Big Hollywood Visits Hillsdale College: The Films of 1939, Part III

[Ed. Note: Here are Part I and Part II of this series.]

I’ve seen John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln at least a dozen times, but screening it here at Hillsdale College made me see the film in an entirely new light.

In one of the most lyrical passages of the movie, Young Abe, played by the young Henry Fonda, studies a book of law and comes to a revelation:

“By jing, that’s all there is to it. Right and wrong.”

But his revelation is only complete when Ann Rutledge, Pauline Moore, appears on the scene.

John Ford was deeply rooted in Catholicism and Ann’s appearance has an almost divine quality.

(more…)

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Tags: Beretta shotguns, Dan Ford, Darryl Zanuck, Films of 1939, henry fonda
Posted Mar 16th 2010 at 6:57 am in Classic Hollywood, Culture, Film | 31999013 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2010/03/16/big-hollywood-visits-hillsdale-college-the-films-of-1939-part-iii/Big+Hollywood+Visits+Hillsdale+College%3A+The+Films+of+1939%2C+Part+III2010-03-16+13%3A57%3A01Robert+J.+Avrech

The Big Hollywood Act-Off!: Matt Damon vs. Henry Fonda

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Is there anything left to say other than…. (more…)

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Tags: Grapes of Wrath, henry fonda, John Steinbeck, Matt Damon, The People Speak
Posted Jan 6th 2010 at 7:10 am in Film, Politics | 288402107 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/01/06/the-big-hollywood-act-off-matt-damon-vs-henry-fonda/The+Big+Hollywood+Act-Off%21%3A+Matt+Damon+vs.+Henry+Fonda2010-01-06+15%3A10%3A02Big+Hollywood

For Conservative Movie Lovers: John Ford, John Wayne, and ‘They Were Expendable’ Part 2

“I am really a coward. I know I am, so that’s why I did foolish things. I was decorated eight or nine times, trying to prove that I was not a coward, but after it was all over I still knew, know, that I was a coward.”

– John Ford –

June 4, 1942. The Battle of Midway. John Ford was on his back, covered in debris, unconscious. All around him bombs were dropping, buildings were erupting into monstrous fireballs, and young marines were dodging deadly lines of machine-gun strafing sent down by Japanese fighter planes. Ford and his assistant, young Jack MacKenzie Jr. (whose father was an RKO cinematographer) had been perched on the roof of a power station on Eastern Island, brazenly filming the morning attack by the Japanese and reporting enemy plane positions to headquarters, when a bomb landed a scant twenty feet from their position. The shockwave was so great that MacKenzie later recalled he was “bounced flat on my face by the terrific explosion,” adding, “we almost lost Commander Ford.” (more…)

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Tags: alfred newman, Anchors Aweigh, Donald Crisp, Dudley Nichols, Field Photo
Posted Oct 24th 2009 at 11:03 am in Classic Hollywood | 24718630 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/10/24/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-2/For+Conservative+Movie+Lovers%3A+John+Ford%2C+John+Wayne%2C+and+%27They+Were+Expendable%27+Part+22009-10-24+18%3A03%3A32Leo+Grin

For Conservative Movie Lovers: John Ford, John Wayne, and ‘They Were Expendable’ Part 1

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“[John Ford] was the only one of the Hollywood directors who fought who did not forget his men.”

– Captain Mark Armistead, USN –

Thus quotes Joseph McBride in his masterful biography Searching for John Ford, at the head of the chapter dealing with the director’s wartime activities. It is usually seen as lamentable when a genius is pulled from the practice of his art for any extended period, but here we must make a special allowance. As filmmaker Lindsay Anderson (1923-1994) explains in his essential critical volume About John Ford (which, like the McBride book, should be sitting proudly and dog-eared on the bookshelf of every conservative film fan): “War service took Ford away from the making of films for some three years when his powers were at their height. One would regret this interruption more had it not led directly to the making of a masterpiece.” (more…)

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Tags: "John Ford's Navy", About John Ford (book), Bette Davis, bob hope, Charles Trowbridge
Posted Oct 17th 2009 at 11:09 am in Classic Hollywood | 24699462 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/10/17/for-conservative-movie-lovers-john-ford-john-wayne-and-they-were-expendable-part-1/For+Conservative+Movie+Lovers%3A+John+Ford%2C+John+Wayne%2C+and+%27They+Were+Expendable%27+Part+12009-10-17+18%3A09%3A04Leo+Grin

Hollywood Unveiled: John Wayne Walks Like a Girl

John Wayne walks the walk in Hondo, 1953.

It’s in the walk.

Think of Mae West, hands caressing her Rubenesque hips, head tilted, not just sauntering, but oozing forward, the exaggerated female.

Elbows cocked and angled at his hips, moving with concentrated energy, Jimmy Cagney looks like a coiled spring about to explode.

Joan Crawford, leading with her linebacker shoulders, like a tank on the battlefield, determined, dangerous, unstoppable. (more…)

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Tags: Andy Hardy, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Harry Carey, henry fonda
Posted Jun 9th 2009 at 6:42 am in Celebrity News | 15381091 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/06/09/hollywood-unveiled-john-wayne-walks-like-a-girl/Hollywood+Unveiled%3A+John+Wayne+Walks+Like+a+Girl2009-06-09+13%3A42%3A35Robert+J.+Avrech

TCM Pick O’ The Day: Monday, January 26th

11:30am PST – Fugitive, The (1947) – A revolutionary priest flees a Central American dictatorship. Cast: Henry Fonda, Pedro Armendariz, J. Carrol Naish, Leo Carrillo Dir: John Ford BW-100 mins, TV-PG

The star of John Ford’s most personal film is Gabriel Figueroa’s inexpressibly beautiful photography. The Mexican cinematographer painstakingly paints each and every shot with black and white and contrast and hushed stillness. Like his masterpiece, “Young Mr. Lincoln” (which also stars Henry Fonda), Ford isn’t interested in story as much as myth-making and emotional atmosphere. (more…)

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Tags: fugitive, gabriel figueroa, henry fonda, john ford
Posted Jan 25th 2009 at 9:00 am in Today's Pick | 298939 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/01/25/tcm-pick-o-the-day-monday-january-26th/TCM+Pick+O%27+The+Day%3A+Monday%2C+January+26th2009-01-25+17%3A00%3A07John+Nolte