John Ford
Date of Birth: 01 Feb 1894
Country: USA
Biography: Born in Maine, John Ford followed his brother Francis to Hollywood in 1914 and directed his first film, The Tornado, in 1917. Ford learned the art of filmmaking in the silent era, often combining well-paced stories with poetic and mythic imagery. He made a seamless transition to sound, eventually winning the Best Director Oscar four times. He might be best known for his many films starring John Wayne, and 1956's The Searchers remains widely regarded as a masterpiece in the history of cinema.
Total Credits at Criticker: 10 (Actor), 97 (Director), 7 (Writer)
Biography and picture submitted by Icarus
Find more information about John Ford at The Internet Movie Database
Titles you haven't rated - Actor (10) | Director (97) | Writer (7)
As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable. (imdb)
A poor Midwest family is forced off of their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression. (imdb)
A simple stagecoach trip is complicated by the fact that Geronimo is on the warpath in the area. (imdb)
A senator, who became famous for killing a notorious outlaw, returns to a funeral of a homeless man and tells the truth about his deed. (imdb)
In John Ford's sombre exploration of THE FETTERMAN MASSACRE OF 1866 mythologising of American heroes... (imdb)
A fictionalized account of the early life of the American president as a young lawyer facing his greatest court case. (imdb)
A meek milquetoast of a clerk is mistaken for Public Enemy #1, and the notorious killer takes advantage of the situation.
At the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans (he stern, she gentle) raise coal-mining sons and hope their youngest will find a better life. Lots of atmosphere, very sentimental view of pre-union miners' lives (imdb)
Three outlaws on the run discover a dying woman and her baby. They swear to bring the infant to safety across the desert... (imdb)
'Guns' Donovan prefers carousing with his pals Doc Dedham and 'Boats' Gilhooley, until Dedham's high-society daughter Amelia shows up in their South Seas paradise. (imdb)
A tribute documentary on the most decorated U.S. Marine, General Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller. (imdb)
Mary Stuart returns to Scotland to rule as queen, to the chagrin of Elizabeth I of England who finds her a dangerous rival. There is much ado over whom Mary shall marry; to her later regret, she picks effete Lord Darnley over the strong but unpopular Earl of Bothwell. (imdb)
Captain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled. (imdb)
In 1922, an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in. (imdb)
A dramatized account of the role of the American PT Boats in the defense of the Philippines in World War II. (imdb)
Comedy-drama about life on a not particularly important ship of the US Navy during WW2. (imdb)
Rio Grande takes place after the Civil War when the Union turned their attention towards the Apaches. Union officer Kirby Yorke is in charge of an outpost on the Rio Grande in which he is in charge of training of new recruits one of which is his son whom he hasn't seen in 15 years. He whips him into shape to take on the Apaches but not before his mother shows up to take him out of there. (imdb)
A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail/supply centre. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence. The Union officers each have different reasons for wanting to be on the mission. (imdb)
A World War I British Army patrol is crossing the Mesopotomian desert when their commanding officer, the only one who knows their destination is killed by the bullet of unseen bandits. The patrol's sergeant keeps them heading north on the assumption that they will hit their brigade. They stop for the night at an oasis and awake the next morning to find their horses stolen, their sentry dead, the oasis surrounded and survival difficult. (imdb)
Victor Marswell runs a big game trapping company in Kenya. Eloise Kelly is ditched there, and an immediate attraction happens between them. Then Mr. and Mrs. Nordley show up for their gorilla documenting safari. Mrs. Nordley is not infatuated with her husband any more, and takes a liking to Marswell. The two men and two women have some difficulty arranging these emotions to their mutual satisfaction, but eventually succeed. (imdb)
Rod Taylor is Cassidy, a boisterous boy who digs ditches to support his mother and sister. In his spare time, Cassidy is active with the Irish revolutionary movement against the occupying British. He still finds time enough for romance, notably with trashy chorine Julie Christie and timid librarian Maggie Smith... (All Movie Guide)
A biography of Navy flier-turned-screenwriter Frank W. "Spig" Wead. (imdb)
In a mission in China in 1935, Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton) is a rigid missionary beset by Mongolian bandits led by Warlord chief Tunga Khan (Mike Mazurki). (imdb)
A group of Mormons hoping to found a new colony in the trackless San Juan River country hire horse traders Travis and Sandy as wagonmaster and guide. One attraction for Sandy is "redheaded gal" Prudence. Soon they're joined by Doc Hall's broken down medicine show, with "scarlet women" Denver and Fleuretty. Then the Clegg boys, slightly psycho outlaws, decide a Mormon wagon train will make ideal camouflage... (imdb)
John Ford weaves three "Judge Priest" stories together to form a good- natured exploration of honour and small-town politics in the South around the turn of the century. Judge William Priest is involved variously in revealing the real identity of Lucy Lake, reliving his Civil War memories, preventing the lynching of a youth and contesting the elections with Yankee Horace K. Maydew. (imdb)
