Original subtitles

In my generation. he was the granddaddy of all directors...

...at that particular time.

He certainly influenced almost everyone who was directing in the '50s...

...and later in the '605. and right on through today.

Ford. you know. will live forever. because his films will live forever.

And. um. his work is there to inspire and influence...

...this whole new generation of filmmaker.

He is the essence of classical American cinema...

...and any serious person making films today...

...whether they know it or not. Is affected by Ford.

He's like Dickens or something that you can't--

There's a whole frame of reference and. um. horizon line...

...that is Fordian.

Ethan?

Quiet. Sam.

That's your Uncle Ethan.

Welcome home. Ethan.

In the '60s. Orson Welles was interviewed.

One of the questions he was asked was who his favorite American directors were.

He said. “Well. I prefer the old masters. by which I mean John Ford...

...John Ford and John Ford.

He's a poet and a comedian.

With Ford at his best. you get a sense of what the earth is made of...

...even if the script is by Mother Machree.“

Well. I showed this. toward the end of the '60s. to John Ford...

...and. um. he read it and said. “Where is Orson?“

I said. “He's over at the Beverly Hills Hotel.“ He says. “Hmm.“

Couple of days later. I get a call from Welles.

He says. “Did you show that quote of mine to Ford?“

And I said. “Yeah. Why?“

He said. “Well. I just got a telegram:

'Dear Orson. thanks for the compliment.

Love. Mother Machreef"

These words have appeared on over 135 movies...

...among them some of the most popular and memorable ever made.

It's also a phrase that's been properly honored.

John Ford is the only director ever to win six Oscars...

...and four New York Film Critics' Awards...

...not to mention other prizes from around the world...

...Venice, Berlin, London, Belgrade.

Wherever they show American films, Ford's name is synonymous...

...not only with quality, but with a special kind of quality as well.

Looking over that rich, varied career...

...what is it that distinguishes the movies of John Ford?

Are they 135 individual films, or is it a body of work...

...that can stand with the singular achievement...

...of a great novelist, painter, composer?

Directed by John Ford.

What do those words really mean. anyway?

The first time I became aware of a name on the credits of a film that I liked...

...was the name John Ford.

And then just picked up.

When I saw it's directed by Ford. I'd watch that film.

I actually saw Stagecoach on a re-release...

...when I was about 11. 12 years old.

I remember John. uh. Wayne looking quite a bit younger...

...than I was used to seeing him.

And. uh. the impact of the movie was. even then. enormous.

Hold it.

Whoa. steady.

Never apologize. mister. It's a sign of weakness.

So when Mr. Ford needed a goose herder for his set...

...it just fit my pistol.

They had a hill built up...

...a fake hill for this. uh. set for Mother Machree.

And the geese were getting down under. uh. the 2-by-4s under there.

So they needed a fellow to herd them out. keep them out.

So that was my first job with Mr. Ford.

Well. Mr. Ford says. “So you're a football player.“

And I said, “Well, playing at USO.“

He said, uh, “Let's see how you get down.“

So I got down. braced on my. uh. forearms and my. uh. feet...

...he kicked my arms out from under me...

...and stuck my nose in that mud that they'd made for Mother Machree.

I'll tell you. It wasn't the sod of old Ireland.

And it really hurt.

So not being interested in a motion-picture career at that time...

...I said, “Let's try it again.“

Well. it's hard for one fellow in a line to take out anybody...

...when they can move wide on you.

So as I thought he would. he started to go around this side...

...I whirled and kicked him and hit him in the chest.

And sat him down on the part that goes over the fence last.

And. uh. he looked up with a little surprise. And there was a deadly silence.

And right then was a deciding point in my career in motion pictures.

He was not influenced by a politically-correct generation...

...that we live in today.

He was-- He could go flat out.

And I think. uh. that. uh. was sort of an imprint of Ford's...

...where Ford was afraid of nothing.

Ford is so much more than any one. two or three of his films...

...and there are moments in many of his films...

...that maybe are uneven that are precious...

...but. um. Young Mr. Lincoln always meant a lot to me.

I presume you all know who I am.

I'm plain Abraham Lincoln.

Sure is a hard town for a fellow...

...to have a quiet game of poker in.

Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there.

Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy. I'll be there.

Weeks later. Ford was assigned to the picture.

And he sent for me. I had to go to his office.

And. uh. I remember meeting Meeda Stern for the first time.

She was his secretary-script girl then.

And she ushered me into the office in front of himself.

I remember it was like being an apprentice seaman...

...with the white hat in my hand in front of the admiral.

He was sitting there with his hat and sucking on a pipe...

...and a handkerchief at the same time.

And I'm standing there like at attention. and this character's sitting there.

Sort of looks under his brows and said:

“What the hell is all this about you not wanting to play Lincoln?“

Using all the profanities in the world...

...which sort of shocked me more.

You know. here's God the admiral talking like this.

Well. he went on to shame me about this whole thing. What was it?

Did I think I was playing the great emancipator or something like that?

Said. “This is a young jack-legged lawyer from Springfield. for God's sake.“

Hello. Abe. What are you doing in Springfield?

Figuring on setting myself up as a lawyer.

What do you know about law. Abe?

Not enough to hurt me.

He can make you laugh and make you cry.

And he can get you there very quickly from one to the other.

It's again his mastery of the kind of “unchartered waters“ human spirit.

He understood people very well.

The thing I'd look most forward to in John Ford pictures...

...who was coming back from the last John Ford film?

Who was coming back of his repertory company to be part of the new film?

It was a family, you know.

And in the family. he-- And he was a bit of abusive father.

I mean. I know he was tough on his kids. especially on Harry Carey Jr...

...and a couple of the others. and. uh...

But they loved him.

William Kearney. ma'am.

I'm proud to make your acquaintance. ma'am.

I'm gonna let you whip them up.

Did they“? What was she--?

He kept saying before the movie started:

“You're gonna hate me. but you're gonna give a good performance.“

Well. I hated him after the first day.

Wasn't after the movie's over.

He was angry.

A lot. Heh. heh.

He was angry a lot on the set. Some of it was an act.

But some of it, I think. was just his difficult...

The inner tension of trying to express different things in different ways.

And knowing that both are kind of true.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which I saw at a drive-in movie theater...

...growing up. uh. in Phoenix. Arizona. uh. made a tremendous impact on me.

Because I always felt like I was. you know. the. uh. reluctant fighter.

And. uh. in the Jimmy Stewart character...

...and I really related to his dilemma. his moral dilemma.

Isn't it enough to kill a man without trying to build a life on it?

Now. wait a minute. Now. wait a minute. Just a minute. Jim.

How come you checked with an ace showing?

Was that an ace?

I'm blind as a bat.

Well. I wanted very. very much to please him...

...first time I worked for him. and I still do.

If I'd make another picture for him tomorrow. I'd wanna please him.

And I think he does that to people.

He. uh. dares you to do it right...

...to do it good.

And. uh. it's sort of a competitive thing.

And there's that feeling on the set when you're working for him.

Uh. it isn't a relaxed set.

You know. so many people say. “Oh. it's so nice.

It's such a relaxed set. and everybody sort...“

It's.uh...

With Ford. it's not a relaxed set at all.

It's-- There's tension every place.

There's. uh...

Everybody's on edge.

