#2,780. They Were Expendable (1945) - The Films of John Ford

 

By 1945, the war in the Pacific had ended. John Ford’s They Were Expendable, released that same year, takes us back to the beginning, with an opening scene set on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It was the event that kicked off the Pacific campaign, and while the United States would eventually emerge victorious, this movie serves as a reminder of those early days, when victory was anything but certain.

Based on a book of the same name that chronicled the exploits of Lt. John D. Bulkeley, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service during World War II, They Were Expendable stars Robert Montgomery as Lt. Brickley, commander of a ragtag group of PT boats stationed in the Philippines. When war breaks out between the U.S. and Japan, Brickley and his second-in-command, Lt. “Rusty” Ryan (John Wayne), expect to see some action. Unfortunately, Navy Brass isn’t convinced that PT Boats will be effective against the Japanese Armada, so Brickley, Ryan, and their crew are given menial tasks to perform, like running messages and shuttling officers between posts.

Even when they prove their worth in battle (at one point single-handedly taking on a squadron of Japanese planes), Brickley’s PT crew, which also includes BMC Mulcahey (Ward Bond), Ensign Garnder (Marshall Thompson), and Ensign Andrews (Paul Langdon), find themselves on the sidelines. As the war in the Pacific rages on, Japan wins victory after victory, even going so far as to force the Commanding General of the Pacific Theater, Douglas MacArthur (played here by Bruce Kellogg), to flee to Australia.

And while Brickley and Ryan fight effectively (when permitted to), the Japanese continue to gain ground, making it anyone’s guess as to how long U.S. forces will be able to hold out.

John Ford, who served in the Navy’s photographic unit during World War II, hadn’t directed a feature-length movie since 1941’s How Green Was My Valley, yet you wouldn’t know it watching this film. From start to finish, They Were Expendable features all the bravura, humor, and drama we’ve come to expect from the legendary director. Also good is star Robert Montgomery, who was himself a PT commander during World War II; his turn in what is essentially the lead role is one of the strongest of his career. Wayne is also believable as Lt. Ryan, who is more than ready to face the enemy, while the rest of the cast is solid in support. And while they are few and far between, the battle scenes featured in They Were Expendable are well-executed, especially the squad’s first encounter with Japanese aircraft.

But make no mistake; They Were Expendable is no flag-waving propaganda film. It is a raw, sometimes harsh account of the early days of the Pacific campaign, when the U.S. was outnumbered and outmatched by the Japanese. Yes, the United States would eventually win the war, but as They Were Expendable reminds us, we lost our share of battles along the way.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10

#2,779. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) - The Films of John Ford

 

Young Mr. Lincoln marked the first time Henry Fonda and John Ford collaborated on a motion picture, and the outstanding job they did bringing this story to the screen stands as a testament to them both.

While Young Mr. Lincoln does dwell a while in it’s title character’s past, from the moment he first picked up a law book to his ill-fated love affair with Ann Rutledge (Pauline Moore) and first meeting with future wife Mary Todd (Marjorie Weaver), the main thrust of the movie centers on a murder trial, in which new lawyer Abe Lincoln (Fonda) defends the Clay brothers, Matt (Richard Cromwell) and Adam (Eddie Quillan), who stand accused of murdering deputy Scrub White (Fred Kohler Jr.) during a late-night scrum. The accused’s mother, Abigail (Alice Brady), was the only witness to the fight, but refuses to say which of her boys wielded the knife that ultimately killed Scrub White.

Though the odds are stacked against him, and everyone in Springfield wants to see the Clay brothers hang, Abe Lincoln pulls out all the stops, doing whatever is necessary to save his clients from the gallows.

Though not a factual account of Lincoln’s early years, Young Mr. Lincoln is faithful to the spirit of the man, with Fonda flawlessly interpreting honest Abe’s self-effacing humility, his down-home common sense, and his determination to see justice prevail. In what is the film’s most potent scene, Abe convinces a large lynch mob, which was storming the jail house to get at the Clay brothers, to let justice run its course.

To complement Fonda’s performance, Ford infuses the film with just the right amount of humanity, forging a link between character and audience without over-sentimentalizing the man; even a sequence set at a society dance, where Lincoln and Mary Todd first spend time together, doesn’t seem as superfluous as it might in another movie. In addition, Ford mixes in a few touches of humor to make it all palpable. Especially funny is the tug-of-war scene, during which Abe, acting as his team’s anchor, gets a bit “creative” with his rope work (though I laughed a little harder when Abe was judging a pie-baking contest, and had a hard time deciding between Apple and Peach).

