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JOHN FORD

series edited and designed by Ian Cameron

JOHNFORDPETERBQGDANQVICH

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

University of Caltfm-nia Press For 'luepu- 'l'I|at-ll"a!k:Berkeley and La: Angeles

University of Calijbrnia Press. Ltd.Landon, England

" lmtii. .Haga:inu Lin|ih:ti I 967lVcrv rliaplvrs ' Pt-14-r Bngtialunirli I 978 Th: uaruzr im1i:.\' (Part 5) was rst rasaarrhcd by

Pally Platl. France: Dual transcribed the i"IL'T'tiimc. and tln: manuscript was lypad by MaeWtiud: who has since updated Ihc inmuation anFard's carver u-itlt new malarial from The Amer-ican Film Institute Catalog and from jose/allMcBride.

.4 Meeting at Mnumncut l'allq\"' originallyappeared in Pieces of Time (Esquin:-.~lrb0rHausa. I 973) and is irtrlmlvd far tln: rst tinn: inthis exparidcd :.'diIitm. Santa of tln: material usedin the Intruductim|though mnsitlarably ra-u'ritlen1l.-as publi:/lad in Esquire as Thexluttmm of julm Ford" (.~l/ml, I964) and waslater re/zrinted in Ilia! rm: in Pieces of Time.Part 4 appears! originally as 'I'a/as rr Mr.Fara" in New York Magazine (October. I973)..-Ill this malaria! is um] u-illt Ilia kind pcrmissionuf tlu: publixlicrs. My Iltanks ga tn all I/lv. people.rind in jnlm Ford, and his mfa. Mary. and hisdauglilar. Barbara.

P.B.

ISBN: 0-520-03498-8Library of Cungrcss Catalog Card Number:77-77522

Printed in tltc Criitud Stale: of xlmcrica

Stills by caurtissy Q/' Miltnn Lilbariski (uf tltaLarrjv I:'dmum1: Baokslto/1. Hallyzmud). julmKnbal. K21-irt Brmcnlmv, The Natimial Filmxi rcltira, Calumbia, A i.'!ru< Ga!i11q\'r1-lHa_w.'r,RI\'O Radio. Rcpubliv. 'I'u-uttictlt Cantury-l"a.\".United .-lrlists. Urtizwrsal. Oliz-e Carey. Gum: l"rar1tispim:a: Fun1(::an|rz) zcitlt joint ll"a_\'ne onRinggald, Wanter Bros. tltv island qf Kauai for Donovan's Reef.

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION:A MEETING ATMONUMENT VALLEY 21 MY NAMES JOHN FORD.I MAKE WESTERNS. 62 POET AND COMEDIAN 20

3 A JOB OF WORK 36

4 TAPS 109

5 FORDS CAREERFILMOGRAPHY 113

INTRODUCTION:A MEETINGATMONUMENT VALLEY'lhe moming after I arrived on the (,'I1,.\~mm' idea. but ]ohn Ford had for years been among.-lulumn location in Monument \'alle_\' (accom- my most cherished directors and l was verypanied by Polly llatt). the unit publicity man anxious both to meet him and to watch him atmet us for breakfast to askit seems he hadn't work. so after much badgering from my end.been notiliedwhat was my assignment for the editor. Ilarold Hayes. capitulated.) Well.Iisqiltre. john Ford." I said. said the bedraggled p.r. man. we could watchHe tumed ashen. Oh. no." from the sidelines for awhile but I wasn't to"Yes." I said. speak to .\lr Ford or even come under his gaze.Uh. no. no." he said again. and looked around .-\t the moment. agreeing to that seemed the

nervously as though to make sure we hadn't only way to even set foot on the set. so I did.been overheard. I asked what was the matter For two days. \\'ith the unit publicist hoveringand. shakily. he tried to explain that .\lr Ford at my elbow e\'ery moment. I followed the rulesnever granted interviews. hated reporters. he'd set down. .\lr Ford would. on frequentshunned publicity. loathed talking about his occasions. pull out a handkerchief and chewmovies and was simply unapprnachable by on it. which the publicist nervously informedanyone. I got the rather clear impression that me was a sign of his displeasure and irritation.this aging and by now almost haggard fellow I only discovered sometime later that this waswould rather be swallowed up by the earth than nonsense since .\lr Ford. if he is not smokingrisk even the thought of mentioning to .\lr Ford or chewing a cigar. is air:-t1_\-.\" chewing on athat I was anywhere within a thousand-mile handkerchiefit is not a signal of anythingradius. except probably that he's trying to cut downI countered by saying that his employer. on smoking.

Warner Bros. had just paid for our trip from On the rst Sunday aftemoon-the only dayNew York to Arizona and that they'd been they didn't shootI accidentally came uponfully informed of my assignment when they ]ack Garfein (the director). who was thereissued the tickets. (Actually. it had taken more visiting his then wife. Carroll Baker; they werepressure on Iisquire to agree to the article than going riding. Garfein and I had a mutual friend.Wamers; they weren't terribly interested in the the late Gene Archer. who was with The i\'eu-2

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York Time: then, and I used this as an excuse For the next week or so, Mr Ford was moreto introduce myself. When he asked what on than cooperative with me on the set; he was,earth I was doing there, l told him. in his own gruff way, actively friendly. It wasDoes ]ack Ford know you're here?" he said. often cold on the location and Polly took toNo, that's my problem, and I told him the wearing an lndian blanket wrapped around

situation. her, prompting Ford to name her Teepee-Oh, for God's sake, he said, that's ridic- That-Walks." l was sporting a British suede hat

ulous. Hcd love to see you. l'll tell him you're which he evidently disliked, so one day hehere. yelled Wardrobe and instructed them to give

me a cavalry hat. He then ned it on me himself,About four hours later, a jeep came roaring afilusffng ll]? b"l'""Pl"5lYl "mll ll Pleaxd

down from the hill where Ford and the stars h"- Thais tfncr hm Gmdam" ihmg Y""'bunked (the rest of the company stayed below been "3""E-in trailets, one of which wed been allotted), and Now, this attentiun he was laviahing nn usl heard Ray Kellogg, the second-unit direetor, was not making the producer happy, mainly lloudly yelling out what I nally gured out was guess because there had arrived on the locationa rough approximation of my name. l ran over. a writer and a photographer from Life. whomYnu MaDanabiih_>" Ford quite blithely either ignored or insulted."Yup," He used to refer to the writer as that guy fromThe Old Mand like you to join him for Lijli, Death and Forltute. Eventually, producer

dinnai-_airuui-id six, O_|(,_> Smith (whom ld also made the tactical error"()_K_!" of not interviewing) must have decided some-Everyone was already seated when we arrived hing had 1 b dime 5 I '35 i"l""d~ wllh

but whoever was on Mr Ford's right (l was too much trembling and stammering by the pub-usigi-gd to fgmgmbgf) was mgygd so |_ha| I licist, that we would have to leave-tomorrow;could sit there. He nodded a pleasant hello. our trailer. went the excuse. had to be used forpronounced my name correctly and said, arriving members of the company Since I'd$|;ybian?" told Wamers originally l would need at leastI said yes as casually as possible but I was [W9 Wgcks lo Em he Pic righl ami "WY had

inipiassaii Au my lira paapia nan always agreed, l was not a little upset and annoyed toassumed um nan-ii; was Russian oi Pniisn ni be thrown out after barely a week. l asked ifCzech of Hungarian; ggmgljmqg [hgy guossad Mr Ford was aware of this request and got anYugnsiav, bu; no nna had gvgf pinnqd ii dnwn evasive answer to the effect that Mr Smith hadprecisely on the rst try. At this point, the eo_ sent down the order. Finally l had a reason toproduce, at inc mm, ana Barnard snnih (of talk to the producer. which I did, with smallwhom there will be more shortly). made some elleet l-le smoothly explained the supposedremark to the director having to do with busi- problem of space, at the same time getting inness. Ford scowled at him silently fora moment, \'l3l bW fol hi5 "E"lllh\1liIl" I0 ll1then tumed to me: There's a word for what he P\'d"1ll1-iust said. That evening. as he was heading in for dinner,l leaned in. "Yes?" l told Mr Ford we would have to be leavingGm~no," Ford said. The word is the Serbian tomorrow and thanked him for his patience.

equivalent for "shit." Where ya goin?" he asked. l explained thel 4

space problems we'd been informed of and away with relief. Ford called after him. But,that I didnt want to impose on his hospitality listen. if theres any trouble, they can just useor make any waves. Oh, c'mon in and let's my room, you know. Smith waved back with aeat. he said and we did that. Shortly after we pained grin. Ford's expression tumed nally towere seated. the producer arrived. Ford called a scowl and he leaned over to me. Stay as longhim over politely. Listen, Bemie." he said as you want." he said.very reasonably. you give Bogdanovich here Over the years. since the article was pub . _., K ' 4 :o_ t. --,, _; . - . g_s,,., s ,"1: l . 9".-2'39? M \~ I '1' I' ~s~ .,> .v, 1 ,_L . -__.*:_; \_r;_- ___V~; .__ .-51,. ,7 f... ------- . -, A . . -1

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Monument Valley lies within the Navajo dies, Pat. I-Ie turned to Johnson and HarryIndian Reservation which straddles the Arizona (Dobe) Carey, Jr. When Dick yells, you twoUtah state line. Its red buttes and mesas were advance to within six feet of him. Get the idea?caused by erosion and were named by the The two nodded. Huh?Indians for their shapesthe Mittens, the Big Yes, sir! they said together.Hogan, Three Sistersthough the shadows O.K. Ford rubbed his hands together.change their appearance hour by hour. Iohn Come at a fast trot, Dick. Its fairly early on inFord has shot all, or part, of nine movies there: the story-the horses are still fresh.Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, Fart After the establishing shot, Ford moved inApache, She ll/are A Yellow Ribbon, Wagon for a closer angle on the four riders. JohnsonMaster, Rio Grande, The Searchers, Sergeant held a red and white guidon; his horse shied.Rutledge, Cheyenne Autumn. In Hollywood they Let im be nervous, Ford said and pushed thecall it Ford Country; it has become so identi- horses rump. Now, Dick, you look up thated with him that other directors feel it would canyon (he began to improvise the dialogue)be plagiarism to make a picture there. Plumtree! you say. Dont like the looksThe location today was a stretch of sandy of it. Take a look up that canyon." Ben, you

ground enclosed on two sides by sheer walls of hold o' a second. The script supervisor wasred rock, a narrow canyon at one end. Wingate taking it down as fast as he could. Dick says,Smith called through his bullhorn: Dick Wid- Jones, you go with him." Ford paused.mark, Pat Wayne, Dobe Carey, Ben Johnson! "Jones!" Another pause. JONES! HeCome to the camera! They rode up. pointed to Carey: You say, "Name's Smitli,Ford pointed. When you get out there, sir." Back to Widmark: Oh. Well, go with

Dick, he said, you yell out, Troop. Haaalt!" him!" Pat, you wait till the echo dies, then you yell, Ford held his cigar from underneath andTroop. I-Iaaalt!" ' (The second haaalt' was in jerked his hat down further. When he calls outa lower key than the rst.) He put his cigar back Jones the second time, Dobe, he said, youin his mouth. \X/idmark and Wayne tried itonce. O.K. Remember to wait till the echo Still: Alum: lln: Sanjmzn in Cheyenne Autumn.

