(1952. Dir. John Ford. John Wayne. Maureen O’Hara, Victor McLaglen, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond. 129 min.) Of all the films by legendary director John Ford, this is definitely my fave. A smooth piece of movie making in glorious Technicolor with major stars from Ford’s decades old stock company.
Now much as I love old man Ford’s westerns and war movies, he drives me crazy slipping in the Irish sanctimony and schmaltz every chance he gets. Well this time the entire movie is Irish sanctimony, and the schmaltz is the jumping-off point for some great comic effect. And probably the greatest screen romance this side of Gone With The Wind. Wayne is Sean Thornton, a retired boxer from Pittsburgh (Yah!) who returns to the Irish town of his in birth to buy back the family home from the wealthy widow Tillane. He just wants to live a quiet life (while nursing a dark secret) but ah, the biggest loudmouth in town, Squire Will Danagher (McLaglen) has been trying to get the widda Tillane to sell him the property for years, and he takes none to kindly to losing out, declaring cold war on Thornton as a result. To further complicate matters, Thornton and fiery redhead Mary Kate (O’Hara), Danagher’s sister, make the googly eyes at each other and fall hopelessly in love. Except this is rural Ireland, pre WW 2 boy-o, and per local custom only the head of a household can give any consent for marriage. Fat chance persuading big brother Will of that. So the sympathetic townsfolk cook up a scheme to trick Will into giving his consent which of course blows up in their faces and simply make matters worse. From that point on the movie picks up a great head of steam and barrels towards a hilarious knock-down drag out third act. This is a John Wayne movie, right? The moral of the story: you can get along with your in-laws just fine as long as they know you can beat the crap out of them.
Now much as I love old man Ford’s westerns and war movies, he drives me crazy slipping in the Irish sanctimony and schmaltz every chance he gets. Well this time the entire movie is Irish sanctimony, and the schmaltz is the jumping-off point for some great comic effect. And probably the greatest screen romance this side of Gone With The Wind. Wayne is Sean Thornton, a retired boxer from Pittsburgh (Yah!) who returns to the Irish town of his in birth to buy back the family home from the wealthy widow Tillane. He just wants to live a quiet life (while nursing a dark secret) but ah, the biggest loudmouth in town, Squire Will Danagher (McLaglen) has been trying to get the widda Tillane to sell him the property for years, and he takes none to kindly to losing out, declaring cold war on Thornton as a result. To further complicate matters, Thornton and fiery redhead Mary Kate (O’Hara), Danagher’s sister, make the googly eyes at each other and fall hopelessly in love. Except this is rural Ireland, pre WW 2 boy-o, and per local custom only the head of a household can give any consent for marriage. Fat chance persuading big brother Will of that. So the sympathetic townsfolk cook up a scheme to trick Will into giving his consent which of course blows up in their faces and simply make matters worse. From that point on the movie picks up a great head of steam and barrels towards a hilarious knock-down drag out third act. This is a John Wayne movie, right? The moral of the story: you can get along with your in-laws just fine as long as they know you can beat the crap out of them.