The supporting cast is equally good, especially Alice Brady (in her final screen role) as the distraught mother, Donald Meek as Prosecutor John Felder (making him Abe’s main adversary in the picture), and the always-reliable Ward Bond as J. Palmer Cass, who acts as the prosecution’s key witness. But it is Abe himself, perfectly portrayed by Fonda, who makes Young Mr. Lincoln a bona-fide classic, and a motion picture you simply must see.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10

#2,778. The Hurricane (1937) - The Films of John Ford

 

There are times when watching old movies can be… awkward, especially when the stories and themes of said film are in direct conflict with modern sensibilities. Usually, I try to take into account the time period in which a film was made, and while classics such as Tarzan the Ape Man, Disney’s Dumbo, and 1968’s The Party feature a number of racially-insensitive sequences, all of which would make today’s audiences cringe, these films have their strengths as well, so I recognize their shortcoming while also remembering they are a product of a less enlightened time.

And yet, I found it very difficult to get through John Ford’s The Hurricane. Set in the South Pacific during the height of European colonialism, The Hurricane had me rolling my eyes on more than one occasion, which definitely influenced my overall opinion of the movie.

Terangi (Jon Hall) is a native of the South Seas island of Manukura, a French colony. Having just returned home from a long voyage, Terangi is reunited with his fiancé Marama (Dorothy Lamour), and within hours the two are married by French priest Father Paul (C. Aubrey Smith).

Their honeymoon is short lived, however; Terangi and the rest of his crew are ordered by their skipper, Captain Nagle (Jerome Cowan), to sail for Tahiti the very next day. While there, Terangi gest into a fight with a French citizen and breaks his jaw. He is sentenced to six months in prison, but due to repeated escape attempts eventually finds himself facing a stint of 16 years!

Captain Nagle, Father Paul, and the colony’s physician Dr. Kersaint (Thomas Mitchell) try to convince DeLaage (Raymond Massey), the Governor of Manukura, to intercede on Terangi’s behalf and get his sentence suspended. DeLaage, who believes strongly in the letter of the law, refuses, and not even the pleas of his wife Madame DeLaage (Mary Astor) can sway him.

Terangi does eventually escape, resulting in a massive manhunt on both Tahiti and Manukura. Even the approach of a major storm, one strong enough to potentially destroy Manukura, won’t dissuade DeLaage, who is intent on recapturing Terangi and returning him to prison.

To their credit, John Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols went to great lengths to paint the natives of Manukura in a positive light while, at the same time, demonizing the French authorities; Terangi’s trouble began when a drunk Frenchman ordered him and several other Manukurans to leave a bar, simply because they weren’t white (Terangi refused, and punched the loudmouth across the jaw). Equally as loathsome is the sadistic guard played by John Carradine, who takes pleasure in making Terangi’s time in prison a living hell.

Alas, on more than one occasion, the people of Manukura are also depicted as childlike, and happy to submit to the rules of their French overseers. Even more problematic is the fact that the film’s most sympathetic native characters, Terangi and Marama, were played by Caucasian actors! It wasn’t until about 10 minutes into the movie that I even realized these two were supposed to be Islanders!

The Hurricane does feature a handful of strong performances, including Massey as the by-the-books Governor, Astor as his more sympathetic wife, and Mitchell as the oft-drunk doctor who admires the locals and does what he can to help them. Also, the final 20 minutes, when the titular hurricane finally strikes, are both tense and thrilling, and feature some nifty special effects.

Still, even with its strengths, The Hurricane is a movie that will likely rub 21st century viewers the wrong way. That’s the effect it had on me, anyway.
Rating: 5 out of 10

#2,777. The Iron Horse (1924) - The Films of John Ford

 

A silent epic directed by John Ford, 1924’s The Iron Horse chronicles the birth of the American Transcontinental Railroad, and does so in a way that makes its 150-minute runtime seem to fly by.

George O’Brien stars as Davy Brandon, who, years after witnessing the murder of his father, agrees to help his old neighbor, engineer Thomas Marsh (Will Walling), save some money by finding a shortcut for the railroad through the Black Hills.

