Awfully mean lags in film directed by Ford (1,6,3)

I believe the answer is:

a single man

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'film directed by ford' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.

'awfully mean lags in' is the wordplay.
'awfully' indicates anagramming the letters.
'mean'+'lags'+'in'='meanlagsin'
'meanlagsin' anagrammed gives 'A SINGLE MAN'.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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