Product Description

John Ford was easily one of the greatest, most prolific and versatile directors Hollywood ever produced. Combined with a star of the caliber and magnetism of John Wayne, what emerges is pure cinematic magic. WHV now introduces a ten-disc set featuring eight of the team's finest collaborations: The Searchers: Ultimate Collector's Edition (1956) Stagecoach: Special Edition (1939) Fort Apache (1948) The Long Voyage Home (1940) Wings of Eagles (1957) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1948) They Were Expendable (1945) 3 Godfathers (1948)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11794 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-06-06
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 10
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 902 minutes

Amazon.com
There may be no better representation of America's love of the old West than the 10-disc John Ford-John Wayne Collection. The iconic star and iconic director collaborated on 14 films, eight of which appear here. Four--Fort Apache (1948), The Long Voyage Home (1940), The Wings of Eagles (1957), and 3 Godfathers (1948)--are appearing for the first time on DVD, and the two most famous, Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956), are represented in brand-new two-disc editions that add new and old featurettes as well as the outstanding American Masters documentary John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend. (This Ultimate Edition of The Searchers adds a variety of printed materials as well, such as reproductions of press materials and a 1956 comic book.) Two other landmark films previously available on DVD, They Were Expendable (1945) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), round out the set. The three non-Westerns in the set have military settings, with They Were Expendable arguably the greatest World War II picture ever.

The Movies:
A favorite film of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, John Ford's The Searchers has earned its place in the legacy of great American films for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most notably, it's the definitive role for John Wayne as an icon of the classic Western--the hero (or antihero) who must stand alone according to the unwritten code of the West. The story takes place in Texas in 1868; Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a Confederate veteran who visits his brother and sister-in-law at their ranch and is horrified when they are killed by marauding Comanches. Ethan's search for a surviving niece (played by young Natalie Wood) becomes an all-consuming obsession. With the help of a family friend (Jeffrey Hunter) who is himself part Cherokee, Ethan hits the trail on a five-year quest for revenge. At the peak of his masterful talent, director Ford crafts this classic tale as an embittered examination of racism and blind hatred, provoking Wayne to give one of the best performances of his career. As with many of Ford's classic Westerns, The Searchers must contend with revisionism in its stereotypical treatment of "savage" Native Americans, and the film's visual beauty (the final shot is one of the great images in all of Western culture) is compromised by some uneven performances and stilted dialogue. Still, this is undeniably one of the greatest Westerns ever made.

The landmark Western Stagecoach began the legendary relationship between Ford and Wayne, and became the standard for all subsequent Westerns. It solidified Ford as a major director and established Wayne as a charismatic screen presence. Seen today, Stagecoach still impresses as the first mature instance of a Western that is both mythic and poetic. The story about a cross-section of troubled passengers unraveling under the strain of Indian attack contains all of Ford's incomparable storytelling trademarks--particularly swift action and social introspection--underscored by the painterly landscape of Monument Valley. And what an ensemble of actors: Thomas Mitchell (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as the drunken doctor), Claire Trevor, Donald Meek, Andy Devine, and the magical John Carradine.

Fort Apache stars Wayne as a Cavalry officer used to doing things a certain way out West at Fort Apache. Along comes a rigid, new commanding officer (Henry Fonda) who insists that everything on his watch be done by the book, including dealings with local Indians. The results are mixed: greater discipline at the fort, but increased hostilities with the natives. Ford deliberately leaves judgments about the wisdom of these changes ambiguous, but he also allows plenty of room for the fullness of life among the soldiers and their families to blossom. Fonda, in an unusual role for him, is stern and formal as the new man in charge; Wayne is heroic as the rebellious second; Victor McLaglen provides comic relief; and Ward Bond is a paragon of sturdy and sentimental masculinity. All of this is set against the magnificent, poetic topography of Monument Valley. This is easily one of the greatest of American films.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, the second installment of Ford's famous cavalry trilogy (which also includes Fort Apache and Rio Grande), continues the director's fascination with history's obliteration of the past. It features one of John Wayne's more sensitive performances as Capt. Nathan Brittles, a stern yet sentimental war horse who has difficulty preparing for his impending military retirement. It's a film about honor and duty as well as loneliness and mortality. And Oscar-winner Winton C. Hoch beautifully photographs it in Remington-like Technicolor tones. The combination of melancholy and farce (Victor McLaglen makes a perfect court jester) evokes comparisons to Shakespeare. Best of all, the scene in which Wayne fights back tears when receiving a gold watch from his troops is unforgettably bittersweet. If you view the whole trilogy, it actually makes sense to save this for last.