Though still in love with Marsh’s daughter Miriam (Madge Bellamy), who was his childhood sweetheart, Davy discovers that she is now engaged to Peter Jessen (Cyril Chadwick), an employee of her father’s. What none of them realize, however, is that Jessen is in league with Deroux (Fred Kohler), who, though pretending to assist Marsh, wants nothing more than to see the railroad fail.

Delayed time and again by Deroux’s treachery, dissatisfied workers, and raids by the Cheyenne, Marsh and his team, which includes former Union soldiers Slattery (Francis Powers), Casey (J. Farrell MacDonald) and Schultz (James Welch), remain undaunted, and are determined to see the job through to the end.

The first major production of John Ford’s career, The Iron Horse is a grand motion picture that features all the drama, all the excitement, and plenty of the humor that would become staples of the great director’s later works. There are sweeping panoramas of the western frontier, and plenty of big, sprawling scenes, including cattle drives, buffalo hunts, and a number of battles between railroad workers and the Cheyenne.

Ford even gets a few opportunities to show off his artistic eye; I was especially impressed by a scene in which the shadows of Cheyenne warriors, riding up the crest of a hill, are cast against the side of a locomotive car. As for the laughs, most come courtesy of Slattery, Casey and Schultz, who have known each other since the war and get into all sorts of mischief, but I also enjoyed the sequences in which bartender / “judge” Haller (James A. Marcus), who, though clearly not qualified (a sign outside his saloon mentions the fact his papers from the Governor were stolen, but he’s going to practice law anyway), dispenses immediate justice (with a gavel and all) whenever there’s a fight in his establishment.

Along with the main cast, a few historical figures pop up throughout The Iron Horse, including Abraham Lincoln (Charles Edward Bull), both before and after he became President, as well as Buffalo Bill Cody (George Waggner) and Wild Bill Hickok (Jack Padjan).

Not everything about The Iron Horse works. In one particularly Schmaltzy scene, Miriam puts down a workers’ revolt simply by asking them to “do their country proud”, and like many movies from this time period, the treatment of non-whites is less than sympathetic. The Cheyenne are depicted as the villains, and, worse still, the puppets of Deroux, while the Chinese workers, many of whom gave their lives to complete the railroad, get a brief mention at the beginning of the movie and only appear in a scene or two after that, usually in the background. But getting a chance to see an early film by John Ford, and a western to boot, makes The Iron Horse a movie that’s definitely worth seeking out.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10

#1,691. Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) - The Films of John Ford

Directed By: John Ford

Starring: Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, Edna May Oliver




Tag line: "Red-Blooded DRAMA !"

Trivia: Writer William Faulkner penned one of the early treatments for this film








For John Ford, 1939 was a big year. Along with the release of his classic western Stagecoach, he also helmed the equally impressive Young Mr. Lincoln, which marked his first collaboration with actor Henry Fonda. The two would reunite a few months later for Ford's third movie of the year, Drums Along the Mohawk. Set against the backdrop of the America Revolution, Drums Along the Mohawk is equal parts adventure and drama, and even with its superior cast this movie rarely gets the attention it deserves.

Moments after they’re married, Gil Martin (Fonda) and his bride Lana Borst (Claudette Colbert) set off for their new home, a small cabin in the Mohawk Valley of Central New York. Lana, who comes from a well-to-do family in Albany, is none too happy with her new surroundings, and is nearly scared out of her wits by Gil’s Native American friend Blue Back (Chief John Big Tree). Lana eventually settles in, and even helps with the farm work from time to time.

That all changes when Caldwell (John Carradine), a Tory who remains loyal to Britain, raises an army of Seneca Indians and attacks the valley, destroying Gil’s and Lana’s home in the process. To get back on their feet, the two go to work for wealthy widow Mrs. McKlenner (Edna May Oliver), who, along with paying them a decent salary, lets them live in a cozy cabin behind her house.

But when war between the colonies and Great Britain breaks out, Gil is drafted into the local militia. Under the command of Gen. Nicholas Herkimer (Roger Imhof), Gil and his compatriots march into battle, leaving Lana to wonder if she will ever see her husband again.

Inspired by such real-life events as the Battle of Oriskany (an August 1777 skirmish between the colonial army and British Loyalists that proved to be one of the war’s bloodiest engagements), Drums Along the Mohawk is a dramatic, occasionally thrilling look at an early period of American history, a time when even New York state had its share of unsettled land.

