It is with heavy heart that I announce that I apparently will be forced to see Roland Emmerich's Midway. pic.twitter.com/nZZ1nyeISS— ℑ 𝔇𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔜𝔬𝔲 (@NickPinkerton) November 6, 2019
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 7 November 2019 21:38 (four years ago) link
Watched Wagon Master last night. Good lil western. Only really knew Ben Johnson from Last Picture Show so didn't even recognize him. Pretty effortless acting from him. And christ could he ride a horse. The scene where he's escaping from Indians, every other rider in the scene is getting bounced around on their horse, while Ben is going twice and fast and doesn't move an inch.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 13 January 2020 22:15 (four years ago) link
Ford pegged it as one of his favorites. I've heard it was one of the most enjoyable sets he had. Makes ya wonder how much the experience of filming has on a director's or actor's personal favorites rather then purely the end result.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 13 January 2020 22:17 (four years ago) link
I think it's set in 1880. Which means it was as distant from 1950 as 1950 is from now whoa.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 13 January 2020 22:24 (four years ago) link
well, Ford knew old Wyatt Earp
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 13 January 2020 22:29 (four years ago) link
speaking of Wyatt Earp...the Dodge City diversion section in Cheyenne Autumn is bizarre. I get what he was trying to say with it but it's pretty jarring and superfluous.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 10 February 2020 17:25 (four years ago) link
yeah I watched that recently and had a similar reaction.
also u+k:Ford used Navajo people to portray the Cheyenne. Dialogue that is supposed to be the "Cheyenne language" is actually Navajo. This made little differences to white audiences, but for Navajo communities, the film became very popular because the Navajo actors openly were using ribald and crude language that had nothing to do with the film. For example, during the scene where the treaty is signed, the chief's solemn speech just pokes fun at the size of the colonel's penis. Academics now consider this an important moment in the development of Native Americans' identity because they are able to mock Hollywood's historical interpretation of the American West.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 10 February 2020 17:29 (four years ago) link
Remembering hearing something about that, but didn't know which film it happened in. Awesome. I'm sure they patted themselves on the back simply for having actual Native Americans in the film and speaking their own language in parts. But he wasn't about to fly in Cheyenne to the film shoot in AZ/UT.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 10 February 2020 17:41 (four years ago) link
for a guy born in the 1890s working in the western genre, my impression is that Ford treated the Natives fairly well. He wasn't a superman.
I also think they probably pranked the dialogue earlier than that film.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 10 February 2020 18:33 (four years ago) link
Oh for sure. I mean the plot for CA is very pro Native anti US govt. That was rare in early 60s afaik. A bit similar to Smoki "tribe" I knew about before but was just reading about in a magazine today: white biz men from Prescott AZ doing "burlesque" snake dances in full Indian garb and face paint sounds awful and ridiculous now, but for the time that was progressive relative to the official doctrine of banning and trying to extinguish any Native Am culture.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 10 February 2020 20:00 (four years ago) link
he be sittin down
https://www.publicartportland.org/project/the-john-ford-statue/
― | (Latham Green), Monday, 10 February 2020 20:18 (four years ago) link
https://silver.afi.com/Browsing/EventsAndExperiences/EventDetails/0000000028
Some Ford silents will be screened as part of this series. Any other ILXors interested in going?
― Life is a banquet and my invitation was lost in the mail (j.lu), Thursday, 13 February 2020 23:56 (four years ago) link
pic.twitter.com/Ci3zWpIbFN— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) February 19, 2020
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 20 February 2020 13:21 (four years ago) link
I was surprised to learn, after watching Wagon Master, that it enjoyed such a strong rep among Ford cultists. I found it kinda slight, mostly due to the weakness of Johnson and Carey Jr. as leads and Ford's unwillingness to exploit the full menacing potential of the Clegg gang.
― Maria Edgelord (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 26 February 2020 20:32 (four years ago) link
P tempted by this new set from Indicator
https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/john-ford-at-columbia-1935-1958-le
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 26 February 2020 21:09 (four years ago) link
I think the ensemble nature of Wagon Master is part of its appeal, tho along those lines i prefer The Sun Shines Bright.
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 26 February 2020 21:39 (four years ago) link
The Long Gray Line is his weirdest moviexp
― flappy bird, Friday, 28 February 2020 05:59 (four years ago) link
The Long Voyage Home was and is easily overshadowed by Ford's other film from 1940, but I liked it mostly for featuring Wayne at his most boyish, and for the scene where the crew ambushes the suspected spy only to learn things they didn't expect to learn from reading through his letters. Also, it was shot by Gregg Toland, so of course it looks stunning.
