Episode 3 – The Commander
Ford is finally in the military and his first assignment is… to make a sex ed film for soldiers! Soon he sees real combat and is injured while filming The Battle of Midway. He’s nursed back to health with the help of John Wayne, while his Midway movie wins an Oscar and becomes a favorite of President Roosevelt. Ford then recuts December 7th, a movie directed by his friend and colleague Gregg Toland, to make it less racist. It wins him yet another Oscar. The brass recruit Ford for the assignment of his career: to cover the largest invasion in history. Ford goes to Normandy Beach to film D-Day, but his film detailing the invasion goes missing.
00:00 – Military Aspirations
05:39 – Sex Hygiene
08:10 – Field Photo
16:33 – Pearl Harbor
20:57 – The Battle of Midway
26:42 – Recovering with John Wayne
29:38 – Editing in Secret
37:00 – Assignment: D-Day
He made John Wayne cry.
He placed a real baby in front of galloping horses.
He was a commander at D-Day, a union leader, and a tyrant.
Meet John Ford, the curmudgeon with an eye patch who just happened to be the greatest filmmaker of the 20th century. Ford was a bully and a drunk who ruled Hollywood for five decades, making dozens of seminal movies – though he was incredibly hard to pin down. His behavior swung wildly from loyalty to cruelty, without notice. He won more Oscars than any director in history, but never showed up to accept an award. And he rewrote American history, painting the country with images so beautiful that people wished they were real. John Ford defined the attitudes of his time, ideas about masculinity and heroism that we’re still grappling with today. This season on The Plot Thickens, TCM brings you Decoding John Ford, a seven-part podcast about cinema’s most mysterious auteur.
Part of that mystery is his classified – and missing – WWII film. In 1944, the U.S. military recruited Ford for the assignment of his career: to cover the largest invasion in history. He went to Normandy Beach to film D-Day and created an on-the-ground film detailing the invasion, but the film goes missing. Host Ben Mankiewicz travels to Europe to trace the mystery of whether the D-Day movie exists.
The Plot Thickens is the official podcast from Turner Classic Movies (TCM) about movies and the people who make them. Season one premiered in May 2020, diving into the life and work of Oscar®-nominated director, writer, and actor Peter Bogdanovich. Season two, “The Devil’s Candy,” launched in June 2021 and chronicled the tumultuous production of the 1990 film The Bonfire of the Vanities. Season three uncovered fresh insights into the life and times of the iconic Lucille Ball and debuted in October 2021. Season four explored the life and work of trailblazing actor Pam Grier in fall 2022.
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The Commander: Decoding John Ford | The Plot Thickens (S5 E3) | TCM
https://youtu.be/CC81g3g8WVU
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Great detailed accounts of John Ford's war experience. His skills as a director definitely proved invaluable.
Very informative episode, TCM. Well done.
Yet John Wayne , Mr. Gung-ho, dodged the war. That hypocrisy still bothers me
#MasterofCinema
Good Morning @TurnerClassicMovies, Here's My Video Request: The Plot Thickens: All Episodes of The Lives And Careers of Simon Oakland and Kenneth Tobey
Another fantastic episode. Compelled me to rewatch The Battle of Midway, and seek out December 7th (in spite of it's apparent racism). Can't wait to find out nrext week if y'all found the Normandy footage
Really Wonderful! Thanks again Ben!
John Wayne is the most overrated actors in cinema history
Tcm can broadcast China Beach program due to the fact that it is a Warner Bros production. The show was shot cinamatically.
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Looking forward to the what's said about Ford and DDAY … little has been known for certain.
Needs a new host. Anyone.
No Donald Sutherland tribute video, TCM?
So you got Scott Eyman to participate in this. Smart.