I like the old masters, by which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.

Welles’s quip is a deliberately comic overstatement that doubles as a serious declaration of artistic lineage. By calling Ford an “old master,” he borrows the language of painting and classical art to elevate Hollywood craft to the level of canonical fine art. Repeating Ford’s name three times both mimics the rhetoric of lists of revered predecessors and collapses that list into a single towering influence, implying that Ford’s command of visual storytelling, rhythm, and mythic Americana set a standard few could match. The line also reflects Welles’s persona: witty, contrarian, and eager to puncture solemn auteur discourse while still asserting strong aesthetic convictions.

Commonly circulated variant: “My three favorite directors are John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.”