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look around behind you. You're rl1inkin' who .S'n'II.- Miku Masurlci in lhc Victor rlh-Laglmthe hell's Jonas? Thcn "JONES!" Point ro rnlc, :11!/1 ll"I'Jmurk, in Chcycnnc Autumn.yourself. Nam;-s Smilh, sir. Ben, lake a lunklike ya hare like hull to ridc up rhcrcrisc up lryin to srcal the scone from old Bun there.in your slirrups. Carey nodded again and apologimd.Th: camera rolled and Widmark called for Third rake: Tho name's Smith. Sir-' Then!Ioncs the third limo. My name's Smirh. sir! was a pause.said.Can:y. Ahcmf said Ford. On lhl. fourth take, rho .\a1m"_r Smuh, sir!" ' Ford inlcrruplcd. lincs wcnr smuurhly, juhnsun dug rho guidon

Donr uy ro pad your pan. inm rh-: din and rhc two gallopod otf rewardCarey nodded nervously. Yrs, sir. The the canyon. That's cl-all! Ford called our.

seC0nd lakc: '1\1_\' name's Smith, sir! I pla_\'|:d nlusiv in my rmun ct'='ry nigh! upYour namcs rm! SmiIh!' Ford ycllcd. Slop I/rare on Iocatiml, Sal/\1im'usr1_\'.r. Usually mm:

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I.-inda jazz or _mtm:thittgprutt_v laud. One night building, a part of Guuldings Lodge, which isFord comes in and ask: ttm ruhy I can! play that set on the lowest rim of Rock Door Mesa. Theresttta little quieter. ll"',.-1!, you rec, sir," I mid, was a little dinner bell attached to the porchthis kind nfmttsit" has ta be ftlaycd at that 1-olttme, and it was never rung until the direttor hadntltcrzt.-isc one cart! dvriru mtttp/clt. satisfacttatt taken his place at the head of the third table/mm it." Thu Old Man jttxt Inukrd at me and from the dnnr.mole nut his Imtft:-and he npcttcd it and luid it He wore a navy blue jacket tonight, khakidown on the tabla. Can _\'utt play it a little pants and his pajama top, the collar half up,rafter? he mid. lut-tir-1-can-plu_\--it-z'cr_\-- with a shapeless sweater uver it. N0 hathisu'r_\'-1-cr_\'-soft!" Tltm he pi:/er up the ktttfc and hair was white and whispy. He tuok his bone-rlnscr it. Ht: ttml.\' his /wad, "That's rt-hat I handled jack knife nut and banged it downthought," he _

food was being served, Bernard Smith (the co- told him. The co-producer said he would payproducer) mentioned something about the it later.day's shooting. Pat Wayne! Ford called out. The other day, said Miss Baker, Mr FordSit! was telling me something about The LongWhere's the bowl? Wayne rose to get a Voyage Harm, and he stopped, paid his fty

little wooden bowl (lled with several dollars cents and then nished the story.and quite a bit of loose change) from the piano Gilbert Roland gestured for something attop. the far end nf the table. Wait a minute, Luis,There's a fty-cent penalty, Carmll Baker Ford said (Roland's real name IS Luis Antonin

explained, for talking shop or about Mt Ford's Alonso), you know youre not supposed tomovies at the table.How much does he owe now? said Ford, St|'lIs.- The lmlianx ambmli Ihe (Ia-t'aIr_v: /1That last one makes two dollars, sir. Wayne Ilard-rimeti d|'m;mr ::lm rm-er rvlicarxed action.

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paint. There's only three things you point at Stills: Homeless Indians itt Cheyenne Autumn.Ford paused as Victor jory passed a plate toRoland. Let me get the billing rightyou may can slipper), the director remained for a while,point at producers, privies, and French pastry. smoking a cigar he had rst cut in half with hisFord rvas always a mp hater by religion, by knife, and talking with the actors. Second-class

belief, Parrish retnetttbers. He had a big streak citizens, he said, that's what we are. I-lcof contempt for any kind of attthurity, any kind drummed the palms of his hands on the table.of paternal inttettct: an ItintalI the producers, In the old days, actors weren't even allowedall the maneythey tt-are the enemy. On The to be buricd in Holy Gr0und.lmean, yknowInformer, mt the rst day of shtmting, he got the "Take-your-linen-off-the-hedges, the actorsentire cast and crew together in the middle of the are coming to town!" set, and ht: brought ttttt tht: pradttcer. Nowget a He rose and came up behind his son, whoguad look at this gtty," Ford said and he took hold was still seated at the next table, and started to0/ the man's chin. This is Clt Reid. Hc is the inspect the top of his head. Who is thisl?pradttnrr. Lank at hint nose because yntt will not Then, with mock surprise, Oh! and he startedsee hint again on this set tttttil the pietttre is for the door.l'rn going to call Mother, he said.nished." And that was trtteute never saw hint Pat got up and they left together.agaitthe just disappeared. I tell ya, says Harry Goulding, wltn used toAfter dinner, which had been spent playing Own Ill! L045? I-" M"""""" V4111): "1 I'll

zo Questions (no one could guess Ford's Navajo! MT FUN! '10/J, "!- E"'.\"i"' ""3""puzzle, which was Sherlock Holmes's moroc- had a rattgh time, buy, this thing carries ottta theH

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long \\'hite handkerchief from his back pocket. reached the other side, others were still movingBeetson was there to hand him a hullhorn; he across the gray river, their horses leaping upspoke through it. Okay, Lee. Frank. Start and down. The only sounds were of horsesyour people across.' He chewed on one corner whinnying and of the movement of bodiesof the handkerchief, the bulk of which hung through water. That is tuell! Now get thosedown over his chest. Easy! The interpreters people outa theredry 'em o'get em somerelayed the instructions and slowly the Navaios co'ee or somethingmoved into the water. Ford called to Chuck I was very careful, says Stezt-art, I reallyHayward (stuntman), who was halfway across tt-atched my step on The Man Who Shot Libertythe river. All right, hold em there, Chuck! Valance. Besides, lte wasgitiin it to Duke WayneThat's rt-ell! The Navaios were spread out all the time. And tee were in tlte last two weeks ofthrough the water, holding in place. Fill up shooting and hardly a murmur. Then one daythose empty spaces and get those travois up were shooting the funeral scene . . . coin there,there! Then Ford gave some instructions to and Woody Strode was in his old-age makeup,the Cavalry, at which the camera was pointed. Stewart says, re/erring to the Negro artor whoOkay, we're rolling, said Ford. has been itt several Ford lms. He had coverallsSpeed, said the camera operator, Eddie on and a hat. Ford came truer to me, he nodded

Garvin. at ll"ondy. W/hat d'ya think of l\"tn1dy's cos-All right. Dirk! The Cavalry rode forward tttnte?" I paused and than I said, ll"aall, so

at a steady clip. All right. Lee! Frank! Start little Uncle Remus, isn't it?" Nose . . . noootvu-hyem moving! The tribe moved slowly through . . . tvlty I . . . I wished I couldz'e just taken thosethe water below. Widmark raised his arm. teords attd just . . . just . . . Stert-art's hand isTroooop. Haaalt!' Pat Wayne echoed him (in under his chin attd teith ltis trembling fingers In:a slightly lower register). The Cavalry stopped gestures putting the rt-ords back until nal!_\' alland Widmark looked downwards at the Indians. his ngers are in his mouth. He just looked atThe camera slowly followed his look; it panned me . . . just looked and I ktterr rvhat rt-as . . . Ifrom the troops across the barren, rocky slopes, knew . . . He says, And rt-hat's st-rong withdown and around to the Navaios; some had Uncle Retttus?" Isaid, l\"lt_v, tmtltittg." He says,I put tltat costume mgetherthats just what I

intended!" Lis!t.'tt, Boss," I said-"ll"ood\',Dill?!-s 81-~Tylwd_\', en|on over here." An et'er_\'-body comes or-er. Look at l\'*'oad_\'," he says."Look at his costume," he says. "Looks likeUnrle Remus, doesn't it?" Yes, Boss, yes,Coach, yes, sir, they saidlikt: a lvunch a parrots.One of the players, he goes on. One of theplayers scents to lta-tv: sottte ol1juet|'mt! Om: of theplayers here doesn't setrttt to like Uncle RetttuslAs a matter of/act, I'm not at all sure he et-enlikes Negroes!" Stewart shakes his head. ll"a_vnesaid to me later, Ya thought _va 't't':.'t't: gonnamake it through all right, didn't _vou?" A group of twenty or thirty Cheyenne war-

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riors were to come over a sandy hill. charging Slillr: Cheyenne Autumn; It;/t Cizrru/I Bakerdown toward the Cavalry and the Camera. Ford xvi!/i Nanombu Momrbcam Marlon.attended to the stuntmens costumes individu-ally and gave instructions to Hayward, who All right, Chuck! Ford called through the

l was to lead the ambush. Two men from Life bullhorn, and a score of horsemen came gallop-Magazine, a photographer and a writer, were ing over the hill, whooping and ring theirvisiting the set. ries; the Cavalry at the bottom red back. TheAfter half an hour of preparation, Ford sat shots reverberated loudly in the valley as the

next to the camera, crossed his legs and lifted riders swooped down the hill, dust ying, andthe bullhorn. The camera was trained on the thundered by the camera so closely that Fordslop of the hill where nothing was visible yet. bullhnrn was knocked from his hand. He didOkay. We're rolling, he said. not move. An Indian had fallen o' his horseSpeed! said Garvin. and lay midway down the hill. The camera

