John Ford – Making The Western An Art Form

John Ford’s career as a movie director stretched from the eartly silent era (1917) through the very end of the 1960s! How long a career is that? He directed Will Rogers’ most popular talkie and lived long enough to produce a film about Vietnam War! In between he directed the brilliant comedy “Mister Roberts,” the best documentary about World War II (“The Battle Of Midway,” and one of the greatest period dramas ever made. (“The Grapes Of Wrath.”)

But that’s not why we most remember John Ford! He is legendary as the director raised the Western to an art form. Returning again and again to familiar themes, familiar locations and using familiar actors, most memorably John Wayne, Ford created the greatest Westerns of all time.Click here to read about my favorite.