The one director Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese both called the “perfect filmmaker”

Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese have both called John Ford “the perfect filmmaker”, praising his command of cinema despite their own very different directing styles. Their shared view reflects Ford’s influence on generations of filmmakers and his ability to make films that were both classics and a record of American history.

Spielberg said Ford’s sense of scale and spectacle shaped his own work, and named Orson Welles as a close second. Scorsese admired how Ford’s filmography traced America’s history; Ford won four Academy Awards for directing. The article notes that not everyone shares their admiration, citing Quentin Tarantino as a critic of Ford.