Top 10 Best Movies Directed by John Ford

How the West Was Won is a 1962 epic Western film directed by Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall, with Hathaway and Ford each directing different chapters focusing on the same family. Produced by Bernard Smith, written by James R. Webb, and narrated by Spencer Tracy, the film was originally shot using Cinerama's three-lens process, projecting wide panoramic images onto a massive curved screen. The star-studded cast includes (alphabetically) Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, Carolyn Jones, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach, John Wayne, and Richard Widmark. Supporting roles include Brigid Bazlen, Walter Brennan, David Brian, Ken Curtis, Andy Devine, Jack Lambert, Raymond Massey (as Abraham Lincoln), Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan (as Ulysses S. Grant), Thelma Ritter, Mickey Shaughnessy, Harry Dean Stanton, Russ Tamblyn, and Lee Van Cleef.

How the West Was Won is regarded by many as one of Hollywood's greatest epics. It was widely praised by critics and became a box-office success, grossing $50 million against a $15 million budget. At the 36th Academy Awards, the film received eight nominations, including Best Picture, and won three Oscars for Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Best Sound, and Best Film Editing. In 1997, it was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.'

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1962
Genre: Epic
Directors: Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall
Stars: Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, Carolyn Jones, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach, John Wayne, Richard Widmark
IMDb Rating: 7.1/10

Alcoa Premiere (also known as Premiere, Presented by Fred Astaire) was an anthology television series that aired from October 1961 to July 1963 on ABC. The show was hosted by Fred Astaire, who also starred in several episodes.

Each episode featured a new story, with no overarching theme across the series. While some episodes were light-hearted entertainment, others presented intense dramas exploring painful or controversial themes, breaking away from classic drama conventions. The series featured writers such as Ray Bradbury, Howard Rodman, Ernest Kinoy, Donald S. Sanford, Alfred Bester, and Gene L. Coon, among others. The show also featured actors like James Stewart, John Wayne, Charlton Heston, James Whitmore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Arthur Kennedy, and Ray Milland. Both Stewart and Wayne appeared in an episode directed by John Ford.

The debut episode, "People Need People", told the story of veterans recovering from psychological trauma, starring Lee Marvin and Arthur Kennedy, directed by Alex Segal. Some episodes of Alcoa Premiere served as pilots for other television shows, often produced by different teams but selected by Alcoa for inclusion in the anthology. While most of these pilots did not go beyond their appearance on Alcoa Premiere, two shows, Channing and McHale's Navy, were developed from pilots featured in this series.

One first-season episode, "The Jail", was originally intended to air as part of Alfred Hitchcock Presents but was instead broadcast as part of Alcoa Premiere. The episode, written by Ray Bradbury and produced by the AHP team, had Hitchcock as the executive producer for the aired episode.

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1966
Genre: Comedy
Director: William Wyler
Stars: Audrey Hepburn
IMDb Rating: 7.6/10

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne and James Stewart. The screenplay, written by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck, is based on a 1953 short story by Dorothy M. Johnson. The supporting cast includes Vera Miles, Lee Marvin (as Liberty Valance), Edmond O'Brien, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Woody Strode, Strother Martin, and Lee Van Cleef. In 2007, the film was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

At the turn of the 20th century, U.S. Senator Ransom "Ranse" Stoddard and his wife, Hallie, travel to the town of Shinbone to attend the funeral of Tom Doniphon. When a local newspaper editor asks why a senator would attend the funeral of a poor rancher, Stoddard recounts a story from 25 years earlier.

As a young lawyer, Ranse entered the unorganized territory and was beaten and robbed by the notorious outlaw Liberty Valance and his gang. Tom Doniphon and his faithful servant Pompey found Ranse and brought him to Shinbone, where Hallie tended to his wounds. Ranse soon learned that Valance had been terrorizing Shinbone and its surroundings, with the local marshal, Link Appleyard, too cowardly to stop him. Tom tells Ranse that Valance understands only violence, but Ranse is determined to bring him to justice through the law.

