Rating: 
Summary: Watch this one for the performances!
Review: "Donovan's Reef" is a strange hybrid of a movie. On the one hand, it's a vehicle for John Wayne to show off with the rest of the very talented cast. On the other, it's also a morality play about racism, set on a lush, (and distant) South Pacific island, but very relevant to the United States of the early 1960s. In these days of multiracial awareness, the latter aspect seems a bit dated, and talk about "half caste [non-white] children" is quaint. Cliches and cultural stereotypes abound, but in its time "Donovan's Reef" was a progressive and even (as another reviewer has called it) "subversive" movie. The beautiful exotic setting no doubt made the message of racial equality more palatable to the mainstream American audience of the day.Today, however, the movie endures primarily because of the strength of the cast and the characters they create. A young Lee Marvin plays the brawling Gilhooley and Cesar Romero the pleasantly oily French governor. The Asian actor who plays the governor's aide is truly splendid. His name should be up in the main credits along with the stars. Although there is not a weak performance among the lot, my favorite moments are the exchanges between Wayne and Elizabeth Allen, his foil and romantic interest. She plays the supposedly straitlaced Bostonian and he the salty ex-pat bar owner. Both are strong characters, and they give each other as good as they get. On the negative side, the narrative is sometimes disjointed, as if the movie tries to be too much in too little time. It's as if too much film ended up on the cutting room floor. A pity, because if what was edited out is of the same caliber as what was left in, some rare moments have been lost. Too bad John Ford isn't around to do a "director's cut." "Donovan's Reef" may not be a great movie, but it sure is fun to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Watch this one for the performances!
Review: "Donovan's Reef" is a strange hybrid of a movie. On the one hand, it's a vehicle for John Wayne to show off with the rest of the very talented cast. On the other, it's also a morality play about racism, set on a lush, (and distant) South Pacific island, but very relevant to the United States of the early 1960s. In these days of multiracial awareness, the latter aspect seems a bit dated, and talk about "half caste [non-white] children" is quaint. Cliches and cultural stereotypes abound, but in its time "Donovan's Reef" was a progressive and even (as another reviewer has called it) "subversive" movie. The beautiful exotic setting no doubt made the message of racial equality more palatable to the mainstream American audience of the day. Today, however, the movie endures primarily because of the strength of the cast and the characters they create. A young Lee Marvin plays the brawling Gilhooley and Cesar Romero the pleasantly oily French governor. The Asian actor who plays the governor's aide is truly splendid. His name should be up in the main credits along with the stars. Although there is not a weak performance among the lot, my favorite moments are the exchanges between Wayne and Elizabeth Allen, his foil and romantic interest. She plays the supposedly straitlaced Bostonian and he the salty ex-pat bar owner. Both are strong characters, and they give each other as good as they get. On the negative side, the narrative is sometimes disjointed, as if the movie tries to be too much in too little time. It's as if too much film ended up on the cutting room floor. A pity, because if what was edited out is of the same caliber as what was left in, some rare moments have been lost. Too bad John Ford isn't around to do a "director's cut." "Donovan's Reef" may not be a great movie, but it sure is fun to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Watch this one for the performances!
Review: "Donovan's Reef" is a strange hybrid of a movie. On the one hand, it's a vehicle for John Wayne to show off with the rest of the very talented cast. On the other, it's also a morality play about racism, set on a lush, (and distant) South Pacific island, but very relevant to the United States of the early 1960s. In these days of multiracial awareness, the latter aspect seems a bit dated, and talk about "half caste [non-white] children" is quaint. Cliches and cultural stereotypes abound, but in its time "Donovan's Reef" was a progressive and even (as another reviewer has called it) "subversive" movie. The beautiful exotic setting no doubt made the message of racial equality more palatable to the mainstream American audience of the day. Today, however, the movie endures primarily because of the strength of the cast and the characters they create. A young Lee Marvin plays the brawling Gilhooley and Cesar Romero the pleasantly oily French governor. The Asian actor who plays the governor's aide is truly splendid. His name should be up in the main credits along with the stars. Although there is not a weak performance among the lot, my favorite moments are the exchanges between Wayne and Elizabeth Allen, his foil and romantic interest. She plays the supposedly straitlaced Bostonian and he the salty ex-pat bar owner. Both are strong characters, and they give each other as good as they get. On the negative side, the narrative is sometimes disjointed, as if the movie tries to be too much in too little time. It's as if too much film ended up on the cutting room floor. A pity, because if what was edited out is of the same caliber as what was left in, some rare moments have been lost. Too bad John Ford isn't around to do a "director's cut." "Donovan's Reef" may not be a great movie, but it sure is fun to watch.
