ABSTRACT
It is somewhat ironic that Ford, who had never made a ‘woman’s picture’ in the classical Hollywood definition of that genre, should conclude his directorial career with a movie based on so many female characters. At the time, of course, he was unaware that it would be his finale, so the irony is one of fate’s making. The timing of the film can be interpreted as having sociocultural significance. 7 Women was made immediately after the first manifestations of contemporary North American feminism, and again it might be argued that the film was an apologetic response to a long neglect. While Ford was generally known as a man’s director, a maker of films for mainly male audiences, he did cover a wide range, and a number of his pictures contain extremely interesting women characters.
