History Creator / JohnFord

* ProductionPosse: Ford used the same actors across all his films - what became known as the "John Ford Stock Company" - because he could count on them to perform as he needed.
** The best known were of course JohnWayne, JimmyStewart, HenryFonda, MaureenOHara, and WardBond.
** Also Harry Carey, Victor [=McLaglen=], Barry Fitzgerald, and his brother Francis Ford.
** Towards the end in TheSixties there were WoodyStrode, Patrick Wayne (John's son), and JeffreyHunter.

---> ''[[{{Troll}} "D'ya known, McLaglen, that Fox are paying you $1200 a week to do things that I could get any child off the street to do better?"]]'' - Ford barking through the megaphone, on the set of ''The Informer''

* TheBully: Ford could be warm and gracious on the set but he could also be a mean, ornery son-of-a-bitch. Henry Brandon noted that he was, "The only man who could make John Wayne cry!". He was also a terror to little Natalie Wood on the set of ''The Searchers''.
** On the death of Ward Bond, John Ford was quiet for a while and then marched to Andy Devine and shouted, "Now you are the biggest son-of-a-bitch I know!"
---> ""D'ya known, McLaglen, that Fox are paying you $1200 a week to do things that I could get any child off the street to do better?" - Ford barking through the megaphone, on the set of ''The Informer'' which starred actor Victor McLaglen who won the Oscar for Best Actor for that role. Go figure.

** When [[YoungFutureFamousPeople young]] StevenSpielberg visited [[OldMaster Ford's]] office, he showed him the landscape paintings on his wall and told him, "If you come to the conclusion that its better to put the horizon on the top or the bottom of the frame and never in the middle, you might become a good picture-maker."

** When young StevenSpielberg visited Ford's office, he showed him the [[CoolOldGuy landscape paintings]] on his wall and told him, "If you come to the conclusion that its better to put the horizon on the top or the bottom of the frame and never in the middle, you might become a good picture-maker."

** As a young man, Ford initially considered being a painter and was influenced by Western painters Charles Schreyvogel and Remington, and also fellow Maine artist, Winslow Homer. His movies are famous for its eye for composition. When young StevenSpielberg visited Ford's office, he showed him the [[CoolOldGuy landscape paintings]] on his wall and told him, "If you come to the conclusion that its better to put the horizon on the top or the bottom of the frame and never in the middle, you might become [[TheMentor a good picture-maker.]]"

* SceneryPorn: If the film is based outdoors, be it the West in Monument Valley Utah or [[TheQuietMan Ireland in County Mayo]], you are looking at some of the most ''gorgeous shots'' in film history. Cinematographers who worked with him - and would argue about what they were doing - tended to get Oscars for how beautiful the films turned out.

---> ""[[MyNameIsInigoMontoya My name is John Ford]]. [[{{Understatement}} I am a director of Westerns]]...I don't think we should [be] putting out derogatory information about a director, whether he is a Communist, [[BreadMilkEggsSquick beats his mother-in-law, or beats dogs]]. [[SkewedPrioritiesThat]] is not our purpose...I don't agree with C.B. DeMille. [[DamnedByFaintPraise I admire him. I don't like him, but I admire him]]....You know when you get the [[NotSoDifferent two blackest Republicans]] I know, Joseph Mankiewicz and C.B. DeMille, and they start a fight over communism, it is getting laughable to me."

* TakeThat: What is regarded by many as his CrowningMomentOfAwesome, during a DGA meeting at the height of the RedScare, CecilBDeMille was making controversial statements in support of loyalty oaths and cast doubt on [[UnfortunateImplications members with foreign names]] like President(and director of ''All About Eve'') Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Ford rose up and announced:
---> ""My name is John Ford. I am a director of Westerns...I don't think we should [be] putting out derogatory information about a director, whether he is a Communist, beats his mother-in-law, or beats dogs. That is not our purpose...I don't agree with C.B. DeMille. I admire him. I don't like him, but I admire him....You know when you get the two blackest Republicans I know, Joseph Mankiewicz and C.B. DeMille, and they start a fight over communism, it is getting laughable to me."

