The director John Ford made some of the best-known films in the history of that art form. This program traces his long career, starting in the silent film era on through the talkies. Ford was the son of Irish immigrants and made movies that reflected the Irish experience, such as The Quiet Man and How Green Was My Valley. But Ford is best known for his Westerns, with their signature settings in the American Southwest: every cowboy movie fan has seen John Wayne ride on horseback through the Mittens in Monument Valley. Archival film clips show Ford's style in these and other movies, including She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Wagon Master, Stagecoach, and The Grapes of Wrath. Interviews with family, friends, and colleagues shed light on the character of this giant of American cinema.
by Rose of Sharon Winter
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