It's hardly shameful that Three Godfathers ranks as the slightest John Ford Western in a five-year arc that includes My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Wagon Master, and Rio Grande. The story had already been filmed at least five times--once by Ford himself. Just before Christmas, three workaday outlaws (John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz, Harry Carey Jr.) rob a bank and flee into the desert. The canny town marshal (Ward Bond) moves swiftly to cut them off from the wells along their escape route, so they make for another, deep in the wasteland. There's no water waiting for them, but there is a woman (Mildred Natwick) on the verge of death--and also of giving birth. The three badmen accept her dying commission as godfathers to the newborn. Motley variants of the Three Wise Men, they strike out for the town of New Jerusalem with her Bible as roadmap. Ford's is the softest retelling of the tale, but it's all played with great gusto and tenderness--especially by Wayne, who's rarely been more appealing. Visually the film is one knockout shot after another. This was Ford's first Western in Technicolor, as well as his first collaboration with cinematographer Winton Hoch. What they do with sand ripples and shadows and long plumes of train smoke is rapturously beautiful. It's also often too arty by half, but who can blame them?

Eugene O'Neill loved The Long Voyage Home, the feature-length adaptation of his one-act sea plays, with intelligent bridging material written by Dudley Nichols and a final movement, both hellish and elegiac, appropriate to the onset of World War II. John Ford directed, in his more self-consciously arty vein but with no loss of power or passion. The focus is on the working seamen aboard a merchant ship making its way from the Caribbean to New York harbor and then England, with dangerous cargo on the transatlantic leg. Thomas Mitchell (who had won a 1939 Oscar in Ford's Stagecoach) gives a career-best performance as Driscoll; Ian Hunter plays the enigmatic shipmate known only as "Smitty"; Ford regulars Barry Fitzgerald, John Qualen, Ward Bond, Arthur Shields, and Joseph Sawyer fill key roles; and the top-billed John Wayne contributes a surprisingly effective supporting performance as Ole, a gentle Swedish giant who really belongs on a farm somewhere. Although neglected in recent years, this movie has a permanent place of honor in one of the most amazing three-year creative streaks any director ever had.

John Ford had a big emotional investment in The Wings of Eagles, and his favorite star John Wayne rewarded the director with one of his strongest performances. The subject is Frank "Spig" Wead, Naval aviation legend turned Hollywood screenwriter, who had written Ford's very good 1932 movie Air Mail and his magnificent WWII elegy They Were Expendable (1945). Ford was fond of exploring the theme of "victory in defeat." Wead's life was made to order for that. The hell-raising flyboy shenanigans, and his flailing marriage to a scrappy Irish redhead (The Quiet Man's Maureen O'Hara reporting for duty), were abruptly curtailed by a fall that left him with severe spinal damage. He should never have been able to walk again, but he fought his way back to limited mobility and built a new career as a writer. And when WWII broke out, Wead made a key contribution to the Pacific air war. It would be satisfying to report that The Wings of Eagles is a triumph--that the broad comedy of the early reels cuts brilliantly against the raw pain of the Weads' marriage, the grief of a family broken and mended and broken again, the film's specters of death and deep frustration. There are powerful moments, but the low comedy is very low, the visual style sometimes stark but more often just drab, and the screenplay is very choppy about the passage of time.