After we'd been on. uh. Stagecoach for three weeks...

...and they had quite a bit of film in the box. he. uh. said:

“Would you like to see some of the film?“ And I said. “I'd love to.“

He says. “All right. Lovey's. uh. cutting up there now.

You won't have to work for a couple of hours.

Go on up. tell him to run you what they have.“

So I went up and saw this.

And it was beautiful photography. You know. it's wonderful stuff.

And I came back. and he said. um. “Well. how'd you like it?“

Then I said. “Oh. ifs. you know. wonderful. Jeez. the greatest photography.“

“Well." he says. “It was directed all right?“

And I said. “Oh. it's wonderful.“

He says. “How was Mitchell?“ And I said. “Fine.“

And he said. uh. “How are you?“ And I said. “Well. I'm playing you.

You know what that part is.“

So. uh. ahem. he kept asking me questions.

He says. “How'd you like this? How'd you like that?

Isn't there anything that you. uh. didn't like?“

And now my propman thing.

I said. “Listen. I told the propman at the first of this picture...

...to get some of those exercising things...

...to put at the end of those lines. so Andy'd have a--“

He says. “Okay. hold it. Come on down. Come on down off the lights.

Everybody down.“

He got everybody in the center of the stage. and he said:

“I want you fellows to know something.

Our star. uh. just loves the picture as it's going.

He thinks he's fine in it. but he can't stand Devine's performance.“

Well. you know. luckily. uh. I was a good friend of Andy's...

...and he understood it.

I wanna tell you. this fellow puts you--

You know. he keeps pretty good control of you.

On 3 Godfathers...

...there's this scene where Wayne and Armendériz and myself...

...were in our bedrolls and we're covered up. you know...

...uh. because there had been a sandstorm so...

And then we sit up from the bedrolls...

...and Duke wakes up. and then Pete wakes up.

And then I look around. I look like that and say--

Where'd you pick up the horses?

So we do it and he said. “Cut.

Don't look all over Death Valley...

...for the horses. just look where they were.

Where they were.“

So it's no use trying to say. “Well. I thought-J' because that's dead.

Anyway. ahem. I did it the next time. I did it again.

And he threw this rock at my head.

And. uh. if it had hit me. It would have killed me.

So it hit Armendériz in a terrible spot on his body.

And. uh. very painful.

And.uh...

Because I ducked and it hit Pedro.

And that made Ford laugh.

So it got him back out of that mood...

...but. uh. it was one of those bad days.

You know in a Ford picture. and this is a very well-known fact...

...every day someone is at the bottom of the list. in the barrel. as they say.

But there's a long story with that. We won't go into it.

But the bottom of the list.

And strangely enough. Duke Wayne. who. over the years. you know...

...has made lots of pictures with Ford.

Duke Wayne has been at the bottom of the list. in the barrel...

...more than anybody else. which is sort of remarkable...

...because they love each other.

They're like father and son.

And. uh. 'm Liberty Valance...

...the picture I did with Duke. Duke came up.

But the picture was about, oh. more than halfway finished.

Duke came to me one day and he said:

“How's it come that you've gone through this whole thing...

...and never been at the bottom of the list?

What's there? You been red-appling the old man?

What's the idea?“

And I said. “I don't know.“

And I didn't know.

But I must say I got a little smug about it.

And. uh. went on.

And it went around the company. they say. “Jeez. this Stewart is never...

He's always right up there.“

Well. the day before the picture finished. we had a scene. it was a funeral scene.

Duke's funeral.

And Woody Strode...

...who played the part of the wonderful Negro friend of. uh. Duke's...

...who was at the funeral.

And Woody was dressed in blue overalls and blue work shirt and boots.

And for some reason-- He does this quite often...

...but I think this is a part of the tension. a part of Ford.

For some reason. he came up to me. and he--

And before we did the scene he said:

“What do you think of Woody's costume?“

Now. why I said this. I'll never know.

What possessed me to say what I did. I'll never know.

And it just came out. and I said:

“Well. it looks a little Uncle Remus-y. doesn't it?“

And he froze and walked away.

Then he said. uh. “Blow a whistle.“

And they blew a whistle.

He said. uh. “Everybody. would you please gather around?“

And he said to me. “Would you come over here?“

And everybody. the whole company. they were around.

He said. “Ladies and gentlemen. we have an actor.“

“Actor?“

“We have an actor here...

...who objects to the costume on Woody Strode.

He. uh. says that it's too Uncle Remus-y.

Now, I don't know if this is a sort of a prejudice on Mr. Stewart's part.

I don't know whether he's anti-Negro.

I don't know what it is...

...but I just wanted to point this out to the whole cast.“

I wanted to shoot myself.

I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole. I wanted to--

And I looked at Duke Wayne...

...and he was beaming. uh. like a cat...

...that had just eaten. uh. the mouse.

And Ford said. “Well. that's all. that's all." and everybody dismissed.

And Duke came over and said. “Well. welcome to the club.

I'm glad you made it. I really am.“

Monument Valley.

John Ford has shot nine movies here.

It's become so identified with him...

...other directors are convinced that using it as a location would be plagiarism.

Surely, this would be the place most conducive...

...to getting Mr. Ford's own thoughts on his craft and art.

Eleven. take one.

Take one? There won't be more than one take. will there?

Shoot.

Mr. Ford. you made 3 Bad Men, which is a large-scale Western.

You had quite an elaborate land rush in it.

- Mm-hm. - How did you shoot that?

With a camera.

Isn't The Sun Shines Bright kind of a little picture that you made for yourself?

- Would that fall into the same--? - Yeah. Uh-huh.

Mr. Ford. I've noticed that your view of the West...

...has become increasingly sad and melancholy over the years.

Uh. I'm comparing. for instance...

...Wagon Master to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

- Have you been aware of that change? - No.

No.

Now that I point it out. is there anything you'd like you say about it?

I don't know what you're talking about.

Can I ask you what particular element about the Western appealed to you...

...from the beginning?

I wouldn't know.

Would you agree that the point, uh. of Fort Apache...

...was that the tradition of the Army was more important that one individual?

Cut.

I met Ford. you know.

When I was about. I think 15 years old...

...I met this guy. and this guy asked me questions...

...about what I wanted to be when I get out of college.

“L wanna be a movie director.“

He said. “Well. I'm the wrong guy to talk to.

I do television. but you ought to go next door...

...and talk to the guy in that office across the hallway from me.“

I said, “Oh, who's that?“ And he said, “That's John Ford's office.“

He introduced me to the secretary. Ford was not back from lunch...

...but she invited me to sit in front of her desk...

...and talk to her for 45 minutes. which I did.

All of a sudden. a man comes in the office dressed like a. uh. big-game hunter.

Like safari clothes.

A floppy hat.

He had a patch over his eye. He was chewing on a handkerchief.

He had a cigar on his other hand and he had lipstick kisses all over his face.

But the kind that are put there for fun. you know?

Not smears. but. you know...

...complete shapes of lips on his forehead. on his cheeks...

...one on his nose.

He goes into his office without saying hi to his secretary.

She grabs a box of Kleenex. and she runs after him. closes the door.

Comes out four minutes later. and she says:

“Look. Mr. Ford will see you. but he only will give you one minute.“

So I walked into the office...

...and Ford's sitting behind his desk with these great boots.

