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Ben Mankiewicz
You're very odd now, I think. Very odd. You're odd. O, double D. O, double d, odd. In 1973, an aging movie star went to Palm Springs to visit a dying Hollywood director. God, how long have we known each other? 40 years. 40 years. The actress was Katharine Hepburn. The director, John Ford. There were rumors they'd once had an affair. You're very devious. So people were scared. I think they were very sc. John Ford directed more than 100 movies. He's famous for his western movies like Stagecoach, the Searchers and classic dramas like the Grapes of Wrath. Katharine Hepburn, though, is right. John Ford was odd. He constantly chewed on a handkerchief. Can you see my hanky? He hated being interviewed. You're not taping this? Yeah, I am. Oh, shit. And on set, he was both a genius and a tyrant. We blew him up one time. John Ford won more Academy Awards than any director in history. John Ford. John Ford. But he never went to an Oscar ceremony. He made John Wayne famous. They did 14 movies together. Yet Ford tormented him on set all day long. He badgered him and he'd say, ah, forget God sakes, Duke. When are you going to learn how to act? God almighty, you're the worst. John Ford also lied all the time. His life was a series of tall tales. When whiskey was involved, and it often was, he was the world's worst drunkard. World's worst. The tails got taller and the man got meaner. We all knew Ford was a bit of a bullshitter, right? He was a very sentimental man. But he could be brutal if you let him. He didn't speak to me for two years. I don't know to this day why it didn't. But there's one undeniable fact. John Ford was the most influential filmmaker of the 20th century. Directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese revere him. I try to run a John Ford film, one or two before I start every movie, simply because he inspires me. There's something about Ford that nobody else has. He was one of the real pioneers of how you tell stories with pictures. I love the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford. This season on the Plot Thickens. Join me, Ben Mankiewicz, as I try to make sense of how this difficult and sometimes cruel man changed moviemaking and in the process, shaped America. John Ford is Walt Whitman. John Ford is Thomas Edison. John Ford is John Ford is American life. We'll hear rare recordings of John Ford himself. A lot of people ask me, what is the secret of direction and interviews that have never been heard before. With Hollywood legends including John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart. There was tension always. Life is too short. I'll never work for that son of a bitch ever again. Follow along as I go back in Hollywood history, from the days of silent movies through the 1960s and where I go on a mission to find a lost John Ford film. I have been looking and looking for this film and I have never found anything. What it would mean to find that footage is literally incalculable. What an incredible discovery it would be. Do you think this is it? Is this John Ford's film? Um. It's all an effort to understand one man and his legacy. Because the truth is, we are still living in the country John Ford created on screen. Out here, a man settles his own problem. Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, I'll be there. What you all need is a good stiff drink. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. John Ford was not a man interested in being understood. I would rather not discuss it. I won't answer your question. This season on the plot thickens. Though. We're going to try. He was very mysterious. I could never figure him out. And I still seek the answer, you see. So I still hope to find the truth about it. Decoding John 4, a seven part series from Turner Classic Movies and novel coming this summer, available everywhere. You get podcasts.