PREFACE

​

“The truth about my life is nobody’s damn

business but my own.” 

​

John Ford

 

John Ford (1894-1973) gave the impression that he did not enjoy analyzing his own work or having it intellectually dissected. He was also notoriously private about the details of his life, his beliefs and his creative process. His enigmatic persona acted as a mask and shield. Ford’s vision is equal parts creative, historical, political and mystical. The last of these aspects is the least appreciated and most easily misunderstood. To his ardent admirers Ford’s work emits a distinctly poetic and spiritual potency which has deeply impacted the world. His ineffable inspiration and the sacred nature of his films derive from a source that is far removed from logic or explanation, free from the trappings of artistic or religious dogma. 

 

Each generation reinterprets human mythology and wisdom for itself. In doing so we reinvigorate our dim awareness of the basic laws of the universe. Religious texts echo the ancient narratives of long forgotten cultures. Most notable are the flood myths which connect Gilgamesh to Plato’s Atlantis, Noah’s Arc and the Brahman creation story. King Arthur’s fall from grace mirrors the fall from Eden and the demise of Babylon, Sodom, Gomorrah, Greece, Egypt and Rome. Every empire’s rise and fall is encapsulated by the story of Icarus reaching for the sun and falling to Earth. The pattern repeats with Prometheus stealing fire from the gods and King Midas turning his family into golden statues. Such parallels ripple out over time allowing us to distill life down to its primal essence. A template of archetypes known as The Tree of Life maps out the core energetic principals that underlies all aspects of existence just a framework of sacred geometry composes all that physically exists.

 

Ford’s vision embodies the belief that humanity can heal the psychic damage done by our overzealous ancestors. His films point to moments of clarity in which realists and romantics work together to transcend an imbalanced world. Ford helps us face the reality that when cooperation between polarities breaks down, we become consumed by self-defeating struggles for power, prestige and ego gratification. Every generation makes its revisions to the collective consciousness, periodically re-shaping our definition of reality. The nature of sanity is ever shifting, ever fluctuating, with new insights and moments of awakening springing forth from the firmament of our imaginations. 

 

Broad concepts such as “good and evil” often distract us from the unity and simplicity of nature’s life cycle. Regardless of what we do, the world perpetually flows with regenerative growth dwarfing our quixotic dreams and criminal conspiracies. That which is considered irresponsible in one era often become the accepted norm in the next. When we embrace new paradigms and shed inherited baggage, the norms of corruption give way while moral and spiritual truths begin to blossom. Ford’s films draw us closer to the golden opportunity every generation has to learn from humanity’s mistakes rather than repeat them.

 

Ford’s ambitious dreams for humanity were tempered by a humble acceptance of the stage of human evolution he was living in. He enjoyed breaking rules and experimentation as much as emulating the artistic achievements of the past. Ancient Brahman texts suggest that we are living within a stage of development called Kali Yuga, a time of conflict and discord. Hopi traditionalists of North America call this period Koyaanisqatsi, which means: “life out of balance.” Godfrey Reggio made an experimental film entitled Koyaanisqatsi in 1982, composed of altered footage of everyday life which helps audiences see the world through a fresh lens. Despite the surface appearance that Ford was a conventional director, his aspirations were closer to Godfrey’s than most perceive. Expressionists and surrealists helped define the cultural landscape of Ford’s early life and in doing so helped shape his values and aesthetic.

 

If civilization represents our attempt return to the Garden of Eden, then empire building embodies our fall from grace. Ford’s Westerns seem to suggest that if the best use we can find for technology is to torture and enslave one another, we may be better off living primitive lives as custodians of the Earth. Indigenous people have warned European invaders for centuries that breaking the laws of nature always leads to self-destruction. Ford expressed such grounded folk sentiments and life lessons with heroic clarity, gleaning wisdom from a rich tapestry of sources. Hew lived life as an inspired artistic pilgrimage which he carefully disguised as a “job-of-work” in part because he hated public life as much as he hated having to explain his films. 

 

John Ford has been called the greatest filmmaker of all time, yet tastes fluctuated when baby-boomers rejected him in the 1970s and 80s and causing the popularity of his work to wane. Today the vastness of his contribution is scarcely understood despite the many efforts that have been made to tell his story. His fall from grace was due in no small part to the political expressions of his longtime collaborator John Wayne, whose jingoistic grandstanding did more to tarnish Ford’s reputation than any other factor. Yet today an interest in Ford’s work is growing steadily with more books written about him than any other director. Despite the beginnings of a revival and re-evaluation of his legacy, his work has remained largely misunderstood. 

 

Ford collaborated with screenwriters whose politics spanned the political spectrum as a way of reconciling polarities, helping him to bridge the divides between: gender, class, religion, ideology and ethnicity. It is very common for viewers to miss the many layers of his films due to the modestly of his approach which has been accurately called: deceptively simple. From a contemporary perspective, it takes multiple viewings to attune oneself to Ford’s sensibility before his magic begins to take hold. 

 

Ford’s time as Hollywood’s top director peaked with Hollywood’s golden era, an artistic renaissance that witnessed the convergence of high and lowbrow sensibilities just as was seen in the jazz movement. An example of this fusion can be found outside of Ford’s work in film’s such as the 1932 Island of the Lost Souls directed by Erle Kenton, starring Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff. Without Laughton’s performance it is not likely the film would have become a b-movie classic but its cinematography and direction contribute greatly to the film’s expressionistic atmosphere. It is the type of film that director’s such as Ford and Murnau would have appreciated.

 

Ford demonstrated his deep belief in human potential more than any other director making him one of the twentieth century’s most prolific humanists. His films remind us of our ability to transcend suffering and in doing so, overcome the mental constructs that feed our prejudices and internal conflicts. Ford also spoke for the dreams and aspirations of everyday people more authentically and intimately than any other director. We owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude, which is long overdue. If he could send us a message explaining his work from the beyond the grave, it might relate to a comment he once made when asked about courage:

 

I’ve always found that the quiet little man, that nobody pays attention to, usually has more guts … and courage, than the big blowhard, noisy outspoken fellow. It’s the little man that does the courageous things. Courage is a thing that does not belong to any nation, nor any class of people. 

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​