Strange, though, that the Janus logo appeared at the front of the TCM broadcast I watched, but the film is not in the Criterion Collection. I guess one might be coming along at some point?
― Maria Edgelord (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 4 March 2020 20:05 (four years ago) link
I liked it more than I expected.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 4 March 2020 20:07 (four years ago) link
has anyone seen "Young Cassidy?" Started by Ford, then completed by Jack Cardiff after he fell ill. I have to say I'm intrigued by a film based on the life of Sean O'Casey with this poster
https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Young_Cassidy-636490032-large.jpg
― Number None, Saturday, 14 March 2020 09:54 (four years ago) link
Yes, it's not bad. Julie Christie is in and out of the film pretty quickly; Maggie Smith carries the rest. Nice location shooting in Dublin. Can't say I learned that much about the nature of O'Casey's work but it did make me curious about it.
― Josefa, Saturday, 14 March 2020 13:31 (four years ago) link
Should say, yes, O'Casey is portrayed as rugged in the film, but as sensitive as well. It's not like just a parade of brawls. However, the scene I do recall most is the one indicated at top right of the poster - a street confrontation that is shot quite realistically and effectively.
― Josefa, Saturday, 14 March 2020 13:48 (four years ago) link
It's about O'Casey?? But he's renamed Cassidy?
I note above that Ford to others referred to Wayne as 'DUKE WAYNE'.
Not Ford but I happened to see ROOSTER COGBURN (1975) yesterday.
― the pinefox, Sunday, 15 March 2020 09:24 (four years ago) link
yup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjNUV0Y6Dxg
and thanks for the insight Josefa!
― Number None, Sunday, 15 March 2020 12:30 (four years ago) link
I recorded that one off TCM but than that cable box died so never actually watched it.
― Lipstick Traces (on a Cigarette Alone) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 March 2020 12:35 (four years ago) link
Then
Incredible to see W.B. Yeats in that trailer.
― the pinefox, Sunday, 15 March 2020 12:49 (four years ago) link
I tried to watch How the West Was Won on TCM last night just to get to the Ford sequence but had to bail after about 15 minutes.
― coronoshebettadontvirus (Eric H.), Sunday, 15 March 2020 14:35 (four years ago) link
oh, you
On Twitter a couple days ago I saw a quote by some international arthouse auteur that The Long Gray Line is a "great experimental film," but now I can't find it.
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 15 March 2020 14:38 (four years ago) link
I just don't think it works on a flat screen, a four-square western epic whose every frame looks like Seconds.
― coronoshebettadontvirus (Eric H.), Sunday, 15 March 2020 14:55 (four years ago) link
― coronoshebettadontvirus (Eric H.),
Congrats! You beat me!
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 15 March 2020 14:56 (four years ago) link
oh, youOn Twitter a couple days ago I saw a quote by some international arthouse auteur that The Long Gray Line is a "great experimental film," but now I can't find it.
― flappy bird, Sunday, 15 March 2020 15:21 (four years ago) link
thx
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 15 March 2020 15:34 (four years ago) link
Been digging into my Ford At Fox box... recommend both the silent Four Sons and 1933's Pilgrimage as very different motherhood tales centered on World War I.
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 22 March 2020 06:45 (four years ago) link
haven't seen "how the west was won" yet, but dave kehr raves about ford's sequence:
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/movies/homevideo/09dvds.html
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Sunday, 22 March 2020 07:00 (four years ago) link
It's the best segment in the film, for sure.
The lead actress in Pilgrimage, Henrietta Crosman, gives a very strong and detailed performance as a Bad Mother who gets her son drafted and killed rather than see him marry. The film's about her redemption, of course, but to ultimately touching effect.
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 22 March 2020 13:07 (four years ago) link
how's The Horse Soldiers? got the blu ray for $6 at a pharmacy
― flappy bird, Thursday, 2 April 2020 02:59 (four years ago) link
Watched his What Price Glory recently, a weaker one with a handful of really beautiful moments (the girl singing to the soldier). the opening is particularly striking and nightmarish, a garish set of the aftermath of a horrible battle with a haunted, minor key military crew singing in the deep distance. again, it doesn't really come together as a movie, but even in these whiffs there is often a bit of the sublime.
― flappy bird, Thursday, 2 April 2020 03:02 (four years ago) link
yay/nay on The Horse Soldiers (1959) ?