Along with his patented attention to detail (the costumes, as well as the set pieces, look 100% genuine), director Ford assembled an excellent cast, all of whom do a fine job bringing this era to life. Fonda and Colbert are strong as the couple at the center of it all, and have a great on-screen chemistry (their love scenes are among the film’s most effective moments). Yet as good as they are, both take a backseat to Edna May Oliver, whose spirited portrayal of Mrs. McKlenner earned the character actress her one and only Academy Award nomination (she lost to Hattie McDaniel, who played Scarlet o’Hara’s loyal maid in Gone With the Wind).

Ford ultimately wasn't able to bring the film’s key sequence, the Battle of Oriskany, to the screen (his plans to shoot the pivotal fight over a three-week period were scrapped when he ran out of time), yet still infuses Drums Along the Mohawk with enough excitement to keep things moving along at a brisk pace. The final scene, when the Indians and their Tory commanders launch a massive assault against the colonial army at Fort Schuyler, is as tense as they come.

It may not have reached the level of some of Ford’s other works (Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, The Searchers), but Drums Along the Mohawk is a solid an entry in the director’s filmography.

#1,373. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) - The Films of John Ford

Directed By: John Ford

Starring: John Wayne, Joanne Dru, John Agar




Tag line: "Wayne's greatest role as an Indian fighting Captain !"

Trivia: The exterior shots of Capt. Brittles' quarters and the building where Maj. Mac Allshard, Commanding Officer Fort Starke, has his HQ are still standing in Monument Valley







Director John Ford’s eye for action, coupled with a breathtaking Monument Valley setting, did its part to make 1949’s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon an unforgettable motion picture. But it was John Wayne’s poignant, heartfelt portrayal of an aging Cavalry officer that made it a great one.

Following the Battle of Little Big Horn, U.S. Cavalry troops stationed at Fort Starke have been put on alert, and Capt. Nathan Cutting Brittles (Wayne) is assigned to quell any potential uprising by the local Native Americans. A few short days from retirement, Capt. Britlles leads his men, including old friend and comrade Sgt. Quincannon (Victor McLaglen); his eventual successor 1st Lt. Flint Cohill (John Agar); experienced scout Sgt. Tyrell (Ben Johnson); and 2nd Lt. Ross Pinnell (Harry Carey, Jr), on what will undoubtedly be a very dangerous mission. 

Also along for the ride are Abby Allshard (Mildred Natwick), wife of Capt. Brittles’ commanding officer, Major Mac Allshard (George O’Brien); as well as Olivia Dandridge (Joanne Dru), a pretty young woman who has caught the eye of both Cohill and Pinnell. Against his better judgment, Capt. Brittles has been asked to accompany the women to the nearest town, where they’ll catch the next stagecoach heading east. 

But with everything from hostile natives to gun runners standing in their way, it’s looking like Capt. Brittles final mission will be the most difficult of his career.

When it came to staging action scenes, few directors were as effective as John Ford. In She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, we get a handful of exciting sequences, most of which center on the Cavalry’s run-ins with the Native Americans. And while Ford would shoot several films in Utah’s picturesque Monument Valley, including Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, and The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon makes the best use of this stunning locale. Ford and his cinematographer, William Hoch, who won an Oscar for his work here, feature it in just about every scene. 

As for John Wayne, he’s damn near perfect as Capt. Nathan Brittles, a proud officer and a brilliant leader of men who must deal with the fact that he has reached the end of a prestigious 40-year military career. The movie’s most touching scene has Capt. Brittles receiving a watch from the entire company, a gift in honor of his service. The watch was clearly a surprise to him, but it’s the sentiment etched into it, “Lest we forget”, that almost moves him to tears. Only 42 when he appeared in this film, Wayne, aided by some fine make-up, does more than just look the part of a much older man; he embodies it.

There are other strong performances as well, including John Agar’s (who would go on to star in such ‘50s B-movies as Tarantula and The Mole People) and future Oscar Winner Ben Johnson’s (in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Johnson plays Sgt. Tyrell, a Cavalry soldier who, a few years earlier, was fighting on the side of the Confederacy in the Civil War). Yet, despite their superior work, it’s John Wayne who steals the show.

I always felt that Wayne deserved an Oscar for his turn as the bigoted Ethan Edwards in Ford’s The Searchers. After re-watching She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, I now think he should have won two.

#1,098. How Green Was My Valley (1941) - The Films of John Ford

Directed By: John Ford

Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Anna Lee




Tag line: "Rich is their humor! Deep are their passions! Reckless are their lives! Mighty is their story!"

