The Quiet Man

"We Danihers are a fighting people".

John Ford's glowing tribute to his ancestral homeland puts John Wayne out of his element as Sean, an Irish-American returning to his roots in 1920s Innisfree (Castlemaine), Ireland. It's a gentle comedy of the Irish character; painting a picture of peaceful countryside, the drinking of black beers, village gossip and an unswaying respect for the church. Beautifully shot on location in technicolour, and featuring a typically Fordian cast of craggy character actors, the films plays out a romance between Wayne's gentle giant and a fiery-tempered Maureen O'Hara.

What I found most interesting about this Ford-Wayne collaboration was that it puts John Wayne into a story that lets his character relax and breathe a little. For once he isn't fighting a war or enforcing western law, he's a man trying to live a normal life. It's a different kind of territory for Wayne, as Sean he's cast as a man who can't (or won't) fight, so the central conflict between himself and Will Daniher (Victor McLaglen) takes on an extra dimension. Sean's battle is one of hearts and minds - Wayne can't conquer McLaglen with brawn and bravado, so he has to engage with him in other ways. Of course, this all goes out the window for the epic brawling climax (Ford seems to think that all problems are actually solved by fighting) but the social texture of the film leading up to this is still fairly pacifistic by design and nature.

Besides the cast (who I'll get back to), the other best facets of this award-winning film are it's tongue-in-cheek explanation of Irish traditions (wedding dowries and wifebeating), it's general humour, and the shock twist masterfully played out via the open horror on Wayne's face in an unexpected flashback scene. I laughed out loud a few times, sucvh as when a townswoman offers Sean a stick to "beat the lovely lady with", or when Michaleen (Barry Fitzgerald) jumps to the (natural) wrong conclusion after seeing Sean's bed busted completely after his wedding night. Another moment that's so cheesy that I couldn't help but laugh is when a man leaps from his deathbed to join the spectators lining the street to get a good view of Sean and Will's fight. Much of Sean's troubles throughout the film come via the mild scandals he causes with his American ways - he essentially has to learn to be Irish in order to win the right to a happy life in Innisfree.

The pairing of Wayne and O'Hara is one of the great romantic couplings of golden era Hollywood, and O'Hara is compelling as the stouthearted maid intent on a traditional courtship and marriage. It's strange though to see Wayne so gentle for once, with O'Hara bringing out a seldom-seen sensitive side in him. The timbre in his voice is so soft it's like he doesn't even know he's being filmed. The bravado is gone, he's vulnerable as he simply says "I'm sorry", and it's a more real performance in that it also shows him engaging in the same kind of behaviour as us mere mortals. He quarrels with his wife about domestic matters, and he even gets the shits and walks off at one point - wandering around and chucking rocks at stuff as he smokes cigarette after cigarette. As usual, he starts out the film as a bachelor (why did Wayne aways play bachelor-type characters so often?), and a lot of his mission is to actively court Mary-Kate. It's perfectly played though, the drama generated by the supporting cast (and the location) makes it a fun and attractive experience. It makes you want to go to Ireland and soak up its pastoral culture, something that many fans of the film have since done. Perhaps that's its greatest legacy of all.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- Mary-Kate literally makes Sean chase her across the countryside as part of their courtship.
- In a reverse of this, Sean later drags her through mud and dirt with the whole village in tow.
- This quote, "Have the good manners not to hit your husband until he can hit you back!"
- Sean gets so angry on his wedding night that he looks like he's going to actually rape his wife! Angry Wayne is so scary, it's a shame that he never capitalised on this to play a villain, though I guess his mythic 'good' image was part of why he seemed so scary whenever he looks on the verge of losing his restraint.
- The heartwarming final reel where all the townsfolk (the Catholic priest included) all pretend to be Prostestants so their village's minister can be kept in town by his superiors. It's an incredibly inspiring vision of Ireland's mixed-faith heritage, if highly unlikeable.

DIRECTOR: John Ford
WRITER/SOURCE: Screenplay by Frank S. Nugent and Richard Llewellyn. Based on a short story by Maurice Walsh.
KEY ACTORS: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, Arthur Shields, Francis Ford, Charles FitzSimons

RELATED TEXTS:
- Based on a short story from a 1930s edition of The Saturday Evening Post by Maurice Walsh.
- Ford, Wayne and O'Hara also collaborated together on Rio Grande and The Wings of Eagles.
- John Ford also paid tribute to Wales in a previous Oscar-decorated film, How Green Was My Valley. Ford also made a series of Irish dramas in his silent film days: Morther Machree, Four Sons and Hangman's House.
- Donnybrook!, a musical inspired by The Quiet Man. Also, Innisfree, a documentary about the making of The Quiet Man.
- Other films about outsiders coming to colourful, idyllic rural communities: I Know Where I'm Going, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, The Field, Local Hero, The Dish and Spotswood.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - won Best Director and Best Cinematography (Colour). Also nominated for Best Film, Best Supporting Actor (Victor McLaglen), Best Writing, Best Sound and Best Art Direction.
Golden Globes - nominated Best Director and Best Score.
Venice Film Festival - won International Award and OCIC Award.