This was a beautiful analysis of one of cinema's greatest storytellers. I appreciate the attention that was paid to John Ford's late film career in this episode. Well done on this series, TCM!
Fabulous work by Ben and the TCM team. I love the work of John Ford. What a seemingly tortured soul and artist. You can see it in his work. Thanks for this great work.
Congratulations on a job well done. You have done justice to a great artist, and indeed a poet. The "hidden gentleness" Miss Hepburn describes, and the brittle armor with which he shielded it, may explain the pain and struggle he medicated with alcohol. Bless his memory.
Yes, Ben, thank you. You're the best in this. Always hitting the right spot and letting others in the limelight too. Keep the good work going. One of my own favourite movie directors, John Frankenheimer, was himself encouraged by John Ford to become a picture maker. There was indeed more to the old man than most of us can realise
A fascinating series, I have always been conflicted about Ford, he did some of my favorite movies, The Quiet Man, Mr Roberts and Young Cassidy. But his treatment of the First People always bothered me. I am not a western girl, I have exceptions, but none of them by Ford. I saw The Searchers because I adore Natalie Wood, but I found it very disturbing, and I only saw it once. You presented a very complex and conflicted man, from this podcast season, I would say that he confused himself. That might be why he became such a drinker and I also think from what I learned that the man suffered from PTSD from his time in the Navy during WW2. So I have more compassion than I did before. Thank you for a very excellent and fair portrait of the man.
Great podcast, Ben. John Ford films are brilliant and beautiful. His personality an enigma. I have to watch those films whenever TCM shows them, can’t help myself.
Thank you, Ben, and the wonderful team/TCM for a most excellent podcast !! 👌👍🏼 I love these and look forward to more. All the best from your 🇨🇦 subscriber ♡
I’m loving this series and the other podcasts TCM has done. The research on these podcasts is second to none, and this is no exception. Add to this TCM’s artistic weaving of interviews with stars, film historians, newsreels, and others behind the camera, coupled with Ben’s narration and you’ve got a great understanding of John Ford. Great work, guys !
It seems like John Ford and John Wayne had a complicated relationship. The way that Ford occasionally treated Wayne on the movie set. Then, when Wayne really could have hired Ford as director on the Alamo or on his later pictures made by his production company. Maybe, it’s because Wayne saw how Fonda and Ford got along on Mr. Robert’s and the aftermath which ended the Fonda-Ford friendship. Wayne’s denial of how sick Ford was towards the end. Thanks, TCM, for this great series!
Perhaps - considering how pleasant (read: enjoyable to watch, even if not enjoyable to make), Ford’s few comedies were/are and given the focus on Ford’s military history, it was felt that maybe including The Quiet Man would be too “cliche”. (For the record, TQM is both my mother’s and my favorite John Wayne film and therefore defacto favorite John Ford film.) On the other hand, including Mister Roberts makes perfect sense for this podcast.
Adding to the chorus of some prior comments, I’m very surprised that the podcast writers neglected to even mention “The Quiet Man,” my absolute favorite John Ford picture. It was said that Sean Thornton, the role in the film played by John Wayne, represented the idealized version of John Ford - or at least what he wanted to be. This story of an Irish boxer who loved hard and fought hard and finally proved himself and washed away his sins of the past is perhaps the best portrait of John Ford’s deepest loves and desires.
I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised how well this turned out. I'll admit I didn't think you could be this even handed. I was surprised that you didn't address the filming of _The Quiet Man._ That's quote a story in itself. Not the least of which that's also the story of how the Cavalry picture _Rio Grande_ was made.
I keep wondering why a masterpiece so close to Ford's heart as "The quiet man" was not even mentioned on the whole season 5 of "The Plot Thickens". I can understand edition is necessary -specially with a career spanning so many decades- but "The lost patrol", "Three bad men" and "Mary of Scotland" were discussed (as they should) even though they were lesser films (the latter not being a good movie at all, something that even Hepburn recognized). It'll be absurd to expect TCM to cover his 142 films but, again, there's not a hint of his superb adaptations of Irvin S. Cobb works ("The sun shine's bright" and "The last hurrah"). We're talking about some of Ford's best movies in those two cases. When dealing with John Ford peculiar relationship with politics, the controversy regarding the infamous Screen Directors Guild meeting on October the 22nd, 1950 could have shone an additional light on the subject, though there are pretty different accounts on what really happened and what were the actual opinions expressed by Cecil B. DeMille, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz and John Ford himself. I get that this episode might be misunderstood by the listeners because of Ben obvious familiar connections with Joseph (a master himself that deserves a season on his own), but if there's been no previous issues when dealing with Herman Mankiewicz on other seasons there shouldn't be any this time either. Finally i found odd that after an excellent episode on Ford's experience with his Field Photographic Branch at the Second World War, not a single word was said about "They were expendable", maybe the closest he ever got -aside from the war documentaries- to share his personal thoughts on that issue. Please, understand that this are mere observations with no intention whatsoever to diminish the value of Ben Mankiewicz (and the whole extraordinary team behind "The Plot Thickens") phenomenal effort on doing this season's podcast (by far the best TCM has done to date). Just curious.
