"An almost flawless blend of criticism and biography about one of America's greatest film directors."—The New Yorks Times Book Review

"Here at last is a book that both richly documents his life and catalogs with sound critical commentary all of Ford's...films."—The Boston Sunday Globe

"In its outsized efforts to do justice to the contradictions and complexities of the man and his work, it...offers a range of information and insight that dwarfs all competitors. . . . The sense of Ford's personality which emerges achieves at times a novelistic density. And the films are often seen to reverberate on multiple planes as well."—Sight and Sound

"A monumental task of scholarship. . . . Gallagher effectively shatters the twin images of Ford the tough guy, tyrant at home and on the set, and of Ford the semiliterate poet. . . . The real Ford, like the real Shakespeare, was an intellectual, a hard-nosed professional and—yes—a poet too."—The Los Angeles Times

"A major labor of love, a tremendously useful book on the teaching level, and a solid and enjoyable read on a personal level."—Films in Review