The Horse Soldiers

#69 in my ranking of John Ford's filmography. A Civil War film where the history of the Civil War is all just jumbled together into a pastiche of life in the South while an unconvincing love affair bubbles up between a Union officer and Confederate woman, an oddly built feud between two Union officers breaks…

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The Last Hurrah

#8 in my ranking of John Ford's filmography. John Ford knew he was getting old. You don't make this kind of movie if you think you're young. The story of a long serving mayor of "a New England city" and his latest run for re-election, it's about looking back at a full life full of…

Gideon’s Day (or Gideon of Scotland Yard)

#64 in my ranking of John Ford's filmography. It seems as though Ford went to Ireland to make The Rising of the Moon and just decided to pop over to London to make another movie. This film, based on a novel by John Creasey, purports to show the day in the life of a police…

The Rising of the Moon

#49 in my ranking of John Ford's filmography. A trio of short films about Ireland, introduced by Irish-American actor Tyrone Power, The Rising of the Moon can best be described as nice. Based on three works of Irish fiction and theater written by Frank O'Connor, Martin McHugh, and Lady Gregory, while taking its title from…

The Wings of Eagles

#30 in my ranking of John Ford's filmography. This almost feels like an admission that John Ford was getting old. This cinematic ode to a man Ford knew and obviously admired approaches the movement of a history that intersects with his own with the expected warmth and humanity that Ford often brought to his films.…