ford had directed more than 60 films (many “two-reelers” and a handful of films approaching what is now considered feature length), including dozens of westerns. Cast: John Ford, James Stewart, John Wayne, Katherine Hepburn, Maureen O'Hara, Henry Fonda, Harry Carey Jr.Orson Welles (narrator) Director: Peter Bogdanovich; Writer: Peter Bogdanovich; Producers: Frank Marshall, James R. Telly addict Andrew Collins casts his critical eye over New Worlds (above), Klondike, The Trip to Italy, Endeavour and Monkey Planet. ![]() Overview of Directed by John Ford, 1971, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, with Orson Welles, Peter Bogdanovich, John Ford, at Turner Classic Movies. Directed by John Ford Brand New. In 1971, Peter Bogdanovich made a fascinating documentary about the legendary John Ford in which Henry Fonda, James Stewart and John Wayne revealed firsthand tales about the man often cited as. Buy Directed by John Ford on Amazon.com FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders. Directed by John Ford . Four years later, Bogdanovich published an interview book about Ford, and even though the director was allegedly dissatisfied with both the original Variety piece from 1. Bogdanovich to start working on a documentary. 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. Directed by John Ford Cast: Peter Bogdanovich, Harry Carey Jr., Clint Eastwood, Henry Fonda, Walter Hill, Maureen O'Hara, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, James Stewart, John Wayne Regular airtime: 8pm ET (Turner. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich. With John Ford, Peter Bogdanovich, Orson Welles, Ward Bond. A documentary on the life and films of director John Ford. ![]() John Ford (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973) was an American film director. He is renowned both for Westerns such as Stagecoach (1939), The Searchers (1956), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), as well as.Directed by John Ford was introduced to the world in 1. Bogdanovich, however, wasn’t all that happy about what his passionate documentary tribute turned out to be. Since there were insufficient funds to purchase the rights to relevant inserts from Ford. Furthermore, Bogdanovich felt he failed to explore Ford. After a critically successful screening of the original documentary at the 1. Telluride Film Festival, Bogdanovich decided to make a revised version of the film that ultimately came out in 2. As promised to producer and friend Frank Marshall, Bogdanovich kept . With the new version, Bogdanovich felt he rounded up what he wanted to say about the iconic filmmaker considered by most as one of the most significant cinematic authors in American cinema. John Ford would have probably discarded the film, claiming he only endured three minutes of it before nausea started to kick in. But then again, he made similar comments on Bogdanovich. The DVD of the documentary is available at Amazon and other online retailers. MY NAME IS JOHN FORD: I MAKE MOVIES. I recognized it instantly as the interview on which I had worked. The video looked like uncorrected, raw dailies; I could believe it had never been broadcast, although Joseph Mc. Bride says he saw a finished version titled My Name is John Ford: I Make Movies. Narrated by John Wayne, James Stewart and Henry Fonda. John Ford as featured director in an episode of the television series Cineastes de notre temps; author. He had conducted that one from his bed, having taunted the hapless Gaul with his own fractured French. Shortly before his death in 1. La Quinta, Ford allowed himself to be photographed in his bed with his friends John Huston and Dennis Hopper. John Ford and John Wayne . It was a relationship that reflected all the elements and all the paradoxes of 2. America — generosity of spirit, abuse of power, a sense of loyalty, and a restless nationalism that didn’t quite know what to do with itself. Ford had been a successful director for over a decade when he met Marion Morrison, at the time a young USC student working a summer job on the Fox lot as an assistant property man. He saw something in Morrison and gave the “kid” a few walk- ons in his films. Within two years Morrison had changed his name to John Wayne and Ford, very pleased with the young man’s work, recommended him to Raoul Walsh, another director on the lot. Walsh was about to start one of the biggest films Fox had produced to date, THE BIG TRAIL, and the director gave Wayne the lead. The film ultimately flopped and Wayne’s career was quickly relegated to grade C westerns on poverty row. This was a situation many felt Ford could have stepped in to remedy, but over the next decade all the struggling young actor heard was that “Pappy was keeping an eye out for a script that would best suit the Duke,” his affectionate nickname for Wayne. As Wayne’s career stalled Ford’s roared ahead; he was now one of the biggest directors in Hollywood. But the two men stayed friends — as long as it was clear who was boss. During these years, Ford (contrary to popular myth, which portrays him as a simple- minded, flag- waving conservative,) gained a reputation inside Hollywood political circles as a staunch Roosevelt Democrat. Wayne on the other hand had virtually no political opinions — his focus was on his career and family. The bond between the two men was largely the result of long cruises to Mexico and the Pacific Island chains on Ford’s yacht “Araner.” These jaunts, where Ford was accompanied by Wayne, Henry Fonda, Ward Bond, and others looked like nothing more than drunken pleasure trips, and for Wayne and the others that’s what they were. Unbeknownst to his passengers however, director Ford was spying. Since the mid- thirties Ford had been covertly photographing shorelines and shipping lanes for the American military in preparation for a war many in the War Department felt was inevitable. It was after one of these voyages in 1. Ford teasingly asked Wayne to read the script of his next picture. Could Duke give him “some advice on what young actor might play the role of the Ringo Kid?”The script was STAGECOACH and Ford, after finally giving the part to the hungry actor, proceeded to taunt and belittle him throughout weeks of filming. Whether it was Ford’s infamously sadistic personality or a clever ploy to have the other actors support Wayne, the end result brought forth the persona that would come to be known as The Duke. The picture would make John Wayne a star overnight and bring the Western back to the forefront of American cinema. Wayne would never forget it — not that