“THE QUIET MAN” (1952): A MASTERPIECE BY WAYNE AND FORD

The Quiet Man is a 1952 Technicolor American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Ford: he has a post in my blog. 

It stars John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara (both have posts in my blog), Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen.

The screenplay by Frank S. Nugent was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story of the same name by Maurice Walsh, later published as part of a collection The Green Rushes. The film is notable for Winton Hoch's lush photography of the Irish countryside and a long, climactic, semi-comic fist fight. It was an official selection of the 1952 Venice Film Festival.

The Quiet Man won the Academy Award for Best Director for John Ford, his fourth, and for Best Cinematography. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In the 1920s, Sean Thornton (John Wayne), an Irish-born American from Pittsburgh, travels to Ireland to reclaim his family's farm and his birthplace in Inisfree. He meets and falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara), the sister of the bullying, loud-mouthed landowner Squire "Red" Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen). Danaher, who had wanted the farm himself, is angry that the Widow Tillane (angered by Danaher's admission that he had discussed her in the local pub) accepts Sean's bid, and retaliates by refusing consent for his sister to marry.

Several town locals, including the Catholic priest, Father Lonergan (Ward Bond) and the village matchmaker (and bookmaker) Michaleen O'Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald), conspire to trick him into believing that the wealthy Widow Tillane (Mildred Natwick) wants to marry him, but only if Mary Kate is no longer living in his house. After learning the truth on Sean and Mary Kate's wedding day, an enraged Will refuses to give his sister her dowry which is made up of a large sum of money and her family possessions passed down from her mother.

Sean, unschooled in Irish customs, cares nothing about the dowry, but to Mary Kate the dowry represents her independence, identity, and pride. She feels passionately and intensely that the dowry is hers and is needed to validate her marriage to Sean. Angered and shamed by Sean's refusal to confront her brother and demand what is legally hers, she brands him a coward, and, despite living together, they are estranged as husband and wife. In the morning they find that others in the village had visited Will and pressured him to return Mary Kate's furniture, but could not make him pay the 350 pounds of dowry money.

Sean had been a boxer in the United States, a heavyweight challenger known as "Trooper Thorn." After accidentally killing an opponent in the ring, Sean hung up his gloves, vowing never to fight again. This is known to only one person in the village, the Church of Ireland minister, the Rev. Playfair (Arthur Shields), who once upon a time had been the lightweight champion and so understands Thornton's internal conflict over the fight.

Scene from the film

In an attempt to force Sean to confront Will, Mary Kate leaves him and boards a train departing Castletown and headed to Dublin. Sean hears from Michaleen that she left for the station and drags her off the train. Followed by a crowd of townspeople, he forces her to walk with him the five miles back to Inisfree and directly to the Danaher farm.

Sean demands that Will hand over her dowry. When Will refuses, he throws Mary Kate back at Will, saying that "no dowry, no marriage" is their custom, not his; shocking the two and shaming Will into finally paying the monetary portion of his sister's dowry. Sean promptly throws the money into a nearby furnace which Mary Kate holds open, showing that Mary Kate never cared about the money but only what it represented.

After a proud Mary Kate announces so all can hear that she will now return home to prepare his supper and departs, Will throws a punch at Sean, and is dropped by Sean's vicious right hook to the gut. A long, memorable fistfight ensues between the two, drawing crowds from miles around. They slug it out through the village, stop for a drink, admit grudging mutual respect for each other, and disagree over who is to pay for the porter they are drinking. Sean ends the fight by clocking Danneher on the jaw hard enough to smash him through the pub's door, knocking him out. Then, somewhat drunk, the two return to Sean and Mary Kate's home for supper, where it is implied the rift is healed. Sean regains Mary Kate's love and respect.

In the aftermath it is shown that Will and the Widow Tillane begin courting, and "peace is returned to Inisfree". When last seen, Mary Kate has whispered something in Sean's ear and the couple is shown trotting back to their house ... in the middle of the day, no less.

Music

Ford chose his friend, Hollywood composer Victor Young, to compose the score for the film. Young sprinkled the soundtrack with many Irish airs such as the "Rakes of Mallow" and "The Wild Colonial Boy". One piece of music, chosen by Ford himself, is most prominent: the melody the "Isle of Innisfree", written not by Young, but by the Irish policeman/songwriter Richard Farrelly. The melody of the "Isle of Innisfree", which is first heard over the opening credit sequence with Ashford Castle in the background, becomes the principal musical theme of The Quiet Man. The melody is reprised at least eleven times throughout the film.