Trivia: Darryl F. Zanuck originally intended the film to be a four-hour epic to rival Gone with the Wind







John Ford, the prolific director of such classic westerns as Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, won a whopping four Academy Awards for Best Director. 

Not a single one of which was for a western! 

Along with The Informer in 1935 and The Quiet Man in 1952, Ford was awarded back-to-back directing honors for The Grapes of Wrath (in 1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941). Based on Richard LLewellyn’s popular novel of the same name, How Green Was My Valley tells the story of the Morgan clan, and how changes in their community threatened to tear their family apart.

Huw Morgan (Irving Pichel) looks back on his childhood in the small Welsh mining town where he was born. Told mostly in flashback, we meet a young Huw (Roddy McDowall) at a time when his father Gwilym (Donald Crisp) and his elder brothers all worked in the coal mines, earning just enough to support their large family. Huw’s mother, Beth (Sara Allgood), with the help of his sister Anghaard (Maureen O’Hara), always kept food on the table, and times were generally good. 

That is, until the mining company reduced wages. Unwilling to accept the pay cut, the workers go on strike. Gwilym doesn’t believe in unions, leaving his sons, who support the strike, to stand against their father. Meanwhile, Anghaard, who has developed feelings for the new preacher, Mr. Gruffydd (Walter Pidgeon), is being courted by Lestyn Evans (Marten Lamont), the mine owner’s son and a man she will never love.

There are wonderful scenes scattered throughout How Green Was My Valley, from simple moments, like Huw, recalling, in great detail, what happened each evening when his father and brothers came home from work (one of their rituals was to go into the back yard and scrub the coal dust off their bodies). And then there was the wedding, when his brother Ivor (Patric Knowles) married the beautiful Bronwyn (Anna Lee), an event that brought the entire town together. Each of these recollections (and more besides) reveals the intricacies of life in a small, working class Welsh town, giving depth to both the characters and the community. 

But How Green Was My Valley also explores the differences between parents and their children, and how one generation’s standards aren’t always passed on to the next. When his sons talk about joining a union to fight for fair wages, Gwilym, who considers unions “Socialist nonsense”, stubbornly refuses to even discuss it with them.

How Green Was My Valley is both a fond remembrance of days gone by and an exploration of how a changing world can bring about the end of traditional values. As John Ford shows us, it’s nice to occasionally reminisce about the past, but awfully dangerous to stand still and ignore the future.

#910. The Quiet Man (1952) - The Films of John Ford

Directed By: John Ford

Starring: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald




Tag line: "Action...Excitement...Romance...Fill the Screen !"

Trivia: Although made in 1951, is was Republic's first production to be shot outside the United States








John Ford’s The Quiet Man, which netted the director his fourth Academy Award, is as much a love letter to Ireland, the country of his ancestors, as it is the story of a couple whose marriage is torn apart by tradition.

John Wayne stars as Sean Thornton, an American who has settled in the small Irish town of Innisfree, where he was born. This doesn’t sit well with Sean’s neighbor, Will Danaher (Victor McLaghen) - called ‘Red’ by most everyone in the village - who was himself trying to purchase the property Sean now owns. 

To add insult to injury, Sean falls in love with Danaher's sister, Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara), a fiery redhead with a temper to match. Several townsfolk, as well as the parish priest (Ward Bond), conspire to convince Danaher that it’s in his best interest to allow Thornton to marry Mary Kate. When the wedding is over, however, Danaher refuses to release his sister's dowry, and Sean refuses to fight him for it. 

Many in the village, including his new bride, think Sean a coward for not duking it out with his brother-in-law. But the truth is that Sean was an amateur boxer in America, and, after a tragedy in the ring, has vowed never to fight again.

Wayne and O’Hara do a fine job as the leads, and have a natural chemistry in their scenes together. In one of the film’s best sequences, the two are standing in a cemetery when a rainstorm rolls in. Mary Kate, frightened of the thunder, is comforted by Sean, who removes his jacket and wraps it around her. They embrace, then kiss, realizing, at that moment, their love is genuine. 

The real star of The Quiet Man, though, is the picturesque Irish countryside, never before captured quite as brilliantly as it is here. Partially shot on-location in the Counties of Galway and Mayo, the rolling hills and vibrant green pastures of the Emerald Isle make for a stunning backdrop to this tale of romance.

