Summary: Ford's last big hurrah would be in the sixties. Studios began to decline in offering him projects as they viewed him only cappable of making westerns. His health began to decline and work became limited for him. The world around him was changing and his characters were not as desired as they were in the past. Throughout these challenges he pulled off a couple of hits before passing away in 1973.
Popular Western
Films: Sergeant Rutledge (1960),
Two Rode Together (1961),
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962),
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Interesting Fact: He was the first to be given the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. John Wayne was the one to present it to him. Ford passed away six months later.
Western Awards: He won three Bronze Wranglers, one for
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), another for
How the West Was Won (1962) and the last was for
Cheyenne Autumn (1964). During the sixties he also was nominated four different times for a Laurel Award and won third place twice.
John Wayne: "Jack Ford gives us, in his work, that part of legend and history that might have been lost forever to the American people."
With the beginning of the sixties, Ford directed
Sergeant Rutledge (1960), a picture about an African American soldier who is accused of rape and murder. The theme is somewhat comparable to a film made a couple years later by Robert Mulligan,
To Kill a Mocking Bird (1962). The picture was not as successful as the studio had hoped and Ford was without work for a little while.
Without any projects, Ford went to go see his friend Wayne on the set of his first film as director,
The Alamo (1960). When Ford arrived, he sat down in the directors chair. This action caused a little frustration in Wayne and his crew. In desperation they decided to set him off in another part of the set to direct some chase scenes that were never to be used in the final cut.
While at the set, Ford met Richard Widmark who would later star in three of Ford's final westerns. One picture, in particular, would also have Jimmy Stewart's introduction in a Ford film,
Two Rode Together (1961). But as he gained more stars, sadness surrounded him at the sudden passing of his life-long friend, Ward Bond.
In 1962, Ford would make what is considered to be the last great western of the Golden Age of movies,
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance. In the film, you see the end of the West that we related too. This became a direct reflection to the end of an age in America that we were accustomed too. Within one year after its production, Marilyn Monroe was mysteriously found dead and Kennedy was mysteriously assassinated. This also has a slight connection on who really killed Liberty Valance.
This film would also solidify something that Ford had silently expressed in all of his pictures. "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." In reality, he was'nt saying that myths are more important than truth, but that the masses approve of the fictional story rather than the actual facts. Another notable feature of the film is the character played by Wayne could be compared to Ford. Both were alcoholics and both were concerned that they had outlived their use in society.
One other theme that was underlying in his other pictures is presented more honestly in this picture. Throughout Ford's films he gives you an example of what a MAN should be. Think of all his past pictures whether western or modern, and pick out the figure of a man that he caresses within the story. Through this particular film, he gives you two sides of a man, Stewart's & Wayne's. One as the rough and tough figure, which is the only thing standing between civilization and anarchy. The other is a man who chooses to stand up to lawlessness, though he doesn't know if he has it in him.
Ford would go on to direct a small part in
How the West Was Won (1962) and film his last western with also the use of Monument Valley one final time in
Cheyenne Autumn (1964). His health was decreasing rapidly as he reached his seventies. The America he had grown up in had changed and so had movies. But don't let that depress you any.
Ford had become a legend, but not the kind you see on a Wheaties box or a ballot form. He had become the kind of legend that sits you down, one on one, and tells you a story that changes you, but you don't know how. For some reason his story leaves you with more than courage and moral honesty, but a sense of responsibility that you usually learn from your own father.
With just over one hundred films under his name and six Oscars on his mantel, Ford would leave this earth on the 31st of August in 1973. His pictures of America would, in turn, reshape America and inspire generations of another age. His work could be compared to that of the pioneers, who not only trudged through the wilderness but sought to make it civilized. He is one of the greatest legends of Hollywood and when the legend becomes truth, print the legend.
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