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CU professor emeritus hits the road with new series at the Dairy
TCM podcast ‘Decoding John Ford’ sheds light on the infamous filmmaker
BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
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othing screams summer quite like a road trip. The pull of the open road, the freedom to choose this path or that, the small pockets of life one comes across on the way to the destination, the transformative experi- Dino Risi’s Il Sorpasso screens as part of the Dairy Arts Center’s Internaence of starting tional Road Movie showcase on June 16. Courtesy: The Criterion Collection here and ending And Life Goes On (July 20), and there and, naturally, the transportation Alfonso Curaón’s steamy, cross-coun— cramped interior spaces moving try trek through Mexico in Y tu mamá through a vast and sometimes dangertambién (July 28). ous exterior. All you need is a guide. For those new to these films, At the Dairy Arts Center’s Ganguly is a cherished guide. If you’ve Boedecker Theater this summer, your had the pleasure of attending one of guide will be CU Cinema Studies prohis introductions at the Boe or the fessor emeritus Suranjan Ganguly for International Film Series, then you his six-week series, The International know his ability to unlock the mysteries Road Movie. within the frame is unrivaled. Ditto for For three Sundays in June and his ability to bring the behind-thethree in July, Ganguly will survey the scenes stories to life in a way that road movie through disparate titles, informs without trivializing the offeach a straight-up classic of internascreen obstacles and antics of the tional cinema. And by opening the filmmakers and actors — his intro for series with Dino Risi’s Italian odd couAguirre is sure to include a number of ple comedy Il Sorpasso (June 16) and salacious tales about the making of following it up with the jaw-dropping that masterpiece. masterpiece from German auteur And for those who have seen these Werner Herzog, Aguirre, the Wrath of movies before, you already know their God (June 23), Ganguly underlines how the road does not always take the majesty and probably cannot wait to see them again. Here’s your chance. shape we might anticipate, and destinations aren’t always victorious. Other titles in the series include the deliriously hypnotic Walkabout (June ON SCREEN: 30) from Nicolas Roeg, Agnès Varda’s The International Road Movie magnificent exploration of a young with Suranjan Ganguly, select woman refusing to live by societal Sundays in June and July, norms in Vagabond (July 7), Abbas Boedecker Theater, 2590 Kiarostami’s search for a lost boy Walnut St., Boulder. inside a cinematic hall of mirrors in
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hen Orson Welles was asked what filmmakers he admired, he responded, “I prefer the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford.” Born John Martin Feeney in Maine in 1894 — though he disputed two of those facts — John Ford is American cinema. He directed more than 140 features, shorts and documentaries, won six Academy Awards (four for directing, a record) and would influence legions with his films. “John Ford’s idea of America became the idea of America. John Ford is Walt Whitman. John Ford is Thomas Edison. John Ford is American life.” That quote comes courtesy of season five of The Plot John Ford poses with one of his four Oscars in Thickens, TCM’s signature pod1946. Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons cast hosted by Ben Mankiewicz. shot during the D-Day invasion on This season’s seven-episode series, June 6, 1944. Decoding John Ford, co-produced by Like many Hollywood filmmakers, the audio company Novel, covers the lasting impact of a filmmaker born 130 Ford served in uniform following the U.S. entry into World War II. Ford’s years ago with secrets still to be award-winning documentary The uncovered. Battle of Midway is a sight to behold Ford is a frustrating man to love. and easy to find. But color footage of He was a drunk and a bully, disAllied soldiers landing on Omaha missed the obvious poetry he brought Beach shot by one of the finest ever to motion pictures as nothing more to touch a camera? Talk about the than “a job of work,” and bent, broke and borrowed the truth any chance he holy grail of lost footage. June 6 marks the 80th anniversary could get. But it’s all there in the of the D-Day invasion, and TCM will frame — which is why so many interviewees in Decoding John Ford reach be celebrating accordingly with a line-up of World War II movies, for hyperbole when describing Ford’s including Saving Private Ryan, films. directed by one of Hollywood’s most For the newcomers to Ford, the successful devotees of Ford, Steven series succinctly lays out all the pertiSpielberg. Some people just live. nent information with plenty of archiJohn Ford lives on. val audio and contemporary interviews with scholars. For the already initiated, the real coup comes in epiDecoding John Ford will be available sode four when Mankiewicz goes in to download and stream from your search of Ford’s lost documentary podcast app of choice starting June 6. JUNE 6, 2024
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