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panned the Indians o'into the distance. "l'hats said loudly. The girl moved away quickly.well! Pat! Ford called her. She turned. Could ISeveral people ran out to see if the Navajo please have a cup of coffee? Since you're up . . .

was hurt, but he was walking gingerly away She laughed and went to get it for him. Hebefore they got to him. Another group clus- turned to Miss Baker. Carroll, you wanna looktered near Ford, and one man, displaying the at my leg? Helifted the trouser leg again. Theycrushed bullhom, shook his head. We damn told me l should get somebody to take a looknear went home early today, he said. Nearby, at it. He turned to Dolores Del Rio. Dolores,another technician \vas pointing out how close you wanna look at my leg?the horse's hooves had come to hitting Ford. Later, Ford was telling the others about thelt wouldn't dare, said his partner. Navajo medicine man. The original one \\'as aThe director had got up from his chair, and fella named Fatthis fella we have now is

he turned to the company. Tomorrow we'll do just one of his disciples. l used to tell Harryit with lm, he announced. That was for Lt]: Goulding and get anything I ordered. Thunder-Magazine! clouds . . . One night l said to Harry, TellI told Mr. Ford I st-attted tu wear my hair im we need snow. Need the Valley covereddown/or Cheyenne Autumn, says Mix: Baker. with snow. Next moming, I stepped outa myLike the teonten in Ingmar Bergman: lms. He room. A thin layer of snow covered the Valley.said, Ingrid Bergman? "No," I said. Ingmar A Navajo with a lined face and hair braidedBergman." ll"lms lie?" I mid, Bergman, you with red cloth came up. This is the nezv medi-know, the great Su'edi:h director." Ht: let it gn cine man. '\'at'hey, he said to the Navajo.and I sate t to change the ttthjerl. But as I was Yat'hey.'leatiirtg, he mid, Oh, Ingmar Bergrnanyou Ford raised his arm and waved at the sky.mean the fella that called mt: the greater! director Niione.' He nodded his head and the manin the tunrld." smiled. Ahsheheh,' Ford waved again.Goddamn that hoss did hit me, Ford said Nijune.' The Navajo nodded, and moved

at lunch, and rolled up one trouser leg; there away. Theres no word for eecy clouds inwas a bruise. He turned to the Lt/e reporter. Navajo, so it's a little diicult. The rst timeIn your storyyou say it was broken. The he did it, he got em just right. He paused.waitress who served the lunches on location But they were in the wrong place!asked him if he wanted another cup of coffee. I was Irc.tidt:nt of the Directors Guild in theI'm sick and tired of answering questions! he 50:,' my: joseph L. Mattkizwicz, during the

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MCar!hy Era, and a faction of lhe Guild, would be his faIhn'rs farewell In the \ll/cstcrn.headed by Di:M|1Iu, lricd I0 ma/cc i! manda!or_\' Hell! Why, he'll he mal

2 POETANDCOMEDIANAt one point in our interview, Mr Ford was lt is part of Ford's genius that he can alsotalking about a cut sequence from Young Mr convey the man's larger signicance. At theLincoln, and he described Lincoln as a shabby end ul the lilni. Liiiculn walks up 3! hill ailunegure, riding into town on a mule, stopping to in the midst of a thunderstorma simplegaze at a theatre poster. This poor ape, he poetic vision ofthe young man's destiny. Whatsaid, wishing he had enough money to see makes it so moving (apart from its beauty) isHamlet". Reading over the edited version of that we kllllf. what the image means, hut thisthe interview, it was one of the few things Ford person we have come to care about does not.asked me to change; he said he didn't much Lincoln appears briey in The Priwner oflike the idea of calling Mr Lincoln a poor Shark Island (made before the other lm), andape. Seeing it in print, one might understand again Ford is able to present the man on twohis reservationbut when he said it, there was levels. The Civil War has just ended and a bandsuch an extraordinary sense of intimacy in his has come to play for the President; what songtone (and as much affection as there was in a would he like to hear? He asks them to playreference to john Wayne as this big oaf'), that Dixie'. (As an example of the inter-relation-somehow it was no longer a director speaking 5l1iPS in Ford's work, we have the scene inof a great President, but a man talking about Young Mr Lincoln, wherein he unknowinglya friend. plays Dixie, calling it a catchy tune.) ShortlySpig' Wead and Johnny Buckley were close afterwards, he is assassinated,and Ford createsfriends in Ford's life, yet his lms about them a memorable image: the haunting shot ofThe llings o/Eagle: and Tliev Wu: Exoendable) Lincoln's head slumped to the side seems toare no more personal than his picture of Lin- become a still frame, and a thin curtain, likecoln. In fact, this is the very thing that makes the veil of history, is drawn over it. As AndrewYoung Mr Lincoln such a great movie: Ford's Sarris has said, Ford's work is a double visionrapport with Lincoln brings him to life, makes of an event in all its vital immediacy and alsous understand and admire the man-not someremote gure in hi.~ztorv whom we are supposed 8"-'CPY"AF-m'l Sh"'z(Edw"d(0 |-vr_ ' G. Robinson) and his oldfriend'.20

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in its ultimate memory-image on the horizon Slill: Heriry Fnmiu us Young Mr Lincoln.of history. (Film Culture, No. 28, Spring 1963.)Asked which American directors most appeal Sarris again: No American director has ranged

to him, Orson Welles answered, . . . the old so far across the landscape of the Americanmasters. By which I mean John Ford, John past, the worlds of Lincoln, Lee, Twain,Ford and John Ford . . . With Ford at his best, O'Neill, the three great wars, the Western andyou feel that the movie has lived and breathed trans-Atlantic migrations, the horseless Indiansin a real world . . . (Playboy, March I967). It of the Mohawk Valley and the Sioux andwould be instructive (in fact schools might do Comanche cavalries of the West, the Irish andwell making it a regular course) to run F0rds Spanish incursions, and the delicately balancedlms about the United States in historical politics of polyglot cities and border states.chronologybecause he has told the American (Film Culture, No. 25, Summer t96z). Whatsaga in human terms and made it come alive. Ford can do better than any lm-maker in the22

world is create an epic canvas and still people before the war (How Green ll/ax My Valley)it with characters of equal size and importance told of the disintegration of a family and anno matter how lowly they may be. entire way of life (\vhich, in essence, is also theIt is not the concentration on Americana, theme of Mather Alachree, Fnur Sam, The

however, that gives his work its unity, but the Grape: of Wrath, even Tobacco Rand as he toldsingular poetic vision with which he sees all it), one cannot say that his post-war work waslife. His most frequently recurring theme is a reaction to what he had seen abroadthoughdefeat, failure: the tragedy of it, but also the it is true that through the late forties, the ftiespeculiar glory inherent in it. It is signicant and sixties his lms became increasingly mel-that the rst lm he made after his experience ancholy. (And better. Too many critics neatlyof World V/ar II (Th:.'_v ll/ere Expendable)should centre around one of America's worst Still: llw/umilv nf How Green Was My Valley:defeatsthe Philippines. Since his last lm Crisp (left), Mt-Dm'aIl, Anna Lac.

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categorize his thirties pictures, T/It. III/0TIIter always welcome but where he will always b=and Stagecoach, as his best, while any one of a in \"$ld"35 the dY lWlY l55 n him-score of later lms is superior, not only in I was fortunate to see a dozen of Ford's earlyexecution but in depth of expression.) F0! lms 092-193$) ndi Kh\-Z11 "105! fFart Apache, then, is the story of a last stand, them were assignments, there was in even the

just as She Ware A Yellow Ribbon tells of an 135! f 111"! $m!hlnB hl'"Bhl)' 11557 'maging soldier's nal mission before an enforced an evocative, eeting image of a city street re-retirement. The heroes of The Lang Gray Line ecled in 3 $hP Wlndw (in R1./8) I/ll COP) 1and The Wings Df Eagle: never succeeded in SCVCI3l Sl\OlS in LighInitl' that have about ll"lCll1the ways they had wanted to, The aid Mayor; the same sense of futility that was to distinguishcampaign for re-election in The Lag] Hurmh the look of Tubacca Road; from the horse raceends in defeat and death. Even My Darling in Hangman: House which forecasts (andCletnentine, in which Wyatt Earp has been bettcrs) the one in The Quiet Matt (there is alsotriumphant, ends with the reminder that a man an underground meeting place in the lmhas lost two ofhis three brothers. The Matt ll"ltn idcnllul [0 "19 in The 1'!/"""), 1 3 '\l'l'l=1'"Shut Liberty Valance is as much the story of One in Pilgrimage as beautiful as any he has done:person's sacrice for another as . l\"mm-n is, a mother, having heard of her son: death inand both are tinged with an aching bittemess. the war, sits at her desk, expressionless, piecing(Sacrice as a variation of Ford's central theme together a photograph of the boy she had oncecan be found in many of his lms, among them, tom in anger. There is the boastful, blustcringThe Outcast: of Poker Flat, Marked Men and Irishman in Seas Betteathwhom McLaglenits remake, Three Gad/athers, The W/allop, was later to personify in a half-dozen lms-Desperate Trails, Hearts of Oak, _t Bad A-lcn, Ind, 11'1"!-|8ll llwm ll, Ih Ph0l0Bl'PllY-Men Without Women.) In ]ust Pal: (1920), though Gr-ifths inu-At the end of Hangman: House (1918), ence is apparent, Ford has already developed

Citizen Hogan (Victor McLaglen), an exiled his own signature (without the sometimesIrish patriot who has risked his life by return owery Grifth ourishes). The plot may being to Ireland and helping a young couple, lled with devices and melodrama, but here ismust nevertheless leave his country again; he the same naturalness in the playing, the sameis still an outlaw there. The boy he has helped understanding of simple people and attentionthanks him and the girl gives him a kiss; they to detail that was to distinguish his later work;walk o into the night mist, but the camera here is Fords Montana town, with its picketlingers on Hogan. He is looking after them, and fences and distant camp res, the back-litfor the rst time in the lm we realize that he clouds of dust, the unerring eye for composi-loves the girl; he loves Ireland too, and must tion, and the same dynamic sense of the moviesleave them both nowprobably forever. The narrative power.lm ends on that shot of McLaglen gazing This last was most apparent in the magniwistfully into the dark, anticipating the nal cent landrush sequence in _t Bat! Mm 11926),moment of The Searcher.tmade almost thirty a lm unjustly overshadowed by The Ironyears laterin which Ethan (john Wayne), Horse, which he had made two years earlierwho has spent ten years of his life searching fora little girl kidnapped by Indians, walks slowly Still: The Wines of Eask-sIIw wry of

