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John Ford interview 1965 — Transcript

by Hollowshape · 2,820 words · 396 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00what's your fault where do you come from
0:07Portland Maine Portland Maine well Peaks
0:11Island Maine PBA KS I'm going I'm going
0:17to ask you a very indiscreet question
0:19when were you born
0:21go ahead ask me indiscreet question
0:24first the indiscreet question is when
0:27were you born
0:27what is the indiscreet question where
0:30have you been born is that industry I
0:33was born 95 I'm 70 years old and when
0:39did you start huh what 68 well I feel
0:48like 90 and when when have you started
0:55making movie pictures 1916 here in
1:01Hollywood yes how did you come to do
1:06some of your pictures I may say so I
1:08trained my affairs we said the new
1:15Hollywood Osmond family would come and
1:19face what have you done before making
1:26movie pictures I'm trying to think I was
1:34a cowboy when and where Arizona
1:40gonna before that I went to school yes
1:43mm-hmm I got out of school and went west
1:46finally drifted a Hollywood got into the
1:49singer state of a since 1916 but being
1:54born in the main normally you should
1:57have you should you shouldn't have well
2:00you shouldn't have the asura you
2:02shouldn't have been a cowboy a cowboy
2:04pourquoi no
2:06go boy young people wear metal oh a
2:11a methadone C cool it zippy
2:14and if retail that though I didn't oh
2:16come on put on turn a should a cold
2:22summer coma see our Midsummer Night Live
2:26across they take little snippy little
2:30girls dicta yeah all my course you know
2:33I went to see how is a sailor well I
2:37went west to become a cowboy I wash
2:39dishes you you what you washed dishes
2:42yes in the West in restaurant in
2:45restaurant all the way west and how long
2:49have you been a cowboy Oh about eight
2:52months eight month
2:54mmm-hmm how did you like it
2:57alright you very much the pain was poor
3:01so you had to quit bothers no no no I
3:05just want to move on I was Restless to
3:07move on how long were you a cowboy what
3:13picture great what is the name of the
3:21place in France fault boom yeah
3:30yes mr. Alden do where did you come from
3:39they talked to man
3:41men in New York you know New England
3:46well it's not only there but it's not
3:49very far from New York no see cuckoo
3:53prisoner fire Padre Padre it's very very
3:58much to the east is it is it where
4:01you've learned your French no come on
4:06attack this book who this was racing but
4:09one second is yeah we don't say
4:12Canadians that Keynesian the party
4:16record saw no more just one day - no sir
4:27the Quebec they are called common units
4:37come on yeah and they become teachers of
4:43French and schools so the tip of a cell
4:46phone set wait mmm but to confess on my
4:54comes on my neighborhood
4:59[Music]
5:05what do you call what do you call it in
5:07French course Yaman French the district
5:12you mean that could mean no yeah you
5:15could toss it a minute ago
5:19excellent no more man
5:24so and how does it happen that being
5:31from the main you you were made your
5:35life in a way in Hollywood come on scoop
5:38is at Zahav HTC j & Fri Hollywood
5:47Francis Ford we it's my family so well
5:56oh gosh another failure I want
6:03absolutely and I call eternity we know
6:09is it party wrong me excuse it Villa
6:18hello California defend on a teaser
6:22nervous you fell come on these are not
6:24even fair what are you doing Arizona Oh
6:32cowboy cowboy you know for Susan yeah it
6:37raised interest on I liked it
6:40young situation in our projectionists to
6:45George Ernest and after that I went to
6:50Hollywood being first what a laborer at
6:57Katya
6:59Shelley shall swear by three four
7:06threatened pick-and-shovel then I became
7:18an assistant prop man as he starts this
7:21well east come see I'm the prop man come
7:31on
7:31access released access wow they got to
7:36go on strike
7:39then I became a prop man
7:42assistant director eventually a director
7:45I started directing rouse nineteen when
7:48you win nineteen which year was it oh
7:52yes it was in season 16 no 16 yeah then
8:02the war came along of course and
8:04afterwards I came back and I continued
8:06directing yes what was what was that
8:08first picture you directed when you were
8:1019
8:11you shouldn't say path cut this my pole
8:15no come on got to smile
8:18cut this my pole no I don't recognize
8:21that I don't know perhaps I don't
8:23recognize I don't know the first picture
8:26you made after the war what was it I
8:28don't know you shoulda said bye I don't
8:36know and what is the first picture you
8:40remember I don't remember the Iron Horse
8:46there I saw hmm hey boss when was it 29
8:54about 24 what I saw yeah 24:34 J right
9:01it's a they'd like us to show
9:03nourishment fair
9:16[Music]
9:38yeah yeah no more pictures
10:26no more pictures we have to do the two
10:30at the same time but it's always that
10:32you know they might miss your father you
10:38have lived almost the whole of the
10:43American history of the movie picture
10:46children when you look back what do you
10:52feel about it what do you feel about the
10:54way it was done well if I want to live
10:59my life over again I will still do the
11:03same thing Hollywood I mean has a bad
11:08press
11:09there are wonderful people the most
11:13noble lot of people most charitable they
