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The Quiet Man

The Quiet Man

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Wait for the new version
Review: The print here is really bad. The colors bleed and seem to change before your very eyes. I don't know if the problem is with the original print or the transfer, but I can only imagine that the collector's edition will improve.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Lousy DVD
Review: GREAT MOVIE---lousy dvd. Awful print. Bad sound problem. According to Amazon a new "collector's edition"is coming in October, 2002. Hopefully it will be an improvement. I'd check that one out first. [By the way at least one reviewer is hoping for a " widescreen " dvd version of "TQM". This movie wasn't made in widescreen. With a very few rare exceptions widescreen movies didn't come into existence until 1953 after the groundbreaking premier in the fall of 1952 of CINERAMA , a curved- screen super immersive widescreen process that out- imaxed Imax. Without getting too technical movies before 1953 were pretty much what today's tv viewers would refer to as "full screen"-roughly the shape of a standard tv screen.This includes "TQM". Even then a full changeover to widescreen/scope didn't happen overnight. Check out The American Widescreen Museum on the web for a terrific and highly entertaining history of scope, color and sound in the movies.[I have no personal involvement in this site-just think its definitely worth a look] Yes, there was life in the cinema before "Phantom George and The Digital Menace.]

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great, but with one serious reservation...
Review: ...which has to do with an anti-woman scene at the end of the movie. Otherwise, this John Ford movie is a-one!

John Wayne stars as an American-bred Irish-born man who has decided to return to the land of his birth for a mysterious reason. He certainly has a jammed-pack first day in town: He meets a gnome-like matchmaker who becomes his best friend (Barry Fitzgerald, best professional Irishman in Hollywood); spies a red-headed beauty on the hillside, soon to be his wife (frequent co-star Maureen O'Hara), and makes an enemy (Victor McLaglen), over a parcel of land. The enemy unfortunately happens to be the brother of that red-haired beauty. John and Maureen have a hard time getting married, due to that angry brother of hers, but just when you might think they've solved their problem, said brother refuses to provide Maureen with her dowry. John doesn't realize it at first, but in this sociological group, that means she won't consider herself married, and if she's not married, well, he can just forget about ever sleeping in that big double bed with her. Situation is resolved as you might expect, complete with a donnybrook of a fight between Wayne and McLaglen, just after the mysterious secret is divulged for the audience's benefit.

The film stars the usual stable of performers used by Ford: Wayne, O'Hara, McLaglen, Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, and Arthur Shields (the real-life brother of Barry Fitzgerald, here playing the Protestant minister). Actors comfortable with their director can do a wonderful job, and that's what we have here. The other stand-out in "The Quiet Man" is the lush cinematography, which won a well-deserved Oscar. That scene when Wayne sees O'Hara for the first time is a knock-out, with her red hair showing off gloriously in technicolor.

Although I did give this movie 4 stars, I do have my reservations about it:

At the end of the movie, John Wayne pulls Maureen O'Hara out of a train station, and proceeds to drag her over the field (literally) back home to their town, where he confronts Victor McLaglen, saying that since there's been no dowry, there's no marriage, and he can have his sister back. After the money issue is resolved, Maureen tells Wayne that she'll be going home to get dinner ready, and strides off with a smile on her face. The message: When a woman displays too much independence, it is her husband's right to brutalize her until she capitulates. In fact, this is what she really wants him to do, anyway. It's also worth noting that the violence takes place after they have consummated their marriage. Before that, the Wayne character was very tender in his treatment of O'Hara. Now that she's his possession, however, he doesn't have to bother with that.

This obviously misogynist development spoils what would have been a perfect film. I remember my dad told me that my grandmother had liked this film in the movie theatre until that dragging scene, which infuriated her, causing her to exclaim that no Irishwoman would ever put up with such treatment. I must confess that I felt anger myself looking at it. But it goes beyond Irishwomen; no woman anywhere should be subjected to abuse and degradation. I wish I had the power to alter the movie's ending, so that scene could have been rewritten.

