John Ford: Revised 2nd Ed.

Though John Ford (1894–1973) ranks among the greatest film directors of all time, only a handful of Ford biographies or critical studies are currently available. This revised edition of McBride and Wilmington’s 1975 work is well-timed, and it follows the much-discussed performance by David Lynch as Ford in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. In 2001, McBride published another excellent biography, Searching for John Ford. This new volume, however, is a more critical work, focused on key Ford films such as Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and 7 Women, among others. It also includes a deeply enjoyable interview that McBride conducted with a cantankerous Ford in 1970 on the day he retired from filmmaking. Other than minor revisions to the original text, more than 70 pages of new material has been added, though most of it has appeared in other books by McBride. The new essays discuss Ford’s early work in silent films, his Irish heritage and the way it shaped his views on race in film, and his comedic tendencies.