A lot of people don't like Bogdanovich, but for some reason he cracks me up and I like listening to his stories, particularly about John Ford. Ford was a crusty old man and I hope that I live long enough to be one too.
Bogdanovich's book Who The Devil Made It should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in studio era Hollywood. It contains some of the best quotes ever, like Howard Hawks being unsure of what The Big Sleep was about, but convinced it would be a good film if he just strung together enough good scenes.
Wonder who owns that CBS special that saluted Ford in the early seventies. I think it was called "The American West Of John Ford", and featured Wayne, Stewart, and Fonda, as well as the director. It would be well worth seeing again.
It's available in R2 - see here; the quality is appalling, but it's fascinating stuff.
I think I've plugged it before, but Ford fans should also be laying their hands on the German R2 of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon for the nigh on hour long Philip Jenkinson BBC interview with Ford (which Joe McBride quotes from in his Cheyenne Autumn commentary).
I've never seen the whole of Directed by John Ford - it can't come to DVD soon enough...
I have the doc on VHS. I taped it off AMC years ago. The quality of the AMC version was pretty bad, but I expect that the original version utilized crappy 16mm clips back when it was released.
The doc is quite good. Wayne, Fonda and James Stewart are on hand to offer insight into certain films and situations. I like Bogdonavich's projects on great filmmakers (including his 'Searchers' commentary). This doc is a must-have for Fordians.
If they do not fin good source material for the documentary, they could at least restore the film clips with recent remastered ones.
Sounds neat!! Well this be released on it's own, or (hopefully) bundled into a boxset?
I like his stories too, which are always personable, as opposed to the more studious stories others typically tell. I do however find his impersonation of Hitchcock to be a little bit much.
For those interested, Turner Classic Movies is showing "Directed by John Ford" on November 7th and November 21st. This documentary has been restored and some additional footage added to it.
After seeing this wonderful documentary again after so many years, I must say that it can't come to dvd fast enough. It appears that its dvd rights might be controlled by Warner and after seeing a special thanks to George Feltenstein at the end of this revised documentary, I think it stands a good chance of being released some day.
Conspicuous by its absence in the last Ford box was Wagon Master, but they still have enough to get together another set - The Plough and The Stars, The Rising of The Moon, 7 Women, though I think it's about time Fox paid their own tribute to the old man and got together their own collection.
Looking at it from a purely marketing perspective as far as possible units sold, I have some doubt as to how well that boxset will sell. However, that doesn't mean that Warner couldn't release this great documentary by itself/with Wagon Master or package it with one of his more well known "A" titles and release it on HD.
As far as Fox, I totally agree that Fox needs to release their own Ford boxset.
A underrated film and a beautifully filmed black and white movie, however, it's not a well-known film outside of film buffs and John Ford fans which might make it hard to sell on its own.
For some strange reason I had it fixed in my head that it belonged to Fox (it's my age y'know); and I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Robert, I accept totally what you say about marketing, and I'd argue that there are many films Warners have released that would appear to be a hard sell other than to film fans. But if the doco does become a HD exclusive, I suspect I won't be the only (HD-less) Ford fan who would be seriously miffed.
I think that the doco and Wagon Master alone would support another Warners set; put it this way, if it helps I'll buy two.