John Ford (1895-1973) was Hollywood's greatest chronicler of American history, and there was a period when his The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and not Citizen Kane [1960] was cited as the best American film. He worked on his first film in 1914, and was directing by 1917. He had an unrivaled eye for landscape, and famously used Monument Valley as the location for his Westerns, camping out with cast and crew, the company eating from a chuck wagon and sleeping in tents. Wayne told me that making a Ford Western was like living in a Western. Roger Ebert.
Stagecoach, 1939, John Wayne*
Young Mr Lincoln, 1939, Henry Fonda
The Grapes of Wrath, 1940, Henry Fonda*
Tobacco Road, 1941, Charley Grapewin
How Green Was My Valley, 1941, Walter Pidgeon*
My Darling Clementine, 1946, Henry Fonda
Fort Apache, 1948, John Wayne, Henry Fonda*
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, 1949, John Wayne*
Rio Grande, 1950, John Wayne*
The Quiet Man, 1952, John Wayne*
Mister Roberts, 1955, Henry Fonda
The Searchers, 1956, John Wayne*
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962, James Stewart, John Wayne*
Garry Gillard | New: 6 October, 2018 | Now: 5 July, 2019