Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford

It was amazing to me that stars such as John Wayne, Henry Fonda, William Powell, etc. put up with the harsh bipolar toxic personality of this man. Granted he was a good director and we like some of his films. However, Ford's talent, goodness, equaled his evilness which is saying a lot!

Scott Eyman has written an outstanding book on John Ford! Fordwas the second generation son of an Irish bartender from Portland Maine who followed his brother Frank to Hollywood.In over 130 films from such silent classics as Iron Horse tohis four Oscars for best director: The Informer; How Green Was MyValley; the Grapes of Wrath and The Quiet Man Ford chroniclesthe life of ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances. Ford made Westerns better than anyone as witness his classiccavalry trilogy: Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon; Rio Grande and the peerless The Searchers. John Ford was a bristling porcupine guy who could dish out insults, reduce strong actors to tears and cover his sensitive,melancholic, brooding intellectual Irish soul with a veneer oftoughness and macho maleness. Ford was a complex man isolated and in conflict with famly who made great films for over 50 years in the Hollywood jungle.He was an admiral who loved the military serving with distinction in World War II. You may not like Ford after reading this fine book but you will be in awe of one of Hollywood's giants. Eyman gives a sketch of each of Ford's top films and charts the choppy waters of his long marriage to wife Mary and the difficult relationship he had with his daugher and son. John Ford will always ride tall in the saddle of Film Historyas we travel with him to Monument Valley, meet such Ford starsas John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and the other excellent actors in the Ford acting troupe. Anyone claiming to be knowledgable about film who does not know about John Ford (1894-1973 should read this fine biograhy.Readers may also wish to peruse Joseph McBride's lengthy biograpy of Ford "In Search of John Ford." Both books are welldone.

I have read a number of the available books about John Ford. While this book doesn't convey a lot of the warmth that Harry Carey's personal treatment does, it is perhaps the best attempt to sum up what made John Ford one of Hollywood's greatest directors. It is clear the author has made an intensive study of Ford's work, and even more clear that he admires it. This book largely doesn't try to judge Ford, just to explain him. For that, we owe Eyman a great degree of gratitude. Too many other authors have, confronted with the genius of Ford's direction, tried to discount it because of the cracks in his personal approach to life and actors, or possibly because of personal jealousy. You must judge Ford the director on his work, and his time, not on our opinions of what he could have done better in his personal life, or according to our "politically correct" views of what he should have done, and this book does an excellent job on judging Ford by the standards of his time, and his life. This is a masterful attempt at explaining Hollywood's master director.

as we are going to get to the seminal biography of the great John Ford. All of Ford's biographers describe him as secretive, purposely misleading, obstreperous and ornery. To get an accurate picture of the grandfather of modern film must be difficult with such a subject. Eyman manages to give us the facts of Ford's life to the best extent they can be found in a non-judgmentnal way, such that his art and craftsmanship shine, despite the fact that Ford was an obnoxious person.The reality of Ford's heinous personality and the beautiful Ford vision of the history of America is startling. How could such a gross character give us our most compelling views of ourselves from the Revolutionary war through the Korean conflict? Eyman explains that Ford was just a mass of contradictions, scarred by his Irish immigrant roots, when the Irish in New England were looked down upon. For a bright, ambitious boy to overcome such prejudice, he had to develop some coping strategies. These strategies became more pronounced and vicious as Ford aged, and became prominent, wanting to keep his place in the film industry. His family suffers as well. The two family members he really gets on with are both able to stand up to him, which is apparently what it took to get along with Ford.Eyman provides satisfying and surprising detail for Ford's masterpieces and failures alike, particularly "Stagecoach." He explores Ford's relationships with his muses who are men, not women; Henry Fonda and John Wayne. Hank and Duke appear in some of his very best films ("The Grapes of Wrath," "Stagecoach," "Fort Apache," "The Searchers"). But Ford can make masterpieces without them too ("How Green Was My Valley,"). He can also turn a Shirley Temple vehicle (no slight to Shirley, I am a fan of hers) into a wonderful "picture" as he called his work ("Wee Willie Winkie").Eyman is a truthful biographer who does not engage in character assassination. I bought this book because I liked his biography of Louis B Mayer so much. My only quibble with his book is that he explores Ford's anti-semitism, and concludes that Ford never committed an anti-semitic thought to paper, even though Eyman includes a letter Ford wrote to a military friend, calling Hollywood "mockieland." I believe that is a Jewish derrogation. He also discusses Ford's sympathy with and for American Indians (who loved him back), and African Americans. Although there is little doubt he respected his black actors, and black people as a whole, he does throw the N word around a lot. So maybe these derrogations are just a product of his time and not indicative of hatred for any particular group. Whether you are a Ford fan or not, this is a great study of the history of American cinema, and is well worth reading for any film fan.

Great stories of a person who directed lots of movies in the 40's and 50's, and those who acted in them. Movies were just better then!!!

I liked the description of the personality and background of one who produced so many movies that I revered.

The term hagiography isn't used much anymore. It means a biography where the writer treats his subject with undue reverence. Well this is certainly the case with this book, which is not really surprising when you see that its written with the "full participation of the Ford estate". John Ford was probably not a very nice man. I say probably because I never met him and so its difficult to be sure of these things. But even in this book you see flashes of a bully, cheat, alcoholic, maudlin, irascible individual. Yet this man can produce such works as The Searchers, Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and at least 40 other great films that shapes how we think of America (and Ireland) and its past. That the past presented by Mr Ford was skewed to meet his ideas, beliefs and prejudices shouldn't detract from the work; the French would probably say that's what auteurs do, and they would be right. I think he should probably have retired in '62 after Liberty Valence but he ploughed on and Young Cassidy and 7 Women did little for his legacy though Cheyenne Autumn had moments of greatness and half hours of sheer boredom. And that is the problem about books on John Ford you forget the man and focus on the films and what films they were. Probably the only book that tried to cut that conundrum was In Search of John Ford - which while better than Mr Eyman's book still failed in its own way. Perhaps its better, much better, to let the work speak for itself and we find our own John Ford on the flickering screen. Print the Legend - you certainly did.

After admiring the work of John Ford for most of my life to read such an informative work on the life and work of the the great film director was an immence pleasure. A great and gifted film director but a flawed man as most of us are. A must read for any one interested in films and human nature

Very good read for anyone who are film buffs

A definitive and exhaustive biography of one of Hollywood's best directors. A must for any movie fan, especially movies from the 40s and 50s.

A easy to read history of the famed director.