Perhaps Ben Mankiewicz mentioned this once on TCM: before filming Mr. Roberts, Ford told Jimmy Cagney that they were going to "wrangle asses" in the production. Cagney showed up late the first day (perhaps deliberately), and Ford tore into Cagney. Cagney replied "You said we were going to wrangle asses: I am ready now" or words to that effect. I guess Ford backed down.
Cagney was too much of a professional to be deliberately late. According to his autobiography, they had mistakenly forgot to tell him that he was filming on board the boat set that day. He was relaxing on Waikiki Beach with his wife and William Powell and his wife when they contacted him. Thanks for including Cagney’s anecdote about Ford, though, something the podcast writers left out.
One quick visual from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" always catches my attention. When the men are having their political meeting to choose a representative, Woody Strode sits silently outside the building with a quiet yet angry look on his face because he is unwelcome inside. I always thought that was Ford's commentary on racism and racial exclusion.
Thank you for this nice series on one of the great filmmakers. Would certainly like there to be more of such on other 'old master' directors in the future!
His closing statement is how I felt… I loved working in films… I enjoyed the crews and I miss all those men and women since I retired… Gypsies and nomads traveling from location to location we moved in and out of each others lives as we moved from project to project.. the material changed, the group morphed and shape-shifted depending on the needs of the script, the location and other variables. But for that brief time in space, we were a family. We celebrated the birthdays and shared each other’s pains and sorrows like a family does.
John Ford is the greatest American filmmaker of all time: The Searchers; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence; How Green Was My Valley; The Informer; They Were Expendable; Two Rode Together; Stagecoach - for a "western" director, he has greater depth in other genres than anyone would expect. The Quiet Man. The Iron Horse. The Grapes of Wrath.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a great classic movie… Up there with The Searchers in by opinion… Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef and Strother Martin are the epitome of sadistic western villains.
This was a beautiful analysis of one of cinema's greatest storytellers. I appreciate the attention that was paid to John Ford's late film career in this episode. Well done on this series, TCM!
I heartily concur!
I hope Ben keeps these wonderful series going!
Many thanks to Ben & all the team at TCM that made this possible. Incredibly informative. KUDOS! Well done, everyone! 👍
Fabulous work by Ben and the TCM team. I love the work of John Ford. What a seemingly tortured soul and artist. You can see it in his work. Thanks for this great work.
Congratulations on a job well done. You have done justice to a great artist, and indeed a poet. The "hidden gentleness" Miss Hepburn describes, and the brittle armor with which he shielded it, may explain the pain and struggle he medicated with alcohol. Bless his memory.
Terrific, TERRIFIC podcast and series. Enjoyed it immensely.
Yes, Ben, thank you. You're the best in this. Always hitting the right spot and letting others in the limelight too. Keep the good work going. One of my own favourite movie directors, John Frankenheimer, was himself encouraged by John Ford to become a picture maker. There was indeed more to the old man than most of us can realise
Far and away, the most thorough and outstanding biography of the most complex of American artists. Thank you!
Well done TCM. Great podcast.
I heartily concur. Wonderfully informative & entertaining!
A fascinating series, I have always been conflicted about Ford, he did some of my favorite movies, The Quiet Man, Mr Roberts and Young Cassidy. But his treatment of the First People always bothered me. I am not a western girl, I have exceptions, but none of them by Ford. I saw The Searchers because I adore Natalie Wood, but I found it very disturbing, and I only saw it once. You presented a very complex and conflicted man, from this podcast season, I would say that he confused himself. That might be why he became such a drinker and I also think from what I learned that the man suffered from PTSD from his time in the Navy during WW2. So I have more compassion than I did before. Thank you for a very excellent and fair portrait of the man.
Great podcast, Ben. John Ford films are brilliant and beautiful. His personality an enigma. I have to watch those films whenever TCM shows them, can’t help myself.
Loved the entire podcast. Well done.
Thank you, Ben, and the wonderful team/TCM for a most excellent podcast !! 👌👍🏼
I love these and look forward to more.
All the best from your 🇨🇦 subscriber
♡
I’m loving this series and the other podcasts TCM has done. The research on these podcasts is second to none, and this is no exception. Add to this TCM’s artistic weaving of interviews with stars, film historians, newsreels, and others behind the camera, coupled with Ben’s narration and you’ve got a great understanding of John Ford. Great work, guys !
It seems like John Ford and John Wayne had a complicated relationship. The way that Ford occasionally treated Wayne on the movie set. Then, when Wayne really could have hired Ford as director on the Alamo or on his later pictures made by his production company. Maybe, it’s because Wayne saw how Fonda and Ford got along on Mr. Robert’s and the aftermath which ended the Fonda-Ford friendship. Wayne’s denial of how sick Ford was towards the end. Thanks, TCM, for this great series!
Great content, I only wish "The Quiet Man" had been acknowledged.
