Ford: The Man and the Machine (1987 TV Movie) User Reviews

Biopic about the famous manager who revolutionized the industry

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 11 July 2006]

This film is based on true events about Henry Ford's (Cliff Robertson)life and how he changed America , but specially his hardship way to the success . As his marriage to Clara (Hope Lange), his tempestuous relationship with his son (R.H.Thomson) , lover (Heather Thomas) and helper (Michael Ironside) , while keeping his family together .

At the beginning his juvenile life , Henry Ford worked as a mechanic but he early designed his own prototypes (Daimler and Benz had invented some of them too) . The firm was founded in 1903 at Dearborn and named ¨Ford Motor Company¨ with the model Ford T for the consumer society and the bourgeois family , appearing the XX century cars civilization , achieving a selling of fifteen millions . The working system consisted in a production line by means of an assembly line work which reduced costs and revolutionized the Enterprise , being its center the city of Detroit . The employees received a wage of five dollars a day and they bought their own Ford cars . Henry Ford got a big time ; however , he failed in peaceable campaign about First World War (1914-1918) and he discredit himself in anti-Jewish advertising in the 20s and the confrontation against the trade unions in the 30s . The film was well directed by Allan Eastman , an usual director of television movies .

Pleasantly surprisingly good

[jimlacy2003 · 7/10 · 10 June 2012]

Note: Only very mild spoilers in here if at all.

I ran across this title the other day and it looked interesting so I went out and found it. I love historical dramas and documentaries. It's nice to learn something (hopefully) and be entertained at the same time.

As I write this, this movie as about 25 years old already (although I remember the 80's quite well). This movie was pleasantly and surprisingly good!

First of all I'm no Ford history expert. But I have watched at least one non-dramatic documentary et al, so I know little tidbits here and there. One doesn't have to travel far to see a Ford car, often seeing classic Model-A and Model-Ts around town too. I couldn't say how much is drama and how much was actual fact.

I do understand Henry Ford was quite shrewd, and that he had anti- semitic views (at least at some time), etc. Here is probably where the movie was a probably a bit overly dramatic at times. It's kind of to be expected for the typical movie drama where there the creators mix in a good batch of exploitation here and there.

Henry might have been a tough S.O.B., but then it probably took that to push through all that he did and accomplish so much. And I'm sure the people working in his factory were glad to have a job at the time (at least once there were better labor conditions anyhow), plus all the people happy to buy affordable Ford cars and help expand the commerce of the country using Ford trucks and what not.

Plus a man is entitled to their own opinion, who am I, or anyone else to say he was wrong. And apparently (at least by the movie story) he was actually a bit of a pioneer in racial equality. The point is beside a lot of the bad stuff, he did a hell of a lot of good too.

Also a pleasant but unexpected surprise was a few spicy scenes with the beautiful Heather Thomas that you won't want to miss if your a male.

The continuity of the movie, the set designs, locations, and in particular the acting performances were all great.

If you want to see a nice historical drama and learn about Henry Ford and the early days of Ford motors, give this movie a go!

Good production

[signlady · 6/10 · 10 November 2021]

I just saw this 'made-for-TV movie for the first time.

The production of this movie, cast, actors, pace, etc were all well done. No issues there

My dad was a used car salesman after retiring from a 30 year military career. He was patriotic, once raced cars in his youth, lovingly recalled the model Ts & other Ford's, and loved cars & America in general. So maybe I went into this film biased from the get-go . . . Including the idea that Henry Ford was any sort of reasonable man.

He was, I will say, hard working & rewarding of blue-collar labour - well . . . Except when he made arbitrary, contrary decisions that had worse results than low wages . . .

Tried to research the story, 'based on true events' - which btw, are always embellished, sensationalized & otherwise altered for various reasons in these type movies - because regarding this movie, Ford is depicted as an utter jerk. In summary and in no certain order; he's obstinate, unreasonable, doesn't listen, has zero business sense & refuses to learn, is antisemitic, has outrageously blatant double-standards, is an adulterer, intolerant, and more. To say he was 'a genius' - is an overstatement, - - who was 'flawed' is really an understatement. By the end of the movies portrayal, I hated him.

I don't care what he invented or did good.

It was being done or going to be done better by someone anyway. It was even brought out in the movie that Chevrolet was out-doing Ford at one point.

The allocades & honors he received in this movie seemed like they were portraying a truth; Ford simply got a lot of lip service & pandering.

At any rate, throughout the entire movie I kept waiting for some scene where he was going to have an mind-altering, personality-changing epiphany - but he remained infantile.