While establishing his practice, Ranse visits Peter Ericson's steakhouse, where Hallie works. After discovering she is illiterate, he starts a school for children and adults behind the Shinbone Star office, having befriended its editor, Dutton Peabody. He also begins practicing with Peabody's old pistol after Valance bullies him at the restaurant. Hallie, both attracted to Ranse and concerned for his safety, tells Tom about Ranse's interest in learning to shoot. Tom takes Ranse to his farm to teach him how to use a gun, showing him his preparations for his marriage to Hallie. During the lesson, Tom tricks Ranse by shooting a tin can above his head, getting his clothes dirty, and warning him that Valance would do the same. Ranse, angry, punches Tom and walks away.

At a territorial convention, Ranse is nominated for Congress but withdraws after cattle baron representatives accuse him of being a murderer and building his career by killing a man. Tom arrives and confesses to Ranse that he was the one who killed Valance. Knowing Ranse could never defeat Valance in a gunfight, Tom shot him with Pompey's rifle while Ranse fired. Tom urges Ranse to accept the nomination for Hallie's sake before quietly leaving the convention.

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1962
Genre: Western
Director: John Ford
Stars: John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, Vera Miles, Woody Strode
IMDb Rating: 8.1/10

Two Rode Together is a 1961 American Western directed by John Ford, starring James Stewart, Richard Widmark, and Shirley Jones. The supporting cast includes Linda Cristal, Andy Devine, and John McIntire. The film is based on the 1959 novel 'Comanche Captives' by Will Cook.

In the 1880s, in Tascosa, Texas, Marshal Guthrie McCabe agrees to become a business partner to the alluring saloon owner, Belle Aragon, taking 10% of the profits. When relatives of those captured by the Comanche tribe request that Army Lieutenant Colonel Frazer search for their missing loved ones, McCabe is reluctantly drawn into the mission. He is tasked with finding and negotiating for any captives that may still be alive. McCabe assigns Lieutenant Jim Gary, a friend, to accompany him.

Marty Purcell is haunted by memories of her younger brother, Steve, who was kidnapped 9 years earlier when she was 13 and he was only 8. She keeps a music box that once belonged to him. McCabe warns her that Steve might not even remember her, given his young age when he was taken. Meanwhile, McCabe is also offered a large reward by Harry Wringle, a wealthy stepfather, for finding another missing child.

McCabe negotiates with Chief Quanah Parker and locates four white prisoners. Two of them refuse to return to civilization: a young woman who is now married with children, and an elderly woman, Mrs. Clegg, who believes herself to be dead. McCabe demands a ransom for a teenage boy named Running Wolf, whom he believes to be the lost child of the wealthy Wringles. He also finds Elena de la Madriaga, a Mexican woman who is married to Stone Calf (played by Woody Strode), a fierce enemy of Quanah. During the night, as McCabe and his group prepare to leave with the freed captives, Stone Calf attempts to reclaim his wife, but is killed by McCabe, much to Quanah’s satisfaction.

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1961
Genre: Western
Director: John Ford
Stars: James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Woody Strode, Shirley Jones, Linda Cristal, Andy Devine, John McIntire
IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

Sergeant Rutledge is a 1960 Technicolor Western film directed by John Ford, starring Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers, Woody Strode, and Billie Burke. Decades later, the film remains notable for being one of the first mainstream American films to directly address racial prejudice and cast a Black actor in the lead role. In 2017, critic Richard Brody remarked, 'The greatest political filmmaker in America, John Ford, continuously dramatized, in his Westerns, the moral and historical distortions that arose from the violent origins of the country—including the legacy of racism that he faced throughout his career, nowhere more profoundly than in Sergeant Rutledge.'

The film stars Woody Strode as Sergeant Rutledge, the first African-American sergeant in a Colored Cavalry regiment of the United States Army. Set in a U.S. Army fort in the early 1880s, Rutledge is standing trial before a military court for the alleged rape and murder of a young white woman, as well as the murder of her father, a former commanding officer of the fort. The story of these events is told through a series of flashbacks.