11:17have the best records for example the
11:20best military records of any industry in
11:23the country the best civil records and
11:26the best charitable record of course
11:30some star or something pretends to be a
11:32star gets in trouble
11:33you have headlines in the SWA knotless
11:40far what's you know but grab a bad press
11:44but they're magnificent people
11:47charitable kind nice very nice and it's
11:51the people that you get the scandal from
11:55some of them are not even in the
11:56business when when you when you look
12:01back at the way films were made in
12:04Hollywood do you find there was a great
12:07change
12:08no it occurred gradually it occurred
12:13gradually we didn't notice we just kept
12:16on everything that came along knew we
12:18took pickup like sound color we took it
12:22in stride go ahead and strike of you
12:26don't don't look don't move no wait and
12:30when you think of the first pictures you
12:33made here you think that what what did
12:41you think you would achieve when you
12:46made your first pictures I thought I
12:51would achieve a check on money that's
12:55all I thought about and when did you
12:58stop thinking that there was something
13:03more than checks behind it this is my
13:10business my profession it's a way that I
13:12support my family I love the business
13:15I'd like to people I am NOT what is
13:18called a career
13:19director what do you mean by that it's a
13:25slight difference I don't want Z what
13:28are you trying English I understand
13:31English even if I don't speak it very
13:32well I understand English is that what
13:35you're speaking English I'm sorry
13:37are you speaking English some men
13:44they'll make a good picture then they
13:46keep trying and trying to they won't
13:49work for a year and a half they're
13:51trying to beat the last one I just keep
13:53on going making pictures good bad and
13:56different I just like to be around the
13:58studios I'd like the people I work with
14:01I'm absolutely without ambition I have
14:05no ambition it's all like pictures I
14:09like to make pictures when you make
14:11pictures like stagecoach for instance
14:14you very well know you you listen
14:17pretend you do not know it is a very
14:20good picture nothing of the sort
14:23I have never seen stagecoach what do you
14:26mean you've never seen it I've never
14:28seen it on the screen I tried to see it
14:33on television but there were so many
14:35commercials but I turned it off and what
14:40about My Darling Clementine I don't know
14:48I think I saw that I saw it on
14:51television but the commercials work
14:53minnow was shot how do you feel about
14:59that
14:59making stagecoach today
15:04nothing it's done a good story I think
15:10they're little stupid little foolish to
15:12try to do it again I think some mistake
15:16on their part but then go ahead what do
15:19you think it's a mistake hmm why do you
15:22think it's a mistake this can't go on
15:25want a poor lawyer for lack of a
15:31prosecutor just ask yourself I'll say I
15:37never got confidence for bullies oh he
15:45made great avakov wouldn't miss your
15:48profession why do I think is a mistake
15:50yeah you never recapture you never
15:54recapture something you've done like
15:55that it's a good story but it'll be
15:57it'll turn out differently yeah you
16:00never recapture those things yeah
16:02there's never been a successful remake
16:05you mr. fraud you pretend not to be
16:11interested after you have made film a
16:15picture by this picture that's right
16:20pretenders very rude I'm sorry you've
16:25said something which meant that no I
16:28think of the next picture you think of
16:31the next picture but does it happen that
16:34among the tens you can say tens of
16:37pictures you may does it happen that
16:39there is one or two are several which
16:43you particularly like
16:49yes but you've never heard of them their
16:53way which were little pictures they
16:57didn't make any money but lost money but
16:59no stars but they came out perfectly for
17:02me none of the big pictures like you
17:06know yeah mom young mr. Lincoln the
17:15young mr. Lincoln the Sun shines bright
17:19the Sun shines bright he knows them
17:24I like yes I like to the searcher just
17:39earth just a Western uh-huh good
17:45question you know we have lots of people
17:48in France interested by the movies the
17:52things that Western is a very important
17:55part of the movie pictures it's it's
17:59very you see I've got to understand this
18:04nowadays the market is such that we
18:08depend on the foreign gross company
18:12again
18:13for example France is a great market for
18:17pictures japan is great
18:23Italy is good western Germany is good so
18:29if you make a picture that goes there
18:32you're going to get your money back yeah
18:35we sort of tend to make our pictures for
18:37a foreign market right it right now this
18:43year the only things that are going our
18:45pictures that impetus hello
18:50that's a trek would you know there are
18:55adults only sex pictures yes those are
19:00things in your work that will die away
19:01quickly but and they don't go well
19:05abroad even the translations are bad or
19:09you know you were it doesn't get over
19:12mmm I understand yeah and I'm gonna see
19:15I will we head for a foreign market I
19:18particularly head for France and Japan
19:24something quite successful at it yes but
19:29what I meant was that many intellectuals