There’s no denying the film is dated; there are elements that modern viewers may find downright sexist, and the final scene, played almost entirely for laughs, gets pretty corny at times. Still, this is a movie with charm to spare. The story of a husband and wife coming to terms with their cultural differences, and doing so under the watchful eye of a tight-knit community, The Quiet Man is funny, touching, and oh so beautiful.

#865. Stagecoach (1939) - The Films of John Ford

Directed By: John Ford

Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine





Tag line: "A Powerful Story of 9 Strange People!"

Trivia: Orson Welles privately watched this film about 40 times while he was making Citizen Kane








John Ford may not have invented the Western, but he did more to define it than most other filmmakers. Starting with Stagecoach in 1939, and continuing with movies like 1946’s My Darling Clementine, The Searchers in 1956, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance in 1962, Ford took the genre in a number of daring new directions while, at the same time, focusing on greater issues such as bigotry, familial bonds, the encroachment of civilization, and the changing face of the country itself.

Several people in the small town of Tonto, Arizona board a stagecoach bound for Lordsburg, New Mexico. Among them are Dallas (Claire Trevor), who is being run out of town for her “immoral” behavior (we’re led to believe she’s a prostitute); the drunken Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell); Southern gambler Hatfield (John Carradine); Mrs. Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt), the pregnant wife of a cavalry officer; and Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill), a banker who seems in a great hurry to get out of Tonto. 

Before departing, the driver (Andy Devine) is warned that the Apaches, led by Geronimo, are on the warpath, and that everyone, including the passengers, should keep an eye out for trouble. Fortunately, a bit further up the trail, the coach also picks up The Ringo Kid (John Wayne), a fugitive from justice who is mighty handy with a gun. Out in the middle of nowhere, this rag-tag group must find a way to work together if they’re to have any chance of surviving the long journey.

Inevitably, the Apaches do attack, leading to a number of exciting scenes that are set in Utah’s picturesque Monument Valley, a location Ford would return to in many later films. But the Apaches aren’t the only ones stirring up trouble in this movie. By introducing such a wide variety of characters, all representing different cross-sections of society, Stagecoach also afforded its director the opportunity to explore the topic of social prejudice. From the outset, Dallas and Doc Boone are treated as outcasts, scorned by such “upper-class” passengers as Gatewood and Mrs. Mallory. And despite the fact his shooting skills saved them during the initial battle, even The Ringo Kid is looked down on by some of the others. Yet as we’ll soon learn, a few of the so-called “respectable” characters in Stagecoach are anything but that.

Stagecoach is a thrilling adventure, and like many of Ford’s westerns, it brings more to the table as well, showing us how a group made up of very different people might react when tossed into a dangerous situation. Furthermore, by separating his characters along social lines, Ford ensures that, even when there isn’t a battle going on, there’s plenty of bickering and in-fighting to keep his audience riveted.

#594. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - The Films of John Ford

Directed By: John Ford

Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine




Tag line: "The Joads step right out of the pages of the novel that has shocked millions !"

Trivia:  A sequel was in the works at Fox the year after the film's release.

The Grapes of Wrath is set in the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s, when families were forced - by both the climate and banks - to abandon their homes and hit the road, searching for a new American dream. Unfortunately, it was a dream many would never track down.

Based on John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath opens with former convict Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) arriving home after four years in prison. He finds the Joad’s Oklahoma farmhouse deserted, and after talking with friend and one-time preacher Casey (John Carradine), Tom learns that crop failures and dust storms have driven most families from the area, pushing them west with the promise of a new life in California. 

Tom eventually catches up with his family and joins their westward migration, only to find California is far from the Promised Land they were expecting. With no money and little means to obtain it, the Joads shuffle from town to town in search of steady work, hunger and destitution closing in on them each and every day.

To bring the world of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath to the screen, director John Ford (who would win his second of four Academy Awards for his work here) put his audience in the middle of a specific moment in American history. To this end, he recreated not only the tangible, i.e, the clothing and locales, but the intangible as well, the mood and overall feeling of despair most people wrestled with on a daily basis. When he first arrives home, Tom runs into his old neighbor Muley Graves (John Qualen), who, along with Casey, fills Tom in on what's been happening while he was away. In a heartbreaking flashback, we revisit the day Muley and his family were served their eviction papers. At first, Muley refused to leave, promising to shoot anyone who tried to drive him off his land. Once the tractor came, however, he could only step aside and watch as the house he had lived in for so many years was leveled. Muley’s wife and kids traveled west with the rest of the families, but he couldn't bring himself to leave with them. This was his land, and, damn the consequences, he wasn’t going to walk away from it. “I’m just a graveyard ghost now”, Muley tells Tom. Sadly, he wouldn’t be the last "ghost" that Tom would meet on his journey. The road to California was littered with them.

