One of the most fruitful Hollywood friendships was that of John Wayne and John Ford, two of the undisputed stars of the Western who, throughout their collaborations, left us such mythical titles as Stagecoach, More Heart Than Hate, Río Grande, March of Brave or The invincible legion, among many others.
There were so many times that the actor and the director worked together that no one would dare to question their friendship, but the truth is that, as with any relationship, they also lived through tense moments, as happened during the filming of A Shot at night in 1962.
With A Shot in the Night, we talk about one of the most important films in the history of Hollywood and the West, and possibly the most important within the filmography of Ford and Wayne. At a time when the genre was experiencing its last moments of glory, they opted for a drama about the United States that was moving away from the myths of the Wild West, a country that was now entering a new vision of morality, politics, and society.
The contrary visions of the characters of James Stewart and John Wayne to resolve the conflict with Liberty Valance, the villain of the story, put on a tray looking nostalgically at the epic of the genre, which, as in the plot of the movie, was about to disappear to make way for a new Hollywood. For this reason, even if Ford's name was a safe bet and he had on his hands the best possible Twilight story to send off the Western, the studios weren't confident that A Shot in the Night would do well at the box office. However, the director would end up having the approval of Paramount to develop the project, although yes, with many demands involved.
According to cinematographer William H. Clothier, in statements that appear in books such as John Wayne, The Man Behind the Myth by Michael Munn, one of the studio's requests was to shoot in black and white at a time when it was already reigning the spectacular color. Although there has always been speculation about the use of this technique in A Shot in the Night, also attributed to creative reasons, Clothier points out that the only explanation is economic savings, firmly believing that Ford would have even taken the tape to its usual great places in the world. west of having had color.
"There was a reason and one reason only...Paramount had to cut costs. Otherwise, we would have been in Monument Valley or Brackettville and had a stock of colors. Ford had to agree to those terms or not make the movie," the film said. responsible for the film's photography.
But this was not the only request. As detailed in Munn's book, the studio absolutely wanted John Wayne to be the lead, as they had a contractual obligation to him that they wanted to fulfill. Due to the good relationship that existed between Ford and Wayne, it can be assumed that it was an easy request to assume, but it was not like that, because the director's idea did not involve having his faithful friend.
In this way, the annoyance of having to change his plans and seeing Wayne with greater power resulted in discord. And not just anyone. According to Lee Van Cleef, the actor who played one of Liberty Valance's thugs, the relationship between the director and the actor was catastrophic during filming. Ford didn't want Wayne's fame to go to his head thinking the movie was only possible because of him, so he decided to make life miserable for him on set.
“Ford was a complete bastard to Wayne. He abused him, insulted him, and called him a "bloody lousy actor," Van Cleef explained in statements included in the same book. “Ford seemed intent on humiliating the guy who got him the job to make this movie because Paramount said if he couldn't get Wayne, to whom he had some contractual obligation, they wouldn't support the movie. And that's probably why he treated the Duke that way. He didn't want the Duke to think that he was doing him any favors."
Woody Strode, another of the actors in the film, details that Ford aimed high to humiliate Wayne, bringing up painful topics such as his failure as a football player or not enlisting in World War II. He did this by using him and other co-stars like James Stewart to make him feel inferior to all of them.
“I kept pestering the Duke about his failure as a football player, and because I had been a professional player, Ford kept telling him, ‘Look at Woody. He is a real football player,'” Strode recounted. “It's like when I was pestering him about his reasons for not joining the war by asking Jimmy [James Stewart], 'How many times did you risk your life for Germany, Jimmy?' and then saying to the Duke, 'What about you? did you do while Jimmy was risking his life?'”
However, Strode also points out that Wayne, despite feeling very pissed off, never tried to hit John Ford back. After all, they were still friends, and anyone has a fight. In addition, the temperament and peculiar way of working of the director of Stagecoach is well known to all, which surely did not surprise someone as close to him as John Wayne. In fact, despite how hard this shoot could be for the actor, they collaborated again a year later, when Ford filmed Pacific Adventurer, which was his last collaboration.