In the days of the tall ships and colonial rule of the South Pacific, a naive native sailor working as first mate on an island hopping windjammer is unjustly jailed in Tahiti for striking a racist planter with government connections. His attempts to escape imprisonment and return to his home island and young wife are contrasted with the attitudes of the white colonials... (imdb)
Sprawling epic which follows the Prescotts, an emigrant family through four generations, from the Erie Canal in the 1830's to their settled home in the West a half a century later... (imdb)
An aging politician (Spencer Tracy) tries to get re-elected one last time in the changing world of the 1950s when TV started to play a bigger part in politics. Based loosely on the career of multi-term Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, this film examines the good and evil inherent in politics and all the things that go into an election. Tracy's uphill battle to stay in office is set against the political machinery that preyed on ethnic hatred and old-time money. (imdb)
When the government agency fails to deliver even the meager supplies due by treaty to the proud Cheyenne tribe in their barren desert reserve, the starving Indians have taken more abuse then it's worth and break it too by embarking on a 1,500 miles journey back to their ancestral hunting grounds. US Cavalry Capt. Thomas Archer is charged with their retrieval, but during the hunt grows to respect their noble courage, and decides to help them. (imdb)
The US Army is under pressure from the desperate relatives of white prisoners of the Comanches to secure their rescue. A cynical and corrupt marshal, Guthrie McCabe, is persuaded by an army lieutenant to assist in the negotiations with the Comanches. However, just two captives are released; and their reintegration into white society proves highly problematic. (imdb)
Lieutenant Tom Cantrell is sent to defend Sergeant Braxton Rutledge a black cavalry soldier on a charge of rape and murder. The story begins in a courtroom and the story is told through flashbacks. This is a story of how a black soldier in the face of danger from the Indians can be so easily mistaken as a criminal. (imdb)
The life story of a salt-of-the-earth Irish immigrant, who becomes an Army Noncommissioned Officer and spends his 50 year career at the United States Military Academy at West Point. This includes his job-related experiences as well as his family life and the relationships he develops with young cadets with whom he befriends. Based on the life of a real person. (imdb)
In 1918 France, Captain Flagg commands a disreputable company of Marines; his new top sergeant is his old friendly enemy, Quirt. The two men become rivals for the favors of fair innkeeper's daughter Charmaine, but the rivalry goes into reverse when Charmaine proves to be angling for a husband. When the company is ordered to the front, this comedy interlude gives way to the grim realities of war. (imdb)
Based of the Graham Greene novel about a revolutionary priest in Central America. A priest who is The Fugitive is trying to getaway from the authorities who have denounced Christianity and want anyone linked to it dead... (imdb)
Shiftless Jeeter Lester and his family of hillbilly stereotypes live in a rural backwater where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank's plans to take over the land for more profitable farming; subplots involve the affairs and marriages of son Dude and daughter Ellie May. (imdb)
Aboard the freighter Glencairn, the lives of the crew are lived out in fear, loneliness, suspicion and cameraderie. The men smuggle drink and women aboard, fight with each other, spy on each other, comfort each other as death approaches, and rescue each other from danger. (imdb)
Before the Revolutionary War farmer Martin brings bride Magdelana the Mohawk Valley where they are burned out by Indians. Neighbors take them in and Martin joins the militia to fight the Indians. (imdb)
Colonel Loring Leigh, British Indian Army, appears to have issued an order that cost 90 lives. Cashiered, he returns home, tells his sons of a conspiracy by an arms syndicate to supply the rebels...then is found dead, an apparent suicide. To clear their father, the four sons must globetrot in a hazardous search for evidence, closely followed by Geoffrey's sweetheart Lynn Cherrington. (imdb)
Little Priscilla Williams goes to live with her grandfather, the colonel at a British Army base in 19th century India. She drills with the troops, gets captured by rebels, and generally cheers everyone up. (imdb)
A few short hours after President Lincoln has been assassinated, Dr. Samuel Mudd gives medical treatment to a wounded man who shows up at his door. Mudd has no idea that the president is dead and that he is treating his murderer, John Wilkes Booth... (imdb)
Two of America's most distinguished humorists, Oklahoma's Will Rogers and Kentucky's Irvin S. Cobb, costar in Steamboat Round the Bend. Cobb isn't much of an actor, so it is Rogers who carries the comic weight of this fast-paced slice of Americana. Will uncharacteristically sticks to the script for most of the proceedings as the proprietor of a combination travelling waxworks and medicine show... (All Movie Guide)
Springfield, Illinois. Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west, but Marsh, a contractor, is sceptical. Abraham Lincoln looks on as their children, Davy Brandon and Miriam Marsh, play together. Brandon sets off with Davy to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne... (imdb)
