The Quiet Man Film

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: DougR
Date: 03 Jun 11 - 01:09 AM

Maurice Walsh's books, including "The Quiet Man" are available at Amazon.com.

DougR

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 08:40 AM

Thats Maurice Walsh actually.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 08:15 AM

I remember this as a short story that was taught in 7th grade English class in NY state. First published in The Saturday Evening Post in the 30's by Maurice Welsh.

John Ford took many liberties with names and places but it is the original story that is the basis for the movie. In almost every way I find this to be a better movie than has been made in many years.

Fords pacing at scene construction is brilliant. His best actors were not the stars but the supporting actors. Arthur Shields for instance.

And he was doing a movie about an ex patriot returned to Ireland that had to sell in an American market. An America who knew about tin pan alley Irish music and not much more.

D

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: J-boy
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 11:36 PM

There is a statue of John Ford in my (and his) hometown of Portland Maine. I always let out a hearty "Hello John!" whenever I pass it.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: DougR
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 09:43 PM

Can you supply the name of the novel and do you know if it is still in print, Murphholly?

DougR

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Murpholly
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 04:12 PM

Thoroughly enjoy this dated sexist film and watch it regularly but much prefer the original novel on which it was based by M. Walsh. Read about rural Ireland at the time of the original troubles and what really was the problem between husband and wife.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 08:31 AM

My family came from the part of Mayo that the film was shot in. Every family from that part of the world seems to have a 'Quiet Man' story. For what it's worth, here's mine.

My aunt was working in a shoe shop in Cong. Who walks in one day but the Duke himself. He went up to my aunt and said he had a pair of shoes that needed repairing. She looked at them, wrote the order down in the book and told him when they'd be ready. 'Thank you, ma'am' says the Duke. 'You're welcome', says my aunt.

'...And the name?'

Later, she told me 'I knew very well who he was but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.'

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: alanabit
Date: 01 Jun 11 - 12:33 AM

I like this film a lot too. It's fun in a farcical way - a bit like "The Taming of the Shrew" - and was never intended to be taken seriously. I quite understand all the objections to it, but I was never offended quite enough for that to spoil my enjoyment. It is unabashedly sexist and brutish but it's a fantasy setting, which for me, at any rate, renders it harmless.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: DougR
Date: 31 May 11 - 10:18 PM

I know it's not fashionable to like this film, but I really do, and have watched it several times. My wife and I have been to Cong a couple of times and we both think it is a lovely little village. Heavy on promotion of the film, but why not? The film caused many more folks to visit that little village than they otherwise would. I like the music too.

DougR

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Seonaid
Date: 31 May 11 - 01:06 PM

The pub scene in TQM caught my attention right away, for a perhaps-esoteric "trad" reason. I know they do multiple takes and splice them together later in the edits. Somehow that resulted in the verses of "The Wild Colonial Boy" coming out in almost reverse order. Anyone else get the same impression?

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 31 May 11 - 10:31 AM

Pete McCarthy in his very entertaining book "McCarthy's Bar" devotes a chapter to Cong and its The Quiet man connection. It's definitely worth a read.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Jim B
Date: 30 May 11 - 11:29 AM

Don,

The key phrase we're looking at here is "suspension of disbelief"-

Jim B

PS- I'm an ex-USN submarine sailor, and seeing stuff like "Das Boot" and "The Hunt for Red October", I can appreciate what goes into the filmmaker's art to bring a story to the screen.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 30 May 11 - 11:22 AM

"that all the interior scenes in the film were shot in Hollywood."

I have wondered about interior scenes in movies. I have watched several "War" movies this memorial Day/Armistice Day week end, particularly naval films. The interiors of several ships were big enough to be suites in a hotel when on board a ship they'd have been no longer than a bunk in the Captain's quarters.   That is on a Destroyer like "The Sullivan's", a museum ship at dock in Buffalo, NY.

I am convinced there simply was no room in the interiors of the cottages in "The Quiet Man" for the actors and crews to film the scenes.
It was probably just convenience and economics.

Don

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST
Date: 30 May 11 - 11:11 AM

Ok, since the thread is active again, I'll have to add my two cents about the Quiet Man-I grew up in NYC second-generation Irish American. The Quiet Man was the first real feature film to have Ireland as its subject and set. Granted, it romanticizes the past-so do most other movies(think the Godfather!)-but for my parents, both who came of age when it was released, it made Ireland so much more than a collection of stories passed on from the older folks.
      And John Ford and Co. couldn't have pulled off better-anyone reading the thread is familiar with it, so I won't go into details. However-I'm paraphrasing some wiseass I heard in a pub in Dublin some years ago-"...Maureen O'Hara brought out the Oedipus Complex in every Irish-American male who saw it."
      It came out at just the right time-Irish-Americans were becoming middle-class and had real 'disposable income"-both my parents had just graduated from college-transatlantic air travel was growing-the Irish Tourist Board couldn't have dreamed up a better advert for the country.
      I know many Irish-and not a few of us Yanks- look down their noses at it now, but from my perspective, it was one of those "cultural phenomena" of that era(think JFK's election and the appearance of the Clancy Bros./Tommy Makem) that really helped cement the Irish-American identity.
Sorry if I'm a little long-winded, but I just finished my second cup of coffee. Have a good Memorial Day!