* HiddenDepths: In order to navigate studio politics, Ford had to hide his softer, intellectual side. He was a voracious reader of history and literature. Spoke several languages including English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese and Native-American languages and was incredibly intelligent. This is revealed by [[AllThereInTheManual biographies]] by Joseph McBride and Tag Gallagher.

** Ford's westerns always used the Navajo tribe of Monument Valley, Utah as extras and he paid them minimum wage on same rates as white actors (rare for any director of that time) and his film productions generated much business and attention and helped the economically of the tribe. For these actions, the Navajo made him a honorary member of the tribe gave him the honorific ''Natani Nez'' (which means Tall Leader). Ford also spoke the Navajo language. That said Jim Jarmusch pointed out the fair point that his films frequently cast the Navajo as stand-ins for other tribes, perpetuating stereotypes. This is generally true with one exception. The western ''Wagon Master'', obscure, but cited by Ford as one of his favorite films, the only film where the Navajo play Navajo and where Monument Valley stands for itself and Utah rather than other Western landscapes(Texas in ''The Searchers'' most egregiously).

** His films avert PoliticallyCorrectHistory by constantly highlighting the presence of the Native Americans in the Western landscape(which wasn't as common for Westerns back then) and pointing out the fact that America was built on the violence and destruction of their land and culture. ''The Searchers'' was radical for describing the DeliberateValuesDissonance of SingleWhiteFemale on the frontier showing that crusading White hero John Wayne is NotSoDifferent from his villain Scar, creating an anti-hero conflict that inspired later directors.
** Likewise several of his films dealt with racism. Judge Priest and The Sun Shines Bright feature Stepin Fetchit(himself {{Misblamed}} and highlight the lynch mob mentality that African-Americans routinely feared. in his later years he sought out to make actor Woody Strode into a movie star, with ''Sergeant Rutledge''.

** Likewise despite the generally macho premise of his films, women play a stronger and more important role in his films than other Westerns, and his final film, ''7 Women'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and famously casts a pre-stardom Anne Bancroft in a role that John Wayne would have played, anticipating action movie roles of the kind that Sigourney Weaver would get credit for.
Ford was more than FairForItsDay.

Born John Feeney in 1894 (or 1895) in Maine to a large Irish family, he traveled with his older brother Francis to Hollywood during the early years of film-making. Changing their last names to Ford, Francis went to work as an actor while John found himself finding work behind the camera. By the 1920s and 1930s, John Ford was working on small-time, quickly made Westerners but was moving on to bigger and better projects. He won his first Best Director Oscar for ''TheInformer'', a political thriller about the [[TheTroubles IRA]] which cemented his reputation as a great director. Then in 1939 he directed ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', considered for decades to be the greatest Western ever made. He went on to win three more Best Director Oscars, more than any other film-maker. (Although, ironically, none of them were for the westerns he was so well-known for.)

* TheWestern: what Ford is best known for. His classics - ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', ''SheWoreAYellowRibbon'', ''FortApache'', ''Rio Grande'', even ''Film/TheSearchers'' - practically defined the black-and-white morality tales of the West that dominated cinema from TheThirties to TheSixties. Which actually is a misreading of Ford, as even ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'' subverts the black-and-white morality of many Westerns and ''FortApache'', ''Film/TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'', and ''Film/TheSearchers'' already did [[MisaimedFandom what later revisionist Westerns were credited for]].

* TheWestern: what Ford is best known for. His classics - ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', ''SheWoreAYellowRibbon'', ''FortApache'', ''RioGrande'', even the ''TheSearchers'' - practically defined the black-and-white morality tales of the West that dominated cinema from TheThirties to TheSixties. Which actually is a misreading of Ford, as even ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'' subverts the black-and-white morality of many Westerns and ''FortApache'' and ''TheSearchers'' already did [[MisaimedFandom what later revisionist Westerns were credited for]].

