How the West Was Sung: Music in the Westerns of John Ford / Edition 1

by Kathryn M. Kalinak

Overview

James Stewart once said, "For John Ford, there was no need for dialogue. The music said it all." This lively, accessible study is the first comprehensive analysis of Ford's use of music in his iconic westerns. Encompassing a variety of critical approaches and incorporating original archival research, Kathryn Kalinak explores the director's oft-noted predilection for American folk song, hymnody, and period music. What she finds is that Ford used music as more than a stylistic gesture. In fascinating discussions of Ford's westerns—from silent-era features such as Straight Shooting and The Iron Horse to classics of the sound era such as My Darling Clementine and The Searchers —Kalinak describes how the director exploited music, and especially song, in defining the geographical and ideological space of the American West.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520252349
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	09/17/2007
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	271
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Kathryn Kalinak is Professor of English and Film Studies at Rhode Island College and author of Settling the Score: Music and the Classical Hollywood Film.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. How the West Was Sung: Music in the Life and Films of John Ford
2. Hearing the Music in John Ford’s Silents: The Iron Horse and 3 Bad Men
3. “Based on American Folk Songs”: Scoring the West in Stagecoach
4. Two Fordian Film Scores: My Darling Clementine and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
5. “Western as Hell”: 3 Godfathers and Wagon Master
6. “The Girl I Left Behind Me”: Men, Women, and Ireland in the Cavalry Trilogy
7. “What Makes a Man to Wander”: The Searchers
8. In the Shadow of The Searchers: Two Rode Together and Sergeant Rutledge
9. Cheyenne Autumn: A Conclusion

Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Thoroughly researched and well-written. . . . Illuminating.

American Studies Journal

Kalinak artfully weaves the history and pedigree of nearly every tune [in] Ford’s Westerns . . . with their social and cultural meanings.

Notes