Don't know if they were cowboy boots. but they were boots on his desk.

And he said. “So you wanna be a picture maker.“

And I said. “Yes. sir. You know. I wanna be a movie director.“

“What do you know about movies?“

I said. “I've been making these 8-mm dramas in Arizona where I live...

...where I go to high school.“

And he said. “What do you know about art?“

And I said--

I think I was just stuttering. didn't know what he was talking about.

He said. “You see those paintings around the office?

Walk over to the first one.“ He had these Western paintings.

He said. “Tell me what you see in that first painting.“

And I said. “Well. there's an Indian on a horse. and he's--“

He said. “No. no. no. Where's the horizon?

Can't you find the horizon?“

So I pointed to the horizon.

He said. “Don't point. Where is it?

Look at the whole picture. Where's the horizon?“

I said. “At the very bottom of the painting.“ He said. “Fine. Go to the next one.“

I go to the next painting.

He says. "Where's the horizon on that painting?“

I looked at it, and I said, “It's the very top of the painting.“

He said. “Get over here.“

I walked over to his desk. I'm standing now.

He's still sitting.

He said. “When you can come to the conclusion...

...that putting the horizon at the bottom of a frame or the top of the frame...

...is a lot better than putting the horizon right in the middle of the frame...

...then you may someday make a good picture maker.

Now get out of here.“

I was 13 years old and we walked into the Criterion Theater.

And it was that VistaVision screen.

And The Searchers was there, you know.

And. uh. Wayne's character. Ethan Edwards. that was the key figure...

...in all the work of Ford for me and my own work. really. Ethan Edwards.

Something mighty fishy about this trail. Uncle Ethan.

Don't call me Uncle.

I ain't your uncle.

Yes. sir.

No need to call me sir. either.

Nor Grandpa. Nor Methuselah.

I can whup you to a prazzle.

Martha!

Martha!

Leave them. Leave them to carry off their hurt and dead.

Well. Reverend. that tears it.

From now on. you stay out of this.

All of you. I don't want you with me.

I don't need you for what I gotta do.

Do you think maybe there's a chance we still might find her?

Indian will chase that thing till he thinks he's chased it enough...

...then he quits.

Same way when he runs.

Seems like he never learns there's such a thing...

...as a critter who'll just keep coming on.

So we'll find him in the end. I promise you.

We'll find him.

Just as sure as...

...the turning of the Earth.

I think that Ford felt that he had a debt of gratitude to my dad...

...because of. uh...

Well. he started him out.

...and he was 22 when he made this film, his first feature, Straight Shooting.

It was 1917 and the star was that great early Western hero Harry Carey.

He and Ford were to make 26 pictures together.

Born in Maine in 1894. both his parents having emigrated separately from Ireland...

...and met in the United States...

...Sean Aloysius O'Fearna was the youngest of four sons.

His brother Francis had taken the name Ford...

...and was already a well-known movie star and director...

...by the time Jack started in pictures as a propman in 1914.

During the next three years. he also worked...

...as a stunt rider. an actor.

Finally became an assistant director.

One day, while his director was out sick with a hangover...

They'd brought people out from the east.

I mean. the opening of Universal City. Carl Laemmle...

...had a lot of beauty contestants there.

And. uh. we had a Western street and a bunch of cowboys.

And. uh. Mr. Bernstein came riding up and he says:

“You're the first assistant. you gotta shoot something while he's here.

There's a big bunch of people. over 100.“ I said. "What will I do?“

He says. “Do anything. You could let them ride.“

So they rode through the streets shooting at everything...

...for no reason at all.

And I said to Mr. Bernstein. “And how was that?“ And he says. “Fine.“

He says he talked with Mr. Laemmle. He says. uh. “Keep on working.“

I says. "What will I do?“

He says. “Have them ride back.“

So they rode back shooting.

He says. “Can't you have a couple of falls in there?“

I said. “Oh. that will be easy.“

But these girls are all very pretty.

The cowboys are sort of straightening their kerchiefs up...

...straightening their hats and trying to look as pretty as possible...

...and. uh. shining up to these gals.

So. uh. I says. “I'll fire a pistol. and you. you and you do a horse fall...

...all fall off your horse.“

Well. the cowboys looked at one another. So I fired the shot.

And then every cowboy-- I think there were 30 of them.

They all fell off their horses.

And, uh, I said to Mr. Bernstein, “That's about it, isn't it?“

He says. “Oh. no. keep on going. What can you do now?“

So I put a lot of kerosene and gasoline on the place and burnt the town down.

Of course. the sets were cheap. Just built of plywood.

Didn't cost anything.

So I burnt the town down. and they thought it was great.

They had a picture coming up with Harry Carey.

And they had no director. and. uh. Mr. Laemmle says:

“That Jack Ford. he yells real loud. He'd make a good director.“

About the second day on the picture. there's quite a big scene going on...

...in which I have one line toward the end of the picture.

The end of the scene.

And. uh. it's telling the sheriff that I'll go whichever way he goes.

And. uh. in the meantime. to keep me busy in the background...

...he has me. uh. washing my face and drying it.

They're playing the scene. I was washing my face and he'd say. “Cut.“

All right. He'd look over at me and say, “Let's do it again.“

And I had become conscious that he's certainly paying a lot of attention to me...

...with that scene going on over there.

So finally. I did it. And he says. “Cut. Duke. you're dabbing your face.

Can't you wash?“

I said. “I am washing. I'm doing this. What more can I do?

I'm using the towel hard like that. What more can I do?“

Well. a big scene came up and he just bawled me out...

...to where. finally. all the crew. all the actors...

...uh. the cast was completely on my side.

And. uh. from then on. I had the cast helping me. you know...

...as my first time really in the big time working with so many top people.

You think he planned it that way?

I know he planned it that way.

As a matter of fact. he had little Tim Holt...

...who was not. uh. much more in the business than I.

And Holt finally said. “Stop picking on Duke.“

And this topped it for Jack. you know. and then he knew he got his point across.

I think he did it on purpose.

He has a way of picking on actors...

...when they're. um. uh. not too important a part of a scene...

...in order to get them on their toes so they'll come ready...

...when they really have something to do. and then he handles you like a baby.

Ford knew that there were 150. 200 people in the company...

...with a large cast and all this crew that would be stuck on this location...

...with nothing to do at night. and we were there for three weeks.

And every night...

...uh. after mess. after chow. after dinner. there would be a campfire.

And there would be. uh. something different happening every night.

He put me in charge. as a matter of fact.

And I was the camp director of Camp June Alaska. we called it.

A camp for boys between the ages of 14.

I remember that was a phrase.

But there would be a program every night.

And. um. during the day. when you're on the set...

...between takes, you're talking about it and planning it and organizing.

Anyway. it was something that people got to look forward to.

And I remember at the end. at the end of the program...

...whatever it was each night. Ford would give the cue to--

There was. um. a bugle player.

He was probably an actor. a small-part actor, who played a bugle.

And he would be given the cue when nobody could see Ford give it just on set...

...and he would disappear into the woods there.

And suddenly. when it had got to the last song. whatever it was...

...he would blow “Taps“ from way back in the woods.

And I tell you that people would cry with nostalgia.

It was like being a child again at camp.

If you came into the Ford set. Into the sound stage...

...it was like walking into a cathedral or a church.