NAVY SCHNEIDER CUPMWWWTHE WINNERll

and which was more successful critically. The I)lIngr|.l]7/1. Fun!

the Montreal Festival two years ago, and Still: Earle Fn.\'t' (centre) in Upstream (I927),impressed those who saw it with its unmistak- one of Fm-d: many Fox asrignmems.ably Fotdian look.) Although plot synopses arealways deceptive (in favour of a picture some- on the stories) that his Universal period (i9t7-times, but more often against it), a look at the t92t) was more interesting and personal thanearly stories leads one to believe that several his work at Fox during the remainder of thelms would be of considerably more than iust silent era. During those rst ve years withhistorical interest. Hell Bent, Rider: of Ven- Harry Carey, he was able to write his owngeance, The Outcatts 0/ Poker Flat, Marked scripts, and, although almost all the picturesMen, Desperate Trai'!tthese and at least a were westerns, he had considerable freedomdozenothers must be seen before any real evrlu- within the form. At Fox, however, he was

l ,ation can be made of Ford s early work. handed a great many assignments for which heHowever, it is possible to surmise (still oz sed admits having had little or no affection (though,

27

as he also says, he enjoy: making pictures, often (And one should remember that Ford remainsdespite the scenarios). Rarely did he have the not only the most honoured American lm-opportunity to do projects of his own choosing. makerwith six Academy Awards and fourand it is interesting that when he did they were New York Film Critics A\\'ardsbut also anot onlyhis bestlms (which one would expect), director whose work has consistently madebut also his most successful: The Ivan Horse, money for the studios which nanced it.) He' Bad .\I,.'u, Four Sam. knows, however. that in Hollywood you don'tCertainly the Fox period had more value to win prestige or prizes making westerns. As he

his career than his days at Universal. Quite once tuldarcporter: Every rime I start to makeapart from what it may have done for his work a western, they say, There goes senile oldbroadening his scale, perhaps, and his scope John Ford out West again".' (Cosnmpolimn,it increased his power in the industry, which March 1964).is not unimportant in an art ruled by box Oice. Clearly, it has plagued him all his life, and

Still: I~]vrJ'.\' rtzlt-nlttml l1'Il_.\Il>\. Lt-j1 The With the coming tit sound (and his rst lmslnl\\rl'mr- .'l[m:t'~ The l~'ugiti\'e. away from Fox since 1921), Fnrds career

alternated between projects he wanted to doit is signicant that not one ofhis Oscarsa|-id (Salute, Mm llT'i|/min ll"nmuz, Up the Ri-t-er.only one Critics A\\'ardwas for a western. Arrorusniirlt) and assignments (Born Reckless,They have kept the industry going, Ford has The Brat, The ll"nrld Mares On). But the keysaid, but he knnws that the industry also looks to his work in the thirties lies in a personaldown on them. Nonetheless, one feels that the struggle (no doubt unconscious) between twoleast of his Harry Carey westerns would have very different kinds of lm, huth of whichmore interest today than such higher budgeted interested him deeply: the dramas, like T/11Fox specials as I\'erirttcI.-y Pride (banal, though Last Palm! or Tim lnfnnrwr, and the lighternot unappealing), Honduran Blind. Thank Ynu. pictures of American life, such as the WillU[)_YlItdI!I. or 'I'/in l~\1c.' nu I/It Iitn'r.mni I/inn". R()gr5 trilogy ([933-35), Criticg, gf c(1u|'g"

29

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were far more impressed with the calculated S!|'lI_v.- ll"i'Il Rngcrx (ubm-u, al lqf!) as Judgeartistry of The Informer than with the artless- lriest;C/mrlvs l\"ir|ui'ngur in 1/1,: xami: mic :ri!I|ncss of judge Priex! or Stcambuar Round the Rtiwll Sin:/u-on, in The Sun Shim-5 Bright.Bend, but as Ford's career has evolved into thel'Kl5 and '$lXil=5~ ll hi b\Cm l""L5i"El}' seems to have more uf his heart in it titanclear that the latter lms are closer to his real the exqusite pictoriulism of 'I'h I-'1|g[1|';-pcharacter, and, essentially, deeper works of art. (1947). In fact, the hold, \'lg0tuu$ strokesThis intriguing duality continued into the of The St-unlit-rs, or the seeming simplicity

forties, during which Ford would make a very of Wagon Alum-r require mute artistryconsciously artistic The Lang Voyage Home one than the direction of The lnfamiera lm thatyear, andafar less studied (and more emotional) For-d feels today lacks humgurwhich is myHaw Green It/as My Valley the next. The stir- forte.ring imagery of his cavalry trilogy (1948-50) And Welles has said, John Ford is a poet.30

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Acomedian.iCaliivrxdutiniumut65.)In Ford's stock company'and one lm of his cannotbest lms. these two sides of his personality really be looked at as separate from the rest.are mixed: it is, after all, the mingling ofcomedy What Ma Joad says of her life (in The Grape: ofInd pathos in The Sun Shines Bright (an in> Wrath) is true also of Ford's work: . . . its allformal remake of the Will Rogers picture, one ow, likeastream, little eddies, little water-judgz Priest) that gives the lm its remarkable falls, but the river it goes right on. Ranse andsense of humanity, just as the abrupt switches Hallie Stoddard (James Stewart and Verafrom comedy to tragedy in The Wings 0/ Eagles Miles) retum to Shinbone for the funeral ofgive it such an extraordinary feeling of truth. Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) at the start ofEvery Ford movie is lled with r|:verbera- The Man ll/ho She! Liberty Valance, and

tions from anotherwhich makes his use of Hallie visits the ruins of Doniphons ranch-lhe same players from year to year, decade to house, where she picks a cactus rose, a wilddecade, so much more than iusr building a ower symbolizing Doniphons Old West,

31

which is as dead as he is. A haunting musical whether consciously or nothe felt at last thattheme is heard during this scene, and when it ned. And herein lies a personal duality inone realizes it is the same music Ford used after Ford, the artist. He seems to Operate on instinct.the death of Ann Rutledge in Young Mr Lin- (Certainly the making of a lm is second-coln, its meaning in Liberty Valance is height- nature to himhe never plans a sequence outened. For Ann Rutledge was the lost love of on paper, knowing exactly how each shot willLincoln's youth, just as Tom Doniphon is cut with the next, and, at a glance, where hisHallies. camera should be.) This is an image of himselfAsk Ford about this, and hell tell you he he likes to encourage. Though he genuinely

just used the tune because its among his does not like to be interviewed and becomesfavourites, that's all. But one can't help wonder-ing, if he likes it so much, why he Waited Photograph: Furd diruclirzg Stagecoach, histwenty-three years to use it again, unless m mmid rt'c.v!cr!|' really B011Iade_m|:/".'

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Still: Hmry Fonda ax Young Mr Lincoln, But the truth, I think, lics elsewhere. Wellesrrilh Paulilu: Moon: ax Ann Rullcdgc description is profound: A poet. A comedian.

Both facets of the Ford personality are instinc-bored discussing his lms, he will go out of his tual, but comedian implies a certain consciousway to discourage the conception that he is a showmanship and this is very clear in his work.man who consciously tries to create something He is neither unaware of his eects nor are anyof value or that his work has any continuity of them unintentional. Butlikc poets andwhatever. If Ford can convince you that he's comedians-he neither likes to explain a jokeI hard-nosed director who just takes a script nor theorize about a ballad. He simply createsand does it, he is content. them.

33

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3 A JOBOFWORK[The following is an edited version of an inter- panies, my brother went to New York and be-view with Mr Ford tape recorded at his home came stage manager for some company thatin Bel Air, California, over a period of seven was going to do a Broadway show; having adays in the Summer and Fall of 1966.] very retentive memory, he also understudied

four or ve parts. The night of the opening,Did your parent: nieer in Ireland? the fellow who was playing one ofthe importantNo, they lived in the same village and never rolesa comedy partgot drunk or broke hismet there. Of course a village encompasses leg or somethingl think the former. So myquite a bit of groundthe post (!mC is rhe brother Frank stepped into the part and madevillage and there might be a few houses and a a hit ofit. But the name on the bill was Ford'pubbut the hills would be part of the village so from then on that was his namehe couldtoo, and my father lived at one end of this area "WC? 8 rid 01' ii; l'"~i!hl' Could I-1 '35and my mother at the other. They might have always called Ford. A few years later, a fellowseen one another in church, but they met in came t1P m m'~' and Said rd likk I0 haw 3 iobAmerica. I'm a pretty good actor. I said, You're aMy father came over rstto get into the 200d IYPE-\\h3!' Y"l' "3m? H9 535d, 'Fl3l'\| Good God! Well, I know I did a lot of stunts-36

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catching the speeding train on horseback, time, they gave him a hig partv on the onlyyumplng a horse off the cliff, that sort of thing. closed stage on the lot. I was a prop boy thenlused to do most of my brother's stuntswe and doubled as a bartender. The party lastedlooked alike and were built alike. Got about most of the night, and I slept under the bar soS15 a week. I could be on time for work in the morning.How did _\'0u_/in! gt! a cliancc in d|'n:c1? But when I reported, neither the director norWell, I was quite young at the time. I had any of the actors were theretheyd been upworked as a labourer, prop man, assistant direc- all night. Some of the cowboy extras were theretor. Then, when Carl Laemmle visited the and nobody else. Isadore Bernstein, who wasUniversal Studios from New York for the rst the General Manager then and a very wonder-

ful person, got very upset when he saw thePhomgnzp/1; Fun! (_.veah:J, njglu) Slmnling the situation. The Boss is coming, he said- We'veblSt.1]1lt.!|Cv.'/L77 Lightnin (I935). got to do something. I said, \\'/hat? Any-

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was pretty cloudyit had been rainingbut the THE HURRICANE (1937)clouds were so nice, and they had that occasional Did Goldwyn inter/are with you on The Hurri-strcak of light. Ordinarily, we would have cane?knocked o' for the day, but I had a great Its a funny thing, Sam Goldwyn never inter-cameraman, Artie Miller, and I said, We've got fered with anybody. As a matter of fact, he veryto do something with the weather, with these seldom visited the set. But when they ran Theclouds. I said, Weve got everybody here Hurricane for him, he said, It isn't personalizedlet's bury Victor! And Artie said, That's a enoughan expression I didn't quite under-swell idea. I'll open up the exposure a bit stand but when I gured it out, I agreed withwe'll get a good e'ect.' So we put in the funeral. him. Our time and budget had run out, you see,Stillx: The Hurricane rvillt C. /l|tbn:_\' Smith, and I hid ill do!" W113! W35 in lh 5Cl'iPI- 5Mary Astor, Ru_\-nmnd .-\la.r.n:_v and (right) afl h Said U13!) I We"! bdi and W0l'kd vc1),n,,],_\v La,,,,,,,,-_ or six days and put in some closer shots.

