The Making Of An American Legend charts the way that truth can become legend, and legend can become film. Of course, John Ford loved these sorts of distinctions; ‘When the legend becomes fact, print the legend’ – is the famous line from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Ford took pleasure in even mythologising himself at times as the Man Who Shot Film of The Battle of Midway. Glenn Frankel’s book reprints the legend here; for an interesting counterpoint to this version of Ford’s career during World War II try Five Came Back by Mark Harris. It’s definitely worth a read, if Ford is the main draw for you. So, chronologically, the story starts in 1836 with Cynthia Ann’s capture, and continues to the death of Quanah Parker in 1911. Then, less than fifty years later, Alan LeMay wrote a novel based on Cynthia Ann’s abduction, and sold it to John Ford’s production company. This is definitely a book of two halves. The second half, which deals specifically with the filming of The Searchers, is, perhaps, an easier read for film-lovers, and is filled with the kind of anecdote that intrigues. Ford was a difficult man. The book paints a picture of someone who had a terrible relationship with his own son but hired the same personal accordion player to accompany him on film shoots for thirty years. He could charm and bully in equal measure, and only shot precisely what he needed to lessen the chance that the studio could take a film away from him and recut it later; there simply wasn’t any extra material to work with. The book gives less time generally to John Wayne, but there is a look at his acting style and how The Searchers was a perfect fit for the character he constantly projected, and made him seem somehow bigger than life. We’d love to read your comments about The Searchers: The Making Of An American Legend below. At the beginning of April, Kaci will be reading and discussing The Devil’s Intern by Donna Hosie.