There was a spell that was in there in that set.

And he cast the spell. I mean. he did. It just emanated from him.

When you look at the amount of. uh. films...

...that a guy like John Ford has done. you know...

...when he walks on the set. he's not sitting there...

...quaking about what the first shots gonna be and how am I gonna handle this...

...and what the actors are gonna think. how am I gonna establish rapport.

He's gonna just step right up and say:

“Okay. here's the first shot. We're gonna come over here.

Somebody's gonna go over there.“

That's the way it's gonna be.

Bad directors don't try to say anything.

Good directors. I think. try to say something.

And if you're really a good director...

...you at least try to maybe say several different things.

Ford. of course. was a master at staging. shooting. all the things you wanna say.

Poet. Catholic poet.

They were always. always trying to keep it moving.

You got the feeling you were going somewhere...

...when you were making a picture.

The feeling at beginning of every day...

...you were gonna complete a certain segment of it...

...and. uh. not be coming back to it the next day...

...and revisiting the same thing over...

...because the guy wants to do 40 takes on some guy's close-up or something.

A key scene for me in any of the Ford pictures. maybe not one of his strongest...

...Two Rode Together. - Yeah.

And it's the scene with Jimmy Stewart and Rich Widmark on the riverbank.

- Yeah. - One take.

Dialogue.

Uh. the relationship of the two. the humor.

And I said. “I wanna make scenes like that. I wanna deal with characters like that.

Uh. I wanna create films like that.“

The first thing Ford did was walk out in the river.

Nobody knew how deep it was. and everybody sort of sat there...

...and no one knew exactly why he walked out in the river.

Because we didn't really know that this was where...

...we were going to shoot the scene.

Uh...

But as happens so often. uh. Ford walked out in the river.

Fortunately. it wasn't too deep. It was about up to here.

So everybody else walked out in the river.

They said. you know. “If the boss did. I guess he's out there for some reason.“

So the cameramen went out. and the gaffer.

And. uh. Ford said. “Right here.“

Which meant. uh. “This is where the camera will be.“

So they all got the camera together. and it was a rather long scene on the water.

The sound man said. “I can't-- The sound. it's a river.“

And Ford said. “What?“

And then the sound man didn't say anything more.

And. uh. so we did the scene.

Discussing that scene with Jimmy Stewart one time...

...he said that just before they made the shot...

...Ford had taken Stewart aside and said:

“Watch out for Widmark. He's a good country actor.“

And. uh. Jimmy said that that kind of put him on his guard for the whole scene.

And he told me that after they'd finished the scene...

...he was discussing everything with Widmark...

...and was told that Ford had come up to Widmark...

...just before they made the scene and said exactly the same thing.

“Watch out for Stewart. He's a good country actor.“

I can't figure it out.

No fuss.

No argument.

What made you decide to come along?

Ride all night on some wild goose chase.

I'll tell you this. you didn't decide me to come along.

- I tell you that. - I didn't figure I did.

Those things come. uh. one in a box?

- Don't you ever buy your own cigars? - Sure.

I bought two last payday. That was three months ago.

Here.

Thanks a lot.

Hey. I got a match.

Gee. I'm surprised you can afford matches.

I can handle that all right.

Why did you come?

Hmm? Well...

If you must know. It was mostly to get away from Belle.

Belle? Why?

- I thought you two were kind of-- - I know. I know. I know.

Well. to be completely ungentlemanly about it. I--

Not that I ever pretended to be otherwise.

--We were, we were.

That's what I heard.

And...

...just lately. she started calling me Guth.

I noticed that.

Guth. The first time I heard it, I thought she got something stuck in her teeth.

Guth. Guth. Guth.

But she didn't have anything stuck in her teeth.

It was in her craw.

And. uh. a few nights ago. she got it out.

Yeah? Go ahead. What happened?

Well. that's not a subject you can discuss in mixed company.

Especially when one of the parties is...

It's matrimony.

No.

Matrimony.

Holy smoke. Matrimony.

And of course. in this case. when one of the parties is sort of...

You know. she carries a stiletto right there in her garter.

Hmm. I know.

And we were sitting around the place talking.

How do you know?

Well. you just told me.

Say. uh. she actually proposed. huh?

You didn't know about that before?

- About what? - About the stiletto.

How would I know about that before? Come on.

What do you mean? Did she propose? No.

She didn't. if you mean getting down on one knee.

She didn't do that.

You have to give her credit for a little more animal cunning than that.

No. as l...

As I remember the approach...

...it was that she didn't see why I was satisfied...

...with just 10 percent of her take...

...when she was willing to go for fifty-fifty.

You mean to tell me you've been getting 10 percent of Madam Aragon's place?

- Don't tell me you didn't know. - No. I didn't know about that.

I get 10 percent of everything in Tascosa.

Holy crimanetta.

This goes along with the job of marshal.

- You're a dirt-- - It's no secret about it.

- You're a dirty thief. - Everybody knows it.

What? Wait a minute.

You don't think I could live on a marshal's salary. do you?

A measly hundred dollars a month. Jim?

Well. that's 20 more than I get.

I know. but look. Look at you.

Look at you. Jim.

- What? - Jim.

- You're a man of simple wants. - Aw--

I just require a little more. that's all.

And he walked out of the river.

And he said. uh. “I think that does it.“

Well. now. this was a two-shot. and as I say. sort of a key scene.

Uh. we expected at least over-shoulders or something.

But he said:

“I think that's enough of that scene.“

- We get a setup. isn't that right, Brick? - Yes. sir.

And photograph it where everybody's face is seen...

...and the movements are all laid out and rehearsed...

...and usually get it in the first take.

He's very unhappy if he doesn't get it on the first take.

He likes...

...the emotion to be the first-time emotion.

- The actor is fresher-- - Mm-hm.

--And he's up and he's more enthused.

And the more takes you take...

...if somebody misses a line. I mean. you know...

...the scene goes down and down and down.

It gets tiresome. And they get tired.

Right after the first day. I was pretty sure...

...that he tried to get everything on the first take...

...because it was more spontaneous and people were up and keyed up.

The great ambition an actor has is to try to make it sound like this is the first time...

...this thought's ever been transmitted...

...and it's the first time this thought's. these words have ever been spoken.

If you do it 30 times...

...uh. the actor is working strictly on technique...

...to kind of try to give that illusion like it's the first time.

If you're trying for it on the first take...

When the scene starts...

...you suddenly realize that you're not sure what's going to happen...

...because you haven't rehearsed it. you haven't--

You don't know exactly what's going to happen.

Uh. I suppose you might call it planned improvisation.

Well. there's an element of chance...

...but I don't think there's any nervousness in it.

- It always came off. - Hmm.

And the actors after all. I mean. uh...

...are good. and they. you know. I mean they're pros...

...and they'll take advantage of any accident that happens.

I've heard him say most of the good things in movies happen by accident.

It's the kind of thing that gave Ford the reputation...

...of having the luck of the Irish. because things would happen for him...

...that wouldn't happen for anybody else.

One of the all-time great examples was during the war...

...when he was. um. head of the field photo service...

...and he was on his way into the Pacific and staged through Midway.

Now. Ford certainly didn't know that the Japs were hitting the next morning.

They didn't know at Midway. so you know Ford didn't know.

