John Ford had been hoping to make The Quiet Man for over a decade, but the studio- Republic Pictures- thought that the idea was silly, filming in Ireland would be needlessly expensive, and that the movie would be a flop. They would only green-light the movie if Ford would agree to film a western with Wayne and O'Hara first: 1950's Rio Grande. The studio was of course wrong: The Quiet Man was a big hit and won two Academy Awards, including a fourth Best Director one for John Ford. Of the two films, Rio Grande is my favourite but that doesn't mean that I don't love The Quiet Man, due in no small part to the presence of some of my favourite actors in it. Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne, Victor McLaglen, Ward Bond, and Barry freakin' Fitzgerald all in one picture together... it's an overload of awesomeness.
Seeing as it's St. Patrick's Day, I'm posting a clip from The Quiet Man, a movie which includes practically every cliche ever invented about Ireland and Irish people. Despite that... well, O.K., because of that to a large degree, this is a delightful film. Released in 1952, it stars John Wayne as Sean Thornton, an American who moves to the small village in Ireland which his father's family was from. There he meets and falls in love with Mary Kate Danaher (played by Maureen O'Hara) and they marry. The problem is, her brother -the Squire Danaher- hates Sean and refuses to pay Mary Kate's dowery. Thornton doesn't care, but it's a point of pride for fiery Mary Kate, who is embarrassed and angry that Sean won't demand the dowery from her brother. She declares their marriage to be invalid until the dowery is paid. Sean is furious at the situation, but stubbornly determined not to fight due to an incident which occurred while he was still in America. It's a volatile situation which eventually reaches an explosive climax in a fight scene which lasts over ten minutes and ranges all over the town and involves just about everyone in it, including the local priests. A rousing good time is had by all. John Ford had been hoping to make The Quiet Man for over a decade, but the studio- Republic Pictures- thought that the idea was silly, filming in Ireland would be needlessly expensive, and that the movie would be a flop. They would only green-light the movie if Ford would agree to film a western with Wayne and O'Hara first: 1950's Rio Grande. The studio was of course wrong: The Quiet Man was a big hit and won two Academy Awards, including a fourth Best Director one for John Ford. Of the two films, Rio Grande is my favourite but that doesn't mean that I don't love The Quiet Man, due in no small part to the presence of some of my favourite actors in it. Maureen O'Hara, John Wayne, Victor McLaglen, Ward Bond, and Barry freakin' Fitzgerald all in one picture together... it's an overload of awesomeness.
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