Directed by John Ford
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Written by Peter Bogdanovich
1971 (restored and updated 2006)/USA
American Film Institute/California Arts Commission/Turner Classic Movies (2006 Restoration)
First viewing/American Documentary Film Festival
[box] I prefer the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford. — Orson Welles [/box]
The American Documentary Film Festival near us was having a retrospective of documentaries by Peter Bogdanovich and my husband and I caught this one. I enjoyed it immensely.
The documentary was restored and updated in 2006 to include contemporary interviews with directors influenced by Ford, including Scorcese, Speilberg, and Eastwood. The reminiscences of actors such as John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, Harry Carey, Jr., and Maureen O’Hara were even better. What a cranky, difficult character Ford was! But everyone seemed to have loved him in the end.
Watching as Ethan Edwards returns from the war – The Searchers (1956)Better than all the talking heads, however, were the wonderful clips. It was so awesome to see them on the big screen. Now my mouth is watering for a rewatch of Fort Apache which is coming up soon.
This is available on DVD and is highly recommended.
Bogdanovich interview of Ford – a classic!
I actually saw parts of this as extra material for one of he Ford movies I have. It was really interesting and made me wish I had the entire interview.
It’s really worth seeing. I don’t know if you get the same content on YouTube as in the US. I found this ten minute BBC interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P2fY75Qlxs. The comment section is pretty funny. A bunch of commenters seem to think his answers are serious. The man was on artist. Of course he didn’t do it for the money! Also there’s another documentary “The American West of John Ford” that looks like it might be good:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6vIgBsOeFI
Clip is fabulous!
Welcome Home!!!!! I love it too. Everyone in the theater laughed.
Ford was so full of you know what!
This may or may not be of interest, came across it when I was looking for something else – author Tag Gallagher has just updated his well received (by Amazon reviewers) book John Ford: The Man and His Films
https://www.amazon.com/John-Ford-Man-His-Films/dp/0520063341/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493823276&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Man+and+His+Films
as
John Ford, Himself and his Movies
http://www.amazon.com/John-Ford-Himself-his-Movies-ebook/dp/B071KQBM79/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1493255604&sr=8-2&keywords=tag+gallagher
Possibly only available as a Kindle download (?)
Personal knowledge of either book is nil.
Thanks for the tip! I love John Ford.
That’s OK, had a thought this may be your cup of tea, glad it was of interest, seeing very favourable comments…..author states physical copy not an impossible task but, at the moment, unlikely due to niche market and probable cost.