But he happened to be there that night...

...and stayed overnight and was flying out the next day...

...to wherever he was going. maybe it was Australia.

But at dawn the next day. the Japs struck.

And here's Ford asleep in his bunk at BOO when it all happens.

And he gets up and grabs his 16 mm cartridge-loading camera...

...and rushed up onto the roof.

Yes. this really happened.

Now. that's not something you could say. “I missed it, do it again.“ Heh.

But it was one of the all-time great shots for Ford...

...and he's there at the right time.

No. that's just luck.

That's just occasionally you get some luck in pictures.

More occasionally you have bad luck.

If something happens that wasn't premeditated...

...I mean. and it happens. I mean. photograph it.

Like the scene in-- What is it? She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

A terrific thunderstorm came up with lightning...

...I mean. flashing all over the skies...

...and. uh. all the tourists. I mean. broke for their cars.

And I said, “Let's shoot it.“

We had a very. very pedantic cameraman on it.

Very slow. and he says. “So we shot this under protest.“

Winnie Hoch said. later on. “I never refused to do the shot.“

He said. “I never refused to do the shot.

I just said, 'I'm not sure if it will work out."'

So we had the cavalry riding into the thunderstorm...

...lightning flashing and. uh. thunder rolling and everything else.

It made it an interesting shot.

Then we finished it up in the studio. I mean. the operation.

Mm-hm.

He put “under protest“ on it and won the Academy Award.

The arrowhead's right over Quayne's heart, Nathan.

It's got to come out.

- Well? - It's a risky operation at best.

- Can you halt? - You know I can't.

For 30 minutes. Nathan.

Twenty minutes. For a man's life.

Doctor. I couldn't give you five minutes. Not if it was my own son.

Quayne's a soldier. He'll have to take a soldier's risks.

He knows that. I'm the one that's begging.

I'll give you all I can.

Troop halt! Dismount leads.

Thank you. Nathan.

Hold your cap in the ranks.

So many times I have read and been told about the Ford luck.

Ford luck.

But that wonderful scene when I walked down...

...after being married to the mine owner's son.

And I walked down the steps from the church...

...and my veil up on the back of my neck went and spiraled up in the sky.

And everybody said. “Oh. that Ford luck.

How wonderful that was. What an effect it had.“

Rubbish. It wasn't Ford luck.

It was three wind machines. placed by John Ford...

...and I had to walk up and down those steps many times...

...while he worked out that the wind machine would do exactly that.

Now. in that clip. the man under the tree...

...is Walter Pidgeon. who's the minister of that church.

He's madly in love with Maureen O'Hara's character.

She's madly in love with him. but she has to marry someone else...

...because their relationship has been deeply frowned on by the society.

So he's obviously very unhappy under the tree.

And Ford has them ride off. and you just see him under the tree...

...and that's the end of the sequence.

So they shot this shot...

...and the cameraman. Artie Miller. came over to Ford...

...and said. “Jack. you think we should get a close-up of Walter under the tree?“

And Ford said. “Oh. Jesus. no. I mean. they'll just use it.“

Because he shot in the studio system...

...and all those people shot in the studio system in those days...

...where groups of executives would come and scrutinize your dailies...

...and they could come along and maybe bring in another editor...

...and try to edit along simultaneously with you or something.

I think they didn't want to do that.

They wanted to just put down their picture. so they would quit.

I've worked with directors like that. They would just cut. stop...

...where they wanted the camera to stop so that you couldn't edit it...

...too many different ways.

You know. Ford. always said:

“I had a thousand fights with the studios and I lost them all.“

And. uh. still there's The Grapes of Wrath and My Darling Clementine...

...and They Were Expendable, and so...

I'd like to lose some fights like that.

I really admired the way he would stage and block his characters.

And often he would hold shots where everybody would be in a full shot...

...composed in a painterly fashion...

...not as archly operatic as Cecil B. DeMille...

...but they still looked like. you know. beautiful poses.

And yet he'd find some naturalistic way to get your mind off of the frame...

...and get yourself inside the story.

The beauty of his compositions. I just said at the time...

...the pictures. the way they looked.

Um. and later on I tried to analyze why. and. um. obviously it's the authenticity.

In a sense. the authenticity of the way the people behave...

...the dust on the clothes. uh. body language.

Nobody ever staged better.

Nobody ever staged actors to camera better.

But at the same time. it seems organic.

He would just allow a shot to be set.

And the shot would just evolve. and it would just keep evolving.

Pretty soon you got a chance to study it. much like a painting.

I think the thing I learned so much about. you know. by watching John Ford films...

...is he is a painter.

And. uh. he was a great painter.

It just took him a hundred crew members to help him paint the canvas.

The opening scene in The Searchers where Ward Bond. uh. arrives at the house...

...and asks for some coffee. and. uh. asks for those doughnuts...

...and the way he's behaving. the way everybody's moving...

...in that frame. in the kitchen...

...I think to me that was Ford.

Um. that when I felt that I wanted to spend time with people I love...

...and I knew they were being handled with love in the film.

That was Ford to me.

- Morning. Lucy. - Reverend.

- Debbie. you been baptized? - No.

- Aaron. get Martin. will you? - Martin.

I can sure use that coffee. Pass the sugar. son.

Oh. fine. fine.

Wait a minute. sister. I didn't get any coffee yet here.

Oh. doughnuts. Thank you. sister.

I'm sure fond of them doughnuts.

Aaron. Martin. come on up here.

Come on.

- Raise your right hand-- Martin. - Yes, sir.

Raise your right hand.

You are hereby voluntary privates in Company A of the Texas Rangers.

- You will faithfully discharge-- - Can I go with you?

- Go get my shirt. boy. - Shh! Quiet. Where was I?

Faithfully fulfill.

- You will faithfully discharge-- - Mrs. Edwards.

Shut up!

You will faithfully discharge your duties. as such...

...without recompense or monetary consideration.

Amen. That means no pay. And better get a shirt on.

I ain't going volunteering till I've had my coffee.

- Drink your own. Reverend. - Just call me captain.

Captain. The Reverend Samuel Johnston Clayton.

- Mighty impressive. - Well.

He starts the day by everybody being there on time at 9:00 in the morning.

Then he calls you over to the set.

Usually he'd say:

“Well. you come in that door. you come in this door over here...

...you're sitting on the couch." and just run through the lines.

Now. he'd let you run through those lines...

...and develop your, uh. actions...

...your physical actions to the lines in those rehearsals.

He doesn't say. uh. “I want you to come into the door...

...and come over and stand right there by that plant.“

He doesn't-- There's no. “You must. you must. you must.“

He just says. “Rehearse the scene quietly.“ You know?

Ford has-- He puts some flats up and has a long table...

...and we go before a scene and. uh. we read the scene.

But I've never really felt that Ford. uh. used this as a rehearsal.

I've always felt that he used it...

...because he wasn't sure he liked some of the dialogue.

He has such an analytical mind.

He knows the difference between the trivia...

...and the meat of a scene like no one I ever worked with.

He would have Dudley Nichols rewrite scene after scene after scene--

This was before the picture started.

--And then just reach down and take a line out of this one...

...a line out of this one. and then three lines...

...out of all this wonderful writing...

...but. uh. flowery. uh. language of Dudley Nichols.

He'd just go right to the valuable thoughts.

