Westerns and War Films of John Ford - (Film and History) by Sue Matheson (Hardcover)

About the Book

The only person to receive four Academy Awards for best director, John Ford is considered by some to be America's greatest homegrown filmmaker. This book looks at the two genres of films for which Ford was most well-known-Westerns such as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searcher...

Book Synopsis

The only person to receive four Academy Awards for best director, John Ford is considered by some to be America's greatest homegrown filmmaker. This book looks at the two genres of films for which Ford was most well-known--Westerns such as She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--and military films including They Were Expendable and the Oscar-winning documentary The Battle of Midway.

Review Quotes

Matheson is thorough in her research and insightful in her interpretations. For instance, she sensitively ferrets out profound, unspoken meanings in Ford's conversation, taped shortly before his death, with Katharine Hepburn. Matheson's prose is clean and stylish; her judgment, creative and reliable. She makes a persuasive case that Ford was at his best in his genre films about war and the American West. This is an essential book for Ford scholars and a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to understand the aesthetic of arguably the greatest filmmaker of the twentieth century.

Proving that the study of John Ford has not been exhausted, Dr. Sue Matheson untangles the complicated relationships between industry and art, fiction and fact, critical distance and fervent commitment that underscored the work of Hollywood's most honored director. Fans and scholars alike will find much to appreciate in this nuanced, carefully researched account of how these relationships impacted Ford's westerns and war films as trauma narratives revelatory of a vision of the American character that continues to influence the cultural imagination.

Sue Matheson's engrossing history of John Ford's Westerns and war films sheds new light on the life and legend of Hollywood's Old Master. Seen through the lens of military culture, and Ford's own service in World War II, these films take on new meaning as complex, personal engagements with an American culture profoundly shaped by the experience of war. Matheson presents the strongest case yet made for Ford's status as greatest American filmmaker, and one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century.

The book gives much to consider regarding Ford and his films, no small feat in light of all the critical thought that Ford and his work has spurred over several decades. Scholars of cinema (Ford, war on film, Westerns) will find the book welcome, but it will also be of value to the culture-studies crowd, and even those investigating United States social history.

There have been numerous books on the films of John Ford, with Tag Gallagher's John Ford: The Man and His Films arguably leading the pack, but this excellent volume, focusing on a select group of Ford's Westerns and war films (both features and documentaries) is a solid addition to the Ford bookshelf, with incisive analyses of everything from early films such as The Iron Horse (1924), through the real-life The Battle of Midway (1942), the wartime elegy They Were Expendable (1945), right up to the last Ford films, such as The Searchers (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964). Writing in a clear, direct, accessible style, Matheson offers rich insights throughout. Ford's sense of duty, honor, and responsibility shines through in these films, and the author's careful reading of the key works in this volume adds much to the literature on Ford and his works. VERDICT Effectively illustrated and written with passion and style, this title is highly recommended.

About the Author

Sue Matheson is associate professor, University College of the North. She is the editor of Love in Western Film and Television (2013).