68

?FOUR MEN AND A PRAYER (1938) helped me on it. I had a lot of fun with thatYvusumedlu hauzatnngue-in-the-cheek attitude picture and, of course, all the comedy in itabout all that Britislt sn-upper-lip busineu in wasnt in the script; we put it in as we wentFour Mcn and a Prayer. along.Oh, I don't know-I just didn't like the story,or anything else about it, so it was a job of work. STAGECOACH (t939)Iltidded them slightly. I still like that picture. It was really Battle-dr

stnf, and I imagine the writer, Ernie I-Iaycox, gotSUBMARINE PATROL (I938) his idea from there and turned it into a WesternHaving been a Blue ]acketthough I wasnt in story which he called Stage to Lordsburg.'the submarine eetI had a lot of sympathy for How did you nd Mnnunum! Valley?them, I knew what they went through. The I knew about it. I had travelled up there once,head of the eet was an old pal of mine and he driving through Arizona on my way to Santa

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Fe, New Mexico. You mean going right to left instead of left toSomeone said you mad: a star of juhn Wayne by right? I did that because it was getting late andnut letting him talk much. Do you agree? if I had stayed on the correct side, the horsesNo, that isnt true at allhe had a lot to say, would have been back-lit, and I couldn't showplenty of lines. But what he said meant somc- their speed in back light. So I went around tothing. He didn't do any soliloquies or make any the other side where the light was shining onspeeches. the horses. It didn't matter a damn in this case.In the "'1! hm! You bmfu. a T"' by Shanmlg "To show a gure going from left to right on thethe horse: from the wrong Sldt in several sha!s sum, he Cam": mus remain on ha! guwswhy? tight-hand side; by moving the camera to the left-

_ _ . hand sidealthough in [net the gure may still beStills: rhe firs! in Monmnenl VaI!eyStage- going in [he um: dmmon as bf,_h Wmcoach, tcizh (right) ]ulm Wayne and Claire appear on the screen to have changed direction andT,em,-_ be going from right to left.

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I usually break the conventional rulessome- the idea of the picture was to give the feelingtimes deliberately. that even as a young man you could sense thereFrank Nugent was once talking to me about was going to be something great about this man.

that lm and he said, Only one thing I can! I had read a good deal about Lincoln, and weunderstand about it, ]ackin the chase, why tried to get some comedy into it too, but every-didn't the Indians iust shoot the horses pulling thing in the picture was true. Lamar Trotti wasthe stagecoach? And 1 said, In actual fact a good writer and we wrote it together.that's probably what did happen, Frank, but They cut some nice things out of it. Forif they had, it would have been the end of the example, I had a lovely scene in which Lincolnpicture, wouldn't it? rode into town on a mule, passed by a theatre

and stopped to see what was playing, and it wasYOUNG MR LINCOLN (X939) the Booth Family doing Hamlet; we had aEverybody knows Lincoln was a great man, but typical old-fashioned poster up. Here was this

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poor shabby country lawyer wishing he hadenough money to go sec Hamlet when a veryhandsome young boy with dark hairyouknew he was a member of the Booth Family-fresh, snobbish kid, all beautifully dressed-just walked out to the edge of the plank walk andlooked at Lincoln. He looked at this funny, in-congruous man in a tall hat riding a mule, andyou knew lherc was some connection there.They cut ll oul1oo bad.

S!iIl.t: I;':'cr{\'lI:|'r|g in I/n. picllm. :1-as lrm: 'Hunry Fonda in Young Mr Lincoln.

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The thunderstorm at the and very much gave one cinch to work in, if you've any eye at all fora sense of Lincoln: future. colour or composition. But black and while isThat was another one of those things we had to pretty toughyou've got to know your iob andmake up on the spot. There was a real thunder- be very careful to lay your shadows properlystorm, so I said, Let's have him walk away, and and get the perspective right. In colourthere itthen well dissolve into the statue at the Lincoln is; but it can go awfully wrong and throw aMemorial. picture off. There are certain pictures, like The

Quiet Man, that call for colournot a blatantDRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (I939) kindbut a soft, misty colour. For a goodWhat was it like working with colour for the rst d"lTl3ii 5193' lhl-18h I much Pia" "J Wfk(ne? in black and white; you'll probably say lm old>There was no change really. It's much easier fshidi bl" black and whim is "31 Ph">-than black and white for the cameraman; its a B"PhY-

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THE GRAPES OF WRATH u9.;o)l!"I|aI allruclcdynu In The Grapes of Wrath.S1|'II.\': The jirs! in mIn|1rI"nm/:1 \/cf! um]ubmw) in Drums Alnng tho Mohawk. Rig!!!-Fomla am! ]nIm Qua/cu in The Grapes of \\"r;1!h.

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l just liked it. that's all. I'd rcud the btmkit SlilI.\: 'I'/n']m1J.\'Ilt lR|1.\'.\'cl/ Siut[1_\"m|). Urtulcwas a good stnr_\.1nd Darryl Zanuck had u ]n/In tFrun/.' Durit-n), 1\lu (Yum: Dam://).good script on it. The whole thing appcalcd to Rtlld/IJYII t[)t=rri.< Burt-tlnu) mill. nhmr, :-|'tl|mebcing about simple pcoplcund thc story Tum lFnntldl.was similar to the famine in Ireland, when thuy thc world. It was a timely story. lts still a goodthrcw the puoplc off thc land and lcft them picturt-l saw part of it nn TV rt-ccntly.wandering un the roads to sturvu. That may Grcgg Tuland did a greatj\h0l'pl10tngraph)'have had 5\\'lLlllll'1g to do with itpurt of my thcrcabsulutuly nothing but nothing tnIrish traditionhut I liked thc idca of this photograph. nut um: beautiful thing in thcrcfamily going out and trying to nd their way in just shccr good photography. 1 said to him,76

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Part of it will be in blackness, but lets photo We purposely kept it in conned spacesthalgraph it. Let's take a chance and do something was what the story called for. Life on a ship isdifferent. lt worked out all right. claustrophobic, but you get accustomed to it.Hadyott planned to end with Fonda going up over You make friends and you make enemies, youthe hill? kick about the food, you kick about everything.That was the logical end, but we wanted to see I found that sailors who don! kick about thewhat the hell was happening to the mother and food are lousy sailors. We were working on thisfather and the girl; and the mother had a little carrier, making ll"ings of Eagles, and the headsoliloquy which was all right. of the Union came up and said, According to

THE LONG VOYAGE HOME (1940) Still: ()Nct'II'.t fat-0ttriIeThe Long VoyageThe Long Voyage Home is tv.r_v claustrnpltobiu Home (I941!) it-|'tI| ]uIut Qualert, ll"ard Band,fur a story about the sea':L'a: that your irtterrtiult? ]ac/c Penn|'cL', ]n/m ll"a_\'m:, Tlmntas lltc/tall.

our contract, we travel rst class, regardless of General Messwhere they had steak, french-where we go. I said, I know that. He said, fried potatoes and everything else. The nextYou're going out on this battlcship' I said, night we went up to the Chief's Mess and thatNo, no, we're going out on a carrier. He said, was even better. Gradually the crew got wise toWhatever it is, you're going on a Navy ship, to it and pretty soon they were all eating in theand my men have got to eat with the oicers.' General Mess, where the Government providesWell, thatll be new, I said. The oicers will them with steaks, roasts, chops, bacon and eggsbe delighted. In the Navy, the officers always in the morning. The poor oicersof coursehave to pay for their own food, you see, so if the every one of them liver for his night to go downUnion men ate with them, it would lessen the and inspect the General Mess and get a goodofcers bill. Except, of course, that officers are meal.probably the poorest fed people in the world,

$2520 Tsgyvgagopayo flt::e:I1eui:e:v Slill: Along Tobacco Road (I 9-ll).payment on the house, the new car. But I said,Well, there'll be no trouble about that. Hesaid, Well, I'm glad of that, because we want totravel rst class.Well, we'd worked all morning, out at sea,

and I had a grip-huge guy, a great eatetandhe said, I didn't see you at lunchwhere wereyou? I said, I was seasick so l went to mycabin, thought I'd lie down a little bit-I didn'twant anything to eat. I feel all right now. Hesaid, Oh, that's too bad. I said, How was thelunch? He says, Lunch? Terrible! What dothey feed these guys? After dinner that night,around nine o'clock, he came by my cabin.Where were you at dinner? he says. Well, I'mstill feeling a little seasick and I didn't want togo to dinner, I said. What did you have? Hesays, We had some minced ham! With somekind of lousy sauce over it, about a mouthful oflettuce and a cup of coffee. I said, Did you likeit? He said, I'm wilting1 can't live on stu'like that. I said, Well, that's too badImsurrybut you're travelling rst classthat'syour Union. The next night at dinner time, Istarted to sneak out of my cabin and he waswaiting outside. I-Ii, he says, where are yougoing? I said, Aren't you going to dinner? I-Iesaid, Yes, I'm going to follow you. All right,I said, Come along. So I went on down to the

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TOBACCO ROAD (194!) jokes and playing practical jokes, and then hedll"'att!d you have changed Tobacco Road even tj gr; and gel righi into his part again.the play Itadrft Itad censorship prablenis?Did the play have censorship problems? Oh, the SEX HYGIENE U941)girl. Well, we suggested that, but I think WE did Darryl Zanuck was a reserve oicer and he saidit nicely. I don't think it oifended anybody. I ,0 mg, ~-I-his would ins, be for he A,.my_bu,enjoyed making the picrur I =\\' ii " Wk these kids have got to be taught about thesevl5in mccmll and "iYd ll Balm Pm things. It's horrible-do you mind doing it? SoCharlk G'3P"l" '35 3 m 37'= and l said, Sure, what the hell, I'll do it. And itwonderful guy to work with, always cracking was easy [O makC_wc did 5, in V0 or hm:

__ days. It really tear horrible; not being for general_-> "_ " - release, we could do anythingwe had guys out

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"t:~ ,. ~ there with VD and everything else. l think itmade its point and helped a lot of young kids.I looked at it and threw up.HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (i941)as How Green Was My Valley the rst lime

you brtmght the cltarncters back at the mdtheway you did later in The Long Gray Line andThe Quiet Man?I believe so. I wanted to reprise the mother'ssong so 1 got the idea of bringing the cast back.In the theatre I always like to see the cast comeoutregardless of whether the guy's playingthe messenger boy or the butlerI like to sechim come out and take his bow. That's prob-ably where l got the idea.Was the family life personal to you?Well, Irn the youngest cl" thirteen, so l supposethe same things happened to me-1 was a freshyoung kid at the table.ll/as much of that film made up an the set?Phil Dunne wrote the script and we stuckpretty close to it. There may have been a fewthings added, but thats what a director is for.You can't just have people stand up and saytheir linesthere has to be a little movement, alittle action, little bits of business and things.

