Glory in Defeat and Reconciliation: The Confederacy in the Films of John Ford

Abstract

John Ford only directed two films set during the American Civil War, and although it was a subject of particular interest to him, the impact of this historical event on his work has received very little scholarly attention. This article traces the presence of the American Civil War in Ford’s filmography and, more specifically, analyses the portrayal of Confederate characters, whose ideological perspectives diametrically oppose his own. These characters fall into three categories: redeemed outcasts, Kentucky judges, and Confederates in his Cavalry Trilogy. These characters exhibit a number of the traits that the American filmmaker particularly valued, such as a sense of duty, resilience and honour in defeat. Their relationships with characters who had fought on the Union side, especially in the cavalry films, reveal Ford’s affinity with the philosophy of fraternity and reconciliation promulgated by Lincoln during his brief term of office and suggest that the army is an ideal context for implementing it.