there was any danger of Ford letting him. When the war started almost two years later, Ford was already in uniform and had finished five pictures in the year and a half since STAGECOACH. Amongst them were YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME, and HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY. But for Ford these were just movies. The war would be the greatest adventure of his life — a call to arms by the country he loved that had given him everything. It also set up a conflict between Wayne and Ford that would ultimately push Wayne into politics in a major way. John Wayne was thirty- one- years old, married, and supporting three children when the war began. His newfound stardom was a realization of a dream he was not in a hurry to relinquish to a uniform. Throughout the war, Ford urged the young actor “to get in it,” and each time Wayne would beg off until he finished “just one more picture.” Ford was disappointed to say the least, and he let Wayne know it. Wayne was growing richer as other men died. As the war continued, Ford’s strong disappointment fueled a growing conflict between the men and fostered a sense of guilt within Wayne. Wayne’s decision to stay out of the service would haunt him for the rest of his life. In the years following the war, Ford’s films grew increasingly nostalgic as his disillusionment with post- war America grew. Injustice, racism, and greed seemed to be replacing the values he felt he and others had fought for. On the other hand, as Ford grew more introspective, Wayne saw the world open up in front of him with each new movie triumph. As their perspectives changed so did their relationship. Between the end of the war in 1. Ford’s death in 1. Those films helped define how we saw ourselves, or put another way, how John Ford wished us to be as Americans. From, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE, through the cavalry series — FORT APACHE, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, and RIO GRANDE — Ford made U. S. He also made John Wayne the personification of that history as well as the American male. Wayne the actor and star brought a reluctant power to those roles. That reluctant power was Ford’s principal and cherished idea of America’s greatness. Being a symbol of America was a responsibility that ate away at Wayne. It was that sense of responsibility combined with his continuing guilt over not serving during the war that drove Wayne deeply into politics. As the Cold War heated up and the Iron Curtain fell, Wayne began to merge his personal commitment to defending America with his screen persona. And from behind the camera, Ford’s vision of his country and his part in how it saw itself was shifting. With THE SEARCHERS, THE HORSE SOLDIERS, and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, Ford would use the iconic image he’d helped Wayne create to cast light into the shadows of the country he loved. While Ford’s perspective may have grown darker, his love of America, its people and its landscape, never dimmed. The growing difference of political opinion between the two men can be seen in two events. In late 1. 94. 8, John Wayne became president of The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. Including the actors Ward Bond and Adolphe Menjou, producers like Metro’s James Mc. Guiness, and director Sam Wood, the organization saw its principle goal as hunting down subversive elements within the American film industry. While Wayne was lending his star power to the anti- Communist forces, Ford was standing up at a historic Directors Guild meeting to stop the red hunters, led by C. B. De. Mille, from firing the president of the Guild, Joe Mankiewicz, who they had come to view as dangerous. Ford famously rose after several hours of debate amongst the various factions and introduced himself humbly and ironically, “My name is John Ford and I make Westerns.” By the time he finished saying what he thought of De. Mille for his sneak attack on Mankiewicz the tide had turned and De. Mille and his followers had to do the resigning. For the two friends politics became a topic that was left out of their conversations. By the time the fifties ended John Wayne was the biggest star in the Western world. For Ford, who was pushing into his sixties, it was another story. His pictures were not the successes they once were and he found himself increasingly reliant on Wayne to get films done. The politics, their careers, and the changing dynamics of their relationship would become clear on THE ALAMO. THE ALAMO was John Wayne’s “vision of America’s greatness” — a simpler, more heroic America. He had been trying to get it made with himself as the director for years. Now at the height of his fame he was able to finally secure financing as long as he also starred. Under great pressure to prove himself he began production. He was barely a third of the way through when Ford showed up in Texas to “lend a hand.” Wayne was beside himself, he couldn’t just turn his mentor away. Finally Duke’s cameraman suggested they give Ford a second unit to shoot pick- up shots far away from the first unit. So Wayne, out of his own pocket, financed Ford to shoot a second unit. Very little was used in the finished film, but the rumors that Ford had to “save” Wayne were humiliating for the star. By now it must have been clear to Ford that the son, so to speak, had surpassed the father. While THE ALAMO was hardly a huge success, it was now Wayne who wielded the power in the industry. In later years as Ford struggled to get pictures made Wayne was always there for him, even on LIBERTY VALANCE, when the Duke had serious reservations about his part. If Pappy wanted him, that was it, the Duke showed up. Kenneth Bowser is the writer/producer/director of NBC’s two- hour network special, LIVE FROM NEW YORK: THE FIRST FIVE YEARS OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, created for the 3. SNL. His last film, EASY RIDERS/RAGING BULLS (a Trio/BBC co- production), was an official selection at the 2. Cannes Film Festival. Bowser also produced and directed the Emmy Award- winning documentaries “Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer” and FRANK CAPRA’S AMERICAN DREAM (Columbia/Tri. Star Pictures). He has produced, directed, and written for ABC News Productions and is the writer/director/producer of the feature film IN A SHALLOW GRAVE (American Playhouse Theatrical Films.) In addition, Bowser was the director/writer and producer, with Rachel Talbot, of HOLLYWOOD, DC: A TALE OF TWO CITIES (Bravo).
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