Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 13, 1992 TAG: 9203130389
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Chris Gladden
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ford is most commonly known for his westerns, some of the best ever put on screen. He filmed nine pictures in his beloved Monument Valley and made its topography a Ford trademark. His heroes typify the frontier ideal of the rugged individualist: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart. Even the name John Ford has a solid, bedrock American sound. Plain, strong, no-frills attached.
Ford even said once that when he died he wanted to be known as "John Ford - a guy that made westerns." Yet Ford's devotion to Ireland ran as deep as his love of the American West and he put that devotion on screen. The reason isn't hard to figure out.
He was born Sean Aloysius O'Feeney to Irish immigrant parents living in Maine. Though he simplified his name and embraced American history and folklore with gusto, Ford never lost sight of his Irish roots.
Many of the supporting characters in his westerns were hard-drinking, colorful Irishmen. And the hero of "The Long Gray Line" was an Irish immigrant (Tyrone Power) who comes to West Point and becomes a beloved institution there. It has all of the sentimentality of an Irish ballad sung after many pints of stout.
In 1935, Ford won an Oscar for "The Informer," based on Liam O'Flaherty's novel about a snitch during the Irish Rebellion.
In 1936, he made "The Plough and the Stars," a film version of Sean O'Casey's play about an Irish revolutionary.
In 1957, he traveled to Ireland to direct Dublin's famed Abbey Players in "The Rising of the Moon," a trilogy of stories steeped in Irish culture and attitude.
But Ford's true valentine to Ireland is "The Quiet Man," his Oscar-winning 1952 movie that distills his romantic and sentimental notions about the Emerald Isle.
Ford called it his first stab at a love story, referring to the tempestuous romance between John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. At the heart of the movie, however, is Ford's love affair with Ireland.
Wayne plays Sean Thornton, an American boxer who travels to his mother's homeland to escape a troubled past. He finds an idyllic land of country squires, trout-fishing priests, tippling town gossips and genial IRA guerrillas. Ford creates a visual poem of Ireland, a fantasy land that withstands time.
I stumbled onto this movie many years ago when it first popped up on television at St. Patrick's Day. It has become a yearly ritual. I'll look for it again this year. And when I find it, I'll raise a glass of Harp to Sean Aloysius O'Feeney.
by CNB