Reviews

The QUIET MAN is like a good marriage and a fine wine. It has aged well and with each passing year the true movie buff appreciates the beauty of this once-in-a-lifetime-film. John Ford created this film as a tribute to his Irish heritage and surrounded himself with the familiar "Ford Players" (Wayne,Maureen O'Hara,Ward Bond,Victor McLaglen,Arthur Shields, Mildred Natwick) plus a galaxy of Irish players to liven up the action.

Ford has Wayne cast as the brash(and somehow wealthy) Sean Thorton who is a bit confused with the Irish custom of courting. Sean has returned to the place of his birth because of a promise made to his mother years before and to hide a terrible secret which we learn of half-way through the movie. Sean spies the beautiful Kate and decides that she will be his bride. He also decides to purchase the humble cottage of his childhood from the widow who now owns it. He does win a bidding war with Will(McLaglen) who not only covets the land but the widow(Natwick). But Will exacts his revenge by refusing to allow Sean to court Will's sister, the beautiful Kate. Through a bit of Irish chicanery involving a horse race, a bonnet, a pact between the marraige broker(Barry Fitzgerald) and the parish priest(Bond), Sean is indeed able to court Kate and they eventually marry and all seems at peace until Will learns that the widow is not willing to marry him as he was led to believe through innuendo. Will brings the wedding reception to a halt by throwing Kate's dowry to the floor and knocking out Sean with one mighty blow. It's at this point we learn of Sean's reluctance to fight anyone because as a professional fighter he had killed a man in the ring; a secret only he and the local Protestant minister(Shields) share. The failure of Sean to fight for Kate's dowry makes her believe that she is married to a coward. On their wedding night she locks the door to their bedroom which Sean kicks open a roughly tosses Kate onto their conjugal bed. But Sean storms from the bedroom and sleeps the night in his sleeping bag. Moving ahead, Sean and Kate finally behave as man and wife one night but the next morning she leaves him because of her "shame". Retrieving Kate from a train waiting at the station he literally drags her "the whole way" back to Will's farm. There he confronts Will and demands the payment of Kate's dowry in full. When the tight-fisted Will refuses Sean throws Kate at Will's feet and announces, "The whole deal's off. It's your custom,not mine". Will grudgingly throws the money on the ground. Kate realizes Sean has stood up to Will and she opens the firebox of a steam engine and Sean deposits the money in the fire. All of this action is observed by most of the village's population who have been spoiling for a fight between the quiet American and the local bully. And what a fight ensues. From the farm into the village to the local pub with the villagers watching every blow. Bets are handled by the marraige broker with the odds about even. Even the parish priest and his young assistant are distant observers knowing full well they should be making an attempt to stop the fight. At the pub, Sean and Will decide to take a break from the fisticuffs and share a drink or two. Here the fight ends abruptly. The fact of who won the fight is not important but Ford makes it clear that these two mountains of men have fought and gained respect for the other. Will and Sean return to Sean's cottage with plenty of Irish cheer in their bellies and are greeted by the "woman of the house" who is relieved that her husband and brother have resolved their differences. The cast is introduced at the closing of the movie as Will and the widow ride off in a courting cart driven by the marraige broker with the entire village cheering them on. THE QUIET MAN is a movie that mere words fail to do justice. The music(Victor Young), the Technicolor photography and second unit direction(Archie Stout and Winton Hoch),the perfect supporting cast, the dialogue and the feel of this movie are of perfection with the director and stars reaching heights rare in a Republic Studio production. Its been nearly 47 years since I viewed this movie for the first time and it remains(as with many movie buffs) my favorite film experience.

It's sad that THE HIGH AND MIGHTY has vanished into thin air. The Ernest Gann novel was translated into a star-filled drama of the highest degree. This was the first movie I attended upon my return from Korea in l954 and the memory of this movie is still vivid as is THE QUIET MAN which was one of the last movies I viewed before leaving for Korea. As you can see, I am an unabashed fan of the Duke and in these two movies he displayed an acting range that had been barely recognized by the average movie-goer. THE HIGH AND MIGHTY is unique because almost all of the action is inside a stricken luxury airliner and the director,William Wellman,had the nerve to photograph this action in a wide-screen process. But Wayne as the first officer,Dan Roman,is not the only outstanding character although it is Roman's steadfast belief in his skills and the aircraft that brings the passengers to safety. Robert Stack as the Captain, Paul Fix as an aging passenger, Phil Harris as a jokester who has just endured a painful vacation in Hawaii with his wife, John Howard and Lorraine Day as an at-odds married couple, David Brian(Mr,D.A.) as a man suspected by Sidney Blackmer of being the gentleman in whom Blackmer's wife is having an affair and Doe Avedon as the flight attendant all play major roles in this dated, but still relevant movie. But the ladies, Claire Trevor and Jan Sterling as hardened women of the evening also bring to us a mix of pathos, self doubt and humor. John Qualen, a fixture in a number of John Wayne movies,plays a patented role as a simple fisherman on his way home to his rather large family. Paul Kelly plays a disillustioned scientist. The story of THE HIGH AND MIGHTY ,written by Ernest Gann, is simple; A four-engined aircraft bound for San Francisco from Hawaii, has an engine explode and hang at a precarious angle from the wing. The fates of the passengers are in the hands of the flight crew, headed by Robert Stack. The Wayne character, Dan Roman,is a veteran pilot who lost his wife and son in a crash of an airliner he was piloting years before.While the drama is unfolding in the cockpit the passengers review their lives and most make promises to change if they survive. Wayne's character has to convince the captain that they can make it to the mainland. The action inside the aircraft is electric and more exciting that any of the aircraft disaster movies that followed. Of course John Wayne prevails and the passengers walk off into a rainy San Francisco night to return to the lives they had known before they made their promises. Dimitri Tiomkin's score is highlighted by threading the familiar HIGH AND MIGHTY theme throughout the movie. The closing scene is classic; Wayne walking with a limp into the foggy evening and whistling the theme. Ernest Gann's novel rings true because of his first-hand knowledge of aviation. As the author of several flying novels, most notably FATE IS THE HUNTER, Gann is able to make us understand that flying in those days was a mixture of wisdom, experience and a feeling in the seat-of-the-pants. I give this adaptation the highest marks although the story is dated, the characters are of another age and the formula is now tried-and-true. But the story does emphasis that there are unseen heroes that walk among us and come forth when needed.How many times did John Wayne portray this character?