When You Are Editing, The Final Master

One Of The Things I Really Like About Ford's Films Is How There Is Always A Focus On The Way Characters Live, And Not Just The Male Heroes.

Like A Layer On A Pearl, You Can't Specifically Identify The Irritant, The Moment Of The Irritant, But At The End Of The Day, You Know You Have A Pearl.

In A Sense I've Made The Same Film Over And Over Again. In All Of Them I've Asked, 'who Are We As Americans?

I'm A Filmmaker. I'm An Artist. I've Chosen To Work In History The Way Someone Might Choose To Work In Still Lifes Or Landscapes.

The Reason Why You Do History, And Particularly Why You Do War, Is That You Want To Make Sure That In The Next War, Some Lessons Were Learned. There's A Saying: "history Doesn't Repeat Itself, But It Does Rhyme." Or Ecclesiastes: "what Has Been Will Be Again. What Has Been Done Will Be Done Again." Human Nature Always Superimposes Itself - Its Strength And Its Frailty Over The Rush Of Chaos Of Ongoing Events - And We Can Perceive Patterns And Themes And Motifs.