John Ford

Part of the reason there was no blogging on this site yesterday has to do with TCM's offerings: The Searchers, My Darling Clementine, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache, and Rio Grande all in one night. Five of John Ford's finest one after the other. Every one of them portrays Ford's exquisite sense of honor and duty, which most of his films seem to be about. I'm continually surprised that he's still admired as much as he is. His values are certainly not popular with the Great Minds who tell us which films are the great films.

A scene from Rio Grande which always warms my Catholic heart: Victor McLaglen is running with a child to escape from an Indian attack in an abandoned Spanish mission. He stops for him and the child to genuflect to the altar.

A line which delights me (I have no idea why) from The Searchers: Ward Bond to a junior army officer: "Boy, if you don't hear me holler, you better read my mind, 'cause I don't aim to raise no two hollers!"