An absolute waste of money

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Almost everyone agrees on one thing about the 1952 Oscars: That Cecil B. DeMille's punishingly long blockbuster three-ring soap opera The Greatest Show On Earth did not deserve to win Best Picture. The Quiet Man I personally feel should have got the nod Best Picture for 1952 . It stars John Wayne as Sean Thornton, a former heavyweight boxer who returns to fictional Innisfree, Ireland to reclaim the family farm. There's a sensitive, complicated romance-with independent-minded Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara), sister of local bully Red Danaher (Victor McLaglen, one of Ford's best company players)-but the real attraction here is Ford's masterful maneuvering of tones and his fluid handling of a large cast of colorful characters, qualities which also defined his iconic (and then-underrated) Westerns. Shot partly on location in Ireland and designed in the lushest greens ever squeezed out of Technicolor, The Quiet Man is a movie that isn't about a whole lot, but yet seems to contain so much-from Wayne's easygoing charisma to the notoriously protracted climactic fight to the febrile, film-noir-like flashback to Sean's boxing days. The Quiet Man is one of Wayne best films and his made possible by beautiful spitfire Maureen O'Hara .

A friend recommended this movie to me this week. I find the movie sort of snuck up on me... 50 minutes in I wasn't that into it, I found it cute but a bit meandering... but it was immersing me into a way of life and seeing the world... until I began to really understand these characters intimately and care about them, for good and bad, warts and all... So many great moments, I love when the man says "saddle his horse he says!" and starts humming the music to come in the very next scene... I saw another movie do that not long ago, but can't remember what it is, no matter, then Maureen jumps a little obstacle course on the way back home ;) Or during the fight at the end when the bucket just keeps getting bigger and bigger throughout the course of the fight until they look like they're fighting in a flood. Maureen O'hara truly is the best thing about this movie, her power as an actress was undeniable. John Wayne is more looks than great acting ability. What an extraordinarily brilliant film.

The Quiet Man (1952): Dir: John Ford / Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond: John Wayne is presented as someone with a past where a boxing match concluded with a death. As a result he pulls away from violence and this poises an issue when he returns to Ireland to reclaim his family's farm. Maureen O'Hara plays a local woman whom Wayne falls for but her brother is an overbearing bully who is angry at him after being out bid in the land auction. He becomes a divider in the relationship to come. John Ford and John Wayne have collaborated through numerous films, including Stagecoach, but here Wayne has a seemingly different role as someone who regrets a violent past yet is unfairly taking hits from O'Hara and her brother. She marries Wayne but becomes obsessed with the money that is owed her by her brother. She constantly berates him until he finally takes charge in what becomes a very long haul. Great supporting roles particularly by Victor McLaglen as the brother who ends up being dealt with through a fist fight that derails the film from greatness. This fight turns the drama into a corny showcase that doesn't fit the mode of the first two acts. Ward Bond plays a Catholic Priest who also gets involved in the scheme at hand. In any event Ford delivers a message loud and clear of pride and standing up for oneself. Score: 8 / 10

The movie was adapted from Maurice Walsh's short story. If you have read it, then you'd immediately have found out that the whole movie was cast with absolutely wrong cast, John Wayne was not in the least as what the short story had portrayed as the man, Sean Thornton, not even close in 100 miles.Sean Thornton, in the story, was indeed a very quiet man, a professional boxer retired from New York boxing ring, seeking an even quieter retirement life back to his hometown in Ireland. He was a tough guy, very reserved and at the same time very humble but with a very strong mind and will.But the screenplay writer and the director, John Ford, had messed up the whole lot and changed it into a farce-like light-heart comedy. It lost the depth of the great short story with a very deep and profound atmosphere which made the short story kind of memorable and an instant classic."The Quiet Man" and "The Most Dangerous Game" are the two most famous and modern classic, the reasons why both of these two short stories had become so great was the unbelievable and unbearable tension in both. Yet the movie of "The Quiet Man" was a loud, noisy, skin-deep shallow comedy without essence at all.Victor McLaglen who played the Squire 'Red' Will Danaher, was definitely another wrong cast. In the story, the guy was a very tough, dark, stubborn, self-righteous, and dangerous, an egoist and willful strong minded tough guy. But the movie had transformed him into a half wit redneck-like thug. So with both important and memorable characters that made the short story so great had been molested into two shallow guys, Sean Thornton had become a loud mouth, always with an ironic sneering smile on his face guy, also a bit too old for the leading role. Squire 'Red', just a countryside rustic roughneck. Neither of them got something special.Maureen O'Hara, who played Mary Kate Danaher, was the only cast that was kinda close to what portrayed in the short story. But in the messy shallow movie, totally ruined by the two wrong male characters, lousy directing and a deep drama-like great storyline messed up into a half farce, half comedy, only one of the cast was barely okay, would not turned this pathetic movie around into a much greater and more memorable one.