Sophia Halkias

Film Review: Stage Coach

1. Relate what was discussed in class or text to the screening: Prior to the class screening
of Stagecoach, a film directed by John Ford in 1939, our class discussion offered a great
amount of background information in regard to the director, actor, awards, and various
themes. We learned that this movie was produced during the greatest period in American
movie makinga period in which most films were serious and ambitious (1939-1941).
Director John Ford won 4 Best Actor Awards: Informer (1935), Grapes of Wrath (1940),
How Green was my Valley (1941), and The Quiet Man (1952). Amongst a lot of general
information regarding the film, the themes we discussed always provide a perspective
and a guidance to the events in the film. In this case, we discussed many themes,
including different social classes in a small setting (between the main characters), sexual
and social prejudice, greed, alcoholism and shame, redemption, and revenge. Each
character was district from the other: banker, sheriff, outlaw, prostitute, doctor, wife,
salesman, gambler, and the stage driver. The film won a couple of Academy Awards,
including Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Mitchell) and Best Score.
2. Find a related article and summarize the content: According to an article titled John
Ford Biography, whose author is unknown, John Ford was born as John Martin Feeney
on February 1, 1894. He grew up in Maine with his Irish immigrant parents and
siblingshe was the 10
th
out of 11, although they did not all live to adulthood. He
eventually followed his older brother Frank to Hollywood, where Frank changed his
name to Francis Ford and appeared in over 500 films. Eventually, Francis Ford became a
movie director, as well, when he shot Western shorts for Thomas H. Ince at Bison Motion
Pictures. John Feeney renamed himself Jack Ford, and appeared in 15 of the pictures.
Additionally, he appeared in various films. Jack Ford renamed himself for a second time
to John Ford in 1923just before his first masterpiece as a director (The Iron Horse).
John Ford established his reputation as a director, despite his involvement in Hollywood
as an actor. He died of stomach cancer on August 31, 1973 in California.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000406/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
3. Apply article to film screening in class: In class, we discussed John Ford and
discovered that he was an Irish Catholic who had high values for family, home, law,
decency, religion, and democracy. He put his faith in the people, as opposed to the
institutions. John Ford used visual images, rather than a lot of dialogue. This article did
change the way I thought about John Ford as a director. Prior to the article, I was
unaware of the fact that John Ford was born John Feeney and changed his name two
timesduring his transition to an actor, and then from his transition to being a director
from an actor. It is inspiring to everyone who dreams of success to understand that a
director with a reputation like John Fords has fought for his place in the industry because
success is often mistaken as being granted to people. It was not until John Ford exercised
his talents as a director that he established a name in the film industry and was able to
skyrocket forward. Until then, he worked as an actor but went by somewhat unnoticed in
comparison to his reputation as a director. This is important to think of as we work
towards our own goals.
4. Write a critical analysis of the film: Although I can appreciate the growth of film in
America during the time of this film in history, Stagecoach was not my favorite film
during the course of the semester. This is simply because I am uninterested in Western
films. Despite not enjoying this film as much as others, I enjoyed learning about and
witnessing the cleaver structure used by John Ford, which is why I chose to read about
John Ford as a director as opposed to the film in general. The film starts with a prologue
and then the remainder of the film is divided into three parts of the trip. Another part of
the film that I enjoyed was the extremely diverse personalities from each character from
the next. I found it interesting that Orson Welles claims to have watched the film forty
times white he prepared to make Citizen Kane, but I personally would not be able to
watch this particular film that many times.
CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

1) (X) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

2) (X) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly
explain that in the paper.

3) (X) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used
indentation and citation within the text.

4) (X) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the
text of the paper.

5) (X) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

6) (X) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I
cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

7) (X) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

8) (X) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research
and ideas used in my paper.

Name: Sophia Halkias ______________________ Date: May 5, 2014_____________________