My final comment? Despite providing us with a disturbing look into Ford's attitudes toward women and how to relate to them as equals, "The Quiet Man" is a beautifully filmed movie that shows us a verdant Ireland with an unusually strong cast.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What can I say? The greatest Wayne movie ever made.
Review: This one is a pure favorite, and can make anyone whose not Irish wish they were. With Ford and Wayne's group of regular co-stars like Maureen O'Hara and Ward Bond, this movie just shines, and you'll be laughing at the end. Get this one if you don't want to wait until the next St. Patrick's Day to see it on TV.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: John Ford, John Ford and John Ford
Review: When my good wife gave me a DVD player for Christmas my first thought was, "I'll have to buy a DVD of "The Quiet Man." My comments will be maudlin because this movies is my all-time favorite.
I think that 100 years form now John Ford will be seen as the best American Director of the 20th century. In his movie, "The Quiet Man," we see John Ford dreaming of an Ireland that, like Shangra-La, exists as an image of a perfect place. He assembled John Wayne and a magnificent Irish cast to present a wonderful tale of two people trying to get together accross a huge cultural gap. In "The Quiet man" we have the beautiful Maureen O'Hara, the tale's narrator, Ward Bond, and the real-life brothers, Arthur Shields and Barry Fitzgerald. The protagonist of the story is Victor McLaglin who refuses to give his consent to the marriage of Wayne and O'Hara. Everyone in this movie is a little jewel who displays their human side and thier finer sides.
All through the movie we know that a climactic fight is coming between John Wayne (who had many homeric movie fights including "The Spoilers" and "McKlintoch") and Victor McLaglin (who also pummled movie foes in films like "Gunga Din" and "What Price Glory"). I think that one of the neatest movie moments for me is the second before the fight Maureen O'Hara gives us a look that lets us know that all through the film Wayne has chased her until she caught him.
"The Quiet Man" is a perfect piece of film making by the great John Ford. Everyone ought to have a favorite film and I share mine with millions who love it too. I recommend it to people who like films, are romantic, like John Wayne or any others in the cast. I recommend it to people who seek a little Shangra-La.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Duke...
Review: The Duke in this movie is awsome! It is not a regular John Wayne movie but it's wonderful just the same. Maureen O'Hara is one of the best actresses I have ever seen. Especially in this movie. I think that any- and everyone would love this particular movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AFI's Love Stories: #76 The Quiet Man
Review: Despite all the films they made together, I think "The Quiet Man" contains the only few moments of happy married life on screen involving characters played by John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. But that is not really important because this is John Ford's film, the first American movie filmed in Ireland and the one that won the director his record fourth and final Oscar for Best Director. Ford had bought the film rights to "Green Rushes," a Saturday Evening Post story written by Maurice Walsh in the 1930s and spent 15 years trying to get it made. Finally Republic Pictures was interested in bettering its image and having Ford, Wayne, O'Hara and Victor McLaglen first make "Rio Grande," allowed the group to go to Ireland.

The story is rather simple and quite familiar. Boy accidentally kills boy in ring, boy goes home to Ireland, boy falls in love with girl, girl's brother won't let girl marry boy, entire town conspires to get boy and girl together, plan works but brother finds out, girl does not get dowry, boy does not want dowry, girl does not consider herself married without her dowry, boy and brother have epic knock down fight.

"The Quiet Man" remains one of the most gorgeous technicolor films of all time, with the stellar supporting cast only adding to the bouquet of colors: Ward Bond as Father Peter Lonergan, Mildred Natwick as the Widow Tillane, Arthur Shields as the Reverend Playfair, and Barry Fitzgerald as Michaleen Flynn (the matchmaker), along with a host of local Irish character actors who well deserve the curtain call director Ford gives them at the end. Wayne's performance is rather subdued by his standards, and while not his best (I vote for "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" on that score), is still memorable. As for O'Hara, in addition to looking stunning in Technicolor (what did you expect with that hair), she actually has to reign in her fiery Irish temper much more than any other film she made with the Duke. "The Quiet Man" tends to get shown each St. Patrick's Day, which becomes a bit trite after a while, but this is certainly a film that I like to see at least once a year.

Most Romantic Lines: "There'll be no locks or bolts between us, Mary Kate... except those in your own mercenary little heart!" Actually the romance in this one is the way Sean and Mary Kate look at each other leading up to one of the most romantic kisses in the rain. And the one when he catches her cleaning his cottage ain't bad either, boyo.

Or, to quote Michaleen Flynn: "Homeric. Positively Homeric."

If you enjoyed "The Quiet Man," check out these other films on AFI's list: #44 "The Philadelphia Story" and #74 "Woman of the Year." Why? Because in both of these films you will also find a spirited red-headed woman (Katharine Hepburn) being put in her place by a real man (Cary Grant and Spencer Tracy respectively). Obviously, we are not talking about a trio of feminist films here.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Stay Away
Review: Though "The Quiet Man" is one of my favorite movies, the DVD is the worst in my collection. The backgrounds are washed out and it's out of sync in several scenes. I can't watch it. It's so bad, I won't sell it.

Hopefully, a remastered version is on the books. It's a delightful film, to see "The Quite Man" treated so badly is a disservice and a shame.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Great Movie - horrible DVD
Review: What on earth?! I love this movie. Therefore I cannot understand all the positive reviews for this DVD. (I can only assume most are simply reviewing the movie itself.) How many of us looked for a "Quiet Man" DVD, hopping to find something that captured John Ford's original vision? Wouldn't a digitally remastered, wide-screen, surround sound version of this be an incredible addition to any movie buff's library? (To all the nay-sayers, a high quality DVD version of an old movie can indeed be produced - see Citizen Kane). This DVD has all the technological quality of a 15 year old video tape. The sound, full screen picture etc. are all second tier. The "making of" feature is interesting. However, if you love this movie, nothing will make up for the overall lack of quality. Shame on you Artisan.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If you see this movie and don't love it, check your pulse...
Review: because you're obviously dead. As a long-time sci-fi/action movie fan, I am as surprised as anyone that this is my absolute favorite movie in the world. The views are breathtaking, the plot is wonderfully engaging, and the acting is well-done. To top it all off, EVERY SINGLE ONE of the characters, from the smallest part up to Wayne himself, is likeable and memorable. This movie is SO good it sits proudly (albeit incongruously) next to the rest of my collection--Soldier, The Replacement Killers, Alien, various Anime titles, etc.


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