Because I'd know we've done this and we've read something...

...and I would read something. and he'd say:

“Wait a minute. What script do you have?“

Well. you know. I said. “This is the script you gave.“

He said. “This. it's not the script I have.

I never had-- That's a terrible line.“

I said. “Well. there. there's the line.“

He said. “Well. isn't everybody agreed that that's awful?“

Everybody said. “ Yeah.“

Duke Wayne said. "Well. maybe it's the way Stewart reads it, you know.“

And. uh. pretty soon the page is torn out.

And he said. “Now let's go over it without that page.“

I think that. uh. lots of times he does that...

...just to sort of cut down on the dialogue.

He hates dialogue in the first place.

He likes a sparsity of words. Uh. if you'll remember The Informer...

...I know that they had a long. highly dramatic scene...

...when the British officer paid off. uh. Vic McLaglen as the informer.

And. uh. when he finished with the scene. It was a silent scene.

Twenty pounds. You'd better count it.

Show him out the back way.

He always said. “If you don't need all that talk. throw it out.“

You know. too much talking. He'd throw a lot of lines out.

The actors would get upset because they thought...

...the size of your part had a lot to do with dialogue.

But it didn't make any difference. He threw all this dialogue out.

Because if you could tell it with the camera...

...it was better than having to speak...

...you know. lines to explain the scene.

What do you think of talk in pictures?

Oh. it's necessary. I mean. people expect it now.

It helps as long as the. uh...

As long as the dialogue is crisp. you know. and cryptic.

And as long as they're not long soliloquies or...

Oh. I like talking pictures.

They're much easier to make than silent pictures.

I mean...

...silent pictures were hard work.

You know. they were very difficult, I mean. to get a point over.

You had to move the camera around so much.

A talking picture. I mean. uh. just as you and I are talking...

...I mean. it gets over. I hope.

Ask the sound man.

Yet still the most important aspect of your pictures...

...has always been the visual.

Wouldn't you agree?

Perhaps.

Bugler...

...sound forward.

Forward.

Forward. ho!

There was an interesting duality...

...in Ford's visual style during the '30s and '40s...

...varying between a kind of conscious pictorialism...

...and a more natural simplicity.

By 1948, when he made this film, Fort Apache...

...these two elements had been memorably combined.

Despite the undeniable artistry of his famous 1935 film The Informer...

...his style in it belongs nonetheless to a tradition of studio atmosphere.

And it became increasingly clear in the '50s and '60s...

...that the style and manner closest to Ford's real nature...

...could be found in the seeming simplicity of a 1950 masterpiece like Rio Grande.

Well. actually. he has the capacity for making those silent scenes.

And one of the things that you must learn when working for him...

...is to relax and look.

On some occasions. you've naturally been given enough of the story...

...before and after. that you know about how the person is thinking.

But it really doesn't matter.

He plays a little soft music on the set.

He has music off the side. They don't use that track.

And. uh. you just look...

...and the audience will put the thoughts that they wanna put in to that scene...

...and they'll give it the heart that the scene needs.

I think it's this thing about Ford.

He believed different things that pulled in different directions.

And the tension between the ideas...

...and the expression of the ideas is so much of what makes him great.

Ambiguity is the home of the artist. the great artist.

And. um...

...Ford seemed rough-hewn...

...and a simple fellow. and he wasn't. and his films seem sometimes rough-hewn...

...and simple and straightforward. and they're not.

They're very complicated.

At the end of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance...

...Ford's last great film. uh. Jimmy Stewart has told the whole story...

...of who really shot Liberty Valance.

And at the end of it. the newspaper reporter tears up the story.

Well. you're not gonna use the story. Mr. Scott?

No. sir.

This is the West, sir.

When the legend becomes fact. print the legend.

He's right, Gramps.

Now. this ending. which is similar to the ending of Fort Apache...

...in which John Wayne tells a cleaned-up version of the massacre...

...that Henry Fonda was responsible for--

No man died more gallantly.

Now. one more honor for his regiment.

Of course you're all familiar with the famous painting of Thursday's charge. sir?

Yes. I saw it when last in Washington.

That was a magnificent work.

There were these massed columns of Apaches...

...in their war paint and feather bonnets.

And here was Thursday leading his men in that heroic charge.

Correct in every detail.

He has become almost a legend already.

He's a hero of every schoolboy in America.

But what of the men who died with him?

- What of Collingworth and--? - Collingwood.

Oh. of course. Collingwood.

That's the ironic part of it.

We always remember the Thursdays. but the others are forgotten.

You're wrong there.

They aren't forgotten because they haven't died.

They're living. right out there. Collingwood and the rest.

They'll keep on living as long as the regiment lives.

A lot of people have said that Ford agrees with the point “print the legend.“

But in fact. that isn't the point at all. because Ford has just told you the truth...

...in two films, vividly. showing that Henry Fonda was desperately wrong...

...and that Jimmy Stewart didn't kill Liberty Valance.

So he's printed the truth. not the legend.

And that's the point of the films. irony.

That history is never necessarily correct.

One time. I asked Ford. I said. “Well. do you think it's correct to print the legend?“

And Ford typically said. “Yeah. because heroes are good for the country...

...like Abe Lincoln.“ ANN: How ambitious you are too.

Ford is able to convey more deeply...

...what people are feeling by the way they behave...

...the looks that pass between them, than by what they say.

In Young Mr. Lincoln. released in 1939...

...he employs music in a similar way...

...and composer Alfred Newman's theme...

...for Ann Rutledge, Lincoln's first love, becomes synonymous with her character.

Just had my heart set on your going over to Jacksonville to college...

...when I go to the seminary there. and...

You're mighty pretty, Ann.

Some folks I know don't like red hair.

I do.

Do you. Abe?

I love red hair.

Pretty. aren't they?

I got them at Bull and Green's place.

You never saw anything like them in your life.

Sitting there in the snow like scared rabbits.

Bet the woods are full of them too.

Snow's nice. isn't it? The way it's drifting.

Later in the movie, in Springfield...

...Lincoln is with Mary Todd.

In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance...

...made in 1962, 23 years after Young Mr. Lincoln...

...Hallie Stoddard comes back to visit the ruins of a ranch house...

...that belonged to an old friend who has just died...

...and to whose funeral she will soon go.

Note the music.

You knew where I wanted to go, didn't you?

Well. you said you wanted to see the cactus blossoms.

There's his house down there. what's left of it...

...blossoms all around it.

He never did finish that room he started to build on. did he?

No. Oh. well. you know all about that.

Recognizing that Ann Rutledge music...

...its effect in Liberty Valance becomes heightened.

Because as we come to know later in the film...

...the ranch owner was the lost love of Hallie's youth...

"just as Ann was for Lincoln.

John Ford told great stories but John Ford also. I think. did something...

...that directors haven't done before or since.

Hawks might have done a little bit of it.

Raoul Walsh may have done a little bit of it also.

But that is, John Ford's movies were a collection of rituals...

...whether they were, you know. American folklore rituals. they were Irish rituals...

...whether they were rituals from the native American Lakota culture...

...or rituals that he just read about in the untamed West...

...there were all sorts of rituals.

Here he lies where he longed to be

Home is the sailor. home from the sea

And the hunter home from the hill

Is it all right, sir?

Sure.

