My Top 10 John Ford Westerns

[@joshualieder7524]

John Fords films are American national treasures.

[@kennethwalker4701]

I remember seeing this as a kid.Also at the movie theater ,on the billboard it Said showing today.SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON AND SELECTED SHORTS.......

[@moonriverdiver]

This summation gets four things right: is concise; talks to the some of most appropriate directors; ranks them well and is beautifully framed by the opening and closing scenes of indeed his greatest. Which never fail to choke me up a bit.

[@danielcohn-bendit701]

I get choked up because there will never be any more movies like these. Where would they come from? Sentiment, grandeur, humor, and great writing. The Fort Apache trilogy is top of my list, Stagecoach, and then The Searchers.

[@ghshinn]

Back sometime in the 1970s one of my High School students asked what I thought the best movie opening ever was. I didn't even need to think about it, and answered that it was the opening scene of The Searchers by John Ford. I then asked if anyone in the class knew who John Ford was, and not one of the twenty some-odd students knew the name. One sixteen year old called out, "Henry Ford's brother." I guess he was into cars.

[@alvaropelayo8084]

What can anybody says, John Ford and Charlie Chaplin are and will always be the best movie makers. Thanks be to God we had them in our lifetime!!

[@walterschiller8281]

Agree and by far the Searchers best movie I’ve ever.

[@zivendine]

My vote goes to Liberty Valance, Searchers second.

[@spidyr2k]

He had a good eye(no pun intended) for using the natural majestic scenery to convey the metaphorical wide open spaces of the old west.

[@richb313]

"The Searchers" is by far the best Western John Ford ever made but for my money "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" should be ranked higher than it was, maybe competing with "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" for #2. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

[@ghshinn]

I agree.

[@antoniofernandesdequeiroga6197]

The Searchers and Shane certainly are the greatest western ever made.

[@johnmccourt6088]

1 thing i particularly like about john fords movies is the theme songs and the music .how he used the lovely civil war ballad "lorena "in the searchers and ride away .in all his movies there was at least one memorable song "she wore a yellow ribbon ".."i left my love " and the bonnie blue flag "in the horse soldiers and a 100 more

[@steviedepaoli2717]

" She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" # 2 or 3 all day long.

[@Kalelrocks]

You got the top 2 right. But underrate My Darling Clementine, which is coplanar with Stagecoach, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon which was the best of the Cavarly trilogy and his first great color Western. Wagon Master is one of his hidden gems, on the plane with Stagecoach and My Darling Clementine. Rio Grande is better than some that made the list as were the Three Godfathers. Fort Apache is a gem, but it is the third best of the Cavalry trilogy. Thank you for not listing the Horse Soldiers.

[@vishnualcyone9170]

Someone please tell me what film this shot 01:00 is from!!! What a simple yet epic shot. Opening the door, it’s dark claustrophobic and as the camera slowly pans forward slowing showing the Backdrop of the dessert and Canyons is just MUAH!!!! I’m such a sucker for shots like that!

[@larrysolis6952]

The Searchers

[@readlots9983]

#10 -- "The Civil War" segment in How The West Was Won #9 -- The Searchers #8 -- Wagon Master #7 -- Fort Apache #6 -- She Wore A Yellow Ribbon #5 -- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance #4 -- Two Rode Together #3 -- Young Mr. Lincoln #2 -- The Sun Shines Bright #1 -- Stagecoach

[@cyrusa6172]

JOHN FORD The Great.

[@byronwelfoot5077]

the searcher's best film ever made

[@degsbabe]

Certainly possibly the best Western ever made, no doubt.

[@STEVEOMEMES]

Byron you got it right ... the searcher's best film EVER made.

[@larrysolis6952]

The Searchers,Three Godfathers, She wore a yellow ribbon, and my first choice...Ft.Apache..🤠 Almost forgot..The Man who shot Liberty Valence and Stagecoach !

[@josephcarpenter6921]

Stunning

[@romainreuter9604]

The Searchers is the best western ever. I have watched many times.

[@nstix2009xitsn]

Second to Shane.

[@steverogers2635]

Great video!

[@moonriverdiver]

This short vid has corralled a definitive panel of directors and another I cannot place who compares him (rightly) to Dickens and curious who he is - my guess would be Scott Eyman who wrote the bio Print the Legend and does a great commentary track to the Criterion Collection issue of My Darling Clementine? Credits would be useful there, but otherwise its perfect with it being book-ended by the opening and closing of the Searchers (the latter just after that earth-moving moment when Wayne scoops up the apprehensive Natalie Woods with 'We're going home Cathy'). Eyman highlights Ford's wonderful eye and like Hitchcock he started with in the silent era. Ford's Vertigo in its intensity and ambivalence. And it doesn't get better than that.

[@francescobenati2045]

if I'm not wrong that is Walter Hill, who directed The Warriors

[@degsbabe]

Interesting list. And I must check out some of the earlier westerns you've mentioned. However, bit surprised Rio Grande didn't make it into your list ?!

[@wizbanana8267]

I was thinking about watching fort apache but I probably will

[@1980step1]

1st, thanks for not putting The Horse Soldiers and The Sun Shines Bright on the list. With the locations of the films being Mississippi and Kentucky they don't qualify as Westerns. I usually do my lists based on my very personal and subjective feeling on their entertainment value. I know The Searchers is the Greatest Western ever made, Ford's best film and Wayne's finest performance, but my # 1 is She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Maybe its McLaglen and the barroom brawl, "Lieutenants jump when I growl," or Mildred Natwick and Tom Tyler singing. I would replace Fort Apache with Rio Grande and flip a coin on #10 between 3 Bad Men and Two Rode Together. Thanks also for having Sergeant Rutledge on the list.

[@johnmccourt6088]

love the horse soldiers .they are movies not documentaries the searchers is my all time favourite but we all know monument valley is in utah not texas .i,m scottish and i know that lol

[@billmcloughlan3718]

3 GODFATHERS WOULD BE ON MY LIST...SEACHERS ALWAYS #1..!!!

[@DHEMGHJS]

I'd drop one of the early ones and replace it with Rio Grande. But fine list!

[@carlcrisp8700]

They couldn't make The Searchers today simply because of the opening music: "Lorena" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag" will always be associated with the Confederacy.

[@martingenerous1678]

I would put Fort Apache and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence ahead of the Searchers

[@olive6405]

Personally I would have replaced SGT. RUTLEDGE with 3 GODFATHERS.

[@kpopahjussi6379]

Yep.

[@minot.8931]

No The Horse Soldiers? Undermines the rest of the selection..

[@romanclay1913]

@/1a MY DARLING CLEMENTINE

[@nstix2009xitsn]

I’m only listing eight, because I think Rio Grande is wildly overrated, and I haven’t seen his silent Westerns yet. Keep in mind that most of Ford’s greatest pictures were not Westerns-The Grapes of Wrath, How Green was My Valley, and The Quiet Man. #8 - Three Godfathers #7 - Sergeant Rutledge #6 -- Stagecoach #5 -- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance #4 -- Fort Apache #3 - She Wore a Yellow Ribbon #2 - My Darling Clementine #1 -- The Searchers

[@mitchkenvin259]

The Searchers was the most overrated, boring movie John Wayne ever made.

[@Icecreamforcrowtoo]

If you think The Searchers is boring, that's your prerogative. Thankfully, many great filmmakers (some highlighted in this video) disagree with your idiotic take, here.

[@citeriorcf]

Go back to your Marvel films

[@olive6405]

You should stick to watching reruns of BONANZA.

[@STEVEOMEMES]

Mitch is trolling us ignore him.