The Quiet Man: Ford's Irish Romance

If I could pick a favourite John Ford movie, that being one I would always be in the mood to watch it would be "The Quiet Man". The film is probably Ford's warmest picture and one that you could tell was very close to his heart. The story is concerns a former boxer from America Shaun Thornton (John Wayne) who comes to live in his native town of Innisfree Ireland. Shaun was raised in America but he remembers the wonderful memories his mother had of Innisfree and he decides to buy the old Thornton land there to live in it peacefully.

On his first day there Shaun sees Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O'Hara) herding sheep and it's love at first site. Shaun decides to court the lovely lady with the help of the local matchmaker Michaleen Oge Flynn (Barry Fitzgerald), but things don't go as planned since Shaun became enemies with Mary Kate's brother Will (Victor McLaglen) for buying land he himself intended to buy. Michaleen along with other members of the village decide to form a conspiracy in order to trick Will into getting Shaun and Mary Kate to wed. The trick works but after the wedding Will realizes he's been duped and decides not to give Mary Kate her rightful fortune that belongs to her. This begins a conflict that hangs heavy over the entire film. Mary Kate is proud of her fortune and wants what's rightfully hers and until she gets it, she locks herself away from Shaun. This effects Shaun deeply for, after we find something out about his past we realize money means nothing to him.

I could see why "The Quiet Man" has become one of John Ford's most beloved films, it's full of love by the man who made it. Ford had a tremendous love for Ireland, the people in it, and the traditions they held dear. What's at stake in "The Quiet Man" is the happiness of a marriage and what happens when two people who are strongly in love with one another have a clash of ideals.

John Ford has had romance before and after "The Quiet Man" in his films, but this was the first and only time (As far as I know) that it took centre stage. What's keeping Shaun and Mary Kate apart has nothing to do with distance or romantic triangle like you would see in most love stories, but it has to do with a belief system the other person is unable to accept. These are very committed people and also passionate and it's refreshing to see this in a love story.

But the flavour is also important in any film, and Ford creates a palate full of great Irish vistas as the backdrop and some of the most colourful characters in film history. The townspeople which include Fitztgerald, McLaglen, Ward Bond as a Priest, Arthur Shields as a Protestant Reverand, and John Ford's brother Francis as the village elder are not bad people, they're a community who help eachother, they add a great deal of humanity in Ford's film which make it so loving, which is probably why Ford filled it with so many familiar faces.

Ford 's passion for this film was neverending, he wanted to make it so badly but none of the major studios wanted to finance it, finally he went to Republic who were known for making low-grade B-movies and told Ford if he made them a western then they would finance "The Quiet Man". The film was a tremendous success earning Ford his fourth Best Director Oscar. Today it doesn't get as much recognition as his better known films like "The Searchers" or "The Grapes of Wrath", and perhaps the way John Wayne drags Maureen O'Hara by her neck near the climax of the movie can be considered a tad un-PC, but "The Quiet Man" represents old tradition, and old story telling. I'm sure if one visits Ireland now, you probably wouldn't meet characters from the town of Innisfree, but Ford kept this ideal of Ireland alive for us, and it has become a charming world enshrined forever in Ford's cinema.