Martin Scorsese has expressed admiration and envy for director John Ford's career, particularly Ford's level of Academy Award recognition and his ability to create films that traced American history. Despite being one of cinema's greatest directors with numerous masterpieces spanning decades, Scorsese acknowledges that Ford achieved a form of recognition and cultural resonance he has long desired, demonstrating that even the most accomplished filmmakers harbour professional aspirations they feel they have not fully realised.

Seven of Scorsese's last nine feature films received nominations for Best Director or Best Picture at the Academy Awards, though he has won only one Oscar to date. Ford won four Best Director Oscars—a record for the category—and his films including Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, and Young Mr Lincoln are noted as more culturally embraceable than Scorsese's own work. Notably, fellow director Steven Spielberg has described Ford in identical terms, lending weight to the assessment of Ford's unparalleled status in cinema history.