Directed by John Ford (1971, Peter Bogdanovich)

When Orson Wells was asked who his favourite directors were, he replied: "I prefer the old masters; by which I mean: John Ford, John Ford and John Ford". In this impressive documentary, made my director and film enthusiast Peter Bogdanovich, Peter talks passionately about the most celebrated American director, John Ford. Telling us how he so admires John Ford and how he influenced so many directors even if some don't realise it, along with guests such as John Wayne, Orson Wells and many more.

I truly enjoyed hearing the guests such as Clint Eastwood stating how Ford inspired their careers, as How Green Was My Valley is known to be one of Eastwood's favourite films and it is rumoured that Orson Wells watched Stagecoach numerous times while filming his epic masterpiece Citizen Kane.

As I was watching this documentary with great admiration, it made me want to go back to some of my favourites of Ford such as My Darling Clementine or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and of course his masterpiece, The Searchers. It was also fascinating to hear actors who worked with Ford such as Jimmy Stewart saying how Ford would direct them. He’d push them as far as possible and make the actors compete amongst once another to get great performances out of not just the main actor.

It's hard to imagine a world without John Ford, he pretty much invented the western genre with Stagecoach from 1939 and with this movie he brought to the world one of Hollywood’s biggest stars: John Wayne aka the Duke, not to mention the beautiful Monument Valley (which is most known now for John Ford films). But back in the day, western films were not even considered great films. 

Amongst Hollywood (and the Oscars), John ford was always remembered for his more dramatic films such as The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man, whereas now John Ford is most known for his masterpiece The Searchers, and rightly so.As the man once said, "My name is John Ford and I make Westerns"

Peter Bogdanovich

The film was originally released in 1971 in a time when American Cinema was changing. Directors such as Scorsese, Spielberg, Eastwood and Bogdanovich himself were starting out, with nothing but incredible admiration for directors such as Ford, wanting the independence to do what they thought was relevant to the world they know and staying out of the studio to film the real world. 

Now there is the brilliantly re-edited 2006 version with even more interviews. I only hope this film is treated with the same admiration today as it was in 1971 as the great Hollywood from the late 60's to the early 80's is unfortunately no longer amongst us.

Rating: 3.5 / 4