Pttblicit_\- pltutngraphs: Gen: 'l'icrm.'_v, with l\"ardBond, in Tobacco Road.

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THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY (I942) this shot, the narrat0rs voice says: This reallyHow much of The Battle of Midway did you happcned.I.B.]phntagraph yourself?I did all of itwc only had one camera. THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (I945)The greatest shat in that lm is of the ag being What was in my mind was doing it exactly as itraised in the midst of the battle. had happened. It was strange to do this pictureI photographed that from the tower. It actually about Iohnny Buckley-I knew him so well. Hehappenedeight oclock,time forthe colours to was the most decorated man of the warago up, and despite the bombs and everything, wonderful person. He was the fellow in Guan-these kids ran up and raised the ag. [During tanamo who, when Castro cu! the lincs Off,quickly installed the water system. We were vcryStill: the l\lorganxDur|ald Crisp, Sam Allgood close friends and during the war, in the ETO,and tin.-ir Sum in How Green Was My Valley. the Eastern Theatre, I worked with him a lot.

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My district was around Bayeux, practically on stand, and thir concept of the glory in defeat orthe Coast, and it was pretty well populated with noble failure runs through many of your otherthe SS and Gestapo. So instead of dropping an lms.agent in, we took a PT boat, which Johnny We1l,Ithink that's coincidenc:althoughitsaalways skippered himselfhe refused to let me wonderful thing to think about. But I nevergo in unless he skippered the ship. We used to realized thatI mean, it isn't something I'vego back and forth-we could always slip in done consciouslyit may have been subcon-there, if the signals were rightbecause the scious. But, then, I didn't write the stories.Resistance had told us the Germans never But you chose to do them.thought of guarding this one creek. We'd go in Hmmm. Any war I was inwe always wan. Butthere on one engine, drop an agent o' or pick I like thatI despise these happy endingswithup information, and disappear.They Were Expendable is about a brave last Still: They Were Expendable.

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a kiss at the nishl've never done that. Ofcourse, rhey were glorious in defeat in theIhilippincslhey kepr on ghting.

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (I946)I knew Wyatt Earp. In the very early silenidays, a couple of limes a year, he would comeup to visit pals, cowboys he knew in Tomb-stone; a lo! of them were in my company. I

Plmmgrap/I (IJI): Fnrd, z:-1'!/I Hcilila Hnppcr,xlmming They Were Expendable. Still: ll'I\-allEarp and I/Ii (Ilanmns in My Darling Clementine.

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Ythink I was an assistant prop boy then and Iused to give him a chair and a cup of coffee, andhe told me about the ght at the O. K. Corral.So in My Darling Clementine, we did it exactlythe way it had been. They didn't iust walk upthe street and start banging away at each other;it was a clever military manoeuvre.THE FUGITIVE (1947) ">It came out the way I wanted it tothata why 'it: one of my favourite picturesto me, it wasperfect. It wasn't popular. The critics got at it,and evidently it had no appeal to the public, but ' 2l was very proud of my work. There are somethings in it that I've seen repeated a milliontimes in other pictures and on televisionso atleast it had that effect. It had a lot ofdamn goodphotographywith those black and whiteshadows. We had a good cameraman, GabrielFigueroa, and we'd wait for the lightinsteadof the way it is nowadays where regardless ofthe light, you shoot.Did you alter the Graham Greene novel quite abit?Not quite a bit, but you couldn't do the originalStills: below, Tombstone in My Darling Clerrien-tine; right ,'I'he Fugitive, Dolores Del Rio.

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on lm beause the priest was living with awoman. Even today, you can say s andf on the screen, but you can't have a priestliving with a woman.

FORT APACHE (t948)There is usually a dance in your lm.They're all folk dances and they're part of thestory. I like folk dances; they're very amusingand the cowboys do them very well. Down inArizona, the Mormons are beautiful squaredancers, so we only had to put on a dance andthey'd pitch right in and do it wonderfully

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-or A well. On the other hand, The Grand March inFort Apache is typical of the periodits aritual, part of their tradition. I try to make ittrue to life.In Fort Apache, do you feel the men were right inobeying Fonda even though it was obvious he waswrong and they were killed because of his error?Yeshe was the Colonel, and what he says-goes; whether they agree with it or n0tit stillpertains. In Vieutam today, probably a lot ofguys don't agree with their leader, but they stillgo ahead and do the job.The end of Fort Apache anticipates the newxpapereditor: line in Liberty Valance, When the legendbecome: a fact, print the legend. Do you agreewith that?Yesbecause I think it's good for the country.We've had a lot of people who were supposedto be great heroes, and you know damn wellthey weren't. But it's good for the country tohave heroes to look up to. Like Custera greathero. Well, he wasn't. Not that he was a stupidmanbut he did a stupid job that day. Or PatGarrett, who's a great Western hero. He wasn'tanything of the sortsupposed to have shotBilly the l

I: the line in Fort Apache, I can! sci: lliem any- SI-IE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (I949)mareall I run see is the ags, mean! m be lvhicli of your ca'valr_\' picture: are you mas!symbolic? pleased zvilli?More as a slight touch of premonition about hcr I like She Won: A Yellow Ribbon. I tried to copyhusband's death. It was very funnyshe said the Remington style thereyou can! copy himthe line, and another actress said, You misread one hundred percenthut at least I tried to getthatyou should say, All I can see arc the in his colour and movement, and I think Iags." ' succeeded partly.Stills: Prim Illt lvgend'Fort Apache (left) WHEN WILLIE COMES MARCHINGtrill! Fumla, ll"av\'m:, ()'Brim and (abmw) ll"anl HOME (I950)Band. Bu/n:aCnrinm' Culver! and Dan Dailzy I read the story and liked it. It was amusing.in When Willie Comes Marching Hume. Bu! you didn! Ir_v m make Ilia war xequences

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/mm_\.Wcll, that was my racket for a while, and thcrc\\'asnt anything funny about it. I wonder whats.0.b. will be the rst to make a comedy aboutVietnam?WAGON MASTER (x950)I wrote the original story. Along with '1'/n:Fugt'!it':: and Thu Sun S/t|'m:s Bright, I thinkll"ngon Mastsr camc closest to being what I hadwanted to achicvc.THIS IS KOREA (I951)Your doctmmtmry of lln Korean l\"ar was verygrim, especially camparud In Midway nr TheyWere Expendable.

Stills: Thrcc Gudfathcrs rvirh (lop Icfr) l\"ardBond, jam: Darzt-ull; (I011 centre) MildmlNam-ick, ll"a_\'m:, Harry Carey, ]r., PuiroArmcmiarls. Bnltnm lcftShc Wore A YellowRibbon Right, top and bn!mmWag0n Master.88

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Well, thats the way it was. It's just too bad wecouldnt photograph the charges of the Chineseat night. But there was nothing glorious aboutit. It was not the last of the chivalrous wars.THE QUIET MAN (1952)We had a lot of preparation on the script, laidout the story pretty carefully, but in such a waythat if any chance for comedy came up, weStills: _7z1!m's Ca_l,1nv_\', Dan I)ailey (I011), in\\'/hat Price Glory? and lhullvcv) Barry Firs-ggyald, O'Hara, ll"u_vnc in The Quiet Man.

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could put it in--like Barry Fitzgerald bringingthe crib into their bedroom on the morningafter the wedding night, and seeing the brokenbed. That was just taking advantage of thesituation. Nobody has ever heard what he sayswhen he comes in there, you knowbecausethe laugh is too loud. Hundreds of people haveasked mewhat did he say? I never can gureit out. [Impetuousl-Iomeric . . .'] But thatcondition still exists in Connemarawhere mypeople came fromthe wife is supposed tocome to her husband with a dot or dowryafew pounds or s0methingit's a good thing.Then you agree with her feelings in the lm?I iusl thought it was good drama. The onlymistake we made was having him throw themoney on the rehe should have tossed it toone of the fellows and said, Give it to charity J ' 'or sumething 'I thought it was a great gesture.Yes, well, who would he give it to anyway? Not '1-~ll" Parish Pl'i5I_h has "10" m"Y "13" he Plm/agraplt: directirtg The Sun Shines Bright.Lord Mayor of Dublin. York, and through a president and a board ofTHE SUN SHINES BRIGHT (I953) directors and bankers and everybody else. WhatThe Sun Shines Bright, like Wagon Master, I used to do was try and make a big picture, aseems m be alm you didfor yourself. smash, and then I could palm o'a little one onThats true. I knew they weren't going to be them. You can't do it any more.smash hitsl did them for my own amusement.And it didn't hurt anybodythey didnt make THE LONG GRAY LINE (1955)any money, but they always got their initial cost l\auIdyoit agree that The Long Gray Line is theback. The Sun Shines Bright is my favourite story ofa /ailitnt it-ltn succeeded in rt-n_\'s he couldn'tpictureI love it. And it's tme to life, it hap- see?pened. Irvin Cobb got everything he wrote That's true, yes. He was a real charactergrewfrom real life, and thats the best of his Judge up at West Point and knew Eisenhower andPriest stories. Wiedemeier, and all those peoplew0nderfulHas it became irtcreast'ngl_v dtirult tn do a picture old guy.for yourself like lltat? Again i!':_\'our theme of the gInr_\- m left:u!.'Oh, you can't anymore-its impossible. You've Well, I'd hardly use such an academic or poeticgot to go through a series of commands now and titlealthough it is a good expression. As ayou never know who the hell reads the scripts matter of fact, you may attribute it to me if youany more. You can't get an O.I(. here in Holly wish-because I may use it anyway.wood for a scriptits got to go back to New How did you like CirtemaScapc?