The Grapes of Wrath takes a gloomy, depression-era story and combines it with man's determination to carry on, even under the most extreme circumstances. An unflinching portrait of the injustices many decent families were subjected to, The Grapes of Wrath shines a bright light on a very dark moment in American history.

#525. My Darling Clementine (1946) - The Films of John Ford

Directed By: John Ford

Starring: Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature



Tag line: "She was everything the West was - young, fiery, exciting!"


Trivia:  Vincent Price was considered for the role of Doc Holliday.

The Gunfight at the OK Corral is, arguably, the single most famous showdown in the history of the American West. So, it stands to reason that John Ford, Hollywood’s most prolific director of western films, would eventually bring it to the silver screen. Shot in beautiful black and white, My Darling Clementine features many of the director’s trademarks: the wide-open spaces of Monument Valley, the frontier folk music, exciting battles, some humor, and engaging high drama. He even manages to toss in a square dance for good measure! 

Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) and his brothers Morgan (Ward Bond), Virgil (Tim Holt) and James (Don Garner) are driving a herd of cattle through the territory. One night, Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil ride into the nearby town of Tombstone for a shave, leaving James behind to look after things. But when they return, their entire herd is missing, and James is face down in the mud, dead, a bullet in his back. 

Convinced it was the work of the Clantons, a vicious band of cattle rustlers led by Pop Clanton (Walter Brennan), Wyatt accepts the vacant position of sheriff of Tombstone, deputizes his brothers, and vows to stay on the job until he has brought James' killers to justice. 

But the Clantons aren’t Wyatt's only concern; as sheriff, he also has to face off against the drunken Doc Holliday (Victor Mature), a former surgeon with a quick temper who is mighty quick with a sidearm. After a while, Earp realizes there's still good in Holliday, and that he could prove a valuable ally.  

When a trinket that belonged to James leads Wyatt to his brother’s murderers, it kicks off one of the most famous skirmishes in American history: the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral! 

Fonda is decidedly low-key as Wyatt Earp, and much of the film is spent watching him perform the duties of his office. His Earp has a quiet strength about him, a calm determination to keep the peace, which he values above all else. He never backs down from a confrontation, either with the Clantons or Doc Holliday, and even tosses Chihuahua (Linda Darnell), a saloon dancer and Doc Holliday’s girl, into a horse trough when he catches her spying on his poker hand. Yet Fonda’s Earp remains a peaceful man throughout My Darling Clementine, drawing his gun only when circumstances demand it. 

On the other side of the coin is Victor Mature’s Doc Holliday, a risk-taker always ready for a fight. At one time a respected physician , Doc is now content to live out his days playing poker and drinking whiskey. But his past catches up with him when Clementine Carter (Cathy Downs) rides into town. Clementine was close to Doc in the old days, and has come to ask him to return home. See, aside from being a gambler and a drunk, Doc also has tuberculosis, and is dying. Not ready to face Clementine, his past, or his illness, Doc jumps on a horse and hightails it out of town. The contrast between Wyatt Earp, who never backs down, and Doc Holliday, who has been running for years, brings a sense of irony to both their tumultuous friendship and the films climactic scene. 

The climax, of course, being the Gunfight at the OK Corral, which happens suddenly, and is over almost as quickly as it started. In fact, there’s a whole lot more sneaking around and getting set than there is actual gun play, and when the bullets start flying, they don’t do so for very long. Ford went to great lengths to ensure his interpretation was historically accurate; in laying out the particulars of the showdown, he relied heavily on a book written by Stuart Lake titled Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal, as well as a first-hand account of what transpired, which he heard from Wyatt Earp himself, who the director met in his younger days. 

Ultimately, though, My Darling Clementine isn’t so much a chronicle of this important event in American history as it is the tale of two men thrown together by circumstance. That their story is more interesting than such a legendary gunfight is a credit to both Ford and his talented cast.

