IS THERE ANYTHING NEW TO SAY ABOUT JOHN FORD?

The other day I finished listening to TCM’s recent podcast series about “decoding John Ford”. As a major fan of the director’s work since I was a teenager, any documentary, book, or podcast about his work or life is of high interest. However, I can’t help but feel that there isn’t much more to say about the great (arguably greatest) director.

Ben Mankiewicz leads the podcast series with the ambition to understand and explain Ford, a man who kept his cards close, often avoided answering questions, and frequently embellished or completely lied when he did answer. Their ambition is noble but after a first episode of pointing out fact versus fiction in Ford’s telling of his upbringing, the show gets into a play by play of Ford’s career. Another episode, teased till the hype is too high, about Ford’s supposed lost Normandy film does offer some new information and a fun little investigation but overall Turner Classic Movies just regurgitates most of the same information we’ve heard before in Peter Bogdanovich’s great DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD and countless other docs/books. This becomes especially true when the podcast wastes an hour and a half pointing out all the prejudice in Ford’s work, especially THE SEARCHERS. Putting his masterpieces through the current cultural ringer is old news at this point. It bores the hell out of me. In fact, to make an argument that his films are anti-racist and progressive would be at least be an original approach at this point. But except for a few little nuggets, Ben and company have nothing new to say about the master.

I think it’s time such podcasts turn their attention to some of the neglected masters of American cinema: Allan Dwan, Anthony Mann, Budd Boetticher, Delmer Daves, Edgar Ulmer, Ida Lupino, and the list goes on. There are so many stories in Hollywood that have yet to be unearthed, so many films that need to be re-discovered. Even much of Ford’s own filmography is neglected. Let’s hear a podcast that talks about THE LONG VOYAGE HOME instead of MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT instead of THE QUIET MAN, and THE LAST HURRAH instead of THE MAN FROM LIBERTY VALANCE. Switch it up for goodness sakes!

This will eventually be published on my website, runningwildfilms.com, and my Travis Mills Facebook page. For the next week, it is exclusively available here