Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
Starring John Ford, John Wayne, James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Harry Carey, Jr. Peter Bogdanovich, Orson Welles (narrator)
Some of my all-time favorite movie dialogue comes from this documentary.
Peter Bogdanovich: Mr. Ford, you made a picture called Three Bad Men which is a large scale western. You had a – quite elaborate land-rush in it.
John Ford: Mmm hmm.
Bogdanovich: How did you shoot that?
Ford: With a camera.
That pretty much sums up Directed By John Ford (1971). It’s a wonderful film, though I always come away from it glad I’m not Peter Bogdanovich (though I’d love to lay claim to What’s Up, Doc?). Bogdanovich’s documentary is coming to DVD from Warner Archive. If you don’t have it, you need it. (This would make a great pairing with the upcoming Blu-ray of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.)
Love that Dodgers cap! Hope they make it to the Series this year.
50 Westerns From The 50s. 
At this point in his career (and life)—on most days, anyway—Ford didn’t really seem very concerned with impressing anyone, and so even though we know that he was a formidably ambitious artist, he seemed to get more satisfaction playing the ornery old man who just had a job to do. It was a persona that Ford had spent a few decades (since he returned from WWII, at least) cultivating and he wasn’t about to drop it for some (let’s face it) nerdy sycophant like Bogdanovich. He similarly frustrated many attempts by French and British critics to crack the façade. Well, at least we have the films!
I would like to wish Alan Ladd a happy birthday born on Sept .3 1913 ,the same year as my Dad .He passed away the same month as my dad a year later.
RIP both of you.
The DVD looks interesting but I don’t think I’ll buy it as I already have 2 books on John Ford including one by Peter Bogdanovich which I would highly recommend . It is just called JOHN FORD .
I know quiet a few readers of this blog are looking forward
to Warner Archive finally releasing the following much wanted
RKO Westerns.
DEVIL’S CANYON
GREAT DAY IN THE MORNING
TENSION AT TABLE ROCK
TREASURE OF PANCHO VILLA
I asked Warners for an update on this,also mentioning how much I
liked the restoration job they had done on RUN OF THE ARROW
Here’s what they said.
“Thank you for the kind words on RUN OF THE ARROW.
Just as that needed a lot of work,so do the four RKO Westerns
you mention,with DEVIL’S CANYON being 3D which means a LOT
more work.We hope to release all four at some point but cannot
provide an ETA at the moment.”
O.T. I received the George Sherman set (region B) from Koch Media today. I haven’t had a chance to watch any of them, but I thought I’d report that it is RED CANYON and LAST OF THE FAST GUNS that are 1080P Blu-Ray and RIVER LADY that is DVD. I know there’s been some speculation that RIVER LADY would be Blu-Ray and RED CANYON would be the DVD.
Mike Kuhns ,I received THE GEORGE SHERMAN set (DVD) today .As I said in a previous post, I’ve never seen RED CANYON or RIVER LADY .I watched RED CANYON and although the story is similar to other films of it’s kind ,I really enjoyed it .Lots of familiar faces in the good supporting cast like Edgar Buchanan ,Lloyd Bridges ,Denver Pyle ,Chill Wills ,John McIntire and Hank Worden in a small uncredited role help make it enjoyable to watch .
I don’t understand why they did not include a Blu-Ray copy of RIVER LADY on the Blu-Ray set .
RIP Martin Milner who passed away on Sept. 6 2015 .Although best remembered for ROUTE 66 and ADAM 12 he did star in a couple of 50s westerns namely GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL ,LAST OF THE COMANCHES and SPRINGFIELD RIFLE.
Happy birthday to Earl Holliman born Sept.11 1928 who also starred in GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL as well as BROKEN LANCE ,THE BURNING HILLS ,DEVIL’S CANYON and THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER.
He was also in one of my favourite non western films ,THE BRIDGES AT TOKO RI.