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[[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 [[The Western|Wild West]] and [[World War II|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 ''[[The Informer]]'', a political thriller about the [[The Troubles|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.
Not to be confused with [[John M. Ford]].
{{creatortropes}}
* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Ford enjoyed getting his heroes mixing up in at least one boxing match to prove how manly they are. Even when there's no reason for them to fight.
* [[The Bully]]: Ford was notorious for harassing, insulting, and victimizing his crew and actors. He was worse with his big star, [[John Wayne]], than anyone else. After the [[World War II|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.
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** During the filming of ''[[Mister Roberts]]'', Ford sucker punched [[Henry Fonda]]. Fonda got [[Take That|Ford kicked off the film]].
*** Ford tried to intimidate [[James Cagney]] during the beginning of making ''[[Mister Roberts]]'', but Cagney refused to cower and even threatened full-out fisticuffs. Cagney, mind you, was [[Real Life]] [[Memetic Badass]]. Ford didn't attempt to intimidate Cagney for the remainder of his time on the production.
* [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]:
*
** [[Orson Welles]] watched ''[[Stagecoach]]'' repeatedly for inspiration before coming to Hollywood to direct ''his'' first feature film: ''[[Citizen Kane]]''. You might have heard of it.
** Perhaps Ford's greatest moment came during the [[Red Scare]]. During a meeting at the Directors Guild of America, [[Cecil B. DeMille]] was attacking other directors whom he considered to be Communist sympathizers. Ford held his tongue til DeMille started calling [[William Wyler]] "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 ''[[She Wore a Yellow Ribbon]]'' and ''[[The Searchers]]'' remain [[Award Snub|glaring omissions]] to this day.
** The movies that did win him Best Director:
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* [[Rated "M" for Manly]]: In John Ford's World, Real Men ride horses, drink whiskey, start fights, love their women, and save the planet. Usually by Thursday, Friday at the latest.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: If the film is based outdoors, be it the West in Monument Valley Utah or [[The Quiet Man|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.
* [[Warrior Poet]]: Well Warrior photographer. He was a combat photographer in ww2. It wasn't really rare for an artist(or anyone else of course) to be under fire then. Also some of his characters could be classed as warrior poets.
* [[The Western]]: what Ford is best known for. His classics - ''[[Stagecoach]]'', ''[[She Wore a Yellow Ribbon]]'', ''[[Fort Apache]]'', ''[[Rio Grande]]'', even the ''[[The Searchers]]'' - practically defined the black-and-white morality tales of the West that dominated cinema from [[The Thirties]] to [[The Sixties]].
** Which actually is a misreading of Ford, as even ''[[Stagecoach]]'' subverts the black-and-white morality of many Westerns and ''[[Fort Apache]]'' and ''[[The Searchers]]'' already did [[Misaimed Fandom|what later revisionist Westerns were credited for]].
***One reason for the misreading perhaps is that not having black and white morality does not necessarily make a show amoral and it is possible to give a protagonist [[Warts and All|warts]] while making him basically honorable.
* [[World War II]]: He not only filmed movies about the great war, he ''filmed'' the war itself in the Pacific Theater. He won two Best Documentary awards (''[[The Battle Of Midway]]'' and ''[[December Seventh]]''), and was wounded at Midway Island during the attacks.
{{reflist}}
{{Academy Award Best Director}}
[[Category:Directors]]▼
{{Sight & Sound Greatest Directors of All Time}}
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
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