They Were Expendable is the greatest American film of the Second World War, made by America's greatest director, John Ford, who himself saw action from the Battle of Midway through D-day. Yet it's been oddly neglected. Or perhaps not so oddly: for as the matter-of-fact title implies, the film commemorates a period, from the eve of Pearl Harbor up to the impending fall of Bataan, when the Japanese conquest of the Pacific was in full cry and U.S. forces were fighting a desperate holding action. Although stirring movies had been made about these early days, they were gung ho in their resolve to see the tables turned. They Were Expendable, however, which was made when Allied victory was all but assured, is profoundly elegiac, with the patient grandeur of a tragic poem. "They" are the officers and men of the Navy's PT boat service, an experimental motor-torpedo force relegated to courier duty on Manila Bay but eventually proven effective in combat. Their commander is played by Robert Montgomery, who actually served on a PT and later commanded a destroyer at Normandy (he also codirected the breathtaking second-unit action sequences). John Wayne's costarring role as Montgomery's volatile second-in-command initially looks stereotypically blustery, but as the drama unfolds, Wayne sounds notes of tenderness and vulnerability that will take Duke-bashers by surprise. They Were Expendable is a heartbreakingly beautiful film, full of astonishing images of warfare, grief, courage, and dignity. This is a masterpiece.

Customer Reviews

now THIS is a no brainer....BUY NOW!!!
First...the films
Stagecoach and The Searchers...two of the all time greatest movies ever made....Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon...perhaps only a notch below and the other films while not on that level...wonderfully enjoyable. The transfers are typically excellent as WB tends to do...the cover art is the original 1sheet...very fun stuff. The Searchers edition included is the ULTIMATE edition with tons of extra paper goodies!

Second..the extras!
Stagecoach...the American Masters documentary airing this month on the tube on Ford/Wayne is a nice bonus...the NEW 30 minute documentary on the actual making of Stagecoach is REALLY GREAT....and i noticed its done by SPARKHILL , who did Wizard of Oz and some of the other great WB re-issues... THeir bonus featurettes on Fort Apache (Monument Valley) and the Searchers are also wonderful....truly there are hours of extras included in this package that will let the viewer learn much about both John Wayne...who people think they know but perhaps don't and John Ford...who just might be the greatest director of all time.

CHEERS to WB for releasing these films in lovingly done transfers and packing them with new and vintage featurettes to make them truly worth owning instead of waiting to catch on TCM some day.....and the overall package and price...well..terrific!

A collection of movies from arguably the greatest film director and starring arguably the greatest film star in history....stop reading and BUY!

As Close to Perfect a Collection as You Can Get!
If there was ever a collection that deserves the term, ESSENTIAL, the "John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection" is it. While I wish "Rio Grande" had been included (which would have finally offered buyers the entire "Cavalry Trilogy", together), the set has so many remarkable titles that it really sells itself!

The centerpiece is, of course, a new, definitive edition of "The Searchers", Ford and Wayne's finest collaboration. A masterpiece that defined the 'epic' western, it was unbelievably ignored by the Oscars when released (I suspect, as a backlash against Wayne's right-wing support of the Communist 'witch hunts' of the film industry in the fifties). Time has only increased it's luster, and the astonishing, subtle performance by the Duke as a bitter, bigoted ex-Rebel on a five-year quest to kill his 'soiled', Comanche-kidnapped niece.

Besides the best 'remastered' print, ever, the Special Features include commentary by Peter Bogdanovich, two terrific documentaries, Warner's 1956 promotional TV spots (hosted by an 'out-of-place' Gig Young), and some fabulous production materials.

