DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD (1971/2006) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Peter Bogdanovich
When he made the original version of this, Peter Bogdanovich managed to coax John Ford out to Monument Valley, got him to sit in front of a camera for a while, and asked him a bunch of questions about his long life as a director of Hollywood movies. Even more remarkably, Ford actually answered some of the questions. (A typical Ford response, when asked how he filmed a particular scene: "With a camera.") Bogdanovich also sat down with Henry Fonda, James Stewart and John Wayne to get their Ford stories, and hired Orson Welles to do the narration. That was in 1971. In 2006, Bogdanovich recut the picture, integrating new interview footage (Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Walter Hill) with what he'd done before. The result is one of the best movies ever made about the movies, and maybe the truest picture we'll ever get of the irascible, contradictory Ford. Ford's reputation for meanness is well documented, and just about everybody who worked for him became a target of his legendary cruelty sooner or later. At the same time, they all seem to be glad for the experience, and there's real insight in what they have to say. All of it's illuminated with film clips - lots of them - corresponding to whatever aspect of Ford's career is being discussed. The riverbank scene in "Two Rode Together" is a highlight, but the most revealing moment is a startlingly personal one captured by accident. It's a conversation between the dying Ford and Katharine Hepburn, recorded on an audio machine neither of them knew was running. "I love you," Ford says at one point. "It's mutual," Hepburn replies. Nothing fancy. No fuss. Straight to the point. A simple exchange between two old friends (and ex-lovers), one of them close to the end. Just the kind of thing you could put in a John Ford movie.
