Public Libraries of Suffolk County, New York

Wayne and Ford, the films, the friendship, and the forging of an American hero, Nancy Schoenberger

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

collective biography

illustrationsphotographs

index present

non fiction

Wayne and Ford

bibliography

Nancy Schoenberger

the films, the friendship, and the forging of an American hero

For more than twenty years John Ford and John Wayne were a blockbuster Hollywood team, turning out many of the finest Western films ever made. Ford, known for his black eye patch and for his hard-drinking, brawling masculinity, was a son of Irish immigrants and was renowned as a director for both his craftsmanship and his brutality. John Duke Wayne was a mere stagehand and bit player in B Westerns, but he was strapping and handsome, and Ford saw his potential. In 1939 Ford made Wayne a star in Stagecoach, and from there the two men established a close, often turbulent relationship. Their most productive years saw the release of one iconic film after another: Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. But by 1960 the bond of their friendship had frayed, and Wayne felt he could move beyond his mentor with his first solo project, The Alamo. Few of Waynes subsequent films would have the brilliance or the cachet of a John Ford Western, but viewed together the careers of these two men changed moviemaking in ways that endure to this day

adult

Films, the friendship, and the forging of an American hero