John Ford | the m0vie blog

307. The Grapes of Wrath (#232)

Posted on October 9, 2022 by Darren

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, with special guests Aoife Martin, Jason Coyle and Ronan Doyle, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.

This time, John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath.

Released from prison after serving four years, Tom Joad returns to his family’s farm in Oklahoma to discover that it has been utterly changed by the Great Depression. He joins his family on a road trip westward, towards the new opportunities waiting for them in California. However, the Joads very quickly discover that their push westward may not deliver them to a promised land.

At time of recording, it was ranked 232nd on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: american, aoife martin, California, dustbowl, Great Depression, henry fonda, immigration, jason coyle, John Ford, john steinbeck, migration, new deal, okies, ronan doyle, the grapes of wrath | Leave a comment »

255. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (#250)

Posted on October 9, 2021 by Darren

This time, John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

In the early twenty-first century, Senator Ranse Stoddard returns to the dreary town of Shinbone. What was once a frontier outpost has become a modern town, and the locals are surprised to see such an important figure making the journey. Stoddard has come home to attend the funeral of an old friend, but the occasion brings old memories and dark secrets to the surface.

At time of recording, it was ranked 250th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: america, aoife martin, civilisation, James Stewart, jason coyle, jimmy stewart, John Ford, John Wayne, legend, myth, podcast, ronan doyle, The 250, the old west, the west, violence, western | Leave a comment »

Star Trek: Phase II (1978) – Kitumba, Parts I & II (Review)

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Darren

This January and February, we’ll be finishing up our look at the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation and moving on to the third year of the show, both recently and lovingly remastered for high definition. Check back daily for the latest review.

We’ll be supplementing our coverage of the episodes with some additional materials – mainly novels and comics and films. This is one such entry.

Sins of the Father represented Star Trek‘s first venture to the Klingon home world, and the franchise’s first truly in-depth exploration of Klingon culture and values. Of course, there was precedent for this. John Ford’s rather wonderful novel, The Final Reflection, offered a glimpse into Klingon heritage and tradition in 1984. However, it’s interesting to think that we may have been offered an on-screen exploration of the Klingon Empire much earlier, had the planned Star Trek: Phase II ever gone to air.

Written by John Meredyth Lucas, a veteran of the classic Star Trek show, Kitumba would have aired as a two-part adventure in the first season of the aborted Star Trek: Phase II series. Not only were thirteen episodes plotted and outlined, most were also scripted – allowing a glimpse at what might have been. An early look at the workings of Klingon culture, Kitumba is obviously radically different from the version of Klingon society that developed and evolved on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

However, it remains a fascinating look at what might have been.

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Filed under: The Original Series | Tagged: Cold War, John Ford, john meredyth lucas, kirk, klingons, phase 2, sins of the father, star trek, star trek: phase 2, star trek: phase II | Leave a comment »

Watch! Hardy Bucks Trailer!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Darren

It’s always nice to see an Irish success story. I can be quite tough on Irish television when the occasion calls for it. Any system that makes it easier to pitch a show like Father Ted or Moone Boy to a British broadcaster must be flawed in a significant way. Despite that, I’ll readily concede we do a lot of things quite well. Apparently Love/Hate is doing quite well abroad, and I’ve always been proud of our current affairs coverage. It’s also nice to see one of our shows making the leap to the big screen. Hardy Bucks has been one of the great success stories of Irish television. It was found during the 2009 Storyland competition and ended up going from strength-to-strength on Irish television. While it’s not quite my own cup of tea, it’s hard not to admire the charm and energy put into it – as well as the fact that it has managed to make quite an impact on Irish pop culture.

So the move to the big screen is certainly an interesting development, and I hope the show’s success continues. More popular comedy and diversity in Irish television is inherently a good thing. The trailer is a little bit too much at points – seeing a cheesily earnest American voice-over applied to an “Irish men behaving badly in Europe” comedy feels a little… dissonant – but the trick isn’t so much in the concept as the execution. I’m curious to see how it pays off. It’ll be opening here in February next year.