John Ford Made Westerns: Filming the Legend in the Sound Era [Paperback]

Gaylyn Studlar (Editor), Matthew Bernstein (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 2001

Fresh perspectives on some of the most influential films of John Ford.

The Western is arguably the most popular and enduring form in cinematic history, and the acknowledged master of that genre was John Ford. His Westerns, including The Searchers, Stagecoach, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, have had an enormous influence on contemporary U.S. films, from Star Wars to Taxi Driver.

In John Ford Made Westerns, nine major essays by prominent scholars of Hollywood film situate the sound-era Westerns of John Ford within contemporary critical contexts and regard them from fresh perspectives. These range from examining Ford's relation to other art forms (most notably literature, painting, and music) to exploring the development of the director's reputation as a director of Westerns. While giving attention to film style and structure, the volume also treats the ways in which these much-loved films engage with notions of masculinity and gender roles, capitalism and community, as well as racial, sexual, and national identity.

Contributors include Charles Ramirez Berg, Matthew Bernstein, Edward Buscombe, Joan Dagle, Barry Keith Grant, Kathryn Kalinak, Peter Lehman, Charles J. Maland, Gaylyn Studlar, and Robin Wood.

Contents
Part I
Introduction, Gaylyn Studlar & Matthew Bernstein

"'Shall We Gather at the River?': The Late Films of John Ford," Robin Wood
"Sacred Duties, Poetic Passions: John Ford and Issue of Femininity in the Western," Gaylyn Studlar
"The Margin as Center: The Multicultural Dynamics of John Ford's Westerns," Charles Ramirez Berg
"Linear Patterns and Ethnic Encounters in the Ford Western," Joan Dagle
"How the West Wasn't Won: the Repression of Capitalism in John Ford's Westerns," Peter Lehman
"Painting the Legend: Frederic Remington and the Western," Edward Buscombe
"'The Sound of Many Voices': Music in John Ford's Westerns," Kathryn Kalinak
"John Ford and James Fenimore Cooper: Two Rode Together," Barry Keith Grant
"From Aesthete to Pappy: The Evolution of John Ford's Public Reputation," Charles J. Maland
Part II—Dossier
Emanuel Eisenberg, "John Ford: Fighting Irish," New Theater, April 1936
Frank S. Nugent, "Hollywood's Favorite Rebel," Saturday Evening Post, July 23, 1949
John Ford, "John Wayne—My Pal," Hollywood, no. 237 (March 17, 1951), translated from the Italian by Gloria Monti
Bill Libby, "The Old Wrangler Rides Again," Cosmopolitan, March 1964
"About John Ford," Action 8.8 (Nov.-Dec. 1973)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"My name's John Ford. I make Westerns." Ford preferred to let his work speak for itself, and his abrasive encounters with film scholars have become legendary. In fact, "Pappy" Ford, who fancied himself a journeyman director, would probably have been perplexed by these two recent additions to the rapidly growing library of Ford film criticism. Arriving hard on the heels of Scott Eyman's comprehensive Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford (LJ 10/1/99), McBride's weighty tome, several decades in preparation, paints a similar portrait: Ford was an insecure alcoholic whose gruff, even sadistic treatment of family, friends, cast, and crew masked his sensitive, sentimental nature. Complex and contradictory like many of his films Ford was a man who stood up to McCarthyite blacklisters but later churned out crude propaganda in support of the Vietnam war. He celebrated tradition, family, and community but was a miserable failure as husband and father. As Eyman did, McBride (Frank Capra; Steven Spielberg) draws on exhaustive research and interviews, but he has the advantage of a few memorably brief meetings with the Great Man himself. Ford left an impressive if uneven body of work, and McBride does it justice, examining each film in illuminating detail. Still, although McBride's book is very deserving, public and academic libraries that cannot collect both biographies should stick to Eyman's more streamlined telling. Studlar (film and English, Univ. of Michigan) and Bernstein (film, Emory Univ.) take readers into academic territory, offering nine essays on the work plus a "dossier" of articles on the man and filmmaker. Robin Wood leads off with a classic critique, questioning whether Ford's late films measure up to his early work. Other essays discuss the role of women and religion in Ford's film universe, and the hotly disputed controversy about whether his last epic Cheyenne Autumn was a "mea culpa" for previous insensitive portrayals of the American Indian. Westerns is recommended for academic collections. Stephen F. Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Gaylyn Studlar is Director and Professor of Film Studies and English at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has published widely on issues of gender in Hollywood cinema.

Matthew Bernstein is the author of Walter Wanger, Hollywood Independent, editor of Controlling Hollywood: Censorship and Regulation in the Studio Era, and co-editor (with Gaylyn Studlar) of Visions of the East: Orientalism in Film. He is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Emory University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (April 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253214149
• ISBN-13: 978-0253214140
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,501,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Re-examining the Legend, November 19, 2001

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Michael Samerdyke (Big Stone Gap, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: John Ford Made Westerns: Filming the Legend in the Sound Era (Paperback)

This is an interesting book of essays on John Ford's Westerns. A number of topics are covered, such as Ford's use of music, the relationship between Ford and Frederick Remington's image of the West, the way Ford depicts different ethnic groups in his films.

By and large, the authors are sympathetic to John Ford (a good thing in my mind) and they clearly appreciate the movies. I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 since there is some repetition among the different authors. (For example, everyone is compelled to discuss the last scene of "Fort Apache.") Still, it is a pleasure to read a jargon-free academic book on Ford's Westerns.