Jim B

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Tony Gibbons
Date: 30 May 11 - 11:07 AM

Great to read all the discussions about " The Quiet Man ". My great Auntie Mary was in the film as an extra and my family still live in Oughterard, near the little stone bridge seen near the beginning of the film - I've sat on it many times !! One great story - during a break in filming John Wayne lit up yet another cigarette and after taking a couple of drags threw it away and said to Barry Fitzgerald " I gotta give these goddam things up " to which Barry, puffing away on his pipe said " Mr. Wayne, you see that graveyard over there ? That's full of people who gave up smoking !! John Wayne then lit up another cig saying " What the hell !" A truly wonderful film - the music, the colour, the story but most of all the people and the fantastic countryside. My heart is there in Mayo and Galway.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 30 May 11 - 09:25 AM

My dvd version of the movies has the option of watching the complete movie with commentary by Maureen O'Hara.

It's interesting - and a bit disappointing - to hear Maureen say that all the interior scenes in the film were shot in Hollywood.
Maureen makes one obvious mistake when she states that no stunt doubles were used in the fight scene. With the aid of freeze frame technology it's quite easy to see that doubles were certainly used.

It's strange that one poster should say that the movie is a violent film when the Sean Thornton character spends almost the whole film avoiding a violent confrontation.

Of course, a lot of the social attitudes in the film are reflective of an Ireland long gone.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 30 May 11 - 08:55 AM

I would place She Wore a Yellow Ribbon far above this as a film.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,BonBon
Date: 29 May 11 - 01:36 PM

We have named our racehorses after the movie. All have been foaled in our barn and we have White O Morn, Red Will, Danaher, Saint Indeed, Homeric (my favorite) and soon to be named one.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,pattyClink
Date: 07 Nov 04 - 07:57 PM

Here ya go. Haunting song, I know it drives you nuts to not be able to get the rest of the lyrics.


Young May Moon

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: emjay
Date: 07 Nov 04 - 12:31 AM

Well, that movie led me from so-called Irish music like How Are Things in Glockamora? to real Irish music. And Ken Curtis's singing in the bar scene was pretty darned good.
MJ

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From:
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 09:52 PM

I've seen the film a dozen times, and I always feel drawn to the soundtrack music. I found out who wrote the main theme, and I know
most of the other songs. But one tune, played and sung by Maureen
with Edmund Fitzgerald presen, in her cottage, remains a mystery.
It is an old song, and the words were hard to understand. The opening line, I think, went "The yonder moon is beaming bright...", but can't be sure. It bugs me that I can't find what the tune is called. Anyone who knows, I would be glad to hear from. John

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Big Tim
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 04:53 AM

This piece appeared in the "Irish Independent" yesterday.

"Screen legend Maureen O'Hara had her fans captivated yesterday when she spoke for two hours at the Galway Film Fleadh.

In a rare public appearance the 84-year-old star proved that she was still the fiery redhead that became famous on the silver screen in countless classics since the 1940s.

During the interview Ms O'Hara spoke of her firm friendship with John Wayne with whom she worked on a number of films including the "Quiet Man".

The star also discussed working with the director John Ford, who, she said, was more than difficult to work with.

However, despite describing the famous director as being mean and nasty, she also described him as a genius and added that all actors who worked with him came away from a shoot knowing that he had got the best results out of them.

Ms. O'Hara spoke to a packed auditorium in the Galway Townhall for RTE Radio One's Rattlebag programme and discussed the highlights of her acting life.

She talked about beginning her career at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin at the age of 14 and finding fame two years later when she was discovered by Charles Laughton.

The audience also heard of her enforced stay in America where she went to film the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" but was compelled to stay for seven yaers when the war broke out.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 11:01 PM

Yes, I guess if you consider the author, screenwriter and director were men then it is a man's point of view, but I think you need to give Ford and O'Hara credit for conveying the womens POV as well. O'Hara wasn't window dressing by any means and her story was delivered. The attitudes were different back then and it is a lovely period piece that really couldn't be made today - unless it became a "chick flick". :)

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 10:21 PM

That's the way you scene it?    ;)


Yep. Maureen O'Hara carrying Yvonne DeCarlo over her shoulder up to bed. That's the stuff a boy's dreams are made of.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 10:13 PM

Cluin,

That's why I said "almost." At least she nails him back a few times. (I always enjoy the scene when she picks up Yvonne DeCarlo and carries her upstairs over her shoulder. Now there's one strong woman! O'Hara did all of her own stunts in that film, and many others.)

