John Wayne Centenary: The '50s - Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, Hondo, The Searchers and Rio Bravo - Page 3

The Ireland of The Quiet Man, though, is no more the real Ireland than She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the real west. Both are romanticised visions, less about what was real and more about what should have been.

Wayne plays an ex-boxer, Sean Thornton, who’s retired to Ireland to get away from his past. While there he meets and falls in love with a beautiful redheaded Irish woman (Maureen O'Hara) but her brother (Victor McLaglen) and tradition stand between them. It’s the simplest of stories but features some of the most colourful characters ever seen in a motion picture.

Watched in today’s politically correct times, the film could be considered offensive, with its stereotypical depiction of the Irish as drunken brawlers and its seemingly condoning a spot of wife beating just a couple of examples. Anyone who wants to argue that corner though really needs to get a life; this is a light-hearted romantic comedy that, while certainly a product of its times, hasn’t lost it power to entertain.

Wayne and O’Hara are at the peak of their onscreen relationship here. Whether comic or romantic, their scenes together are perfectly played. The parts required a lot of physical acting and it’s something both actors excelled at; O’Hara in particular must have come home bruised after many a day's shooting.

Good as Wayne and O’Hara are, it’s the supporting cast that really makes this worthy of its classic status. Arthur Shields and Ward Bond as two clergymen, one Catholic, the other Protestant , and Victor McLaglen as O’Hara’s domineering brother, all add to the film's sense of fun. But it’s little Barry Fitzgerald who steals the show as Michaleen Oge Flynn, the man who has to act as chaperone for the film's romantic couple. Almost every line he speaks is comedy gold but my personal favourite has always been: “Is this a courting or a donnybrook? Have the good manners not to hit the man until he's your husband and entitled to hit you back.” Of course it’s not just the line but the way it’s delivered that makes it work and the master scene stealer plays it pitch perfect.

Frank S. Nugent’s script provides the material for all these actors to shine, and it's not just a funny script, it’s an intelligent funny script. Nugent made several films with Ford, including The Searchers, but this may be his crowning achievement.

Article Author: Ian Woolstencroft

Ian Woolstencroft was brought up on a diet of John Wayne movies and Marvel Comics and still has a passion for both. Now as a blogcritic he finally understands what Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben meant when he said ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ …

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