John Ford is an American director whose lengthy career was one of the most honored in Hollywood history. Four Oscars for Best Director. Filmed some of the most iconic [[TheWestern Wild West]] and [[WorldWarII war movies]] of the age.

Born John Feeney in 1894 (or 1895) in Maine to a large Irish family, he traveled with his older brother Francis to Hollywood during the early years of film-making. Changing their last names to Ford, Francis went to work as an actor while John found himself finding work behind the camera. By the 1920s and 1930s, John Ford was working on small-time, quickly made Westerners but was moving on to bigger and better projects. He won his first Best Director Oscar for ''TheInformer'', a political thriller about the [[TheTroubles IRA]] which cemented his reputation as a great director. Then in 1939 he directed ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', considered for decades to be the greatest Western ever made. He went on to win three more Best Director Oscars, more than any other film-maker.


!!Tropes that describe John Ford:

* TheBully: Ford was notorious for harassing, insulting, and victimizing his crew and actors. He was worse with his big star, JohnWayne, than anyone else. After the [[WorldWarII war]], Ford would humiliate Wayne by pointing out Wayne never served in the military while the director had filmed documentaries in the Pacific theater in hazardous situations.
** During the filming of ''TheManWhoShotLibertyValance'' Ford continually ragged on both this and on Wayne's competence as a high-school athlete, comparing him unfavourably in both respects to co-star Woody Strode. Strode was a world-class decathlete and had played football with JackieRobinson at UCLA. Strode later said that this had the effect of totally poisoning the relationship between him and John Wayne, who he thought would otherwise have become his friend.
** And despite all that, Wayne seemed to think of Ford fondly, and called him "Coach" (harking back to Wayne's football days).
** While a lot of actors chafed under his rule while filming with him, they would still go work for him on other projects because they respected his skill as a director.
** During the filming of ''Film/MisterRoberts'', Ford sucker punched HenryFonda. Fonda got [[TakeThat Ford kicked off the film]].
*** Ford tried to intimidate JamesCagney during the beginning of making ''Film/MisterRoberts'', but Cagney refused to cower and even threatened full-out fisticuffs. Cagney, mind you, was RealLife MemeticBadass. Ford didn't attempt to intimidate Cagney for the remainder of his time on the production.
* {{Irony}}: John Ford won four Oscars for Best Director, more than any other. ''None of them'' were for what he is best known for making: Westerns. ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'' was his only Western nomination. That Ford wasn't even nominated for ''SheWoreAYellowRibbon'' and ''TheSearchers'' remain [[AwardSnub glaring omissions]] to this day.
** The movies that did win him Best Director:
*** ''TheInformer'': a political thriller about an Irishman who betrays a friend.
*** ''Literature/TheGrapesOfWrath'': a social commentary on the horrors of TheGreatDepression.
*** ''HowGreenWasMyValley'': A ComingOfAge tale set in a Welsh mining community. (Fans of ''Film/CitizenKane'' aren't too thrilled about this one.)
*** ''TheQuietMan'': a romantic comedy about an American trying to find happiness in an Irish community.

*** While in quite a few of his Westerns German-Americans were treated as acceptable targets. On the other hand, Ford did help to perpetuate and popularize certain stereotypes about the Irish and Irish-Americans, such as the ones about their predilection for drinking and brawling. This is probably because John Ford himself [[JustifiedTrope happened to have a predilection for drinking and brawling]].

* TheWestern: what Ford is best known for. His classics - ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'', ''SheWoreAYellowRibbon'', ''FortApache'', ''RioGrande'', even the ''TheSearchers'' - practically defined the black-and-white morality tales of the West that dominated cinema from TheThirties to TheSixties.
** Which actually is a misreading of Ford, as even ''Film/{{Stagecoach}}'' subverts the black-and-white morality of many Westerns and ''FortApache'' and ''TheSearchers'' already did [[MisaimedFandom what later revisionist Westerns were credited for]].
* WorldWarII: He not only filmed movies about the great war, he ''filmed'' the war itself in the Pacific Theater. He won two Best Documentary awards (''TheBattleOfMidway'' and ''DecemberSeventh''), and was wounded at Midway Island during the attacks.