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1960
Genre: Crime
Director: John Ford
Stars: Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers, Billie Burke, Woody Strode, Juano Hernandez, Willis Bouchey
IMDb Rating: 7.4/10

The Horse Soldiers is a 1959 American Western war adventure film directed by John Ford, set during the American Civil War, featuring John Wayne, William Holden, and Constance Towers. The screenplay by John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin is adapted from the 1956 novel by Harold Sinclair, a fictional account of Grierson's Raid in Mississippi.

The plot follows a Union cavalry brigade led by Colonel John Marlowe, a former railroad engineer, tasked with raiding Confederate territory to destroy a critical railroad and supply depot at Newton Station. Lieutenant Henry Kendall, a regiment surgeon torn between his medical duties and the horrors of war, often clashes with Marlowe's command style.

While resting at the Greenbriar plantation, the estate's mistress, Miss Hannah Hunter, graciously hosts the officers. However, she and her slave, Lukey, overhear a meeting where Marlowe discusses the mission's strategy. To keep the mission secret, Marlowe is forced to bring the two women along. Initially hostile to their Yankee captor, Miss Hunter eventually respects Marlowe and falls in love with him. Along with Kendall and Miss Hunter, Marlowe also faces challenges from Colonel Phil Secord, an ambitious officer whose political aspirations often lead him to misinterpret Marlowe's orders.

Despite being wounded, Marlowe bids farewell to Miss Hunter, ignites the fuse, and is the last to cross the bridge before it is blown up, halting the Confederate advance. Having completed their mission, Marlowe and his brigade continue their march toward Baton Rouge. As they march, Marlowe's cavalry sings 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home,' with the final line altered to: 'And all we'll raise hell when Johnny marches home.'

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1959
Genre: War Adventure
Director: John Ford
Stars: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers
IMDb Rating: 7.1/10

The Last Hurrah is a 1958 American political satire film adapted from Edwin O'Connor's 1956 novel of the same name. Directed by John Ford, the film stars Spencer Tracy as a seasoned mayor preparing for yet another election campaign. Tracy received a BAFTA nomination for Best Foreign Actor and won Best Actor from the National Board of Review, which also honored Ford with the Best Director award.

The story follows Frank Skeffington, an emotional yet iron-willed Irish-American mayor who holds immense power in an unnamed New England city. His grandson, Adam Caulfield, shadows the mayor's final election campaign, where Skeffington and his chief strategist, John Gorman, will do whatever it takes to defeat candidates backed by local elites, including banker Norman Cass and newspaper editor Amos Force, a bitter enemy of the mayor.

On election night, Skeffington’s team anticipates another victory, but McCluskey unexpectedly defeats the incumbent and his political machine. As Skeffington’s aides try to understand why their usual tactics involving large sums of money failed, Skeffington punishes them as if unaware of their actions. He confidently announces on television that he plans to run for governor, but suffers a heart attack that very night. A crowd gathers to pay their respects to the incapacitated mayor. In his final moments, Skeffington admits his truth as Caulfield, Sugrue, and others stand by his side. When Sugrue suggests that Skeffington might have lived his life differently had he survived, Skeffington, still lucid, replies, "How could I have done that?" before passing away.

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1958
Genre: Political Satire
Director: John Ford
Stars: Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Pat O'Brien, Basil Rathbone
IMDb Rating: 7.2/10

7 Women, also known as Seven Women, is a 1966 drama film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Panavision, directed by John Ford. The cast includes Anne Bancroft, Sue Lyon, Margaret Leighton, Flora Robson, Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Anna Lee, Eddie Albert, Mike Mazurki, and Woody Strode. Produced by Ford and Bernard Smith with a screenplay by Janet Green and John McCormick, the film is based on the short story 'Chinese Finale' by Norah. The score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, and cinematography was handled by Joseph LaShelle. This marked Ford’s final feature film, bringing a close to his 53-year career in filmmaking.

Set in rural China in 1935, the film revolves around a Christian missionary outpost where all but one of the residents are women. Agatha Andrew is the strict head of the mission, assisted by the gentle Miss Argent. Charles Pether is a missionary-turned-teacher who longs to become a pastor. Florrie, a middle-aged, grumpy and paranoid woman, is expecting her first child. Emma Clark, the young assistant, is treated like a daughter by Miss Andrew.