Ron, I didn't say it was from John Wayne's point of view, I said a man's point of view. Whatever men wrote and/or directed it also were weighing in on how Maureen O'Hara's character should think, respond, behave. They decided she would be an old maid and act accordingly, and they set her up so it was up to the Duke to somehow liberate her, release her sexuality and passion. It's a man's story and the woman is just part of the window dressing.

That's the way I see it. . .

SRS

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 05:30 PM

SRS,I guess we just know different types of "chicks"! :) The reason it isn't a "guy" flick is because the action is limited to one scene, there is too much romance without any nudity, and the music is very slow - no overbearing rock music!

Seriously though, I never really thought of the movie coming from John Wayne's POV. I was only being sarcastic about the original film being a "chick flick", but I what I did say is that if it were released today it would be a "chick flick", and I sincerely believe that.   Take away the fight scene, which would happen in today's politically correct age, and you've got a chick flick.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 05:12 PM

McClintock? He put the boots to Maureen in that one too.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 05:08 PM

Ron, I guess you'll just have to take it from a "chick" that that ain't a chick flick! When the woman's story is told from the man's POV, and she is treated that way, it isn't a chick flick. If John Wayne is in it, it isn't a chick flick. (The closest he ever came: McClintock) If it has boxing, it isn't a chick flick, and if she's turned on by the fighting, that's usually a pretty clear marker that it isn't a chick flick.

IMHO.

SRS

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,An English Patriot
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 04:45 PM

Wesley S, loads of films meet my standard for a good film. I love films and Ford was one of my favs: Fort Apache, How Green Was My Valley, The Grapes of Wrath, The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance, and Stagecoach. Definately one of the greats. The Quiet Man is just not up there with his best. However, after saying that, it looks like a minority opinion here.

I might add here that I do not disapprove of violence in films. Violence = action, and we all like action in our movies. However, violence is usually the end result of everything else having broken down. If I disapproved of violence,I would disapprove of most of the best films ever made. What I disapprove about The Quiet Man is the underlying, or maybe not so underlying, assumption that a smack in the mouth is the right and proper way of handling things. Even a God-damn-awful-film like Rambo used violence only when every other means was exhausted. The Quiet Man is a justification for violence and therefore a thugs dream. The amazing thing about it is that the people writing in this thread are obviously people who wouldn't dream of behaving in a thuggish way. I just do not understand it. I still say: Burn every copy! I am in no mood for compromise here.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 03:57 PM

Of course it would SRS! All that romance, light comedy, beautiful scenery, closeups of the Duke and a plot to boot! Chick flick all over it. There wasn't a single building blown up or action other than the fight.   Even the fight scene seemed to be a bit of a turn on to Maureen's character.

If they made it today, Julia Roberts would have the role in a heartbeat!

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 03:47 PM

No way would THAT film be considered a "chick flick," Ron!

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Cluin
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 03:06 PM

Besides, it wasn't a real fight. It was a choreographed dance. Anybody who's seen a real fight (and that's everybody) would know that.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 02:42 PM

Quiet Man is a machismo film and if were released today it would be considered a "chick flick" as well. What more can you ask?

If English Pat really watched the film, he or she would notice that the film is more of a look at customs and the "fight" is more symbolic than anything else. Old values meeting new values. Wayne did not want to fight, nor did he want the dowry. He was led into the fight and made the best of it, and the end showed that compromise really wins out in the end.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 01:37 PM

Rather than chill out patriot - are there any movies that do meet your standards for good films ?

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Maeve Slattery
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 11:08 AM

Great things survive the hardest test of all - 'time'! The Quiet Man stands the test of time.

Scenery, Actors, Director, Music, Entertainment value, Wit, Nostalgia, I could go on and on.

You need to chill out 'Patriot'.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: ard mhacha
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 09:21 AM

Cluin, It`s the English Patient, Begorrah, he`s cracking up.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Cluin
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 07:24 PM

Oh nurse.... time for meds over here.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,An English Patriot
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 06:54 PM

The Quiet Man is the ultimate machismo film. It is horrible, horrible, horrible! I will not relax until every copy is burnt.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jan 04 - 08:57 PM

"Fisticuffs?" Do you keep your spectacles in your reticule when you're not wearing them?

