32 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine from left: courtesy bull feeney’s; mira McKenney; library of congress; christie’s auction house; homeaway; warner brothers The point of mythic convergence: What is a “man,” and how have we been conditioned to expect “men” to behave? That is, is being a man fake news? According to The Atlantic, “Shoenberg- er has hidden a provocative thesis inside a Christmas present for Dad…From the bulk of the evidence here, masculinity (like the Western) is a by-product of nostalgia, a maudlin elegy for something that never ex- isted–or worse, a masquerade that allows no man, not even John Wayne, to be comfort- able in his own skin. In the long working ‘friendship’ between the two men, unless I missed it, Ford never spared a kind word for his protégé. In fact, Ford was savage in his mistreatment of Wayne, even though–or because–Wayne worshipped him.” The New York Times chimes in: “‘John Ford and John Wayne taught us how to be men,’ the director John Milius observes in the opening pages of Wayne and Ford. Schoenberger spends much of her swiftly paced, elegantly written book trying to un- lock why.” Ford might have cultivated the image that he was a cowboy director, but he was far more psychosexually complex, Schoen- berger, a professor at The College of Wil- liam and Mary, suggests. The Ford/Wayne redefinition of cinematic manhood wasn’t a creative conspiracy so much as an act of fear and self doubt under cover. We reached Schoenberger to help Port- landers get to know the real Ford better. 1. To what extent is Ford a ‘European’ di- rector? He’s credited with bringing German Expressionism, with its low- key, dramatic lighting, into Westerns, not to mention How Green Was My Valley and The Grapes of Wrath. I don’t think of Ford as a “European direc- tor,” though he was influenced by the Ger- man Expressionists, especially F.W. Mur- nau [Nosferatu], as seen in his use of dra- matic lighting and fog in The Inform- er and elsewhere. Like all artists, he was a great borrower–he took what he need- ed and made it his own. Rather, in bring- ing the Western along from a mostly mati- nee, shoot-’em-up for kids to a vehicle for grown-up themes, he pioneered a quintes- sentially American art form. 2. The end of The Searchers is cosmic. John Wayne’s Ethan Edwards is a no- where man, stepping into infinity. He knows he’ll never come in for a landing. I saw it recently, and it struck me: Is The Misfits in- debted to The Searchers? You draw an interesting comparison be- tween John Huston’s The Misfits (writ- what’s in a name? Did you know an homage toJohn Ford sits hidden in plain sight in the Old Port? No,not his statue on Pleasant Street.Bull Fee- ney’s Irish Pub is named in honor of our city’s most famous director,though it seems like a little-known fact among Portlanders. When we asked people at random if they knew the restaurant was named for the director,it was zero for 15 outside Bull Feeney’s and 3 for 15 beside the statue.BornJohn Martin Feeney in 1894,Ford earned the nickname “Bull” at Portland High School for his reputation as a fearsome,charging fullback on the football field.“I’ve never heard that,” saysJoseph Redman of Joseph’s on Fore Street.“And I’ve been here in Portland for more than 40 years.” Sounds like it’s time for aJohn Ford film festival! Right: Ford at home in BelAir,Calfornia,in 1973. Three movies for a Ford novice? Among the Westerns: Stagecoach, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Va- lence. Non-westerns: The Quiet Man, How Green Was My Valley, The Grapes of Wrath.