― flappy bird, Monday, 20 April 2020 18:29 (three years ago) link
uploaded less than 2 months ago, I think recorded this year? PB looking OK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weHUnrrmpnM
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 6 May 2020 06:20 (three years ago) link
Bird: THE HORSE SOLDIERS is wonderful. I've seen it about 4 times on TV. Probably one of my favourite Westerns and one of the Ford films I most admire. Curiously serious about war, and curiously packed with distinct scenes and set-pieces.
― the pinefox, Wednesday, 6 May 2020 08:45 (three years ago) link
Yes it is! I didn't know it came right before Sergeant Rutledge. You can see it coming, sort of.
THE LAST HURRAH: yay / nay?
― flappy bird, Friday, 7 August 2020 06:52 (three years ago) link
ah, yay!
two months pass...ok, nobody reads my Spencer Tracy thread, but The Last Hurrah is worth it for the lead and its conviction as an old Irish machine-pol wake, in spite of Jeffrey Hunter and any scenes featuring actors born after 1905.― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, September 24, 2014 2:50 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglinkfrom TCM.com:Pat O'Brien recalled that on the set... Ford "would never talk the part you were playing, he'd just tell you what he wanted. 'I hope you can get it,' he'd say, chewing on that handkerchief he always had. When you failed, he'd say, 'That wasn't what I wanted. Try to get what I wanted. We're going to take another whack at it and it better be good.' And after you finally got it he'd come over and put his arms around you. 'Why the hell didn't you get it in the first place?' he'd say. Ford was the genius of them all. He was an artist drawing a portrait in oil."The only potentially disruptive incident that occurred during the filming was when someone showed up with a case of whiskey in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Ford, who was a heavy drinker like most of the Irish cast and crew members, exploded in anger, "Jesus Christ, what do you want to do, shut down the picture?" and the booze was carted off.― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, September 24, 2014 3:12 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, September 24, 2014 2:50 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink
from TCM.com:
Pat O'Brien recalled that on the set... Ford "would never talk the part you were playing, he'd just tell you what he wanted. 'I hope you can get it,' he'd say, chewing on that handkerchief he always had. When you failed, he'd say, 'That wasn't what I wanted. Try to get what I wanted. We're going to take another whack at it and it better be good.' And after you finally got it he'd come over and put his arms around you. 'Why the hell didn't you get it in the first place?' he'd say. Ford was the genius of them all. He was an artist drawing a portrait in oil."
The only potentially disruptive incident that occurred during the filming was when someone showed up with a case of whiskey in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Ford, who was a heavy drinker like most of the Irish cast and crew members, exploded in anger, "Jesus Christ, what do you want to do, shut down the picture?" and the booze was carted off.
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, September 24, 2014 3:12 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink
― flappy bird, Friday, 7 August 2020 07:02 (three years ago) link
I find it REALLY weird that he only made ONE movie about/set during the Civil War (the horse soldiers)
― flappy bird, Friday, 7 August 2020 07:28 (three years ago) link
A tremendous film!
― the pinefox, Friday, 7 August 2020 09:00 (three years ago) link
plus his segment in How the West Was Won
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 August 2020 11:52 (three years ago) link
TOBACCO ROAD! such a great B-side to Grapes. Amusing Gene Tierney performance as a very dirty, near feral young woman with only one line at the very end--"Yes, ma'am!"
― flappy bird, Sunday, 23 August 2020 04:58 (three years ago) link
Reader in the "Hey Bill" section of Bill James' website:
After the recent discussion here on "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," I wrote a letter to Vera Miles, who played Hallie, asking her about the points raised about her feelings for Tom Doniphon. She wrote back: "Never occurred to me to wonder if Hallie was going to hitch up with Tom in the absence of Ransom. In retrospect, I believe Tom (Duke) was the man of choice. (He didn’t care if she could read or not.)"
So if you have any questions on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, you can write Vera Miles directly. Actual letter, please--no e-mail.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 23 September 2020 14:10 (three years ago) link
Holy shit
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 23 September 2020 16:34 (three years ago) link
Started Scott Nyman's massive PRINT THE LEGEND bio recently, trying to pace myself because it's so good (his SPEED OF SOUND is one of the best film books I've ever read).
I've been leafing thru the Ford bio for months now tho. I didn't know about April Morning, or the extent of his alcoholism, or the bucket he started having with him on set in his last years...
― flappy bird, Sunday, 27 September 2020 06:54 (three years ago) link