- With Mrs. Yorke's permission. - Thank you.

It's what's in between the lines...

...so often that makes Ford films Ford films.

Uh. you're familiar with-- We all know how scripts are. you know. they dance.

Heh. heh. You know. that's what it is.

And Ford. purposely. would go out...

...and seize these moments. these director moments...

...and because he understood that that was the essence...

...of what separated motion pictures from other forms.

- Come on. Ma. let's dance. - Oh. come on.

Well. all right. Heh. heh.

Stop. stop-

He seemed to have a compulsion not to talk about script or the part. character. picture.

If you came to his office. you were more apt to talk about fishing or politics...

...or almost anything else.

If you asked him questions...

...he would avoid answers about specific questions about the character.

He didn't seem to want to.

I think when he's working on a script to begin with...

...he goes back in the life of each one of his characters...

...and that's usually how he explains the character...

...to the fellow that's gonna play it. He never tells him how to read a line.

He explains the background of the character.

So he has studied that character enough to know...

...what his reaction would be in a certain type of situation.

And I said. “If you're gonna kiss her. for heaven's sakes...

...I mean. you're supposed to be her lover.

I mean. clasp her in your arms and kiss her on the mouth...

...and clasp her to your arms.“

And he said. “Mr. Ford. she's playing my daughter.“

“Oh. really? Let me read this damn thing.“

He said. “Now. uh. you've read the script?“

I said. “Yes.“

“Uh. now. you're kind of lazy. Sit down.“

I sat down. He said. “Now put your feet up and. uh. lean back...

...lean back, maybe put your hat down over your eyes.“

And I did.

He said. “Well. is that the way you're gonna do it?“

And I said. “Well. l...“

He said. “All right. all right. let's. um. roll.“

And it was just a set shot. doing nothing...

...but in the middle of it. for some reason. I yawned...

...a big enormous yawn. which. you know...

...isn't the highest class of inventive acting. you know.

If you're a lazy fellow sitting in the sun. yawning isn't--

But I yawned.

And he said. “Right.“

And that was the first time I'd ever heard him say “right“...

...and. uh. then we went to something else.

And two days later. uh. when we were in a different location...

...he came up and he said. “I like the yawn.“

And I said, “Oh, oh, oh.“

But it meant a great deal to me.

In Darling Clementine...

...you remember when Henry Fonda is out on the porch there and he puts his feet up...

...and. uh-- And. uh--

And he doesn't cut to close-ups.

He just stays in this big shot of this guy sitting there...

...with his legs up on the post.

As we got ready to do it. Ford said. um. “Turn your chair a little bit.“

So I did. and he said. “Lean back in it.“

And there was a veranda post there. and he said. “Put your foot up on there.“

So I put my foot up. He said. “Put your other foot up there.“

So I put my other foot up there and leaning back.

He said. “Change the position.“ So I did like this.

And it became a little choreographed dance...

...of pushing away. changing the position of my feet.

And it became a little moment that was not indicated until then...

...that. um. everybody remembers and comments about.

And as for you, when Doc finds out you butted him last night...

...he'll twist that tin badge around your heart.

It's typical. you don't know when he's thought of that...

...whether it was at the moment or driving the hour and a half...

...to the location in the morning.

He never gives you a clue until that moment.

He has a great, uh. keen sense of when a thing is sentimental...

...and when it is maudlin.

And. uh. he's not afraid of those kind of scenes.

As a matter of fact. one of the things that he told me early in my career was:

“Duke. you're gonna get a lot of scenes during your life...

...and they're gonna seem corny to you.“

And he said. “Play them. play them to the hilt.

If it's east. then play it.“ And he says. “You'll get by with it.

But if you start trying to play it...

...with your tongue in your cheek and getting cute...

...you'll lose size yourself and the scene will be lost.“

C Troop present and accounted for. sir.

Thank you. sir.

Men.

I won't be going out with you.

I won't be here when you return.

I wish I could.

But I know your performance under your new commander...

...will make me proud of you.

As I have always been proud of you.

One moment, please. captain.

Corporal Krumrein. front and center.

Sir. a small token from the troop.

They all put in a hat for it, sir.

Even Sergeant Hochbauer.

It's solid silver. sir.

Brought on from Kansas City.

There's a sentiment on the back of it.

“To Captain Brittles from C Troop.

Lest we forget.“

Thank you. corporal.

Thank you.

Thank all of you.

Take your troop. Mr. Pennell.

Proceed on your mission.

Good luck. C Troop!

Well. there he had a scene that could have been very maudlin...

...and as a consequence. he had to put something in...

...to not distract from the scene but give it a little humor and warmth.

And that is when he came up with the idea of those little square glasses...

...and had the fellow look at all his troopers...

...and turn and put on the glasses to read what the gold watch said.

And. uh. it just added enough humor...

...that it took the sting off of the sentiment in the scene.

There's a sense of no matter where that camera was placed...

...it was the best position. the right position.

It was a position of poetry.

Just great storytelling. Just a great storyteller.

He sort of. uh. to this day. you know...

...is one of the most patriotic American directors...

...who's ever. you know. graced the screen.

Ford has chronicled the story of the United States in no small detail...

- --ranging over 180 years, from before the Revolution into the 1950s.

And throughout his work. as in this funeral scene from 3 Bad Men...

...the personal story is always shown in perspective with the flow of history behind.

1775, in the Mohawk Valley.

By thunder. I'll bet we can make the whole world the way we march. Ha. ha!

Mistress Lana. Lana. here they come.

Come on out. here they come.

Welcome.

1845. toward the Western frontier.

1846, in Springfield, Illinois.

Ain't you going back, Abe?

No. I think I might go on a piece.

Maybe to the top of that hill.

1863. in the South.

Reverend. my boy. Johnny. he's all I've got left.

First. his father. then his uncle. his brothers. now him.

He's all I have left. Reverend.

I'm not gonna let him go. I'm not gonna let him go.

Cadet drummer Buford. you are relieved of duty.

April 15th, 1865, in Washington.

You know. friends...

...$400,000 is a big heap pile of money...

...to light a man's cigar with.

Mr. Lincoln has been shot.

The Indian Wars of the 1870s.

Recalcitrant swine. he must feel it.

He's only speaking the truth. sir.

Is there anyone in this regiment that understands an order?

- What does the colonel wish me to say? - I find him without honor.

They're talking to the United States government.

That government orders them to return to the reservation.

If they have not started by dawn. we will attack.

Tell him that.

You will come with me.

Hunt buffalo together.

Smoke many pipes.

We are too old for war.

Yes. we are too old for war.

But old men should stop wars.

Old friend...

Old friend...

...what would you do?

1876, the great Dakota land rush.

October 1881. in Tombstone. Arizona.

Here they come. Pa.

The 1890s, along the Mississippi.

1917. over there.

Oliver!

1932. in Oklahoma.

I'm right here to tell you. mister...

...there ain't nobody gonna push me off my land.

My grandpa took up this land 70 years ago.

My pa was born here. We was all born on it.

And some of us was killed on it.

And some of us died on it.

And that's what makes it our'n...

...being born on it and working on it...

...and dying. Dying on it.

And not no piece of paper with writing on it.

1942. in the Philippines.

Pretty rugged. isn't it?

Let's go, Rusty.

The inevitability of history moving forward...

