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The Quiet Man (1952)

wayneIn my ongoing search to broaden my cinematic education, I called my dad up and asked him what his favorite movies are. A John Wayne fan to the end, one of his recommendations was “The Quiet Man.” I rented it henceforth and forthwith.

Now, I believe in honoring one’s father and one’s mother. Listening to one’s parents is good. But I have to say, I really don’t understand why my dad likes this movie so much.

Plot: John Wayne is Sean Thornton, a man who is returning to Ireland, the land of his birth, in hopes of purchasing the very cottage where he was born. He beats out the ornery Squire Danaher for the purchase, making the squire even more ornery. Things get a little more awkward when Sean gets a gander at a goose girl and takes a shine to her. She is Mary Kate Danaher, played by Maureen O’Hara, and she is the squire’s high-spirited sister. Sean decides to court the fair lass, and she’s agreeable, but the squire refuses to let her have her full dowry. Sean says he doesn’t care, but Mary Kate does – her dowry is tied up in her self-esteem, and if she can’t have it, she doesn’t want to be a wife. She doesn’t understand why Sean won’t fight the squire for it.

Sean has a secret. He used to be a boxer, but he killed a man in the ring. He vowed he would never fight again, and he came to Ireland to escape his past. He will do whatever it takes to keep from fighting the squire, but in Mary Kate’s eyes, this makes him a coward.

Finally, Sean relents and engages in the longest fist fight I’ve ever seen on film. It went on a good 55% longer than it really should have. We also see him drag Mary Kate by the arm for five miles, and yet, somehow, this makes her love him more. I don’t get that. My husband tried that with me, he’d be on the curb faster than the garbage.

On the upside, it was fun to see so many pretty shots of Irish cottages and the like. I learned a little bit about Irish courting customs, so I can’t say this movie was a total waste of time. Pretty close, but not totally.

This film was not rated.

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