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-_ Sn'[I.\".' Pclur GTdin'S, 'Iymm' In::-ur Laban) in- The Long Grey Linc; Aw (junimv (Hf!) in\ Mogamho., I hated it. You've ncvcr sccn a palnlcf us: lhal

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- kind of cnmpnsilionc\'cn m the great murals.it still \~.'asn'l this huge tennis cnurl. Your cycspop back and forth, and it's very diicult to guta close-up.

" MISTER ROBlR'lS ug55>'* - A lo! of my stu' was cu! out hy the producur.Leland Hayward, hccausc it wasn't in rhcoriginal play. Then ]0sh Logan, who wrou: theplay, lonkcd an rhc stulhar had been cu! and hesaid, This is funny stuff. for PL-!cs 5ak4:,' andinsisted on pulling a lo: of it hack in.

THE SEARCHERS (19561/ h's rhe tragedy of a loner. Hc's rh: man who/ came back from the Clvll War, probably wen:

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ZStill: He could m.':'cr nxally bu par! nf I/n: Mmhmm,{anti/_\' ' ll"a_\'m.' as Ethan in Thu: Searchers. Wax the scene, mu-ard the b;g|P!1llPIg, during ruin;-/1

lY'aynz's s|'s!:r-in-larv gut: his coalfor him, mean!over into Mexico, hccamc a bandit, probably to cmwe_\' silentlv a past 101': bz!1L'a'!1 tln.-m?fought for Juarez or Maximilianprobably Well, I thought it was pretty obviuusthat hisMaximilian, because ofthc medal. He was just brother's wifc was in lovc with Wayne; youa plain l0m:rc0uld never really be a part ufthc c0uldnt hit it on thc nnsc, but l think it's veryfamily. plain to anyone with any intclligcncc. YouWas that the nteanlng nj Ilu: duar opming an him could tell from the way shc picked up his capeat the start and closing at lhc end? and I think you could tcll from Ward Bond:

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expression and from his cxitas though hehadn't noticed anything.The Indians are alrvayx given great digrtily inyour lms.lts probably an unconscious impulsebut theyare a very dignied pe0pleeven when theywere being defeated. Of course, its not verypopular in the United States. The audiencelikes to see Indians gel killed. They don! con-sider them as human beingswith a greatSrillxjeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles (la/I) in TheSearchers; ll"qvn2 (righ! and belnw) in TheWings of Eagles.

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culture of {heir ownqui|e different from ours.If you analyzed the thing carefully, however,you'd nd ihaz their religion is very mnilar [0ours.

THE WINGS OF EAGLES (1957)The Wings of Eagles is once again the !mgcd_\- ufu man whu rm-er really gn! wlll he wanred.Life disappointed him. Bu! he did devise thebaby carrier: they were not ghting ships, butStills: Spig ' l\"cad and a lm he r:'r0!:F0nls Air Mail (I932) will: Ralph Bvllamy,Slim Sunnm'r1-il/u.

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THE HORSE SOLDIERS \I959)I 1l dont thinl-t l ever saw it. But a lot of the

things in it actually happenedsuch as thechildren from the Military Academy marchingout against the Union soldiersthat happenedseveral times.

SERGEANT RUTLEDGE U960)ll/as the point of Sergeant Rutledge that theNegro: harm: runs the Arnty?Yes, that's the point. The Negro suldier, theregular, is very proud. They had always been acavalry outt, but in this last war, they weremechanizcdthey took their horses away, andthey were broken-hearted. They were veryproud of their outt; they had great esprit decorps. I liked that picture. It was the rst timewe had ever shown the Negro as a hero.

TWO RODE TOGETHER (1961)Ididnt like the story, but 1 did it as a favour to

Harry Cohn, who was stuck with the project When possible do you like ta play :1 scene throughand said, Willyou do this for me? I said, Good in one angle, withuuz cutting it up, ax you did inGod, this is a lousy script. He said, I know it, the scene by the river between Stewart and Wid-but we're pledged for itwerc all setwevc mark?got Widmark and Stewart signed up. I said, Well, it's better if you can do that, if you getO.K., I'll do the damn thing. And I didnt close enough so the audience can see the facesenjoy it. I just tried to make Stewarts character clearly. Certain directors go by xed rulestheyas humorous as possible.Hi: morality was a little ambigunus. Still: Riclmrd ll"idmurIt and janws Stewart inIsnt all our morality a little ambiguous? the scam: by the ri-tier from Two Rode Together.

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vsay you must haveaclose-up of everything. But Yes, it was the same; we bought it from Alwe've got this big screen: instead of putting a Newman. I love itone of my favourite tuneslot of poclt-marked faces on itbig horrible one I can hum. Generally, I hate music inhead, eyeI iust don't like itif I can play a pictui-esa little bit now and then, at the endscene in a two-shot, where you can see both or the startbut something like the Annfaces very well, I prefer it that way. You see Rutledge theme belongs. I don't like to see apeople instead of just faces. Of course, nowa- man alone in the desert, dying of thirst, withdays in pictures, you never even get a chance to the Philadelphia Orchestra behind him.look at anyone's face. I watched something theother night with Sophia Loren in it; well, she'sa nice woman to look atbut she was alwayshidden by somebody or her face would just peek out. Here she was playing the lead, andthe camera panned away from her all the timeand you never did get a good look at Sophia.That's new direction. It's a funny thing, thesekids get out here from New York, stage direc-tors, and the rst thing they do when they gethere, they forget the story, forget the people,forget the characters, forget the dialogue andthey concentrate on this new, wonderful toy,the camera.You never cover n scene from many angler.Nobecause the actors get tired, they get jadedand lose the spontaneityso that they're justmouthing words. But if you get the rst orsecond take, there's a sparkle, an uncertaintyabout it; they're not sure of their lines, and itgives you a sense of nervousness and suspense.D0 you also avoid shooting a lot of coverage so 7 7 that producers won! have the material to re-edit? S"-IL. I Maybe Fm gemng Old" ,__sIewan,No, I've always done thatbecause lm is very Vzm M,-In in The Mm who Sh Libertyexpensive and I hate to waste itI was brought valance_up that way. It's not so they can't change it,because they eanand dotake it back to New OM/"1-I ""1! N01" 1J'"'P4'h.V I-" I-ib"Y Vl"York and cut up the most dramatic scenes. '3 Wilh 1/"I Wily"! ""4 I/I Old Wm-

Well, Wayne actually played the lead; JimmyTHE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY Stewart had most of the scenes, but Wayne wasVALANCE (I951) the central character, the motivation for theToward the Hm of Liberty Valance, when Vera whole thing. Idon't knowI liked them both-Miles came: to Wayne: burned-out house, im't 1 think [my were both good characters and 11'" "ml" 1'" Am R'"ldEP "1""? f""| Y0-"18 rather liked the story, that's all. I'm a hard-Mr I-invvln? nosed director; 1 get a scriptif I like it, rn do

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-9".-' P"'"T I/'1' L1-.-ZWHI 'Thk' Man Wlw Possiblyl don! know-Imnola psychologist.Shot Lihcriy Valancell"u\-nu and Stewart Maybe I'm getting older.will: (alvm-c) lI"nnd_\- Srrndu, Vera Miles and(righr) :1-irh Ednmnd ()'Brim. DQNOVANS REEF (1953)ii. Or if I say, Oh, this is all righi'lll do ii. Is Ihe life pictured in Donovan's Reef a kind youIf I don! like ll, Ill turn ll down. might have likedfor _\-aursul/PBy Ihe and ofllu: picrzlrr, Ilmugh, 1'! scurried u'r_\' No, not at all, I wouldn't like lo live on anclear rim! Vera Miles was slill in Im.-e with Wqvrie. island. I like to go to Honolulu for a couple ofWell, we meant it that way. weeks on leave, but after that, lhC island closesYour picmrz nf the lI":1 has become increasingly in on me. Of course, I know guys whove donemd over rhe _\'2arxIike lhe difference in mood, exactly that, and are slill in the South Seas-/or e.\ampIc,bem-zen Wagon Masler and Libcrly own old sea saloons, and doing very wellValance. thirty or forty Navy children, ve or six Navy100

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wives. But it's not the life for mc.Was Ihal mnmtlll rl-Iran Mac Marsh blows theman's cigar ash n rim table snnlellling you addedan the sat?Yes, well, the writer knew nothing abou! Boston, hand I certainly do know Bosmn and lhO5n

, Mpeople. Half ofthcm are half-mined and half ofKhcm are bright, but !h|:re's always a couple of