"Stagecoach" is as important, historically, as "The Searchers", as Ford 'lifted' the entire genre, through this film, into an era of adult storytelling. A gamble for the director (as no major studio wanted B-movie actor John Wayne as the lead, and tried to force Ford to use Gary Cooper), the film is a testament to the director's loyalty to Wayne (who would finally achieve stardom as the Ringo Kid), and a showcase for some of Hollywood's best character actors (with Thomas Mitchell winning a Supporting Actor Oscar).

A package of great Special Features includes two documentaries, and a radio version of the film, with Claire Trevor, and Randolph Scott(!!??) as the Ringo Kid.

"The Long Voyage Home", Ford's second teaming with Wayne, is an unfairly ignored, beautifully realized filming of Eugene O'Neill's works. Ford loved the sea, and stories that emphasized 'Family', and this tale of Merchant Marine seamen facing the growing threat of Nazi U-Boat attacks offers his 'stock company' of actors (Mitchell, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald, etc.) in beautifully etched portrayals. Young Wayne, for the only time in his career, attempts an accent, playing a likable young Swede, and he is quite effective in the role.

"Fort Apache" is considered by many the best of Ford's 'Cavalry' trilogy, and was WAY ahead of it's time, in it's sympathetic portrayal of Cochise, and the abuse and exploitation of Native Americans. Henry Fonda (as a variation of Custer) is a martinet commander hoping to 'make a name' by subduing the Apaches, ignoring the conditions that created the crisis. Snubbing the wisdom of second-in-command Wayne, he provokes a confrontation that leads to disaster!

Framed with the humor, romance, and camaraderie audiences expected from Ford, the underlying drama lifts the film into a richly-deserved status as a Classic.

"She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", the second 'Cavalry' film, is far friendlier, and more sentimental, offering Wayne one of his best 'character' roles, as an aging Captain facing retirement just as the Indians unite to make war, after the Custer massacre. The only of the trilogy filmed in color (which would win an Oscar), Ford's 'stock company' was never better, particularly Victor McLaglen, and young Ben Johnson.

"3 Godfathers", Ford's second filming of this western variation of "The Gift of the Magi", is a small, but loving parable of three likable outlaws (Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, and Harry Carey, Jr.), redeemed when a dying mother entrusts her infant's care to them, in the desert. Pursued by Ward Bond and a posse, the trio, under a burning sun, learn self-sacrifice, protecting the baby. With frequent religious references, this may not be a film for everyone, but it's message is universal, and inspiring.

"They Were Expendable", Ford's only Hollywood WWII movie, was truly daring, focusing not on victory, but on the Navy's constant defeats, following Pearl Harbor. PT boat skippers Robert Montgomery (a real-life Navy veteran) and Wayne, and their crews, show courage as they fight a holding action, knowing that America would eventually rebuild their fleet, and achieve victory.

Shunned by a war-weary public in 1945, the film is now viewed as one of the finest war films ever made!

Finally, there is "Wings of Eagles", the real-life story of Navy aviator/Hollywood screenwriter Frank 'Spig' Wead (portrayed by Wayne). Ford was friends with Wead (his character even appears in the film, under another name, played by Ward Bond, having a ball in the role), but after some early 'pure Ford' humor, the film turns dramatic, and offers an unsettling portrait that leaves the biggest question unanswered...Why would Wead ignore his devoted wife (played by the luminous Maureen O'Hara), when his life is threatened in an accident, and turn to his Navy buddies, instead? There is a story here that Ford chooses to ignore, making the film less effective, despite a strong Wayne performance (ending the film without his hairpiece!), and a remarkable sequence in which Wead, by sheer willpower, teaches himself to walk again, after the accident.

What a collection of films! Need I say more?

The John Ford - John Wayne summit

THE JOHN WAYNE JOHN FORD FILM COLLECTION is the finest DVD boxed set I have bought all year. It has almost nothing but masterpieces--not just great westerns, but great non-westerns like the Merchant Marine drama THE LONG VOYAGE HOME (1940), based on a few Eugene O'Neill one-act plays; and the World War Two PT boat adventure THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945), one of the great war films of all time. One watches this set over two weeks and comes away with renewed respect for John Wayne as an outstanding actor, but also downright awe for John Ford as a director. Not the nicest person, but boy could he direct westerns in Monument Valley. And the Ireland of THE QUIET MAN (1952), which is not included in this set--wrong studio.

