My favorite film of his is “My Darling Clementine.” It has the poetic lyricism that a western should have, plus a deep and impacting myth behind the facade of a beautiful frontier. Fonda does an amazing job as Wyatt Earp, while Joseph MacDonald’s cinematography is simply amazing. I consider John Ford’s best “The Searchers.” Very few movies can bear the title “the greatest ever” but “The Searchers” is definately one of them. It’s a bold approach to a controversial topic, often avoided by the genre, and that’s just scratching the surface.
A tough director to pick a favorite and a best, given his countless masterpieces.
“The Iron Horse”
“The Informer”
“Stagecoach”
“Young Mr. Lincoln”
“The Long Voyage Home”
“The Grapes of Wrath”
“How Green was my Valley”
“They Were Expendable”
The Cavalry trilogy
“Wagonmaster”
“The Quiet Man”
“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”
Any of these could easily take “My Darling Clementine” and even “The Searchers” place any day.
My favorite film of his is “My Darling Clementine.” It has the poetic lyricism that a western should have, plus a deep and impacting myth behind the facade of a beautiful frontier. Fonda does an amazing job as Wyatt Earp, while Joseph MacDonald’s cinematography is simply amazing. I consider John Ford’s best “The Searchers.” Very few movies can bear the title “the greatest ever” but “The Searchers” is definately one of them. It’s a bold approach to a controversial topic, often avoided by the genre, and that’s just scratching the surface.
A tough director to pick a favorite and a best, given his countless masterpieces.
“The Iron Horse”
“The Informer”
“Stagecoach”
“Young Mr. Lincoln”
“The Long Voyage Home”
“The Grapes of Wrath”
“How Green was my Valley”
“They Were Expendable”
The Cavalry trilogy
“Wagonmaster”
“The Quiet Man”
“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”
Any of these could easily take “My Darling Clementine” and even “The Searchers” place any day.
I haven’t seen any John Ford yet. I want to because I know he’s a director admired greatly by Akira Kurosawa, my favorite filmmaker. Plan on watching Stagecoach and The Searchers on Netflix. I’ll let you know what I think.
I can never decide if Ford, Bunuel, or Rossellini has the greatest body of work. My Top 10:
1. Wagonmaster
2. Steamboat Around the Bend
3. My Darling Clementine
4. The Sun Shines Bright
5. Young Mr. Lincoln
6. Pilgrimage
7. Donovan’s Reef
8. How Green Was My Valley
9. Fort Apache
10. They Were Expendable
Not even any room for The Searchers or Stagecoach. What a ridiculous body of work.
Agreed The Wagonmaster is as good as it gets 3 Goodfathers also
Pilgrimage gets my vote too (or it will this week) it has Hedda Hopper in it!!
@Dennis B: Yeah, I think 3 Godfathers is actually an underappreciated classic.
In any case, my list would be something like Stagecoach,The Searchers, My Darline Clementine. I’d also like to get The Grapes of Wrath somewhere up there.
there are way too many to chose from to be honest.
While Stagecoach may have been more innovative, Grapes of Wrath more powerful, My Darling Clementine more lyrical, and The Searchers more thought provoking, I just fucking LOVE The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
The Cavalry Trilogy
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
Young Mr. Lincoln
I find him quite boring generally, but maybe i’ve just seen the wrong films. The Lincoln one certainly didn’t do it for me, but i’m willing to accept that, as a foreigner, i missed the significance of it.
STAGECOACH is, for me, this greatest film, with THE INFORMER and THE SEARCHERS running a close tie for second. I’ll also cop to a fondness for HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY.
The others, including THE QUIET MAN and the unspeakable YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, are too often marred by unfortunate lead performances. I really shouldn’t sit through MY DARLING CLEMENTINE rooting for the Glanton gang to please kill that goddamn Henry Fonda once and for all, and Fonda’s Mr. Lincoln is a living advertisement for amnesty for John Wilkes Booth. I find John Wayne’s performances to be more usually embarassing than anything else. Watching Wayne try to keep up with Barry Fitzgerald in QUIET MAN is particularly painful — the poor Duke is just in over his head.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Stagecoach.
For me, Stagecoach is to John Ford what Rashomon would be for Kurosawa-his first major film, and highly innovative, but falling far short of the heights that he would later achieve.
The Searchers is probably his best film, and I recommend that it be seen on Blu Ray.
The Quiet Man is a personal favorite.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and My Darling Clementine are both superb masterpieces.
The Hurricane, Young Mr. Lincoln and How Green was my Valley are all three classics.
The Grapes of Wrath is a masterpiece.
Straight Shooting
The Iron Horse
3 Bad Men (I think this is his first MAJOR work, rather than Stagecoach, Jason)
Four Sons
Pilgrimage
Judge Priest
Steamboat Round the Bend
The Informer
Stagecoach (Innovative, yes, but also full of sheer brilliance and lyricism)
Young Mr. Lincoln (personal favorite)
The Grapes of Wrath
How Green Was My Valley
They Were Expendable (almost unbearably moving)
My Darling Clementine
Fort Apache
Wagon Master
The Quiet Man
The Sun Shines Bright
The Searchers
The Last Hurrah
Sergeant Rutledge
Two Rode Together
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Donovan’s Reef
Cheyenne Autumn (criminally underrated)
7 Women (perhaps his best?)’
His 60’s films really get the shaft, other than Liberty Valance. I feel those are some of his best as well.
The Iron Horse (1924)
Arrowsmith (1931)
Judge Priest (1934)
Stagecoach (1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Fort Apache (1948)
Wagon Master (1950)
The Searchers (1956)
Donovan’s Reef (1963)
I watched Stagecoach earlier today. I friggin loved it. A great western with alot of action I wasn’t expecting from a 30’s film.
I’ll be watching The Searchers and Grapes of Wrath next. The Searchers because it was reccomended by Martin Scorcese, and GoW because the name just sounds awsome.
I like Grapes of Wrath, but I prefer Sergio Leone.
How Green Was My Valley
The Searchers
The Quiet Man
Grapes Of Wrath
While I enjoy Ford’s films, they’re quite formulaic, and he’s a total misogynist; It’s kinda funny really.
What is wrong with being a misogynist?
What is a misogynist?
^>My mother.
Or rather what is a search function/dictionary.-
Excuse my bitter mood.
@Hidden Behind the Screen: It’s essentially a hatred of women.
While I enjoy Ford’s films, they’re quite formulaic, and he’s a total misogynist; It’s kinda funny really.
1. You haven’t seen enough Ford films.
2. Accusing Ford of being formulaic is like accusing Shakespeare of being formulaic.
Ford used to treat his wife like crap.
From seeing Grapes of Wrath, The searchers and How the West Was won I find Ford utterly uninteresting.
The Searchers is a highly formal, disconcerting film, and I wouldn’t recommend it for a Ford beginner.
Ford used to treat his wife like crap.
He treated John Wayne like crap, too. He would make him break out in tears on the set.
When you say he made John Wayne break out in tears on set, do you mean for the perpose of a scene? Or just because…?
I can certainly understand the impulse to treat Wayne like crap. Who wouldn’t want to treat the worst actor in classic American movies like crap?
Not just strode, Ford used to tell actors they would have the next day off, arrange for them to get good and drunk, then have them called at 6 AM and told the schedule had been changed, so they had to work (tremendously hungover). It got the kind of performances he wanted, though.
tony1990
This week it’s John Ford. What is your favorite Ford film? What do you consider his best?