Rating: 
Summary: DONOVAN'S REEF-JOHN WAYNE & LEE MARVIN
Review: 4 SEPT: 2002
ANOTHER OUTSTANDING FLICK WITH "THE DUKE", & LEE MARVIN!!!!!!
GREAT COMEDY LEVEL.BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. FANTASTIC MUSICAL SCORE FOR CEREMONY ! THE PRIEST WAS HOOT !
ELIZABETH ALLEN, DOROTHY LAMOUR, & MIKE MAZURKI WERE GREAT!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Duke in paradise.
Review: A great DVD for this classic movie. The movie demands widescreen and it got it. The extras are good, but the movie is the winner. If you want to feel good after watching a movie, this is one to put in the DVD player. Memorable DVD moments are the valley of the monument, the three kings and the princess' parade. Great acting, great scenery and great fun!
Rating:
Summary: John Wayne and a great cast are settled in the South Pacific
Review: A group of sailors settles on a halcyon island in the South Pacific after World War II. The grown daughter of the island's doctor visits from the United States searching for her long-lost father. She brings with her an uptight Boston attitude, which definitely clashes with the laid-back lifestyle these men have leading. Misunderstandings and mild deceptions help confuse the plot, as John Wayne poses as the father to some 'half-breed' children, the French ambassador tries to win the approval of the rich Boston daughter and the hapless priest tries to get a new roof for the church. Dorothy Lamour and Lee Marvin are excellent, as is virtually every cast member. John Wayne's son plays an Australian officer.
Rating:
Summary: Big Fun in South Seas Paradise
Review: Director John Ford and star John Wayne draw tremendous charm from this swaggering little comedy about a conservative Boston business woman who travels to the South Seas to prevent her estranged father from inheriting the family fortune. Wayne and Lee Marvin make a great pair, and the film is jam packed with witty performances from Dorothy Lamour, Elizabeth Allen, Cesar Romero, and Marcel Dalio. The score is lush and charming, the cinematography a feast for the eyes, and without being in the least bit preachy the film makes a strong statement about both racial intolerance and the need to avoid judging others. A really nifty movie the entire family will enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Wayne on Water
Review: Don't expect a movie monument with this light film, only movie magic. This film falls into a niche of films that appears to have been made just for the opportunity of the participants to play off of each other. The enjoyment and affection of all the actors in this film is obvious from the first scene. The old pro's in this film walk through the un-challenging script with ease. This is a simple movie produced only for entertainment, and that can be refreshing in an age of 'message' movies. Curl up on the couch with some popcorn on an evening and enjoy these deceased actors from an equally deceased age of film-making. You won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: A Subversive Masterpiece!
Review: Don't let the surface fool you. Donovan's Reef is a Renoiresque comedy of manners (that is to say, a comedy of serious matters) that explores the psyche of old warriors (WWII vets) languishing in an island paradise. Ford evokes the familiar terrain of his 1937 classic "The Hurricane" and Murnau's "Tabu", to revisit the theme of island morality in a larger world gone wrong. It's as if the despairing sailors of "They Were Expendable" had stayed and fought their own war, survived, and tried to come to grips with the cataclysm. Gilhooley (Marvin) and Donovan (Wayne) get together every year on their mutual birthday (December 7th) for the purpose of a brawl celebrating some obscure rift between the two of them which neither can remember. Whether they fought over some girl, or ritualistically celebrate America's entry into WWII, Ford lets us know that these guys are stuck in a kind of limbo. As in Renoir, the comedy is broad enough to be symbolic, and the arrival of an old buddy's daughter looking for her lost father is enough of a catalyst to shake things up. The intrusion of the larger world, with Ford's hilarious send up of "Boston Manners" forces the island's inhabitants into a dehumanizing charade. Doc Dedham (Warden) must acknowledge his "white" daughter Amelia, while hiding the existence of his island children, who are in fact the true aristocrats of the island. The picture closes with a beautiful sequence (virtually silent) where Amelia, realizing the subterfuge she has brought to life, pays homage and accepts her half sister, healing the rift between the racist, patronizing outside world and the gods of the island. As with many Ford pictures, details that seem tossed off or incidental are part of a stylistic shorthand that is coded into all of his movies, and which reaches an extreme of poetic compression in his last films. People who approach "Donovan's Reef" without prejudices (the least of which may be a kneejerk reaction to John Wayne) may be surprised.
Rating:
Summary: Donova's Reef is a good movie for the family!
Review: Donovan's Reef is a intertaining movie. It's like a good book, it makes you justwant to keep watching and watghing. I would recommend this movie to anyone, but mainly "western lovers". I would also recommend any of John Wayns movies.
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