How the West Was Sung

James Stewart once said, &quote;For John Ford, there was no need for dialogue. The music said it all.&quote; This lively, accessible study is the first comprehensive analysis of Ford's use of music in his iconic westerns. Encompassing a variety of critical approaches and incorporating original archival research, Kathryn Kalinak explores the director's oft-noted predilection for American folk song, hymnody, and period music. What she finds is that Ford used music as more than a stylistic gesture. In fascinating discussions of Ford's westerns-from silent-era features such as Straight Shooting and The Iron Horse to classics of the sound era such as My Darling Clementine and The Searchers -Kalinak describes how the director exploited music, and especially song, in defining the geographical and ideological space of the American West.