Wayne and Ford

May 1, 2017
Schoenberger (Furious Love) has tremendous affection for her subjects here, John Ford and John Wayne, who made seven major westerns together. Her book focuses equally on their individual career trajectories and director Ford’s mentoring of the actor who was shaped into “the ideal of the American hero.” While Schoenberger addresses some relevant themes—boys becoming men, codes of masculinity, and feminized men—there is more recounting of plots and quoting of published source material than analysis of the films. The sections on Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are adequate but not overly illuminating. Schoenberger has an unfortunate tendency to repeat herself, yet she fails to emphasize her points. What is of interest here are some of the more gossipy tidbits: rumors that Ford was gay, stories about his tormenting of actors and irascible nature on set, or an account of Wayne stepping into the director’s chair on The Alamo and relegating Ford to second-camera duties. The photos, of the young Wayne especially, are good, but overall this appreciation of the careers of these legendary men is underwhelming. Agent: David Kuhn, Kuhn Projects.

July 15, 2017
Biography of the two figures, actor and director, who defined the Western film genre.John Wayne (1907-1979) started in film, as Schoenberger (English and Creative Writing/Coll. of William and Mary; Dangerous Muse: A Life of Caroline Blackwood, 2001, etc.) observes, as a "mere stagehand." However, by the time director John Ford (1894-1973) caught up to him, he had already made a few small films as a lead or supporting actor--unsuccessfully, to be sure. Tyrannical and exacting--and, the author posits late in the book, tied up in knots by sexual-identity insecurity--Ford led Wayne to stardom through seven major Westerns, including Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, that are held up today as canonical. Ford's contributions were many. Apart from the technical aspects of his directorial work, he also had a nuanced sense of storytelling and of the grays between the black and white edges of morality that made his films more interesting than those Wayne made on his own, such as the simple-minded epics The Green Berets and The Alamo, "derailed by his ultrapatriotism," Schoenberger remarks while enumerating the masculine-virtue qualities Ford helped Wayne express. "No other director and actor created the ideal of the American hero more than Ford and Wayne," writes the author, going on to illustrate her case with those major films while noting other waypoints in Wayne's career, such as Mark Rydell's The Cowboys and Don Siegel's The Shootist--both films in which Wayne's character dies, something contemporary audiences didn't much care for. Allowing that she is "not alone among women" in enjoying Westerns, Schoenberger serves up an intelligently crafted narrative that never runs as deep as it might. For that, readers are better served by Scott Eyman's John Wayne (2013) and especially Glenn Frankel's The Searchers (2014), the latter of which covers much of the same ground more compellingly. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but compleatist fans of Wayne and Ford will enjoy revisiting the films discussed.

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October 1, 2017
It is not a small task to etch new portrayals of Hollywood legends John Wayne and John Ford. Their working relationship in film as celebrated actor and tyrannical director forged the American western as we know the genre. Schoenberger (Dangerous Muse, 2001) sets out to examine how the two created the ideal of the American hero. The subtitle is somewhat misleading, for her focus tends to shift to male camaraderie and relationships that both subjects found more appealing than their very publicly dissatisfying marriages. The American hero on screen and, especially in the persona of John Duke Wayne, was an indirect result of hero worship on the part of Wayne towards Ford, endless drinking (though famously not on Ford's set), and playful yet cruel rituals of cutting each other down, especially regarding Ford's military service in WWII versus Duke's inability to enlist due to contractual obligations. This somewhat long look into the films of Ford and Wayne and their friendship and why it eventually became tattered is a provocative addition to Hollywood history and gender studies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2017

Director John Ford and actor John Wayne made 23 films together in a long, often difficult partnership. Though often generous, Ford was also mean-spirited and cruel to Wayne and members of his "stock company." This dual biography examines the contradictory personalities of both men. Wayne graduated to roles in Hollywood "B" Westerns after starting as a stunt and prop man. Ford long had his eye on Wayne but waited for the right project: his 1939 classic Stagecoach. In Ford's "cavalry trilogy," his Irish romance The Quiet Man, and in the 1956 masterpiece The Searchers, Ford allowed the Duke to project depth and sensitivity. He also mocked Wayne for not serving in World War II and derided his acting abilities. The book describes Ford's affinity for male bonding on and off-screen, his conflicted sexuality, and his self-destructive binge drinking between assignments. Away from Ford's direction, Wayne's films were sometimes marked by a shallow, self-righteous patriotism. Despite Ford's rough treatment, Wayne was grateful to the "old man," absorbing lessons on acting. He eventually combined both men's personalities in his Oscar-winning turn in 1969's True Grit. VERDICT Some of this has been told before, but Schoenberger's (Dangeous Muse) brisk narrative is recommended for classic film fans. [See Prepub Alert, 4/24/17.]--Stephen Rees, formerly with Levittown Lib., PA

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2017

In 1939, director John Ford took bit player John Wayne and put him in Stage Coach, and the rest, as they say, is history: the two were a formidable team, producing iconic films from Rio Grande to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Schoenberger (Dangerous Muse) explores how they created the image of the tough, independent-minded American hero.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.