The Quiet Man (film)

• Release Date: 1952
• Director(s): John Ford
• Writer(s): Frank S. Nugent
• Principal Actors and Roles: Barry Fitzgerald (Michaleen Oge Flynn); Maureen O'hara (Mary Kate Danaher); John Wayne (Sean Thornton); Charles Fitzsimmons (Hugh Forbes); Sean T McClory (Owen Glynn); Victor McLaglen (Squire 'Red' Will Danaher)
• Book / Story Film Based On: The Quiet Man by Maurice Walsh

The Quiet Man is a romantic comedy film which takes place in the fabled Irish village of Inisfree, where Irish-American Sean Thornton journeys to restore his family’s farm and ends up falling in love with the sister of his local rival. The story was based on Maurice Welch’s short story "The Green Rush," which was published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1933, and was adapted for the screen by Frank S. Nugent.

John Ford read Welch’s short story when it was first published in 1933, and immediately desired to turn it into a feature film. In 1936, Ford purchased the rights to the story for just ten dollars and turned to Republic Pictures, the studio with which Ford had made most of his films. After pitching the idea, with stars Maureen O’Hara and John Wayne already interested, executives at Republic Pictures considered the film a risky business venture. Republic Pictures mostly only financed B-films with low budgets, which generally guaranteed a profit at the box office, and therefore were reluctant to take on a film of this magnitude. Executives at Republic agreed to produce the picture with Ford, if first he—along with Wayne and O’Hara—agreed to make a Western for the studio first. The three agreed, and filmed Rio Grande (1950), the conclusion to Ford’s cavalry trilogy, and then headed directly to Ireland to begin production The Quiet Man. Republic’s investment eventually proved to be a good one, when the film was nominated for the studio’s first ever best picture Academy Award nomination.

Plot

The film takes place in 1920s Ireland, in the fictional small village of Inisfree, where the Irish-born Sean Thornton returns after living in the United States. Sean was a heavyweight boxer in the United States, known as Trooper Thornton, but unintentionally killed an opponent in the ring. He swears off boxing and fighting in general and plans to leave this old identity in the past in exchange for a new one in Inisfree. He wishes to take over his family’s farm and cottage, but another party, Will Danaher, is interested in buying the property. Sean outbids him and is granted ownership.

While in Inisfree, Sean falls in love with local girl Mary Kate Danaher, the sister of the man Sean outbid for the farm. In time, Sean and Mary Kate wish to marry, but Will is still bitter about the property and refuses to give the couple his blessing for marriage. In an attempt to change his mind, many of the townspeople come together and devise a plan—they will trick Will into believing that the local widow Tillane, a very wealthy woman, wishes to marry Will, but only if his sister is out of the house first. The plan works, and Will gives his consent to Sean and Mary Kate. However, on the day of their wedding, Will finds out the truth and angry at being deceived, withholds Mary Kate’s dowry. The dowry, a sum of money and family heirlooms, means a great deal to Mary Kate, and she feels it is necessary in legitimizing her marriage, although Sean does not quite understand why it is so important. Mary Kate implores Sean to fight Will and stand up for his wife, but he refuses because of his boxing past. Mary Kate does not know this information, and she becomes angry and calls Sean a coward.

This quickly puts a strain on Sean and Mary Kate’s relationship, and although Will ends up giving Mary Kate part of her dowry, he continues to withhold the monetary portion. In one last-ditch effort to get Sean to stand up for her, Mary Kate says that she is leaving him and gets on a train to Dublin. Sean pulls her off of the train and the pair walks all the way back to Inisfree and directly to Will. When Sean demands Will give him the dowry, Will refuses, prompting Sean to push Mary Kate into Will’s arms, saying "no dowry, no marriage." This action finally gets through to Will, who finally agrees and hands over the dowry. Sean proceeds to throw the money into the furnace, with the help of Mary Kate, a confirmation that she never cared about the money.

When Mary Kate leaves, the two men begin an epic fistfight, drawing spectators from miles and miles around the village. Sean and Will fight all over town, and even stop to have a drink at the local pub, and then continue fighting. Inebriated, the two men finally make peace with one another and head to dinner with Mary Kate.

Significance

The Quiet Man was shot mostly on location in various parts of Ireland, including County Galway and County Mayo. One of the shoot locations, Ashford Castle in the village of Corg, became a tourist attraction following the film’s success and hosts fan club meetings for the film. One of the stipulations Republic Pictures gave Ford upon agreeing to finance the film was that its running time did not exceed two hours, but when the film had been edited and scored, the running time was nine minutes over. In his first screening for executives at Republic, Ford shut off the film at the two hour mark, just as the climactic fight scene was about to commence. This stunt paid off, and seeing that the film desperately needed its last nine minutes, executives agreed to let the film run its total length.

The Quiet Man was a financial and popular success, grossing nearly $4 million at the box office in its first year of release, and remained one of the year’s top ten grossing films. The film was also a critical success, and garnered many nominations during awards season. The film was nominated for a total of seven Academy Awards—best picture, best supporting actor (Victor McLaglen), best art direction, best adapted screenplay, best sound, best director, and best cinematography. The film took home the awards for best cinematography as well as best director, giving John Ford his fourth best director award, the most of any director in Hollywood history. In 2013, the Library of Congress selected The Quiet Man for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Awards and nominations

Won

• Academy Award (1952) Best Director: John Ford
• Academy Award (1952) Best Cinematography (Color)

Nominated

• Academy Award (1952) Best Picture
• Academy Award (1952) Best Supporting Actor: Victor McLaglen
• Academy Award (1952) Best Screenplay (Adapted): Frank S. Nugent
• Academy Award (1952) Best Sound Recording
• Academy Award (1952) Best Art Direction-Set Direction (Color)
• Golden Globe (1952) Best Director: John Ford
• Golden Globe (1952) Best Score: Victor Young

Bibliography

Bogdanovich, Peter. John Ford. Oakland: U of California, 1978. Print.

Crosson, Seán, and Rod Stoneman. The Quiet Man . . . and Beyond: Reflections on a Classic Film, John Ford and Ireland. Dublin: Liffey, 2009. Print.

Gallagher, Tag. John Ford: The Man and His Films. Berkeley: U of California, 1986. Print.

MacHale, Des. The Complete Guide to The Quiet Man. Mankato: Appletree, 2004. Print.

McBride, Joseph. Searching For John Ford: A Life. New York: St. Martin’s, 2011. Print.

"The Quiet Man (1952)." Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Turner Entertainment Networks, 2015. Web. 6 Sept. 2015. <http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/24069/The-Quiet-Man/>.