The Quiet Man (1952)

An American boxer (John Wayne) returns to the small Irish village where he was born. After purchasing his childhood home, he courts a fiery colleen (Maureen O'Hara) whose brother (Victor McLaglen) is dead set against their relationship. Based on a short story by Maurice Walsh and directed by John Ford (who won an Oscar for his direction). While I'm a great admirer of Ford, I've always had to work hard at liking this film. It positively drips with an overabundance of Irishness (Barry Fitzgerald and McLaglen being the worst offenders). But though I've never been to Ireland, it still seems a Hollywoodized version of the Irish. But there are many assets to the film. There's no denying its charm, the Oscar winning cinematography by Winton C. Hoch (THE SEARCHERS) is a thing of beauty, there's a lovely underscore by Victor Young and best of all, Wayne and O'Hara giving marvelous performances. The last 20 minutes or so are pretty excruciating however. Wayne dragging O'Hara across the Irish countryside while pushing and kicking her doesn't play well in 2018 and being a Ford film with McLaglen, it was inevitable there would be a brawl and this runs forever. With Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, Jack MacGowran, Sean McClory and Arthur Shields.