The Only Director With Over Ten Movies Preserved By The National Film Registry

The National Film Registry is a group of projects selected by the National Film Preservation Board that best reflect "America's film heritage." Not to be confused with the Criterion Collection, which works to make some movies available in higher quality formats, the National Film Preservation Board helps select 25 entries every year for inclusion in the registry, which is part of the Library of Congress. While it is an enormous achievement already to have your flick selected, some directors are included multiple times, including John Ford, who is the only individual with 11 movies in the registry. 

Not only does he have the most projects preserved in the collection, but he was also part of the first class of directors selected in 1989 with 1940's "The Grapes of Wrath" and 1956's "The Searchers." Yes, he had two films recognized in the same year. Because the registry didn't begin until the late 1980s, after the National Film Preservation Act of 1988 bill passed, it means that older movies are continuously added. Ford's most recent addition to the National Film Registry came in 2018 with 1935's "The Informer." 

Though John Ford directed projects across a variety of genres, he's well-known for his work with westerns. He successfully made the shift from silent movies to "the talkies," though many of the former are lost. The director's silent short "The Scrapper" from 1917 is his first western, and though it's lost to time, it was the beginning of what would become his staple genre. 1939's "Stagecoach," which was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1995, was his first western talkie and earned him his second Academy Award nomination for best director. 

Based on IMDb ratings, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" from 1962 is his best-rated western movie, though projects like "My Darling Clementine," "The Searchers," and "Stagecoach" also sit toward the top of the list. When fans of the director and genre discuss their favorites, it's clear that it's difficult to pick just one. Many find it hard to choose between "The Searchers" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," with one Reddit user writing that they "believe [their] favorite is 'My Darling Clementine,'" but that they "think 'The Searchers' is the greatest American film of all time."

While the jury is still out on which western is John Ford's best, his impact on the genre and industry is clear, with 11 movies included in the National Film Registry and four best director Academy Awards in his career. In the words of famed critic Roger Ebert, Ford "did more than any other to document the passages of American history."