19:32in France right lot about Western they
19:37think it's very important for the in the
19:40in the expression of the American soul
19:43if I may say so well the Western is the
19:46best type of picture that's action
19:49mostly true all this has happened but
19:54you have horses movie have movement and
19:56the background scenery color and that's
20:01why they're interesting like most of our
20:04best pictures are Western it's like a
20:08very very I can imagine that yeah it is
20:13where the French intellectuals like you
20:15know yeah I like the song let's go y'all
20:21don't you waiting yes can film it on the
20:28quiet man the quiet man ah nobody's home
20:36the long voyage oh that's one of my
20:38favorites yeah I saw that I saw it it's
20:46a very funny story about it you know
20:48most authors raise hell when they see a
20:53picture made you know the film made from
20:55one of their books
20:56what does that stop no no we go in with
20:59a tone go ahead
21:02and they don't like it but gene Oni who
21:05is our greatest playwright wrote the
21:08long wise home there's an old man who's
21:12very sickly but once a month the studio
21:18laid a running on for him they ran the
21:22picture for him once a month and he'd go
21:25down there and look at that once a month
21:26and that is the greatest compliment I've
21:28ever received I've had six Academy
21:30Awards but this was the greatest
21:32compliment of all that gene O'Neal will
21:34go down and see this picture that he
21:35wrote I thought that was wonderful
21:38most of them you know they don't like it
21:41when they see it on the screen
21:43don't like it mr. thaw you mind if we
22:06say game that thinks about your best
22:09films not being westerns and still you
22:14like to shoot Western because you go
22:16away well I wouldn't say the best form
22:18of the films that have received more
22:19prominence as firms they received
22:21Academy Awards with not not westerns
22:24but I'd like to make Western because I
22:26get away from you get away from
22:28Hollywood for a while you get out in the
22:30wild you get fresh air in your lungs you
22:34work hard you sleep well at night you're
22:36hungry you have a good appetite you're
22:39working with nice people because these
22:41cowboys these people work in westerns
22:43are wonderful wonderful people
22:45they're very hard workers they do what
22:47they're told and it's a pleasure it's
22:50fun you mean you use real cowboys oh
22:53yeah there's hundreds I'm around here
22:55yes but I have my own group and they go
23:00out they do exactly what you tell them
23:02and it's a lot of fun to get away from
23:05here but the big picture so every
23:08occasion you've got to make a big
23:09picture to keep your salary
23:11you know what I like to do Western it's
23:16often been said that you have sort of
23:19your own stock company of actors is that
23:22true no that isn't true that's no that's
23:27just a legend I use anybody but I used
23:31but for extras I try to use the same
23:33people's because you know they know
23:35exactly what I want they do as I tell
23:39them and they're very grateful for the
23:43extra people you know the you know
23:46extras oh the personnel so I try to use
23:49the same crowd as much as possible as
23:53far as cowboy I stuntmen I have my own
23:56group and I use them all the time
23:57because the very they're the best in the
23:59business and everybody's trying to steal
24:02him away from me but to repeat my best
24:07pictures are the so-called better
24:08pictures have not been westerns he
24:13fouled it without the accent disdainful
24:18Misha felt in their particular way of
24:24directing your actors when you make a
24:28Western the same you find that every
24:34Cowboys a good actor you pick them out
24:37they can speak line just as well as any
24:39other actor there are trained and they
24:43have they're not afraid that it's going
24:44to speak their minds and their good
24:47so wait to use professional actors well
24:52there are professional actors oh there
24:56are only four qualify most of the 50s if
24:58you write very very often in your
25:02pictures to the women gay get beaten in
25:08your pictures why do they get even in
25:10your pictures of the women they're so
25:12often so often they're getting a little
25:14over the behinds boudnath underneath I
25:20don't understand why
25:21[Music]
25:24/ are they beaten by men why are they
25:27being punished who where in your
25:33pictures what picture donut on three huh
25:38Donovan's reef Oh
25:43Yanis is like it when I got twice I
25:49adapt that from the French from the
25:51Apollo is beating their women say that's
25:56an influence I get from the French we're
26:01scaring their women with knives and the
26:04quiet man the quiet man that was funny
26:09yeah you don't think that was amusing if
26:15you need us here Bethany and coming back
26:21to the actors do you explain them lots
26:26of things or do you give them a certain
26:29freedom of acting oh there's a certain
26:36amount of freedom given I mean as long
26:40as they play that part I mean it's I
26:43direct the words and you've got to adapt
26:46the action to the actor they our slip
26:50actor camp can only play a part in one
26:53certain way so you've got to adapt the
26:56scene to him
26:57oh boy Nathan a I've got to have dinner
27:02I eat you know I've been working all day

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