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instead of the picture. You have to hold onto Stills: abmuz: lling a mass gran after theyour chair. l didn't care for it. Battle of Shiloh in How the West \as Won;

rt'gItII)t1d;{t City ittterltuie in CheyenneCHEYENNE AUTUMN (1964) Autumn-l had wanted to make it for a long time. I've Was Cheyenne Autumn changed considerablykilled more lndians than Custer, Beecher and from the way you had planned it?Chivington put together, and people in Europe Yes.always want to know about the Indians. There Could you my some of the things that wereare two sides to every story, but I wanted to changed?show their point ofview for a Change. Let's face No, I don't remember. But there were thingsit, we've treated them very hadlyit's a blot on even before we started shooting. Carroll Bakerour shield; \\'eve cheated and robbed, killed, ts a wonderful girl and a wonderful actress-murdered, massacred and everything else, but lm very fond of herbut I wanted to do itthey kill one white man and, God, outcome the right: the woman who did go with the Indianstroops. was a middle-aged spinster who nally droppedD0 you ntaku it a practice ntrver to rehearse an out because she couldn't take it any more. Butactmn seqtwttcc? you couldnt do thatyou had to have a young,You can'tit looks phone). You can never tell beautiful girl.what will happenone man's liable to fall, the ll/as the score the one you wanted?horse is liable to fall. No, lm an old hard-nosed No, I thought it was a bad score and there wasdirector who never rehearsed action. too much of itdidn't need it. just like in TheI04

v105

7

Searclierx: with that music they should have placing an actual intermission in the middle ofbeen Cossacks instead of Indians. it. In subsequent engagements of the lm, theD|'d_\'nu inlcnd the Dodge City seqtwnce as a kind point of the sequence was obliterated when thenf in!:rmi.ts|'mi, as u-ell as a .valin't- mlnmenl on entire second half showing the Battle of Dodgethe Battle of l)udge C|'t_\"? City (which had followed the studios inter-Yes. It actually happened that way. They were mission) \\-as deleted.l.B.]a load of easternersnut many cowboys there-and they went out thinking they were going tu YOUNG CASSIDY (1955)pick up u scalp ur something, Someone red 3 Hutu /l0d_\'0l4 plarttmd lo end Young Cassidy?shot, and they all ran like hell. [In initial en W0, fl lhs P18) W35 UV", and if"?! Maggi!gagemenrs, the studio ruined the effect of this Smith had left\\'hile he was standing there in'intermissi0na comedy sequence in the midst the rain outside the theatrel wanted Julicof an otherwise tragic sturyby arbitrarily Christie, by now a streetwalker, to come uver tol06

Y __"

7?.-'I-Jz'1.--

How long after yau started making picture: did always had was an eye for compositionI don'tyou come to feel that rvha! you were doing was know where I got itand that's all I did have.surnclhing iniparlant? As a kid, I thought I was going to be an artist;Well, that's a presumption I cant accept. 1 I used to sketch and paint a great deal and lnever felt that way about it. I've always enjoyed think, for a kid, I did pretty good worl

V

4 TAPS

l knew he was dying and that if l didnt drive l have ever seen at the Oscarsthough a few ofdown to see him before leaving for Rome to the more politically minded protested the Nixonmake the new picture there was a good chance presence by not coming. ]ane Fonda, I believe,he would be gone before we retumed. lt was the even picketed. But then. that was her mainmiddle of June, l973. About six months earlier occupation those days, as well as her privilege.the Fords had sold their house in Bel Air and though one might wish she would stop mixingmoved to one in Palm Desen. l don't believe politics with art quite so ferociously. Nixonit was really something they were anxious to do, was honoring a great artist that nightthe rstbut economic considerations prevailed. After time a lilm personality had been so recognizedall ]acl< hadn't made a picture since l965 and he was present not as one particularthough for at least six of those years he had president one did not admire or respect. butbeen most capable of oneand conditions rather as the highest elected representative ofweren't getting any better. I had phoned him the nation acknowledging the achievement ofa few times since the move and spoke with him a lifetimean opus that includes not only Missbriey the night the American Film Institute Fonda's fathers best lms, but some of thegave the director their rst Life Achievement nest pictures anyones ever been in. So sheAward and President Nixon presented him with shouldn't have picketed. In fact. it would havethe Medal of Freedom. which is the highest been elegant to comea signicant sign, indeed.civilian honor our country can bestow. that despite the presence of a politician sheHighlights of that evening were subsequently detested, the attention being paid to a major

seen on a television special which managed only artist in her own chosen eld was more impor-to emphasize the least attractive and most com- tant. But no doubt there were reservations toomercial aspects of the affair. But that's another about john Ford's own politics. As if it matteredstorythe vulgarity of the acn.ia| evening itself really what a humanist poet of Fords dimensionwas far outweighed, if you were there, by the and depth thought about the issues of our day.sheer fascination of it. There was hardly a face His best moviesand there are many of them-in the crowd you couldn't recognizemore are for all our days. They are the size of legendsstars and directors and producers came out than and possess the soul of myth. Orson Welles said

109

ll Ohm "]"hl'l F\'d k"W5 /hill the "rib l5 most of the times I had seen him during themade of-" ten years t knew him, he had been in beditl wanted the whole town there that night was his own particular oicebut it was a shock

because l knew it would be the last time they to see him this time. Then: was physically socould see him and the last time he could see little of him left. Like some horrible parasite.them. So, what the hell, pull out all the stops! the cancer seemed to have shmnk him by half.The Marine Band and the television schmaltz He looked not 78 but ll0. Hawks, by compar-and all the junk. it was jack Ford's last hurrah. isonand he is only a year youngerlooked aThe funny thing is-and this is only a feeling youthful 50.of minel do not believe nally that In: cared A11 ga-ca; diracmrs a,-a g,-ea! am"; hr And"TY l""

Still." John Fort! in Mmtturtenl Valley for lhe with him. and when l heard his voice l knewIast tinm, during pmdttction of Directed hy he didnt have long-he sounded sn frail. If youJohn Ford. had seen or heard him on the set. in cuntrol of

600 actors and technicians. it would have hrukenyour heart. Pretty well." he said again. hut

Rome. I called him several times. The conn:r- with considerable effort. Hawks saw him onsations were short and friendly. but he sounded 'l'u|:sda_v. On \Y'edncsda_\* Ford said he \\'antedweaker each time. He died on a Friday. The tn see "Duke." and Thursday \Y'a_\'ne ew downMonday of that week was the last time I spoke and spent a while with him.

Ill

Come for the deathwatch, Duke?" Ford said. TV featured several clips. In Yugoslavia, thereHell, no, ]ack, Wayne said. You're the was a two-hour television tribute. The funeral

anchoryoull bury us all." in Hollywood Was well attended but, one heard, tOh, well," said Ford, maybe I'll stick could well have used john Ford's touch. He

around a while longer then." knew how to bury the dead. There wasn't evenLike the old man in The Quiet Man who a band to play Shall We Gather at the River."

leaped from his deathbed at the prospect of a When Hawks went to see him that last Tues-good ght, Ford seemed revived by Waynes day they talked for a couple of hoursmainlypresence. They shared a drink or two and some about a picture Hawks was planning. When hememories. On Friday he didn't speak for a long went out to speak to Mary, Ford's wife of 52while. Suddenly he said, Would someone years, and Barbara, he told them, Don't everplease get me a cigar, and they did. He didn't treat that man like a mental invalid-he justsay anything more. Six hours later he was dead. gave me some great ideas." Before leaving,

Hawks went back to the bedroom.The New York Times ohituarylike most That you, Howard? I thought you left,"

obituaries anywayemphasized all the wrong said Ford, pulling on a cigar.things, called him important for all the wrong Just came hack to say goodbye, Jack."reasons. Typically again, the man who had Goodbye. Howard."most vividly and memorably chronicled the Hawks started out of the room. "Howard,"American saga on the screen was more ttingly Ford called after him.remembered in Europe. The major Italian Yes, Jack?"papers gave his death more space than had l mean really goodbye, Howard." he said.either The Tintes of Los Angeles or New York. Really goodbye, Jack?"One headline called him The creator of the Really goodbye.Westem," which, as such things go, was more They shook hands, and Hawks left. As longatcurate and appropriate than singling out The as there are movies, how do you say goodbyeInfnnner as his masterpiece, as New York's to John Fordrest, though l pray he does, inpaper of record had done. Italian and British peace.

ll2

WI

5 FORDS CAREERFILMOGRAPHY/-II) /I/I!|t1g'!J[l/|\' not him;-ilrtl /mm )

Ford himself says he has no memory of them, and it it l9l5 The Hidden City (Universal-l0l Bison).extremely early for him to have been directing (in fact, Director: Francis Ford. Writer: Grace Cunard.if it weren't for the start and completion dates, one Shooting: January 23-February 8. 2 reels. Released:would be sure they were unlmed projects). However, March 27. With Francis Ford (Lt. Johns), lack Fordthere was a re at Universal in l9l4, and quite a few (his brother), Grace Cunard (Princess of the Hiddennegatives were lostperhaps this series was among City), Eddie Polo (Poleau, her Minister).them. (A couple of two-reelers based on the sung A deierl melodrama about a mythical undergroundcharacters were made at the studio in I916.) Thoug city in n a.they remain a mystery, we include them nevertheless, iffor no other reason than as an example of the unbelieva- l9l5 The Doorway of Destrurtian (Universal-l0lbly poor state of lm history and records (after all it Bison).was only fty years ago.) I Director: Francis Ford. Writer: _Grace Cunard.The pictures that follow are probably only a sampling Assistant dig-ectolr: _la;klFor%. ASilOl0:l;l I;bi;ti%ry 26-

of the number Ford must have worked on between l9l4 March 4. ree s. e ease : pri . it rand:and I917, when he started directing. Not only are the Ford (Col. Patrick Feeney), Iack Forthe lrish RCi'l;ll lzsaid a car-pet for you! (Workingl9l4 The Mystrrmui Rose (Universal-Gold Seal). title: The Flag a O tin.)Director: Francis Ford. Writer: Grace Cunard. Shoot-ing: August 7l5. 2 reels. Released: November 24. - U < IWith Francis Ford (Detective Phil Kelley). Grace ai='hd.ngeCI:l:I)f'iSlI Grace Cunard.Clwlf (1-Id) RIm=$)- llik Fld ('3"' FY1 h" from story by Emerson Hough. Assistant director:mpc)' Hnry schumm (die D'A"5 gm) Wilbur lack Ford. Exteriors lmed in Bisbee, California.High ,(-Hi? Wu! B) Edd" Bmd (yccn Kc Serial composed of 22 Chapters (2 reels each), releasedKen 5. a'm.) . weekly, beginning Iune 21. With Grace CunardOne in a series of modern detective plays (each - - - -featuring the wily Lady Rales and Detective Kelley), ,K;yA2n-wk i:n:,] F(:dFS:u';af"d;4r::)' Eliaoo in u r ac ry rrywhich 1-. l-ord and Cunard turned out intei-inittently SchummI Em! Shidds, can Lummle (ningthrough l9l6. himself in the lst and last episodes).

A search for the two halves ofa eoin which has on it1915 The Birth of ll Nation (Th: Clansnian) (Epoch the map to a priceless treasure.Producing Corporation).Directohscenarist: D. W. Griith. l2 reels. Released: l9l6 The Lumber Yard Gang (Universal-Rea).February I. Among the cast ofthousands,asa member Director: Francis Ford. Writer: Grace Cunard.Bf lh Kl! KIHX Klhi lack Ford. Shooting November 26-29, I915. 933 feet. Released:

February