Young Mr. Lincoln

Young Mr. Lincoln directed by John Ford staring Henry Fonda and Ward Bond.

I got the Spielberg and Day-Lewis’ Lincoln from the library, so I figured I’d watch the Ford and Fonda one first and have sort of a Lincoln weekend. 

The first thing that struck me upon watching this movie was the total simplicity of the movie from the direction, the screenplay, and the acting. There’s nothing overly complicated about this movie considering it’s about the sixteenth president of the United States, that alone I think is a bold move to make when making a movie about Lincoln. The movie doesn’t focus on Lincoln as president but instead focuses on the first trail he defended, which I think is an interesting place to make a movie about Lincoln. 

I’ve always thought that when a biography movie is made the best possible course of action is to do the biography of a section of the historical figures life and not the whole life of the historical figure.  Doing it on a short section of their life immediately focuses the screenplay, where as if you do a biography on the whole life it’s a lot harder to focus things, and the story will more than likely be all over the place. 

This movie is very focused and it’s all the better for it. It’s a very good screenplay because every time I found myself thinking about something that should have been happening on screen, the screenplay addressed that thought almost immediately. It’s just interesting seeing the things that help to shape Lincoln into a character and what a character he is. Fonda does a great job of acting in this role. He’s not over the top in any way.  He's a lot more subtle with the the looks of his eye or in the way he presents Lincoln’s awkwardness from backwoods lifestyle to the richer lifestyle his lawyer ways bring to him. The direction by Ford is good and competent, showcasing many of the shots that he will master later on in his career. 

The funniest thing I had with the movie was looking back on that time period with my 21st century eyes. When the crime happens everyone gathers around the dead body and the weapon is just passed around among everyone. I kept thinking they’re contaminating the crime scene and getting all kinds of fingerprints all over the weapon.  It was a good unintentional laugh and  just showed me how time can age about anything.