WI: Hollywood without John Ford

[Hendryk]

Inspired by @RyanF's article, a question for cinema buffs:

Before he became a director, John Ford worked in a number of menial positions in the film industry. According to this article:

Around Universal, Jack - as he was known - was a general dogsbody, doing what he was told, working as a propman, assistant director, stuntman, bit actor.

On one occasion he had a close call:

Jack doubled for his brother and other actors in serials like Lucille Love. "I had to drive over bridges, jump over ravines on horseback and things like that. I had just finished school and was fairly sprightly. I did everything." Once, he was doubling for his brother in a civil war picture, when a little bit too much gunpowder was used in a battle scene. The explosion, recalled Hough, "put him in the hospital for six weeks. He never got over that. He blamed it on me, and I didn't do it, I had nothing to do with it, but he claimed that I was the instigator. [Actually] his brother Francis did it."

What if the explosion had killed him? How different would Hollywood have been without him? In particular, would there have been any revival of the Western as a genre without Stagecoach?

 

[Japhy]

There would have been other westerns, there were movies being made, very much in the serial form but then that didn't prevent a rise in Science Fiction to eventually into full length features. Stagecoach is a critically important film but something else would have risen in its place.

 

[Elephant_trail]

Shane .magnificent 7 were excellent westerns.

 

[Japhy]

Shane .magnificent 7 were excellent westerns.

Yes but it wouldn't have taken that long for the genre to kick off.

 

[Visigoethe]

This would certainly affect the career of John Wayne who would almost certainly a b-player for the rest of his life without Stagecoach. From there you could have tons of butterflies from politics to the type of men who become lead actors in film. Ford also had many different weird successors in terms of directors. He influenced everyone from Godard to John Carpenter.

 

[Japhy]

This would certainly affect the career of John Wayne who would almost certainly a b-player for the rest of his life without Stagecoach. From there you could have tons of butterflies from politics to the type of men who become lead actors in film. Ford also had many different weird successors in terms of directors. He influenced everyone from Godard to John Carpenter.

If Wayne doesn't serve in the war, and he wouldn't if he could avoid it, he probably does get a major Career boost actually, just delayed. He would still work well for the war movies of the time. It would be interesting to see what direction his career goes in such a case where he would most likely be known for things other then his Westerns.

 

[RyanF]

World War II movies might be more evenly matched with Westerns in terms of numbers for longer, like they were for the 1940s. As for Wayne, Hollywood would still have a need for tough guy roles and once his time fades in War films he might slot into aviation or cop roles like he did OTL but more evenly split with whatever Westerns are being produced.

The interesting thing comes from what is the film to revitalise the genre, who directs it, and who stars in it. Anthony Mann? Howard Hawks? Jimmy Stewart? Henry Fonda? Does the area around Durango, Colorado set the iconography for these films more than Monument Valley?

Of course another interesting possibility is a failure that stymies it for a few years perhaps keeping it restricted to serials until television comes along. As it stands Duel in the Sun was promoted by David O. Selznik who boasted it would beat the box office record of Gone with the Wind, a troubled production, an astronomical marketing budget, and a lot of grief from both censors and religious groups meant the film only just broke even. It wouldn't take much for it to be a failure that other producers might take note of leaving the Western to something relegated to Saturday mornings.