MovieChat Forums > They Were Expendable (1945) Discussion > John Ford's greatest picture?

John Ford's greatest picture?

posted 12 years ago by hobnob53
3 replies | jump to latest

I never thought about it in this way, but after seeing They Were Expendable once again it suddenly struck me that this is perhaps director John Ford's finest film.

It's understated, straightforward, simple and honest, without undue theatrics or the moronic horseplay that so often marred many of Ford's films, particularly his later ones. It has a power that few if any of his films possessed. And of course it has all the traits of the best Ford films, in the way he so beautifully frames each shot and extracts solid performances from his cast without veering into sentimental excess.

I suspect that Ford, a dedicated Navy man just out of the service, was determined to provide a film that emphasized the dignity as well as the bravery and honor of the men with whom he served. He knew not to clutter this film with overheated dramatics or silly antics, but just to let its deeply moving story tell itself.

Ford directed some truly great films -- The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, My Darling Clementine, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance among them. But none of these, good as they were, evokes the genuine emotion and personal involvement with both characters and events that They Were Expendable does. I'm sure many if not most people, even fans of this film, would disagree, but I feel John Ford never equaled his triumph with this magnificent film, a true masterpiece of the cinema. So, think about it, next time you watch it. A superb, if quiet, artistic gem.

[–] dinerfood-901-211557 10 years ago

Drums Along the Mohawk, the Lost Patrol, Mister Roberts and this one

[–] nitebelow 9 years ago

I agree, although I think there was a depth to the 'horseplay' in his films. At the risk of sounding stereotyping, Ford was extremely proud of his Irish heritage, and I think many of those scenes were in a sense a bond to that heritage. I agree that the film is patriotic without being jingoistic and attests to the best qualities of America and humanity, in general.

[–] hobnob53 9 years ago

I most like you last sentence, nitebelow, which is absolutely correct and well said.

I do disagree with your assessment of his "horseplay" scenes. You might be right about its origins in Ford's psyche but such scenes generally marred and interrupted the narratives of the films in which he inserted them, doing nothing to advance the story or give the characters some depth. It was just silliness for its own sake. It's one of the main reasons I'm in that real minority of Ford fans who doesn't much like The Searchers, which is stuffed with Ford's heavy-handed and irrelevant attempts at half-witted physical humor. Done properly and judiciously such scenes can work but unfortunately this was one thing Ford seldom got right.

Luckily he avoided this pitfall entirely in They Were Expendable. The humor in it was natural and went with the flow of events. It wasn't some forced by-play abruptly dumped into the proceedings. In fact, I contrast the way Ford depicted his beloved U.S. Navy men in this film with his characterization of them as dull-witted morons in Mister Roberts ten years later. Granted that was a comedy, but it was appalling to see American servicemen shown as a bunch of imbeciles who speak in funny voices, as opposed to simply being bored, neglected men doing what they could to relieve the tyranny of their Captain.