In Burgendorf, Bavaria, Mother Bernle has four sons. Franz is in the army, Johann works at the forge, Andreas tends the sheep. Joseph is riding a hay wagon with a pretty girl when some of the hay falls off, landing on the fearsome Maj. Von Stomm... (imdb)
Set in Ireland and notable today as the first movie in which John Wayne is clearly visible, a spectator at the steeplechase. He knocks the fence down and leads the other spectators toward the winning horse. (imdb)
Hoping to use the publicity to get re-elected, a judge sentences a notorious gangster to fight in the war. (imdb)
Two prisoners, Saint Louis and Dannemora Dan, escape during a theatrical production in order to go to the aid of Steve, a former prisoner whose past is about to be exposed by the man who framed Judy unless Steve agrees to help him commit another crime. (imdb)
In the waning days of WWI, a U.S. "Mystery Ship," sets sail for the coast of Spain towing a submarine. Their mission is to find and sink a U-boat that has been especially effective in attacking Allied shipping. Posing as a harmless schooner, the mystery ship is in fact fitted with a formidable gun capable of sinking a U-boat... (imdb)
Based on a Sinclair Lewis novel "Martin Arrowsmith". A medical researcher is sent to a plague outbreak, where he has to decide priorities for the use of a vaccine. (imdb)
A possessive mother pushes her son into World War I service rather than see him get married.
Dr. Bull is an old-fashioned country doctor whose affair with the widow Janet Cardmaker is creating waves in the small town where he practices. When there is a mysterious outbreak of typhoid which the doctor is slow in reacting to, it all comes to a head... (imdb)
Will Rogers plays the lead roll, that of Judge William "Billy" Priest in a very patriotic (Confederate) southern town. Priest plays a laid-back, widowed judge who helps uphold the law in his toughest court case yet. In the meantime, he plays matchmaker for his young nephew. (imdb)
An epic drama following the Girard family company over 100 years and across two continents, from the early nineteenth century up through the Great Depression. (Icarus)
Cheyenne Harry follows his former fiancee to New York after she runs off with another man.
Torpedo Squadron (1942) - Short Film
John Ford puts together footage of Torpedo Squadron 8, all but one of whom were later shot down and killed in the Battle of Midway.
The Battle of Midway (1942) - Short Film
On June 4-6, 1942, a large Japanese force attempted to capture Midway Island in the North Pacific, but was defeated by U.S. forces with a loss ratio of 4:1 in favor of the Americans. On hand was a crew of naval photographers directed by John Ford; their documentary footage was edited together with narration by Hollywood actors. The film covers the attack on Midway, some limited aerial footage, the search for survivors, and aftermath of the battle. (imdb)
The short, released version of this film is purely documentary footage shot in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
John Ford's documentary about the early battles of the Korean War, shot in color.
A war comedy depicting Willie, a soldier frustrated by his lack of battle action, caught behind enemy lines and forced into heroism for his survival.
In this early comedy from John Ford, Riley is a New York Irish cop sent to Germany to track down a young man who stole money from a local bakery.
Donald King, a captain in the British Army is called away from his regiment just as World War I begins. Disappointed that he cannot be with his men as the war begins, King is ordered to infiltrate a group of Afghan rebels.
By Indian Post (1919) - Short Film
Jode MacWilliams, a cowboy working on the Circle O ranch, has a crush on the bosses daughter, Peg. After his friend writes a love letter for him, an Indian steals and delivers it to Peg. Meanwhile, word of Jode's affection reaches Peg's father, who has a decidedly less romantic view of this young couple.
Pinky, a light skinned black woman, returns to her grandmother's house in the South after graduating from a Northern nursing school. Pinky tells her grandmother that she has been "passing" for white while at school in the North. In addition, Pinky has fallen in love with a young white doctor, Dr. Thomas Adams, who knows nothing about her black heritage. (imdb)
Gideon's Day follows a busy day in the life of Inspector Gideon, a Scotland Yard detective. While his home life is comically amiss, as a professional, he doggedly pursues the criminals until their found, sacrificing personal comfort and time with family to make sure justice is done.
The first film having an Irish motif that John Ford directed, a six reel delight set in Eire's County Kildare and in the United States, with a steeplechase background, mixing charged elements of comedy and sentimental drama, benefiting from a sterling cast including Leslie Fenton, Janet Gaynor, and Ford favourite J. Farrell MacDonald. (imdb)
On the border between California and Nevada there is a hotel run by Mother Jones (Edythe Chapman). Her husband Lightnin' Bill (Jay Hunt) doesn't help much, but he does no harm either -- the easy-going fellow prefers to share a little nip with his pal Zeb (Otis Harlan) above anything else... (All Movie Guide)
Two men from rival neighborhoods serve together on a ship in World War I. When they return after the War, they discover their neighborhoods have been overrun by drug dealers. Will their competition for the same woman prevent them from working together to get rid of the drugs?
