John Ford and "Racism" in his movies

There are 5 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 5,978 times. The latest Post () was by The Tennesseean.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

  • The topic of "racism" (yes, the word is deliberately in quotes) has come up (again) recently due to a bizarre rant by Quentin Tarantino about Ford killing "faceless Indians like zombies." You'd think Tarantino, who has watched just about every movie ever made, would know better, but either he is willfully ignorant or he deliberately enjoys watching the blood pressure of Fordians explode through the roof.


    Kent Jones has written a wonderful response published at the Film Comment website to Tarantino's comments. Great reading for Ford fans.


    Here's the link:


    http://www.filmcomment.com/art…-tarantino-john-ford#main

  • Hi


    An interesting article summing up quite succinctly I think what Ford was all about. There is a point that a director make a film from a script scripted from a story and therefore is constrained to a certain extent with the material that he is given.
    In an article that I wrote for the Big Trail and which I later included on one of our sites, I argued that John Wayne was not a cold blooded killer in western films killing thousands of Indians.


    That instead the reverse was the case and the number very small, in fact in one film She Wore A Yellow Ribbon in the entire film he never drew his gun let alone fire it.


    As for the Birth of a Nation Ford was a fledgling actor and probably did as he was told.


    His attempts to make sure that the Navajos were employed and paid quite well whenever he shot in Monument Valley showed a lack of racism.


    Regards


    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

  • You have to remember that Tarantino is a jerk. In fact, he always HAS been a jerk.


    He does some quality work, but, like a lot of "today's" Hollywood elite, he's cut from a different cloth, and it's a far cry from the likes of Wayne, Ford, Hawks, Wellman, Stewart, and Fonda.


    When I lived in L.A. and knew lots of folks in "the industry," he was not held in high regard by those in town who had been there for several years, and had been successful to any degree. Shock value is his stock and trade, and his rebellious nature worked against him.


    He's not without talent, but he's not a respectful person.

  • Quentin Tarantino is all about Quentin Tarantino, I like some of his work but he's entirely self servant and his films are so self gratifying often to their detriment. He's probably lashing out because of all the stick he's getting about violence at the minute, but to cite Ford is laughable as he was always able to weave an enthralling story with elements of violence whereas Tarantino often goes the other way and throws a loose narrative around lots of theatrical bloodshed often for his own enjoyment. I also dislike the way he names his films on other movies which often bare little in relation to what he eventually makes.