3. John Ford
John Ford could truly be dubbed as one of the founding fathers of American cinema. He dabbled in both the Western and epic genres. Honest and straightforward in personality and technique, he was an all-American director who influenced a diverse slate of moviemakers from Martin Scorsese to Satyajit Ray. Stagecoach and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are considered great westerns, but his romance The Quiet Man, his adaptation of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, and his documentaries The Battle of Midway and December 7th were also widely revered.
Technically, Ford was the master of the long shot. His long, sweeping epics helped establish setting as a primary character. Alfred Hitchcock once said about Ford, “A John Ford film was a visual gratification.”
Image Source: Irish America Magazine