My Favorite John Ford Movie

After a couple of frustrating weeks trying to get a hold of a copy of John Ford's "Young Mr. Lincoln" to get myself prepped for Spielberg's new Lincoln biopic, I figured it was time to take a look at where I stood with the rest of Ford's massive, influential filmography. John Ford is without a doubt one of the most important American directors. His name is practically synonymous with American Westerns, and he directed some of the best, including classics like "The Searchers," "Stagecoach," and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." However, my favorite of his films is a non-western that I saw way back in high school English class, his 1940 adaptation of John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

This choice is greatly influenced by how much I enjoyed Steinbeck's novel, which resonated with me very strongly. "Grapes of Wrath" follows the Joads, a poor family of Oklahoma tenant farmers who are driven westward by drought and the Great Depression, to seek their fortune in California. Our primary protagonist is the Joads' adult son Tom (Henry Fonda), newly returned from a stint in prison, who becomes the moral center of the story as he fights to ensure his family's survival. His mother, Ma Joad (Jane Darwell), is also a major figure, a symbol of goodness and strength in trying times. Other members of the family include elderly Grandpa (Charley Grapewin) and Grandma (Zeffie Tilbury), overly optimistic Pa Joad (Russell Simpson), Tom's younger sister Rosasharn (Dorris Bowdon) and her husband Connie (Eddie Quillan), brothers Noah (Frank Sully) and Al (O.Z. Whitehead), and the kids Ruthie (Shirley Mills) and Winfield (Darryl Hickman). Also invited along for the trip is a former preacher, Jim Casy (John Carradine), who becomes Tom Joad's friend and confidante.

The film version is noticeably more optimistic and positive than the book, removing many of the most tragic and critical events, and ending very differently. However, it's still a notably candid look at the plight of migrant workers and the effects of the Great Depression. The cinematography by Gregg Toland, most famous for the visuals of "Citizen Kane," is stark and realistic in its depiction of the migrants' poverty. It's one thing to read about the whole Joad family piled aboard a car that might fall to pieces at any moment, and something else entirely to see it on the screen in front of you. Ford and producer Darryl F. Zanuck were famously wary of the book's politics, but also genuinely concerned by the social crisis it depicted, and chose to emphasize the human side of the Joads' struggle rather than the depravity of the injustices they were subjected to. "The Grapes of Wrath" achieves a fable-like quality, as the Joads soldier on through episodes of disappointment and adversity, ultimately leading up to Tom Joad's decision to take a stand against the corrupt system. The film is not a faithful adaptation, but it was made in understanding of its own limitations, and highlights aspects of the story that the book did not, ultimately serving as a fine complement to Steinbeck's work.

Not enough can be said about the ensemble cast. This is the role I think many people still remember Henry Fonda for, especially the final monologue where he quietly states his new resolve. I've seen it countless times as part of various clip packages, and I never fail to marvel at how simple and how powerful it still is. Jane Darwell won the Oscar for playing Ma Joad, of course, a performance built on anxious glances, private moments of grief, and so much unspoken sacrifice. You forget, watching their performances, that "The Grapes of Wrath" was a Hollywood studio production, and that Fonda was well on his way to becoming a major star. The Joads are very idealized, but they succeed in reflecting the common man and perhaps a universal human spirit in a way that few other American films of the period did. It had recognizable Neorealist impulses, several years before that movement would come to prominence.

And there's no doubt whatsoever that it is a John Ford picture, with the Joads setting off westward on Route 66, toward an unknown future. The film is full of shots of the American West, the vastness and loneliness of it never more apparent. However, in most of Ford's other films, the pioneers and cowboys never quite made it all the way out west to the end of the frontier, and never had to confront what they found there. And I find it comforting that Ford's revised ending to "The Grapes of Wrath" simply has the characters pick up after their latest setback and keep going. Ford's films were never about the destination after all, but the possibility that a new frontier offered, and the enduring fortitude of the travelers who set out on the journey.
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