John Carpenter names the “one great movie” John Ford directed
The contributions that John Carpenter has made to the science fiction, action and horror movie genres are nothing short of phenomenal, and without his works, particularly the efforts delivered in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, those genres would have a severe and obvious dent in them.
Carpenter’s actions in horror are outstanding, say his early efforts in the form of 1978’s Halloween and 1980’s The Fog, while Escape from New York and Assault on Precinct 13 practically reinvented the action movie. Meanwhile, Carpenter’s work on The Thing has remained one of the most important films in science fiction history.
While Carpenter played a significant hand in the advancement of the horror, science fiction and action genres, he’s not without his inspiration and in an interview with Mick Garris, the director pointed out some of his favourite filmmakers, particularly those of the western genre.
“I became a big Howard Hawks fan in film school,” Carpenter began. “He was a director that’s not really well known. He isn’t really well known today outside of film buffs. But I just fell in love with his work.” Hawks directed the likes of Rio Bravo, Red River and El Dorado.
Carpenter then went on to point out another classic western director, although his feelings for him seem to be very convoluted indeed. “John Ford a little bit, although I really soured on him. Irish Vaudeville, I can’t take it anymore. I can’t take the scenes where they’re dancing.”
While Ford certainly seems to have wound Carpenter up, he admitted that 1956’s The Searchers, starring John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter, is one that he likes. Then again, in typical Carpenter fashion, he still points out its problems. “It’s ruined in the middle, ruined by the return where they’re getting married and knocked the firewood off my shoulder,” he said.
Carpenter loved 1952’s The Quiet Man as a kid, but when he watches it as an adult, he just “wants to tear it up.”
He noted: “God, it’s so sentimental, and its point of view is totally immigrant. Ford was sentimentalising the west and women and mothers. Behind the scenes, of course, it was not like that.”
Perhaps the most direct praise of Carpenter for Ford, without any contrasting comments, comes in the following words, “He made one great film that was tremendous, The Grapes of Wrath. It was just a terrific movie.” The film is, of course, Ford’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel of the same name, starring Gregory Peck, released in 1940.
