Overview

The Western is arguably the most popular and longlived form in cinematic history, and the acknowledged master of that genre was John Ford. His Westerns, including The Searchers, Stagecoach, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, have had an enormous influence on contemporary U.S. filmmakers, and on everything from Star Wars to Taxi Driver. In nine majors essays from some of the most prominent scholars of Hollywood film, John Ford Made Westerns: Filming The Legend in The Sound Era situates the sound era westerns of John Ford within contemporary critical contexts and regards them from fresh perspectives. These range from examining Ford's relation to other art forms (most notably literature, painting and music) to exploring the development of the director's public reputation as a director of Westerns. Articles also address the intricacies of Ford's shifting approach to storytelling and the subtle techniques whereby Ford's films guide spectator interpretation and emotional engagement.While giving attention to film style and structure, the volume also explores the ways in which these much loved films engage with notions of masculinity and gender roles, capitalism and community, as well as racial and sexual identity. Authors also examine how Ford's sound-era Westerns create a complex relationship to the genre's traditional project of ""defining an American nation"" and how they uphold up but also question popular culture depictions of history and nationhood, to offer a commentary that engages with both the past, the present and the future. In addition to new scholarship, the volume also offers a dossier section of out of the way magazine articles that illuminate the issues raised by essays, including the director's tribute to John Wayne as well as a moving posthumous appraisal of the director published by the Director's Guild of America.

Full Product Details

Author:   Gaylyn Studlar ,  Matthew Bernstein
Publisher:   Indiana University Press
Imprint:   Indiana University Press
Edition:   9th
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.540kg
ISBN:  

9780253214140

ISBN 10:   0253214149
Pages:   344
Publication Date:   22 April 2001
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

"Introduction Gaylyn Studlar & Matthew Bernstein Part I 1. ""'Shall We Gather at the River?': The Late Films of John Ford,"" Robin Wood 2. ""Sacred Duties, Poetic Passions: John Ford and Issue of Femininity in the Western"" Gaylyn Studlar 3. ""The Margin as Center: The Multicultural Dynamics of John Ford's Westerns"" Charles Ramirez Berg 4. ""Linear Patterns and Ethnic Encounters in the Ford Western"" Joan Dagle 5. ""How the West Wasn't Won: the Repression of Capitalism in John Ford's Westerns"" Peter Lehman 6. ""Painting the Legend: Frederic Remington and the Western"" Edward Buscombe 7. ""'The Sound of Many Voices': Music in John Ford's Westerns"" Kathryn Kalinak 8. ""John Ford and James Fenimore Cooper: Two Rode Together"" Barry Keith Grant 9. ""From Aesthete to Pappy: The Evolution of John Ford's Public Reputation"" Charles J. Maland Part II??Dossier Emanuel Eisenberg, ""John Ford: Fighting Irish,"" New Theater, April 1936 Frank S. Nugent, ""Hollywood's Favorite Rebel,"" Saturday Evening Post, July 23, 1949 John Ford, ""John Wayne??My Pal,"" Hollywood, no. 237 (March 17, 1951), translated from the Italian by Gloria Monti Bill Libby, ""The Old Wrangler Rides Again,"" Cosmopolitan, March 1964 ""About John Ford,"" Action 8.8 (Nov.?Dec. 1973) Filmography Selected Bibliography Contributors Index"

Reviews

Author Information

Gaylyn Studlar is Director and Professor of Film Studies and English at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has published widely on issues of gender in Hollywood cinema. Matthew Bernstein is the author of Walter Wanger, Hollywood Independent, editor of Controlling Hollywood: Censorship and Regulation in the Studio Era, and co-editor (with Gaylyn Studlar) of Visions of the East: Orientalism in Film. He is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Emory University.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions