The last cowboy director tells his own legend — no filter, just pure Hollywood mythmaking.
In 1972 and '73, film critic Richard Schickel made an 8-part series for American public television: 'The Men Who Made the Movies'. Each episode featured a prominent Hollywood director discussing his career in an on-camera monologue (actually an interview, with Schickel's questions edited out), interspersed with generous clips from his most famous films, accompanied by somewhat overwrought narration (written by Schickel and spoken by Cliff Robertson). It's regrettable that Schickel did not include Fritz Lang, William Wyler and John Ford in this series: all three were alive at the time, although Ford was quite ill.
Direction
Walsh's monologue delivery — pure showman, zero modesty.
Editing
Clip selection that actually illuminates, not just flatters.
Director
Richard Schickel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Walsh wore an eyepatch throughout but never mentions it directly — the camera simply accepts this legendary affectation without comment.
This aired on PBS in 1973, making it one of the earliest attempts to position Hollywood directors as auteurs worthy of academic study — not just hired hands.
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