Searching for John Ford, by Joseph McBride
Review by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Buy Searching for John Ford: A Life, Joseph McBride
John Ford may be one of the most celebrated and respected of American
directors, and his reputation continues long past his death. Even his
four Oscars for Best Director (The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath,
How Green Was My Valley and The Quiet Man) still seem justified. But
author and film scholar Joseph McBride still believes Ford hasn't quite
got his due.
In his new book "Searching for John Ford: A Life" (St. Martin's Press,
$40, Hardcover) he attempts to reconcile the man and the artist. Born a
hard-nosed Irishman, Ford was never able to come to terms with the fact
that he was an artist, and so he covered up for this dual nature by
acting like a jerk.
During his many years of research, McBride only spent an hour with John
Ford before the director died in 1973. Going further into depth than even previous Ford
chroniclers Peter Bogdanovich and Lindsay Anderson, McBride still manages an
astonishing portrait of a confusing, aggravating and astonishing man
full of contradictions and conflicts.
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