*** Ford tried to intimidate JamesCagney during the beginning of making ''MisterRoberts'', but Cagney refused to cower and even threatened full-out fisticuffs. Cagney, mind you, was RealLife MemeticBadass. Ford didn't attempt to intimidate Cagney for the remainder of his time on the production.

** During the filming of ''MisterRoberts'', Ford sucker punched HenryFonda. Fonda got [[TakeThat Ford kicked off the film]].

Born John Feeney in 1894 (or 1895) in Maine to a large Irish family, he traveled with his older brother Francis to Hollywood during the early years of film-making. Changing their last names to Ford, Francis went to work as an actor while John found himself finding work behind the camera. By the 1920s and 1930s, John Ford was working on small-time, quickly made Westerners but was moving on to bigger and better projects. He won his first Best Director Oscar for ''TheInformer'', a political thriller about the [[TheTroubles IRA]] which cemented his reputation as a great director. Then in 1939 he directed ''{{Stagecoach}}'', considered for decades to be the greatest Western ever made. He went on to win three more Best Director Oscars, more than any other film-maker.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Ford worked with documentary crews in the Pacific theater during WorldWarII. He won an Oscar for the documentary ''TheBattleOfMidway'' parts of which ''he actually filmed during the battle'' (he was on the island waiting for transit elsewhere when the attack came). Combat scenes he filmed would be edited into the big epic ''{{Midway}}''.
** OrsonWelles watched ''{{Stagecoach}}'' repeatedly for inspiration before coming to Hollywood to direct ''his'' first feature film: ''Film/CitizenKane''. You might have heard of it.
** Perhaps Ford's greatest moment came during the RedScare. During a meeting at the Directors Guild of America, CecilBDeMille was attacking other directors whom he considered to be Communist sympathizers. Ford held his tongue til [=DeMille=] started calling WilliamWyler "Villiam Vyler" and attacked Joseph Mankiewicz. He stood up, and declared, "My name is John Ford. I make Westerns. I don't think there is anyone who knows more about what the American public wants than Cecil B. [=DeMille=] - and he certainly knows how to give it to them. In that respect I admire him. But I don't like you, C.B. I don't like what you stand for and I don't like what you've been saying here tonight. Joe has been villified and I think he needs an apology." When [=DeMille=] remained silent for thirty seconds, Ford added, "Then I believe there is only one alternative, and I hereby so move: that Mr. [=DeMille=] and the entire board of directors resign, and that we give Joe a vote of confidence - and then let's all go home and get some sleep. We've got some pictures to make in the morning." And that's ''exactly'' what happened: [=DeMille=] and the board of directors resigned, Mankiewicz received a vote of confidence, and everyone got some sleep so they could make pictures in the morning.
* {{Irony}}: John Ford won four Oscars for Best Director, more than any other. ''None of them'' were for what he is best known for making: Westerns. ''{{Stagecoach}}'' was his only Western nomination. That Ford wasn't even nominated for ''SheWoreAYellowRibbon'' and ''TheSearchers'' remain [[AwardSnub glaring omissions]] to this day.

* TheWestern: what Ford is best known for. His classics - ''{{Stagecoach}}'', ''SheWoreAYellowRibbon'', ''FortApache'', ''RioGrande'', even the ''TheSearchers'' - practically defined the black-and-white morality tales of the West that dominated cinema from TheThirties to TheSixties.
** Which actually is a misreading of Ford, as even ''{{Stagecoach}}'' subverts the black-and-white morality of many Westerns and ''FortApache'' and ''TheSearchers'' already did [[MisaimedFandom what later revisionist Westerns were credited for]].

* SceneryPorn: If the film is based outdoors, be it the West in Monument Valley Utah or [[TheQuietMan Ireland in Mayo County]], you are looking at some of the most ''gorgeous shots'' in film history. Cinematographers who worked with him - and would argue about what they were doing - tended to get Oscars for how beautiful the films turned out.