By the time the grandson inherited the company & finally got rid of the gangster-jerk I was beyond ready for Henry to die. I found zero compassion or concern of any kind for him in this movie.

Maybe this movie was the true story the family wanted to be known about an alleged icon.

A Mom And Pop Corporation

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 8 December 2011]

Cliff Robertson gives one of his best performances in Ford: The Man And The Machine. In Henry Ford's case the machine he invented truly dominated the man, causing son Edsel to seriously question whether his father truly loved his family more than that automobile that made him a hero in his early years. I think you'll figure out the answer as you watch the film.

Henry Ford the farm kid with a genius for mechanical invention proved to be a shrewder businessman than his original partners thought. He ended up with 100% of the stock of the Ford Motor Company and for years would not trade on the stock market as did his rivals General Motors and Chrysler and a smattering of smaller fry did. But that left him in a dominant position. It was only in the Fifties that grandson Henry Ford II opened up the company for trading. In Henry Ford's time the Ford Motor Corporation was the largest Mom and Pop operation ever conceived in the mind of man.

Robertson as Ford is no different than a lot of millionaires who think that making money in their field makes them omnicompetent. Ford never held with higher education and in his life intellectually was still a Michigan farm kid with some really strange ideas. Those ideas like anti-Semitism embarrass the family to this day.

As a father and husband he leaves a lot to be desired. He cheats on Hope Lange who is an unaffected rural girl as his wife with stenographer Heather Thomas. Like Charles II did and other monarchs he married off his mistress to one of the plant workers. He was Lord and Master in his factory as well as his house.

Son Edsel played here by R.H. Thomson never got out from under his domination. The scenes with Robertson and Thomson are quite poignant as Ford just can't let go and give the young man his head.

A man to this day reviled by organized labor as well he should is Michael Ironside as Harry Bennett. A former boxer and Navy seaman, Bennett became Ford's own private Iago as head of security in the corporation where he ran a private goon squad to enforce company will. The Ford Motor Company in that famous incident at the River Rouge Plant where striking workers were shot down by Bennett's thugs left a forever blot on the company and Henry Ford.

One thing that was not included is Ford's unsuccessful run for the US Senate from Michigan in 1918 as a Democrat. I wish it had been it's quite a fascinating story.

A controversial figure to this day, Robertson captures all the best and worst of Henry Ford who personified the notion of the omnicompetent millionaire. One of the best made for TV films ever done, don't miss it if it is ever broadcast.

At Times True, At Times a Puff Piece

[reymunpadilla · 5/10 · 13 November 2023]

This is a warts and all biographical film about Ford. Warts would be too mild a term. He at times approached being a real life supervillain, something not seen again in business until Elon Musk.

But unlike the silver spoon fed Musk, Ford was actually self made. He made assembly lines mainstream. Beyond that, almost everything else he did made the world worse. He busted unions, and part of that was actually good since he paid higher wages to undermine them.

He also was a vicious anti Semite who blamed Jews for everything wrong in the world, and spent a fortune spreading hatred. Here the film holds back a lot. Ford admired Hitler. He built his home imitating Hitler's. He was awarded a medal by Hitler. He had actual Nazis using his factories to recruit. And Hitler's invasion force used Ford trucks.

The family part of the film is dull and uninteresting. So is the soap opera part with his mistress. Fast forward to the critical parts and be aware that Ford was even worse than this shows.

Nearly perfect biopic about Henry Ford

[bellino-angelo2014 · 9/10 · 18 April 2024]

I wanted to see FORD THE MAN AND THE MACHINE since very long because it's about the history of Henry Ford and the Ford car industry. Last August I finally saw it and coincidentally I saw it three days after OPPENHEIMER, probably 2023's most anticipated movie and a great biopic as well.

The movie mostly chronicles Henry Ford (Cliff Robertson)'s life since his humble origins to when he revolutioned the motor car industry and founded the car factory that to this day bears his name. One of the things I appreciated about this biopic is not only the history on the side of the cars but also that the movie showed us that Henry Ford wasn't exactly a great family man, and yet we are once again shown his human when he had to face the death of his son. As for the supporting cast they are mostly second tier Canadian-American actors such as Michael Ironside, Vlasta Vrana and Ken Pogue and they were all good.

Overall, a great made for TV biopic made even greater by Robertson's performance in the title role. Yes, at three hours and 24 minutes long it was quite staggering but since they had to be accurate about Ford's life one can only appreciate its running time. Not to be missed, and actually it's on YouTube.