The set's crown jewel is the 50th anniversary remastering of THE SEARCHERS (1956), which includes not just a shimmering transfer of this dark and tragic masterpiece, but also a rare comic book, publicity material, lobby cards, and an audio commentary by Peter Bogdanovich. Ethan Edwards, post Civil War loner and indian hater when his niece is kidnapped and killed by Comanches, may be John Wayne's greatest performance in a sea of great performances in this DVD crown jewels box. But a little bit of Hank Worden's and Ken Curtis' unwelcome comedy relief goes a long way.

I personally think STAGECOACH (1939), with Wayne's first important role as the Ringo Kid, is the equal to THE SEARCHERS. It has also been remastered and includes an audio commentary by author Scott Eyman, an "American Masters" documentary on both Wayne and Ford, a new documentary on STAGECOACH as a neglected treasure, and a radio production with Randolph Scott and Claire Trevor. The movie is about nine people traveling by stagecoach through indian territory and features an Oscar-winning score by Max Steiner--the same year he did not win for GONE WITH THE WIND!

The dusty B&W FORT APACHE (1948) and brilliant Technicolor SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949) make up 2/3 of John Ford's Cavalry trilogy with Wayne at his peak. (Part three, RIO GRANDE, is not included here because it is a different studio). APACHE has a nasty Henry Fonda as an indian-hating Commanding Officer of Fort Apache in Utah's Monument Valley. Wayne is his likeable subordinate who must carry out orders he personally disagrees with in a role that mirrors THE SEARCHERS.
YELLOW RIBBON may be my personal favorite Ford Monument Valley western, even more than THE SEARCHERS. It has Wayne as a Commanding Officer about to retire after a lifetime of Army service, but not until unfriendly nearby indians settle down. Winton Hoch's magnificent color photography, inspired by Remington paintings, won a richly-deserved Oscar.

Also set in Ford's beloved Monument Valley, but not a Cavalry drama, is the Technicolor 3 GODFATHERS (1949). It has Wayne, Pedro Armendariz, and newcomer Harry Carey, Jr. as outlaws out in the desert who come across an abandoned baby at Christmas time. This story is the third version of a movie done previously in 1929 and 1936 in B&W. I've seen all three versions and like Ford's the best. It also stars Ford regular Ward Bond as a sheriff out to get the three men--but with a wife who wants the baby. This is a pleasantly sentimental movie, often shown on cable at Christmas season, and reveals a soft side of a gruff filmmaker.

The last of eight treasures in this Ford and Wayne DVD set is the lightweight (and color) THE WINGS OF EAGLES (1957). It is the true story of Commander Frank "Spig" Wead, a pioneer aviator in the 1920's and later screenwriter in the 1930's and 1940's. One of his finest scripts is for Ford's THEY WERE EXPENDABLE in 1945. EAGLES, also starring Dan Dailey and Maureen O'Hara, is the sentimental and labor of love story of Spig Wead's life over several decades.

Almost all of these film classics come with an original theatrical trailer, if you want to see how the movies were originally promoted. That especially interests me when masterpieces like THE SEARCHERS, THE LONG VOYAGE HOME, and THEY WERE EXPENDABLE get shut out of the Oscar race, especially for Picture and Wayne's performance. But, as they say, time is the key factor with movies. And people still want to see these Ford/Wayne movie gems, long after even Best Picture Oscar winners are forgotten. Should you buy or rent these from Netflicks? It is an expensive set, in the $55-$75 range. But if you buy the set, it averages out to only about $8 a picture, a ridiculously great buy. Maybe it can be a Christmas present. Happy viewing!