By Michael F. Blake
John Ford has always been my favorite director. Winning a
record four Best Directing Oscars (a record yet to be beaten), his films continue
to influence movie fans and filmmakers. My introduction to John Ford happened when
my father, actor Larry J. Blake, took me to a roadshow matinee at the Pantages
Theatre in Hollywood to see Cheyenne Autumn. For a cowboy-crazy kid of
seven, the action between the cavalry and the Indians kept my attention, but it
was seeing Monument Valley for the first time that made the biggest impact on
me. I had never seen such a place. After that matinee, when my friends and I
played cowboys, every tree and bush in my neighborhood stood in for that
amazing landscape.
By the time I was eleven, this budding film historian had
managed to watch ten of Ford’s films on local television stations and John Ford
was my master class in film history. Of
course, it helped that my father, who had worked twice for Ford, would point
out to me how Ford would frame a scene, or, as dad called them, his “Fordian
touches” (i.e., humor, bits of business and the Irish sentimentality).
The mixing of John Ford and Monument Valley in the
cinematic universe was a magical combination. Director John Milus once said
that Ford had a romance with Monument Valley. He was right. While other
filmmakers have filmed in Monument Valley, they never quite captured the
beauty, mystique and grandeur of Ford’s work. He was an artist with a camera,
creating an impressive image in every shot. This is especially true in the
films he made in Monument Valley, from the lone stagecoach making its way past
the buttes, to Henry Fonda bidding goodbye to Clementine as he rides down a
lonely stretch of road, to the cavalry making their way during a
thunderstorm.
In any of the films Ford shot in Monument Valley, the
land became as much a character as any of the actors. In The Searchers
(1956), the land presents the American West as an expansive and isolated
country where only strong, resilient people could survive, be they white
settlers or Indians. The towering buttes dwarf the human characters, not only
creating an unforgettable backdrop, but also reinforcing the theme of the people
struggling to endure in an unforgiving land. Ford’s placement of John Wayne in
this immense landscape only further heightens the character’s isolation and his
being forced to “wander between the winds.”
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
marked Ford’s first-time filming in his beloved valley in Technicolor. Before production
began, Ford studied the paintings of Frederic Remington (notably his cavalry
images) and Charles M. Russell. One can see Russell’s color palette reflected
in the film, notably in one scene featuring a line of Indians riding along a
ridge. It is a Russell painting come to life. Knowing every area of Monument
Valley so well, the director picked certain locations to photograph at various
times of the day to bring impressive images to the screen. A perfect example is
the sequence of Ben Johnson being chased by Indians.
Monument Valley continues to attract hundreds of tourists
from all over the world. For many of them, Monument Valley represents the
American West ? thanks to John Ford’s movies.
Which brings me to my book, The Cavalry Trilogy: John
Ford, John Wayne and the Making of Three Classic Westerns. I have always
been a fan of these films (Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio
Grande), but was frustrated by the minimal coverage they received in any
Ford biography. Unfortunately, word count and page length are always a writer’s
greatest adversary.
Much like the cavalry coming to the rescue in his movies,
I chose to give Ford’s wonderful trilogy the proper attention they so richly
deserve. (Plus, it was a great excuse to make another visit to Monument
Valley!) Writing about John Ford in The Cavalry Trilogy not only allowed
me to shed light on these classic films, but also to uncover stories that
hadn’t been published before. Kind of made me feel a bit like Indiana Jones –
in Monument Valley.
(Michael F. Blake will be signing copies of the book at the John Wayne Birthplace festivities held in Winterset, Iowa on May 24-25 to commemorate Wayne's birthday.)
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