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Glenn Ford was here for a reason.


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He seemed eternally the grown-up, from WWII to asphalt classrooms to a Smallville farm. Things seemed under control whenever he was on the screen, and he'll always bring a smile of recognition, even decades from now.


As his son Peter has written in many tributes to his father, Glenn Ford was a grown up. Peter Ford, like Michael Reagan (a good friend of his) is always astounded by the immaturity and the lack of common sense frequently found in the acting profession today. But consider Glenn Ford's background: an enlisted Marine in World War II who, after the war - earned a commission as a Naval officer and later went to Vietnam. In the military someone who earns his commission who served as a prior enlisted man is called a "Mustang" and usually is regarded with a higher amount of respect than the "90 Day Wonders" out of OTS, the "ROTC Nazis" and the "Ring Knockers" out of the academy as the school they attended was the one of hard knocks (a good example is 2Lt Audie Murphy, who earned a battlefield commission).

So when you watch Glenn Ford in the extremely under-rated MIDWAY for example - (John Williams score is superior IMHO to Jerry Goldsmith's score for TORA, TORA, TORA) - his characterization of the role of the real-life persona of Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance is dead on PERFECT. He lends the character the dignity, honor and gravitas that Spruance was entitled to. And he wears the uniform and maintains the bearing of someone who inherently knows that it is a uniform and not a costume. This was one of Ford's best roles and I'm surprised no one mentioned it.

As for THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BELL, there are no monsters, or psycho-slashers, or ghosts in this movie - but if one has a paranoid bent of mind - this is one of the most terrifying movies ever made! And because Ford acted in it he was convinced that he was blacklisted forever after from A-List productions.

BROTHERHOOD OF THE BELL: still recommended by the John Birch Society!

www.jbs.org/node/938

Speaking of MIDWAY, Charlton Heston was in that and also in TOMBSTONE, yet Ford and Heston never share any scenes in either movie (Ford witnesses Heston's plane crash at the end of MIDWAY and that is as close as the two come). Seeing Heston in a movie with Gregory Peck or Orson Welles was always a treat. Does anyone know if Heston ever acted with Ford in any films? Like Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, I think they would have made great co-stars, Ford being low-key and Heston being bombastic and yet both being so All-American!