...quite often. the victim is the family.

The tragedy is the family.

His family life was terrible.

And yet it was marvelous in the movies. the way he filmed it...

...and the warmth and the togetherness and the love you felt...

...and the whole family unit with Donald Crisp...

It didn't happen in his own home.

Maybe his own family life was bad...

...but he always dreamed of having a more idyllic family life or a closer family...

...uh. as some of the old-world Irish families were...

...and, uh, I suppose, maybe like to try to place himself...

...using film to place himself in that.

We see Ford holding on to the very last of the family of the 19th century almost.

The way my parents were holding on but couldn't hold on anymore.

- Leave the table. - I will leave the house.

- Will. tell your father you're sorry. - I'm not sorry.

I'm with you. We can find lodgings in the village.

Gwilym.

All of you. then?

For the last time. sit down. finish your supper.

I will say no more.

We are not questioning your authority. sir.

But if manners prevent our speaking the truth...

...we will be without manners.

Get your clothes and go.

I'm going with them to look after them.

Hold your tongue. girl. Get on with your dishes.

Yes. my son.

I know you are there.

I found myself being very drawn in by the characters...

...but primarily by the sense of warmth that he had.

Uh. the sense of his love of humanity.

The sense of the importance and the structure within the family unit.

Family is the protection against the world. He understands that.

It's the thing that we have to lean on.

And when the family is destroyed...

...by what seems to be progress and what is inevitable...

...this inspires some of his greatest poetry.

Give me your hand, Ma.

- Goodbye. - Goodbye. Tommy.

Later. when this has blowed over. you'll come back?

Sure. Ma.

Tom. we ain't the kissing kind. but...

Goodbye. Ma.

Goodbye. Tommy.

Tommy.

In 1936. John Ford made a movie with Katharine Hepburn. Mary of Scotland.

Not his best film. not her best film...

...but the two of them seemed to have fallen in love.

Um. ford had never had anybody stand up to him the way Hepburn stood up to him...

...and he liked it.

He was a married Irish Catholic with two children...

...but for a period of time. they had some kind of intimate relationship.

And the result of that was that he made...

...probably the best series of films in his career.

In a short, three-year period between 1939 and 1941

...when he went into the Navy and she fell in love with Spencer Tracy...

...John Ford directed:

Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln...

...Drums Along The Mohawk. The Long Voyage Home...

...The Grapes of Wrath, for which he won the Oscar for Best Director...

...as he did again the following year for How Green Was My Valley...

...which also won Best Picture.

It's hard to believe he just did those in such a close proximity.

You know. of '39. '40. '41.

And they were just fabulous films.

And. uh. I think everybody. uh. who grew up in that generation...

...was influenced forever by him.

In 1973. the year Ford died...

...his grandson. Dan Ford. who was writing a book about him...

...brought Katharine Hepburn to see him.

And the two shared a long conversation which was taped in his bedroom...

...and during the course of it, she said--

I think we had fundamental respect for each other.

Mm-hm.

And I think that is the most lasting quality in the world.

That and the fact that you beat the hell out of me at golf.

Do you remember when you called me up. uh. to do it...

...I said, "lam probably the worst choice in the world for Mary of Scotland.“

And you said, "Well, you are no worse a choice for Mary of Scotland...

...than lam as the director of Mary of Scotland.“ Ha-ha-ha.

- Those are the nag jokes there. - That's very good.

- Trying to tape me? - Yeah. it's on.

After they finished recording. Dan Ford went out to get something at the car...

...and inadvertently. he left the tape machine running.

Ford and Hepburn were recorded unbeknownst to them...

...until the tape ran out.

You're dropping ashes all over the place here.

Take a snooze. and I'll come by in the morning.

- Okay. - Okay.

I love you.

It's mutual.

Thank you.

- It's thrilling to see you. - Oh, good.

That's better.

- Okay, I'll be down in an hour. - Well, anyway, Kate...

- Anybody listening? - No.

Do you have woman's intuition?

- Hmm? - Yes.

For the only passionate love story he ever made, The Quiet Man...

...a very personal film he spent 30 years trying to make...

...Wayne's character is named Sean. Ford's real first name...

...and Maureen O'Hara's character is named...

...after the two women Ford most loved in his life...

...Mary McBride Smith. his wife. and Kate Hepburn.

Hello. Mary Kate Danaher.

Good morning. Sean Thornton.

“How do you describe someone you really admired and loved...

...and yet he had so many aggravating traits?

He was an instinctive con man.

It was impossible to know when to believe him or when to disbelieve him.

Everything he said or did was for effect.

That is why he was so difficult to interview.

He would deliberately say the opposite of what he knew you wanted to hear.

He could be kind, gracious and gentle...

...with a wonderful sense of humor. but he could also be vindictive and mean.

All one can do with John Ford is accept him with all of his faults and virtues...

...and love him.“

You know. you value the guy that staked it out first.

He got there first. he figured it out. and he did it better.

One of the things that sets John Ford apart...

...from virtually any other American director...

...is his sense of spirituality...

...his sense that death is not the end.

And you can see this conveyed...

...in scenes. as in Young Mr. Lincoln...

...where the lead character speaks to the spirit of one who's died.

1864.

1882.

Eighteen years.

Didn't get much of a chance. did you. James?

It's been a long time. honey. since you and the baby...

...went away.

Oh. uh. Jerome come home tonight.

Little Robert E. would have been...

He would have been just the same age as Jerome is now.

Well. Mary...

...only six more days to go...

...and your old Nathan will be out of the Army.

Haven't decided what I'll do yet.

Somehow. I just can't picture myself...

...back there on the banks of the Wabash. rocking in the front porch.

No. I've been thinking I'd maybe push on west.

And it's most movingly conveyed...

...in the final. extraordinary sequence...

whom How Green Was My Valley.

Wait. Mr. Gruffydd!

The good old handiwork.

He came to me just now.

Ivor was with him.

He spoke to me and told me of the glory he had seen.

Look.

Men like my father cannot die.

They are with me still, real in memory as in they were in flesh.

Loving and beloved forever.

How green was my valley then.

Every John Ford movie is filled with reverberation: from another...

...which makes his use of the same players year after year...

...so much more than just using a stock company.

And no picture of his should really be looked at as separate from the rest.

They stand together as one man's vision of the world...

...and of the past.

Frank Skeffington is leaving his campaign headquarters right now.

Let's go.

With him are his loyal supporters.

Those who fought alongside of him in this campaign.

There's an air of defeat here. but it was not shared by the candidate.

There's only one way to describe him. and that is that he was victorious in defeat.

I'm sorry the show didn't have a happier ending.

Maybe I can do better next time. lad.

- Good night. - Good night, Uncle Frank.

Victorious in defeat.

John Ford's history is filled with defeats...

...failures, last stands...

...their tragedy also their peculiar glory.

Finally, it's not the concentration on Americana that gives unity to his work...

...but rather this singular poetic vision. with which he sees all life...

...and through which he has created his own particular world.

And his hero has most often been a man alone...

msilhouetted against the moving background of history...

...whether played by Henry Fonda or Jimmy Stewart or Spencer Tracy.

From Harry Carey to John Wayne, the same.

And one of Harry Carey's. uh. stances was grabbing his elbow and looking off...

...and he always seemed like such a lonely character to me.