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At Cornerstone Festival 2001, our two film venues, the Imaginarium,
and the new Flickerings Film Showcase — will team up to present a feature program on
film director John Ford. A morning seminar series on Ford will be presented
in Flickerings, led by James Wall, who will also host a Saturday Afternoon
Matinee screening of the Ford classic,
The Searchers. The Imaginarium
will screen a classic Ford Western each night of the festival. For those who
might need some persuading about the relative merit of the Western film
genre, or for those who are already John Ford fans, we offer
this brief
preview sketch of the man and his work.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
"Frontier justice" rules the wild, wild Western town of Shinbone, Arizona,
until idealistic Eastern lawyer Ransom Stoddard (Jimmy Stewart) arrives as
the harbinger of law and order. The only obstacle to civilizing Shinbone is
one Liberty Valence (Lee Marvin), who gives new meaning to the notion of
"outlaw". With the assistance of a decent, practical cowboy named Tom
Doniphon (John Wayne) and a local beauty, Hallie (Vera Miles), Stoddard
learns a few civilizing lessons himself.
Directed by John Ford; 123 minutes; 1962
Stagecoach
A microcosm of humanity, barricaded together in a tiny stagecoach crossing an
ocean of danger. The myth of the frontier is about borders, and the action
here plays across the line between individual and community, law and outlaw,
nature and grace. With this film, John Wayne stepped up to become more than
just another cowboy star and John Ford established that cowboy movies could
be more than just, well, cowboy movies.
Directed by John Ford; 96 minutes; 1962
Young Mr. Lincoln
Law, spirit and letter, a Ford preoccupation, is treated via the architypal
American lawyer, Abe Lincoln (Henry Fonda). Folksy wisdom made
myth, overhung with sadness of what we know is to come. "If you think there
is something rather Christlike in this story of humble origins, emergence
into transcendental leadership, and sacrificial death, you'd be right -- and
we might remember that Christ rode into town on a donkey, too." (Bill
Beard) Esteem for this film is on the rise, as some critics have raised
it over better-known Ford classics as the best example of the director's 's
vision.
Directed by John Ford; 100 minutes; 1939
She
Wore A Yellow Ribbon
The second in Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy," this film is ranked best of the three
by many for its gorgeous color cinematography, and more lyrical than
narrative treatment of the material. A veteran cavalry Captain (John Wayne)
is drawn into a struggle with youth for the attentions of a lady (Joanne Dru)
at the twilight of his career. "In Ford's superbly creative hands, it
becomes perhaps the only avant-garde film ever made about the importance of
tradition." (Dave Kehr)
Directed by John Ford; 103 minutes; 1962
The Searchers
At the end of his career, Ford was asking hard questions about the myth of
the West, and Western films — including his own films. Sticking to the
end with his stock company, headed by John Wayne, allows Ford to weave his
reexamination of the coventions of the genre into his own distinctive vision.
Here, Wayne reveals a darker side of the wild west. Chased by his own
demons, one cowboy reveals that the unsavory aspect of Going West involves
less discovery than conquest.
Directed by John Ford; 120 minutes; 1956
See also our Saturday Night "Late
Show" (we were going to call it our "Midnight Cowboy
Movie" but we know from experience on the last night of the
fest we won't be able to stay up that late.
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© 2001 Cornerstone Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
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