Maureen O'Hara barely mentioned in these seven hours
Perhaps - considering how pleasant (read: enjoyable to watch, even if not enjoyable to make), Ford’s few comedies were/are and given the focus on Ford’s military history, it was felt that maybe including The Quiet Man would be too “cliche”. (For the record, TQM is both my mother’s and my favorite John Wayne film and therefore defacto favorite John Ford film.)
On the other hand, including Mister Roberts makes perfect sense for this podcast.
Adding to the chorus of some prior comments, I’m very surprised that the podcast writers neglected to even mention “The Quiet Man,” my absolute favorite John Ford picture. It was said that Sean Thornton, the role in the film played by John Wayne, represented the idealized version of John Ford - or at least what he wanted to be. This story of an Irish boxer who loved hard and fought hard and finally proved himself and washed away his sins of the past is perhaps the best portrait of John Ford’s deepest loves and desires.
I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised how well this turned out. I'll admit I didn't think you could be this even handed. I was surprised that you didn't address the filming of _The Quiet Man._ That's quote a story in itself. Not the least of which that's also the story of how the Cavalry picture _Rio Grande_ was made.
I keep wondering why a masterpiece so close to Ford's heart as "The quiet man" was not even mentioned on the whole season 5 of "The Plot Thickens".
I can understand edition is necessary -specially with a career spanning so many decades- but "The lost patrol", "Three bad men" and "Mary of Scotland" were discussed (as they should) even though they were lesser films (the latter not being a good movie at all, something that even Hepburn recognized). It'll be absurd to expect TCM to cover his 142 films but, again, there's not a hint of his superb adaptations of Irvin S. Cobb works ("The sun shine's bright" and "The last hurrah"). We're talking about some of Ford's best movies in those two cases.
When dealing with John Ford peculiar relationship with politics, the controversy regarding the infamous Screen Directors Guild meeting on October the 22nd, 1950 could have shone an additional light on the subject, though there are pretty different accounts on what really happened and what were the actual opinions expressed by Cecil B. DeMille, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz and John Ford himself. I get that this episode might be misunderstood by the listeners because of Ben obvious familiar connections with Joseph (a master himself that deserves a season on his own), but if there's been no previous issues when dealing with Herman Mankiewicz on other seasons there shouldn't be any this time either.
Finally i found odd that after an excellent episode on Ford's experience with his Field Photographic Branch at the Second World War, not a single word was said about "They were expendable", maybe the closest he ever got -aside from the war documentaries- to share his personal thoughts on that issue.
Please, understand that this are mere observations with no intention whatsoever to diminish the value of Ben Mankiewicz (and the whole extraordinary team behind "The Plot Thickens") phenomenal effort on doing this season's podcast (by far the best TCM has done to date). Just curious.
This was truly great work, Ben. Worthy of the subject. Thank you!
Great work! Make a podcast about Elia Kazan and about Billy Wilder!
Perhaps Ben Mankiewicz mentioned this once on TCM: before filming Mr. Roberts, Ford told Jimmy Cagney that they were going to "wrangle asses" in the production. Cagney showed up late the first day (perhaps deliberately), and Ford tore into Cagney. Cagney replied "You said we were going to wrangle asses: I am ready now" or words to that effect. I guess Ford backed down.
Cagney was too much of a professional to be deliberately late. According to his autobiography, they had mistakenly forgot to tell him that he was filming on board the boat set that day. He was relaxing on Waikiki Beach with his wife and William Powell and his wife when they contacted him. Thanks for including Cagney’s anecdote about Ford, though, something the podcast writers left out.
@@mariannecole91 Thank you for pointing this out! I shall look for Cagney's autobiography.
One quick visual from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" always catches my attention. When the men are having their political meeting to choose a representative, Woody Strode sits silently outside the building with a quiet yet angry look on his face because he is unwelcome inside. I always thought that was Ford's commentary on racism and racial exclusion.
Ben-just wonderful!
You all do a great job in presenting this interesting and thorough picture of a flawed human. I look forward to the next one. Many thanks
Thank you for this nice series on one of the great filmmakers. Would certainly like there to be more of such on other 'old master' directors in the future!
His closing statement is how I felt… I loved working in films… I enjoyed the crews and I miss all those men and women since I retired… Gypsies and nomads traveling from location to location we moved in and out of each others lives as we moved from project to project.. the material changed, the group morphed and shape-shifted depending on the needs of the script, the location and other variables. But for that brief time in space, we were a family. We celebrated the birthdays and shared each other’s pains and sorrows like a family does.
What a great film history story and lesson..thanks
You have to do a podcast on Woody Stroode....
Where can you hear that interview with Hepburn and Ford?
I enjoyed this podcast.
John Ford is the greatest American filmmaker of all time: The Searchers; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence; How Green Was My Valley; The Informer; They Were Expendable; Two Rode Together; Stagecoach - for a "western" director, he has greater depth in other genres than anyone would expect. The Quiet Man. The Iron Horse. The Grapes of Wrath.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a great classic movie… Up there with The Searchers in by opinion… Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef and Strother Martin are the epitome of sadistic western villains.
Podcast is fantastic. Is there anything to see other than the home page?
Most of us are tortured souls regardless of our careers.
23:00
Wayne was a very petty individual