Cartwright convinces Tunga Khan to release the other women from captivity. Before Miss Argent leaves, she catches Dr. Cartwright hiding a bottle she previously identified as poison. She urges Cartwright not to go through with her plan, but to no avail. After the others are safely away, Cartwright, now dressed as a geisha, sneaks into Tunga Khan’s room and secretly poisons two drinks. She humbly hands him one cup, saying, 'Not so fast, you bastard.' After Tunga Khan drinks, he dies instantly. After a moment’s hesitation, Cartwright drinks from the second cup.

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1966
Genre: Drama
Director: John Ford
Stars: Anne Bancroft, Margaret Leighton, Flora Robson, Sue Lyon
IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

Cheyenne Autumn is a 1964 American Western epic starring Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, and Edward G. Robinson. The film tells the true story of the Northern Cheyenne Exodus of 1878–79, dramatized in the typical Hollywood style with considerable artistic license. Directed by John Ford, this was his final Western, which he described as a dignified tribute to Native Americans, a group often misrepresented and abused in his own previous films. With a budget of over $4 million, the movie was relatively unsuccessful at the box office and failed to generate profits for Warner Bros.

In 1878, the Cheyenne tribe, led by chiefs Little Wolf and Dull Knife, embark on a grueling journey to return to their ancestral lands in Wyoming after being confined to a reservation in Oklahoma. The U.S. government views this as an act of rebellion, and Captain Thomas Archer of the U.S. Army, who sympathizes with their cause, is forced to lead a military campaign to stop them. As the press distorts the tribe's intentions, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz attempts to prevent a violent conflict between the Army and the Native Americans. James Stewart stars as Marshal Wyatt Earp, while Dolores del Río plays a Spanish woman, and Carroll Baker portrays a pacifist Quaker schoolteacher who becomes Archer's love interest.

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1964
Genre: Epic Western
Director: John Ford
Stars: Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, Sal Mineo, Dolores del Río, Ricardo Montalban, Gilbert Roland, Arthur Kennedy, James Stewart, Edward G. Robinson
IMDb Rating: 6.7/10

Donovan's Reef is a 1963 American adventure comedy directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne and Lee Marvin. Filmed on location in Kauai, Hawaii, it is set in French Polynesia. The supporting cast includes Elizabeth Allen, Jack Warden, Cesar Romero, Dick Foran, and Dorothy Lamour. This marked the final collaboration between director John Ford and actor John Wayne.

Thomas 'Boats' Gilhooley, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, works aboard a transport plane. Upon realizing the plane won't stop at the promised destination in French Polynesia, he jumps off and swims to the island. Soon after, his old Navy buddy, Michael 'Guns' Donovan, also a retired Navy man, returns from a fishing trip. Donovan is welcomed by William 'Doc' Dedham, a Navy veteran and the islands' only doctor, who is about to head out for a two-week stint on the outer islands just before Christmas, attending to the locals' medical needs. Doc's three children are left in Donovan's care during his absence.

Donovan's peaceful birthday plans are disrupted when Gilhooley arrives, as they share the same birthday and a 21-year tradition of a yearly fight to mark the occasion, much to the delight of the islanders. Their 22nd annual battle is no exception. The two veterans meet at Donovan's bar, 'Donovan's Reef,' a local hangout with a broken slot machine that the islanders continue to play in hopes of winning big.

Amelia Dedham, a prim and proper young woman from Boston, arrives in Haleakaloha as the new head of Dedham Shipping Company, inherited from her father, Doc. She has never met Doc, but as the largest shareholder, she wants to prove that he violated an outdated but still binding moral clause in the family will, which would prevent him from inheriting his shares and allow her to retain control.

DETAILS:
Release Year: 1963
Genre: Adventure Comedy
Director: John Ford
Stars: John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Allen, Jack Warden, Cesar Romero, Dick Foran, Dorothy Lamour
IMDb Rating: 6.9/10