Ford: The Man & The Machine
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List Price: $14.98
Features
• Closed-captioned
• Color
• NTSC
In Theaters : 11 May, 1987
Video Release : 01 August, 1995 |
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Ford: The Man & The Machine Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
A Summary of Henry Ford's Life
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The film begins with the disappearance of Henry Ford in 1927 Dearborn. There was a trial at that time. [Ford's laying in bed recalls scenes from 'Citizen Kane'.] This delicately touches on Ford's obsession with those of a certain religion. Next we see a young and healthy Ford working on a model gasoline engine at home. There was a need for a motorized vehicle that was more fuel-efficient than a horse. [The bicycle craze of the 1880s gave people more freedom to travel.] Detroit was close to manufacturing, they were not wed to old technology (bicycles or trains). Another scene shows Ford's interest in strange philosophies like reincarnation. A win at a race showed Ford built a better product. The investors in the company ended Ford's dream and taught him the need for independence from capitalists. This concentration on Ford's business troubles shows his career had its ups and downs. Ford bought a majority of the shares so he is free to build cars for everybody. This helped to end the isolation of rural life.
The Ford Model T had the record for the greatest production of an automobile until the VW Beetle bypassed it. Ford's sales kept climbing, he learned how to produce more with the constraints of limited manpower. The solution was a fine division of labor on the assembly line. [But no worker knew the whole car and had less pride in workmanship. Humans and machines have their limits. Ford doubled men's wages and cut their hours; this boosted production. Ford was against war, it only benefitted Wall Street and the bankers. [But a country's rulers are not just the bankers.] Ford's destruction of Edsel's surprise car shows some mental problem (just hardening of the arteries?). Ford can't accept the reality of the new surpassing the old. Does Ford's relationship with a young woman provide another parallel to 'Citizen Kane'?
Ford's River Rouge complex will be the biggest in the country - over three square miles. Ford will not be dependent on any outside suppliers. [This means building over-capacity when production slows.] Ford arranges a marriage for his cast-off mistress, like some European nobleman. [Power corrupts yet again.] Ford cut dividends for new development and to force out minority share owners (the Dodge brothers). There is a conflict between Henry and Edsel over the declining sales of the Model T. Henry's grasp of reality is slipping. The Model A arrives, and so does the Great Depression. Their police and firemen try to stop the unemployed from protesting. Ford's gangsters shoot down striking workers. The Wagner Act recognized the right of workers to organize a union.
The war meant changes. Edsel in involved with the change-over for defense work (trucks, tanks, airplanes). Henry is growing senile, but is still powerful and irrational. [This is Exhibit A for mandatory retirement.] Edsel died from stomach cancer (decades of stress?). Years later Henry II returns from the Navy to take control as President of Ford. [Decades later Henry II would have problems at the end of his reign.] Films are the condensed version of the book they are taken from. Henry Ford certainly had a very interesting life, going from mechanic to one of the richest men in America. This film ignores the important fight over the Selden patents which tried to restrict production without tributes to paper copyrights. It does not mention much about Ford's association with Edison and Firestone, both self-made men.
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