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John Ford was regard as one of the most influential directors in American cinema and delivered some of the most memorable Westerns of all time from Stagecoach to Fort Apache and The Searchers.
While he frequently worked with legendary actor John Wayne, the last feature film of Ford's directing career broke the mold and ultimately fell flat with audiences and critics as the film struggled at the box office.
Defiantly, though, Ford claimed it was one of his best and audiences just weren't ready for the Western yet when he said, "I think it's one of my best, but the public didn't like it. It wasn't what they wanted."
'7 Women' Named Among Greatest Westerns of All Time
Timeout Magazine ranked 7 Women as the No. 30 greatest Western of all time.
"John Ford’s direly underrated swansong sees him doing for women what he did both for African Americans in Sergeant Rutledge (1960) and for Native Americans in Cheyenne Autumn (1964): requesting forgiveness for helping to fuel unconstructive stereotypes in his earlier classics," Timeout wrote.
"Not a western in the strictest sense, its setting and story still play through some of the timeworn conventions of the genre, notably a strenuous search for moral equilibrium when defending against a common foe."
The film also featured a different John Ford. Known to be testy with his actors, the legendary director was nothing but pleasant on the set of his final film.
As co-star Anna Lee recalled in John Ford: The Man and His Friends by Tag Gallagher, "I think he was ready for it because he was absolutely charming to everybody. We'd break for tea as we always did at 4:30 and have the table brought out and the teapot and the cakes. He was particularly gracious on this one, never raised his voice."
The film owns a measly 59% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Related: 1953 Western Classic Among John Wayne's Best - But He Was The Second Choice