#271. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) - The Films of John Ford

Directed By: John Ford


Starring: James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles, Lee Marvin





Tag line: "Together For The First Time - James Stewart - John Wayne - in the masterpiece of four-time Academy Award winner John Ford"

Trivia:  This was John Ford's last black and white film

Before Gene Pitney turned it into a hit song that reached #4 on the Billboard chart, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance was a top-notch western directed by John Ford. Starring John Wayne, James Stewart, and Lee Marvin, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance presents a less glamorous side of the American West, where heroes were sometimes forced to compromise their principles in order to survive.

Rance Stoddard (Stewart) is an East Coast lawyer heading out west, hoping to bring a little law and order to a lawless frontier. Before reaching his destination, however, the stagecoach he's riding in is held up by Liberty Valance (Marvin) and his gang. For trying to protect one of the female passengers, Rance is beaten senseless by Liberty and left for dead. 

Fortunately, Tom Doniphan (Wayne) happens by the scene, and takes Rance to the town of Shinbone, where he recovers from his beating in the home of Pete and Nora Ericson (John Qualen and Jeanette Nolan), which also doubles as the town’s only restaurant. 

Hallie (Vera Miles), who works there as a waitress, nurses Rance back to health, and Rance vows to use every means possible under the law to put Liberty Valance behind bars. Tom does his best to convince Rance that the law doesn’t yet exist in this part of the west, and the only thing a man can rely on is a gun in his hand.  It's a lesson Rance learns all too quickly when Liberty Valance challenges him to a showdown.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance boasts one great scene after another, yet my absolute favorite is a sequence that enhances the personal intensity of each of the film's three main characters. It takes place in the restaurant, where Rance, who is still recovering, agrees to help out by waiting on tables. Liberty Valance comes wandering into the dining room, steals a table for himself and his men, and as Rance is bringing a plate of food to Tom, Liberty trips him, sending Tom’s steak dinner spilling onto the floor. 

As Liberty and his boys laugh it up, Tom stands and says, “That was my steak, Valance. Pick it up”. 

Liberty, who immediately stops laughing, stands and faces Tom, preparing himself for the obvious showdown about to take place. Just then, the always-sensible Rance angrily intervenes, chastising both men for their willingness to kill each other over a simple steak dinner. He settles the dispute by cleaning up the mess himself. 

This is a tremendously tense scene, one played to perfection by the three leads, and establishing, in one fell swoop, Rance's respect for law and order, Tom's strength, and the volatile, violent nature of Liberty Valance. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a three-way battle of wills, and not one of the three is going to back down.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is second only to The Searchers as my favorite John Ford western. Presenting an intriguing conflict between the law of the land and the power of a gun, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance reminds us of a time when the American West was still in its infancy, and both a law book and a handy sidearm proved to be of equal importance.

#130. The Searchers (1956) - The Films of John Ford

DVD Synopsis: Working together for the 12th time, John Wayne and director John Ford forged The Searchers into a landmark Western offering an indelible image of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays an ex-Confederate soldier seeking his niece, captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger, thirst, the elements or loneliness. And in his five-year search, he encounters something unexpected: his own humanity.

John Wayne is remarkable in The Searchers. His Ethan Edwards is a man with deep-rooted prejudices and a threatening personality, driven to find his kidnapped niece not by love, but hatred. 

Ethan and his adopted nephew, Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), spend several years tracking the Comanche tribe that took Debbie (played first by Lana Wood, then her elder sister, Natalie), all the while hoping to uncover some clue that the girl is still alive. 

But as time drags on, Ethan begins to accept the fact that his niece, if she has survived, will have been assimilated into the Comanche tribe, a fate Ethan believes is worse than death itself. 

In fact, the thought of Debbie becoming a Comanche squaw is so upsetting to him that, if he does find her alive, Ethan will kill the girl himself.  

Ethan is the quintessential anti-hero, a character who simultaneously invokes our sympathies, and our wrath.  The Searchers never fully explores all of the nuances of Ethan Edwards, and spends absolutely no time whatsoever on his back story (a veteran of the Confederate Army, there is one scene that suggests he may have committed a robbery, and more than a few hints that Ethan and his sister-in-law, played by Dorothy Jordan, had been romantically involved at one point). 

But then, everything we really need to know about Ethan Edwards can be found in Wayne’s magnificent performance, which, assisted by Ford's solid direction and the picturesque landscape of Monument Valley, transforms The Searchers into one of the finest Westerns ever made.