As unrealistic as the rest of it was, boxing has been a popular sport for a long time, with or without gloves (it has been so long that I don't remember, but the movie was probably without, right?). There have been a lot of films made over the years that deal with defensive sports such as boxing--the modern spin on this would probably be the martial arts films.

SRS

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Maeve Slattery
Date: 04 Jan 04 - 08:54 PM

You need to relax a little, 'Patriot'.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,An English Patriot
Date: 04 Jan 04 - 06:12 PM

The "blarney and begorrah" nonsense I can understand. Ford was not an Irishman, he was an American with Irish ancestory who saw Ireland in the light that he wanted to see it, and all the "blarney and begorrah" that litter the film was all right by him. However, that in itself does not cause me to hate the film. It is the film's ethics, the idea that it is right and proper for two grown men to sort a dispute out with fisticuffs. I could understand schoolboys thinking along these lines - afterall, it is how they sort out their disputes - but grown-ups? Oh, come on. I feel like telling Ford to grow up. The films appeal escapes me utterly.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Cluin
Date: 04 Jan 04 - 04:56 PM

Then there's Darby O'Gill & the Little People

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: ard mhacha
Date: 04 Jan 04 - 02:59 PM

English Patriot, you are right, but give a wee bit of consideration for the period the in which the Film was made, I agree it was all blarney and begorrah, so was everything Irish that Holywood produced in those days.

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,Maeve Slattery
Date: 03 Jan 04 - 08:46 PM

I am a great great lover of "The Quiet Man" and everything to do with it full stop, so there you have it. Incidently, I think this is a wonderful thread.

Anyway, there are so many aspects to this film that one could talk about, however I have a particular interest in the soundtrack and the music.

I was fortunate enough to meet Richard Farrelly, better known as Dick, composer of the film's main theme - "The Isle of Innisfree". I have to say that he was a really lovely man and a man of few words. In the true sense of the word, 'a quiet man and a gentleman'. He made me feel that I was the only person there at the time.

If any of you love his song "Innisfree", you should hear his songs - "Annaghdown" and "We Dreamed Our Dreams" from the album - "Legacy Of A Quiet Man". The CD is by singer, Sinead Stone and Gerard Farrelly, (Dick's son).

I hope this may be of interest to someone.

Love Mudcat!

Slan, Maeve Slattery

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Big Mick
Date: 01 Jan 04 - 05:43 PM

Well, Patriot, I agree that Michael Collins was a better film, although there were problems with it as well. But remember the times in which TQM was made. The American film industry wouldn't get too political, even though the astute observer could hear the references throughout TQM to the political. To have been overtly political would have doomed the film. I wish they would have left him as a Fenian and talked about why he had to leave. I would much rather they showed the abuses and discrimination of the "Oirish", but then it wouldn't be cute, now would it.

Your point is well taken, with regard to the stereotypes. I agree that if it had been produced by a British company, the response would have been different. Fair play.

Mick

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,An English Patriot
Date: 01 Jan 04 - 04:59 PM

With the name that I have given myself for these threads, I don't suppose too many people here will be sypmpathetic to my point of view. However, here it is: I loathe the film with a passion. If an English director, such as Lean, made a film set in Ireland fully of Oirishmon who sort their problems out by using their fists, then the whole of Ireland would be in an uproar. The film mangages to be both thuggish and sentimental at the same time, rather like the director himself. If you want to see Ford and Wayne at their best -and they were both consumate craftsmen-then you should have watched "Fort Apache" which was on the telly the other night. Now that is a fine film. If you want a good film about Ireland, then watch "Michael Collins."

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Dec 03 - 11:45 PM

I saw lots of his films when I was a kid, but they're all a blur after a while. I like The Quiet Man less than I used to, I think it is because of the accumulation of things in it such as smoking and his behavior toward Maureen's character. These days The Shootist and The Searchers are considered two of his more important films.

Not that this is entirely necessary or germane to the discussion on this thread, but I promissed myself that my last post in 2003 would be on the top of the page, not down in the BS section. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,RICK
Date: 31 Dec 03 - 11:32 PM

Hi GUEST with no name. Would I be correct in thinking that you have some problem. Perhaps there is something constructive you could add to this very enjoyable thread!!

Regards, Rick

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Dec 03 - 11:40 AM

I think we've got the message now.

www.quietmanmovieclub.com

Subject: RE: The Quiet Man Film
From: GUEST,RICK
Date: 31 Dec 03 - 10:23 AM

Hearing once again that beautiful "Isle Of Innisfree" which opens the movie, with the stunning Ashford Castle in the background at sunset, always gives me goose pimples.

Check out: www.quietmanmovieclub.com and read a great piece about the song, written by the composer's son.

A thank you to a couple of people who brought my attention to that site earlier in the thread. I am a lover of the film but didn't know about the site.

Regards, Rick.