Cattleman Flint cuts off farmer Sims' water supply. When Sims' son Ted goes for water, one of Flint's men kills him. Cheyenne is sent to finish off Sims, but finding the family at the newly dug grave, he changes sides. (imdb)
The air-mail pilots who fly from a small airport in the Rocky Mountains are determined but not paid well, and there are occasional fatal crashes. It's a tradition of long standing that when this happens, chief pilot Mike Miller (Ralph Bellamy) makes the next flight himself. Daredevil Duke Talbot (Pat O'Brien) is hired; he starts an affair with Irene Wilkins (Lilian Bond), wife of pilot Dizzy (Russell Hopton)... (allmovie.com)
Three stories examine the lives of the Irish living under British oppression. (TCM.com)
A "backstage drama", the movie is about a Shakespearean actor and a woman from a knife-throwing act. (wikipedia)
Korea (1959) - Short Film
An orientation film for American soldiers traveling to Korea in the years after the war.
Wrongfully blamed for the death of Col. John Randall, Cameo Kirby (Gilbert) must find the true villain and clear his name before he can declare his love for Adele (Olmstead), the dead man's daughter. (imdb)
John Ford, whose fierce pride in his Irish heritage often manifested itself in his work, directed this historical drama which uses as its backdrop the 1916 Easter Rebellion of Irish patriots against British rule. Nora Clitheroe (Barbara Stanwyck) runs a rooming house in Dublin and tries to stay away from the political turmoil raging around her, so she becomes quite upset when she learns that her husband Jack (Preston S. (allmovie.com)
A naval officer is demoted for negligence and put in command of a run-down submarine chaser and with a motley crew. (imdb)
Featuring Carey as his popular Cheyenne Harry hero. From the Plains, Harry rides into the disorderly western town of Rawhide, where he makes an immediate friend in Cimmaron Bill (Duke Lee). Harry then falls for dance-hall girl Bess (Neva Gerber), an upstanding woman forced into this particular line of work by a series of dire circumstances.
A society novelist brings a brash young chorus girl home in order to study her for inspiration for his new novel. His family is distraught, but soon her behavior has forever altered their snobbish ways. (imdb)
Ellen McHugh, a poor Irish immigrant to America, finds work in a carnival and is thus able to send her son Brian to a fine school. But when her position is found out, the school expels Brian. Mrs. McHugh feels compelled to allow the school principal and his wife to adopt Brian. The widow McHugh becomes a housekeeper and raises her employer's daughter Edith, who grows up to fall in love with Brian McHugh. (imdb)
Only the final reel (11 minutes) of this John Ford (as "Jack Ford") directed melodrama survives, presently, but it's a good one. We see the storyline's climax, and an epilogue tying up loose ends. (imdb)
West Point Cadet John and Annapolis Midshipman Frank focus their fraternal rivalry on the big Army-Navy football game. (imdb)
Cheyenne Harry, owner of the biggest cattle ranch in his corner of the west, is having trouble with John Merritt, a land-grabbing Chicago meat-packer. By some artifice of shrewd legal aid, Merritt manages to seize Harry's ranch under a bogus writ of foreclosure. Failing to get justice by his many letters to Merritt, Cheyenne Harry goes east and calls at the millionaire's mansion. (imdb)
A training film for OSS agents who are to be dropped behind enemy lines, covering cover and concealment, ambush techniques, etc. (imdb)
On a steamboat heading North, where his brother has struck gold, Mike Dane falls in love with Estelle MacDonald. When he arrives at the Canadian trading post, Dane learns that his brother has been murdered and his partner sentenced to death as the killer. (imdb)
Documentary depicting and explaining the Allied campaign against the Germans in North Africa.
The story of a Beaumont race horse, told through from the point of view of the horse via intertitles.
It's Your America (1946) - Short Film
This short--long rumored to have been directed by John Ford--was produced by the US government specifically for veterans returning home from World War II, showing them what their responsibilities as citizens were now that they were returning to civilian life.
We Sail at Midnight (1943) - Short Film
A short documentary style film it depicts the story of The British obtaining a special tool from America to help with the building of a tank.
Rookie of the Year (1955) - TV Episode
A small town sportswriter attending the World Series recognizes a young ballplayer as the son of former baseball hero who was banned for throwing a game. (imdb)
The Growler Story (1957) - Short Film
A retelling of an attack on the USS Growler submarine in February 1943.
