I remember first coming across this film in an English composition book in ninth or tenth grade English. There were pictures from the movie in the book and the movie was broken down into a story. I was intrigued both by the title and the fact that the pictures were from a movie. I was disappointed that we did not cover that story in class and for some reason I didn't actually read it myself but only skimmed over it. Funniest thing about this situation was that I didn't recognize John Wayne even though he was clearly visible in the pictures.
Fast forward years later and I finally saw it. Prior to watching The Quiet Man, I was mostly familiar with McLintock! and, to a lesser degree, Donovan's Reef as far as John Wayne's films were concerned. My family had and still has great respect and admiration for John Wayne so I was aware of him in that sense as well. His other films were watched in our household when they came on TMC or AMC but as a younger child I hadn't been interested in those as much as the ones that I just mentioned.
John Wayne is something of a mythical person in my mind. While I didn't know his films and thus wasn't terribly familiar with him, I knew of him to be someone that you didn't speak lightly of. He was and is a great man to my family's thinking. It turns out that, in my opinion, they were and are right in their high regard of him.
But for the longest time, I mostly thought of him as just a cowboy. So, here comes this picture in which he isn't a cowboy and, truth be told, I found myself to be skeptical of the idea of him being anything other than a cowboy. I am pleased to say that I was wrong in my assumptions.
This film tells of Sean Thornton (played by John Wayne), a quiet man who returns from America to his childhood home called Innish Free in Ireland for mysterious reasons. From the first day of his arrival at Innish Free, he both runs afoul of a local man called Squire "Red" Will Danaher and is captivated by Will's beautiful younger spinster sister named Mary Kate Danaher (played by Maureen O'Hara).
Will's home and property are immediately adjacent to Sean's property. It turns out that Will had been wanting to purchase the land that is Sean's property for years prior to Sean returning from America. Will is furious that the owner of Sean's property the Widow Sarah Tillane (played by Mildred Natwick), sold the property to Sean who is an outsider to boot rather than himself. Will becomes more difficult when he learns of Sean's affection of Mary Kate and Mary Kate's reciprocating the affection.
Mary Kate is a traditional Irish woman and Sean has a hard time understanding the Irish ways that he encounters that are so much more different than he is used to. Further Sean struggles to keep secret his past and his reason for coming home to Ireland.
Meanwhile some of the townsfolk decide to form a secret conspiracy to trick Will into allowing Sean and Mary Kate to marry. They also try to help the couple out when Will turns out his own "trick" so to speak after the marriage.
This film is gorgeous, with beautiful Irish countryside as the backdrop. There is exciting horseback racing and riding in it. There's enough touches of humor to keep it light. The story is excellent. And who doesn't love a good fight like the brawl between Will and Sean towards the end of the movie.
As always, John Wayne as Sean and Maureen O'Hara as Mary Kate have such amazing chemistry that brilliantly shines throughout their scenes. What's especially lovely is there is understated passion and tenderness that doesn't require sex to be conveyed.
For the first time, I finally saw John Wayne in the new light of handsome leading man. I love that his character Sean is so in love with Mary Kate and it's conveyed so surprisingly sweetly from a "rough tough" guy like John Wayne. How wonderful to be loved and accepted just as one is as Sean loves and accepts Mary Kate just as she is!
And, while Mary Kate definitely loves Sean back, it's funny to me how realistic it is that Mary Kate doesn't fully realize how much Sean loves her and how far he is willing to go for her at least at first. For an older movie when more serious matters were usually softened or ignored, you don't get much more like real life than that.
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