The Quiet Man (1952)

If you thought that John Wayne cannot act this film proves you wrong. No gunfights, no posturing, no cattle drives and Rocky Mountain scenery to hide behind here. Just characters, .. Acting.

If there is a bad performance in this film I just cannot see where. From Micheleen to the Station master, all spot on. Even the lady offering the stick to beat Maureen O'Hara with is just perfect.

It is clichéd, I know. It is a "fantasy" Ireland I know. The characters are archetypal and exaggerated, .... again, I know. But, and it is a big but, no film I can think off gives me such an overwhelmingly good feeling. As it winds up I am immediately regretting its end, I just want it to go on and on.

The constant, repetitive background music, (again, clichéd Irish fayre) is so spiritually uplifting, like the best ceilidh that you have ever heard. The whole film makes me feel like I did the first time I saw Riverdance.

Oh, by the way, I am not Irish so you cannot lay that bias on me.

I love Terminator 2, Dirty Harry films, Pulp Fiction and Star Wars/Trek et al. But they do not hold a candle to The Quiet Man". Best film of all time? Yes, I truly think so.

Fmovies: Ireland has never been portrayed as lovingly as in this film. John Ford's tribute to the land of his ancestors is about as good as a movie can get. Of course, Ford's vision is, by today's standards, a bit outdated. The Ireland of the time in the movie probably doesn't exist any more, but only in the minds of those who knew the Emerald Isle back then.

The story is a bit passe, but we make excuses for seeing it once more whenever it plays on cable, as we take the journey to an ideal place that thanks to John Ford will live forever.

The best thing in the film is Maureen O'Hara. This actress beauty was legendary. Having met her on a few occasions, I can only say, that she is as beautiful in person as she is in films. Miss O'Hara graced this movie by only being there. The camera loved her; she's perfect as Mary Kate Daneher, the spinster, as the locals call her.

The other big assets of the film are the Irish actors that Ford entrusted key roles. Barry Fitzgerald, the impish Michaeleen Flynn, was delightful. Victor McLaglen, is excellent as Squire Will Danaher. John Wayne, as Sean Thornton, is a bit stiff, but maybe Ford's direction called for this actor to play himself in rural Ireland, who knows?

This is a film to be treasured.

I can't say I've ever seen a film of such beauty as The Quiet Man. It is whimsical from start to finish, literally never hitting a sour note. Presenting the Irish culture from the point of view of an Irish descendant reclaiming his heritage, this film was an obvious labor of love from director John Ford. It even pokes fun at wife-beating and the IRA with complete good taste. I can't give enough praise to this movie, but out of all the great films from the brilliant John Ford, it's definitely my favorite.

The Quiet Man fmovies. One of the best directed by John Ford. An emotional, humorous look at an American, played by John Wayne, going back to his native Ireland and trying to fit in with the present culture. Sensational scenery and the grand music by Victor Young support this classic among classics. Breezy and rowdy. Too beautiful to turn your back on. A great illustration of romance. The interaction between Wayne and Maureen O'Hara is magical and hard to beat.

Other classic performances are turned in by Victor McLaglen, Ward Bond and Barry Fitzgerald.

What's not to like about this picture? A classic directed by the legendary John Ford. John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara light up the screen. Wayne's performance is brilliant, but what really stands out is that he is playing a regular guy with real feelings and emotions--no army uniforms, no indians to fight, no cavalry coming to the rescue--just a great performance. The supporting cast is unmatched--including great performances by Victor McLaglen, Barry Fitzgerald and Ward Bond. Look closely for Ken Curtis (Festus, from Gunsmoke) in an uncredited role. The scenery is absolutly breathtaking--it makes me want to go home to Ireland--and I'm not even Irish. To top it off The Quiet Man has the greatest fist fight ever captured on film. This is one of my two favorite John Wayne movies. The Duke should have gotten an Oscar for this one. Movie viewers won't be disapointed by this one.

Maureen O'Hara in Technicolor is surely any Irishman's dream, and "The Quiet Man" would be timeless for that alone. But O'Hara's performance is all the more indelible for the great good humor she bestows on her character, Mary Kate Danaher. Let's face it; with any other actress, this could have been a disaster.

Sean Thornton (John Wayne) comes back to County Mayo, his birthplace, to find a peace he lost tragically back home in America. He immediately discovers some old friends, and a new one, too, Mary Kate, who while herding sheep stares back at him in what James Joyce might have called "a significant manner."

Director John Ford elects to shoot O'Hara from an odd angle, and with an unusual overhead shadow crossing O'Hara's face, that in anyone else's hands would have totally blown the shot but here creates something, well, "Homerific." It's one of many amazing shots in a film that seems more painted than photographed, and is perhaps the most strikingly lovely film ever made.

The shot of O'Hara looking back at Wayne also clues you onto something else, that this is going to be her story as much as it is Thornton's. In fact, it's really more about her than it is about him, a film about romance and a woman's liberation at the hands of her lover. We call them "chick flicks" today. But since John Wayne is the nominal star and no one ever confused Ford with Douglas Sirk, "The Quiet Man" isn't popularly regarded this way.

It's fun to read all the comments about poor Mary Kate and how this film glamorizes the mistreatment of women. They have one thing right, it's a film about spousal domination, but it's the wife ruling the husband. Think about it: She makes her lover do just about everything he does in the film, even risk bodily injury at the hands of her brutish brother (she doesn't know about his past and thinks she married "a coward.") People complain that he drags her across a dung-covered field, while a helpful woman hands him a stick "to beat the lovely lady with." But of course it's Mary Kate who's in total control of the situation. She wants Thornton to fight for her, in every sense of the word, and won't make it easy. She wants him to adapt to her culture, rather than adapt to his. (She's not one to be "honked at," as she puts it.) It's not surprising she trips and falls at one point while Thornton pulls her across a field; probably one of those puppet strings of hers got in the way.

But there are worse things in life than being enslaved by the likes of Maureen O'Hara, like not being enslaved by the likes of Maureen O'Hara. She's not only beautiful and pure-hearted, but such a hilarious joy to be around. O'Hara plays up the comedy of her scenes very well; she could have opted for a more regal distance from the slapstick but plays it as rowdy as the rest instead. The scene when she spits in her hand before shaking with matchmaker Michaleen Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald, who gives the next-best performance after O'Hara) tells you who she is better than any of her many sexy moments on screen. It also gets back to the point of why she's so essential in this film. She is Ireland, the spirit of Erin, and you want her to win, not because she's so pretty but because you know she's good and right for Sean, too.

About the only things wrong with the film are the action sequences, the horse ra