Direction: John Ford
The best movies, series, and documentaries directed by John Ford. Explore exceptional titles that showcase a unique filmmaking vision.
The Grapes of Wrath
1940 · Movie · 129 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Henry Fonda · Jane Darwell · John Carradine · Charley Grapewin
Plot When Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) returns home after being released from prison, he discovers his family has been kicked out of their farm. Seeking a better future, he leaves with...
8.3
23K votes
8.3
23K votes
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962 · Movie · 119 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast John Wayne · James Stewart · Vera Miles · Lee Marvin
Plot Congressman Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) returns with his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) to the tiny town of Shinbone to bury an old friend, Tom Doniphon (John Wayne), and tells reporters...
8.3
32K votes
8.3
32K votes
How Green Was My Valley
1941 · Movie · 118 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Walter Pidgeon · Maureen O'Hara · Roddy McDowall · Donald Crisp
Plot This story of a Welsh valley's turn-of-the-century descent from pristine paradise to despoiled coal mining region, is told in flashback form by Huw Morgan, an old man who has decided...
8.2
11K votes
8.2
11K votes
The Quiet Man
1952 · Movie · 129 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast John Wayne · Maureen O'Hara · Barry Fitzgerald · Ward Bond
Plot John Wayne stars as Sean Thornton, a retired American boxing champion trying to put tragedy behind him by returning to Innisfree, the bucolic Irish village of his birth. He purchases...
8.0
29K votes
8.0
29K votes
The Searchers
1956 · Movie · 119 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast John Wayne · Natalie Wood · Jeffrey Hunter · Ward Bond
Plot Ethan Edwards (John Wayne), a case-hardened Civil War veteran, returns to his brother Aaron's (Walter Coy) Texas home in 1868. When Rev. Samuel Johnson Clayton (Ward Bond) arrives to raise...
8.0
31K votes
8.0
31K votes
My Darling Clementine
1946 · Movie · 97 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Henry Fonda · Linda Darnell · Victor Mature · Walter Brennan
Plot Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda), after cleaning up Dodge City, arrives in the outskirts of Tombstone with his brothers Morgan (Ward Bond), Virgil (Tim Holt), and James (Don Garner), planning to...
8.0
8K votes
8.0
8K votes
Stagecoach
1939 · Movie · 99 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast John Wayne · Claire Trevor · Thomas Mitchell · Andy Devine
Plot A stagecoach is set to leave Tonto, New Mexico, for a distant settlement in Lordsburg, with a diverse set of passengers on board. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is a woman with...
8.0
26K votes
8.0
26K votes
Fort Apache
1948 · Movie · 127 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Henry Fonda · John Wayne · Shirley Temple · Pedro Armendáriz
Plot In John Ford's sombre exploration mythologising of American heroes, he slowly reveals the character of Owen Thursday, who sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance...
7.7
7K votes
7.7
7K votes
The Informer
1935 · Movie · 91 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Victor McLaglen · Heather Angel · Preston Foster · Margot Grahame
Plot A brutish but well-meaning Irishman, Gypo Nolan (Victor McLaglen), informs on his best friend Frankie McPhillip (Wallace Ford), who is a member of the Irish Republican Army, in order to...
7.6
3K votes
7.6
3K votes
The Horse Soldiers
1959 · Movie · 119 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast John Wayne · William Holden · Constance Towers · Althea Gibson
Plot A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail/supply centre. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and...
7.6
4K votes
7.6
4K votes
The Last Hurrah
1958 · Movie · 121 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Spencer Tracy · Jeffrey Hunter · Dianne Foster · Basil Rathbone
Plot An aging politician tries to get re-elected one last time in the changing world of the 1950s when TV started to play a bigger part in politics. Based loosely on...
7.5
2K votes
7.5
2K votes
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
1949 · Movie · 103 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast John Wayne · Joanne Dru · John Agar · Ben Johnson
Plot Captain Nathan Brittles, on the eve of retirement, takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his...
7.5
7K votes
7.5
7K votes
Sergeant Rutledge
1960 · Movie · 118 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Woody Strode · Jeffrey Hunter · Constance Towers · Billie Burke
Plot Circumstantial evidence suggests a first sergeant in a black cavalry regiment has raped and murdered a white girl then killed his commanding officer. When he makes the case look even...
7.5
5K votes
7.5
5K votes
Four Sons
1928 · Movie · 97 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Margaret Mann · James Hall · Charles Morton · Ralph Bushman
Plot A family saga in which three of a Bavarian widow's sons go to war for Germany and the fourth goes to America, Germany's eventual opponent.
7.4
246 votes
7.4
246 votes
Two Rode Together
1961 · Movie · 109 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast James Stewart · Richard Widmark · Shirley Jones · Linda Cristal
Plot Two tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages.
7.4
5K votes
7.4
5K votes
Young Mr. Lincoln
1939 · Movie · 95 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Henry Fonda · Alice Brady · Marjorie Weaver · Arleen Whelan
Plot John Ford's film on the early career of Abraham Lincoln, which centers on an apocryphal murder trial, impressed even the great Sergei Eisenstein. This biography provides a glimpse into the...
7.3
2K votes
7.3
2K votes
7 Women
1966 · Movie · 83 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Anne Bancroft · Margaret Leighton · Sue Lyon · Flora Robson
Plot China, 1935. Seven women staffing an isolated Christian mission fight to survive a bandit attack. John Ford's last movie.
7.3
2K votes
7.3
2K votes
The Sun Shines Bright
1953 · Movie · 90 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast Charles Winninger · Arleen Whelan · John Russell · Stepin Fetchit
Plot John Ford's remake of his 1934 Will Rogers vehicle, JUDGE PRIEST, combines three Irvin S. Cobb stories about the kindly Kentucky magistrate William Priest, played by Charles Winninger. Set in...
7.3
954 votes
7.3
954 votes
3 Bad Men
1926 · Movie · 95 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast George O'Brien · Olive Borden · Lou Tellegen · Tom Santschi
Plot Three outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.
7.3
326 votes
7.3
326 votes
The Iron Horse
1924 · Movie · 150 min. · United States
Direction John Ford
Cast George O'Brien · Madge Bellamy · Charles Edward Bull · Will Walling
Plot The Iron Horse was John Ford's 50th film and remains his most celebrated of the silent era. Its theme of enterprise and achievement, its open-air locations and setting in a...
7.2
670 votes
7.2
670 votes