Movies directed by John Ford

The Informer (1935)

91 mins     Drama      

Back at the 1936 Academy Awards John Ford's "The Informer" scooped four of the six awards it was nominated for giving Ford the first of four Oscars he won for directing. It is easy to see why as "The Informer" is a stylish pi...

Stagecoach (1939)

96 mins     Action , Drama, Romance, Western      

To fully appreciate, to truly understand exactly how good and how important John Ford's "Stagecoach" is you really need to have watched the westerns which came in the years before. You see prior to "Stagecoach" westerns had b...

Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

104 mins     Drama, Romance, War      

John Ford made some stunning movies and to be honest with its story of the trials and tribulations of late-18th century pioneers "Drums Along the Mohawk" is a stunning movie. But it feels like a movie where you need to know a...

The Long Voyage Home (1940)

105 mins     Drama, War      

Whilst John Ford and John Wayne collaborated to give us some of cinema's biggest and most popular movies, they were not all purely star vehicles for John Wayne. One which wasn't a star vehicle was "The Long Voyage Home" which...

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

118 mins     Drama, Family      

It's over 70 years since John Ford made "How Green Was My Valley" and in doing so ended up causing controversy when it went on to win the Best Picture Oscar at the 1942 Academy Awards, beating Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" in ...

They Were Expendable (1945)

135 mins     Drama, War      

Now part of that is down to Ford giving us a very different sort of war movie as this isn't about a big conflict but about a group of men who operate the PT boats and their dealings with war whilst doing their jobs. As such w...

My Darling Clementine (1946)

97 mins     Western      

To be honest I have lost track of the number of movies I have watched which are based upon the story of Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the OK Corral, but rather than being bored by these movies they continue to entertain beca...

The Fugitive (1947)

104 mins     Drama      

Whilst I watch and review lots of movies, many from a long time ago which would not necessarily interest modern movie fans I still count myself as a movie fan rather than a movie buff. Why do I say this? Well it is because of...

Fort Apache (1948)

125 mins     Western      

For those who only care about whether a movie is entertaining or not should know that "Fort Apache" is entertaining on the simplest level. It features some good performances, has moments of action as well as comedy and whilst...

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

103 mins     Western      

There is no denying that "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" is beautifully shot or that it features John Wayne delivering one of his finest performances but there is something about it which just doesn't work for me, does really gain...

Rio Grande (1950)

105 mins     Romance, Western      

Some of my favourite John Wayne movies came early on in his career, after he had turned from a B-movie star into a genuine mainstream movie star but before you could accuse him of doing the same thing, basically playing to hi...

Wagon Master (1950)

86 mins     Western      

"Wagon Master" was one of John Ford's favourite movies from those he made and in many ways you could say it is one of the purest John Ford movies. Whilst many of the Ford stock appear there is no major star of the calibre of ...

The Quiet Man (1952)

129 mins     Drama, Romance      

Director John Ford and legendary actor John Wayne collaborated on a fair few movies, many of those being memorable westerns. But it is in fact "The Quiet Man" a romantic drama, an almost quirky comedy which really stands out ...

Mogambo (1953)

116 mins     Adventure , Drama, Romance      

Although not a remake "Mogambo" is another adaptation of Wilson Collison's play which provided the back bone for "Red Dust" in 1932. What these two movies have in common other than being based around the same sort of storylin...

Mister Roberts (1955)

123 mins     Comedy, Drama, War      

The only way I can describe "Mister Roberts" is by mentioning another war movie because "Mister Roberts" sits in the middle between a war movie and "Operation Petticoat". For those who have never watched "Operation Petticoat"...

The Long Gray Line (1955)

138 mins     Biography, Comedy, Drama      

The Long Gray Line (1955) Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara star in John Ford's tribute to Martin 'Marty' Maher and his life working at West Point...

The Searchers (1956)

119 mins     Adventure , Drama, Western      

The Searchers: John Wayne stars as Ethan Edwards in John Ford's western about a man's 5 year search for his niece (Natalie Wood) having been abducted by Comanches...

Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958)

118 mins     Action , Comedy, Drama      

As influential directors go John Ford is one of the most influential yet one of his most entertaining movies is quite different to what you expect. "Gideon of Scotland Yard", also known as "Gideon's Day", has the typical mome...

The Horse Soldiers (1959)

115 mins     Adventure , War, Western      

"The Horse Soldiers" is a nicely made movie with some nice moments of action and a simmering tension between John Wayne and William Holden as Col. John Marlowe and Maj. Henry Kendall and to be honest you expect nothing less f...

Sergeant Rutledge (1960)

111 mins     Drama, Western      

"Sergeant Rutledge" is an interesting movie because it is slightly different to what you expect from a John Ford western. What makes it slightly different is that it takes the form of a courtroom drama, a court martial of a b...