John Ford: Myth and Democracy in the 1950s

By the time John Ford had released The Sun Shines Bright in 1953, he had already entered what film critic and historian Tag Gallagher had called his "Age of Myth", which stood in stark contrast to his earlier years when he had released Judge Priest in what Gallagher called his "Age of Introspection", an earlier version of the same story. Although another interesting and equally rewarding comparison would be to Ford's 1958 The Last Hurrah, another story about the incumbent politician running for re-election, and another portrait of a community, this time in modern times. A comparison of these two largely classicist films won't yield the same grand statements about the evolution of Ford's filmography as a comparison to the expressionist Judge Priest, but what can be revealed is Ford's general view of the past and present social conditions surrounding ritual democracy.

Speaking in general terms The Sun Shines Bright and The Last Hurrah are optimistic and reflective respectively. Both of their titles give you a general idea of each film's attitude toward the subject, with The Sun Shines Bright depicting the old guard peacefully returning his community to a state of amicability while The Last Hurrah depicts a minority mayor losing an election, demonstrating the changes of sociopolitical culture of his community over time. Perhaps the most striking difference between the two films is its treatment of racial and ethnic minorities, minority communities, and the relationship they have with the predominantly white social structure. In The Sun Shines Bright, blacks and African-Americans make up this community, and in The Last Hurrah the Irish make up this community, so it's rather easy to see which group Ford lends his sympathies. In Sun, the people of color are pushed to the sidelines, made passive observers to much of the action except when the plot demands it. Our first real view of the town Billy Priest resides in pans down a dirt road with black men all in a row up front, smoking pipes and playing the banjo with the white, upper-class citizens concentrated in the back watching the steamboat come in. From then on, everyone but Priest's servant and "You Ess" is either relegated to the background, made into a stereotype, or used strictly to provide easy exposition, sometimes all three occur. Consequently, the film is not about the racialized nature of class in the community but talks around it, and by recognizing the existence of the social structure it becomes complicit with its existence.

The Last Hurrah finds itself grounded in the racial issues of the community, which is easy to understand given Ford's Irish heritage. Here the Irish community becomes central to Ford's social critique. The film is much more centered around the actual election and its implications than The Sun Shines Bright, and as such the consequences of the Irish Frank Skeffington's loss in the final act carries a different weight than Judge Priest's victory. The Last Hurrah really does depict the symbolic end of an era where Skeffington's reign of graft, big money, and blackmailing so alienates his largely Irish Catholic base that they exchange him for someone grossly incompetent. Skeffington himself is one of Ford's most Kaneian figures, rising from poverty as an Irish boy to an idealist politician and morphing into a blueblood elite using his power to win favor among other powerful figures. We never see this transition take place within the film, however, and his past is only alluded to after the fact. Skeffington is never as unstable or ruthless as Kane, but rather Ford keeps his mania hidden under the guise of amicability. His political ruthlessness is demonstrated but often only as a series of mere suggestions, notably becoming obvious when he blackmails a banker with familial embarrassment by making his mentally deficient son as fire chief. Skeffington is also, and perhaps above all, unrelenting. When one comments that if he could have chosen to live differently if he could choose again, he chimes in with "Like hell I would".

In these two films, the same situation taking place in a similar environment of racial hierarchy yields opposite results. In one, Judge Priest is re-elected and in the other Frank Skeffington loses his position and dies of a heart attack soon afterward. What Ford's characterization of Priest and Skeffington can reveal when comparing the two is a bit of gleaming optimism on Ford's part. Even when placing the oppressed Irish minority into the protagonist role, both feature the American legislative process as the ultimate corrector and protector of liberty from reactionary mobs and corrupt officials. One myth ends, and another carries on but the eternal power of the ballot never falters.