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Memorable, crazy movie

Great Film overall

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

John Ford and John Wayne: a guaranteed good watch. Throw in Maureen O'Hara (Mary Kate Danaher), and this time you end up with my favorite John Wayne film. That may partially be because this film is not the John Wayne of Westerns or wars. His role in The Quiet Man is like no other role he ever played, and he shines. He did make other comedies (such as the 1963 quasi remake of this film, McLintock), but here he is legend. The story sets up with Sean Thornton coming home to his family's native land holding in Ireland after accidentally killing a man in a boxing match in America. His psyche is clearly bruised as a result, and he has a beautiful homestead to help him recover. Enter O'Hara, and the film morphs into a loose remake of The Taming of the Shrew. Touching and sentimental throughout, the film captures the viewer's attention and never lets go. That's even though we are sure of the eventual outcome. Witty at times, hilarious at others, Sean and Mary Kate capture our hearts along with some of the local characters played to perfection by a superlative cast, including Ward Bond as Father Lonergan, Victor McLaglan as Mary Kate's brother "Red" Danaher, and Barry Fitzgerald as Michaleen Flynn. There is some stunning on location filming, but the studio sets are not at all off-putting, because Wayne and O'Hara are the focus no matter where they might be courting or rebelling. I have seen this film more than a dozen times, and when I do decide to watch it, I clear out two hours for uninterrupted pleasure. The writing and dialogue are precise and imaginative, and Ford's direction is at his peak. He was the master of cinema story-telling and oh what a story this one is. The whole experience has never once seemed trite or stale. Just good old fashion entertainment. No one should go through life without seeing this film at least twice.

Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns back to the village where he was born in Ireland after moving across to America when he was young where he forged a career as a boxer. Now retired, he plans on buying back his former family home whilst also falling for fiery Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara). However, Kate's brother Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen) doesn't approve of their relationship and makes things rather difficult for the couple. Meanwhile, Thornton is also hiding a dark secret from his past as well...The first hour of The Quiet Man (in my humble opinion) is where the film is at its weakest; not a great deal happens and character development is rather poor. I can possibly see that revealing little about Thornton until right near the end may have worked for some people - perhaps they may have been intrigued by him. However, I myself found it rather tedious and in order to enjoy a film I need to be able to form some kind of emotional investment in the characters or the story and for the first hour or so I was simply unable to do this. It's all just a little bit too quaint, twee and cutesy for my liking. A lot of the songs are pretty bad (with one song being repeated again about 5 minutes after it was originally sung for some reason).Thankfully, it does improve slightly in the second half (when Thornton's dark secret is revealed). It was at this point that I became more involved with the film because I was finally given a better understanding of our protagonist, but I do think that it was a bad move just shoving this reveal on towards the end of the film - it strikes of laziness and I do feel that Thornton should have been given more development and depth earlier in the film which may have made it a more enticing character study. The reveal explains that Thornton killed his opponent during a boxing match which caused him to hang up his gloves for good and he vows never to fight again yet later in the film he contradicts himself and fights Denahar to prove to Mary that he isn't a coward?? To go from Thornton pouring his heart out to a priest about vowing to never fight again only then to start brawling with Denahar seemed a little strange - this is made worse by the fight being totally unnecessary and being given a rather comical spin (both men have water thrown in their faces on several occasions and they even stop for a beer at one point halfway through their fight). It's also made worse by the fact that Thornton seems unfazed by the prospect of knocking seven bells out of Danaher (Thornton has an emotional flashback when he gets knocked to the ground, but for some reasons this never happens on the numerous occasions when he knocks Denahar to the ground??). Despite this final fight being entertaining, narratively it went against pretty much everything that proceeded it.Still it isn't completely irredeemable; the likes of Flynn, McLagen & Fitzgerald all play their parts in making this film as good as they can. Wayne has his usual swagger about him, but he isn't great here and his performance here feels rather artificial - he delivers his lines very slowly and seems to pause for about 5 seconds after delivering about 5 words. There are some funny moments in the film (although Fitzgerald is responsible for most of these).The Quiet Man may have worked better when it was released and was probably heavily reliant on John Wayne's star power, but I found large parts of the film to be uninvolving and despite the second half being quite entertaining it also seemed to give out mixed messages. Average and watchable, but that's about it.

John Ford set an Oscar record when he won his fourth Best Director award for this gentle and inconsequential film. Not sure how that was justified, given that his stiffest competition was Fred Zinnemann for "High Noon" and who should have won in a landslide.John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara play an American with a secret in his past and the Irish spitfire who marries him and who he must set about taming. She thinks he's not manly enough because he won't fight her brother and village bully, played by the obnoxious Victor McLaglen, who is keeping her rightful dowry from her. He's irritated at her for being obsessed with money and not thinking that him and their simple life together is enough. Neither ever seems to consider just sitting down and talking about their respective feelings, or justifying why they feel the way they do, so we're treated to over two hours of a one-note joke as O'Hara acts like a child and Wayne gets his patience tested. The ending is fun, there's catharsis in watching Wayne finally lose his patience and drag the petulant O'Hara across a field, and the pastoral Irish settings make it a beautiful and relaxing movie to look at. But I do have to admit I was left wondering why I bothered investing so much time in a movie that came to so little.In addition to Ford's Oscar, the film brought Winton Hoch and Archie Stout that year's Oscar for Best Color Cinematography. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (McLaglen), Best Screenplay, Best Color Art Direction, and Best Sound Recording.Grade: B

The Quiet Man (1952) *** 1/2 (out of 4) American Sean Thornton (John Wayne) heads to Ireland where he plans on buying the home that he was born in. This upsets Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen) since he has been trying to buy the property for years. Soon after Will has even more to be upset with when Sean decides that he wants to date Will's sister Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara).John Ford's THE QUIET MAN is not only a very good romantic comedy but it's also a love letter from the director to Ireland. Ford would make a handful of films in or about Ireland and it's clear that his eye (aka the camera) has a soft spot for the beautiful locations and this bleeds over to the screen just like Monument Valley was a key thing in his Westerns. THE QUIET MAN is certainly a highly entertaining little gem and it's certainly not exactly what you'd expect from the director-star.It was probably wise to not have Wayne attempt an Irish accent and the reason for him not having one is perfectly cared for in the film but there's no question that this is unlike any other performance the actor gave. He's basically asked to play the romantic lead and he certainly nails the performance and it remains one of the best of his career. His comic timing here is quite good and he mixes it up well with the supporting players and especially Barry Fitzgerald whose comedy steals the picture. O'Hara is brutally strong in her performance and the toughness she brought the role was terrific. Then there's McLaglen who really deserves so much more attention that he receives as he's wonderfully entertaining here and a lot of the film's charm comes from his performance.There are many great scenes inside the picture including the famous kiss sequence, which was put to use in Steven Spielberg's E.T.. There's also the terrific fight at the end of the picture, which has to be one of the most entertaining to ever be put on film. Ford's direction is spot on and there's no question that the visuals are quite a treat. There's a lot of entertainment to be had from THE QUIET MAN and a lot of the credit has to go to the terrific cast.