Director: John Ford
Year Released: 1952
Rating: 2.0
John Ford and John Wayne's hearty salute to blessed ol' Ireland is so full of blarney it's sickening. I'm surprised, too, that Ford would make such a stereotypical picture about Ireland, as it only serves to reinforce preexisting views that all Irish are (a.) drunken (b.) pipe-smoking (c.) singing (d.) feisty (e.) fun-loving (f.) goofs. All the men want to fight, all the women want to whoop and holler and - deep down - they're all law-abidin' Catholics, steeped in tradition and rigorous in their rituals. But its length, general silliness and complete predictability wear whatever charm it may have had in its favor down to nothing, leaving you with an unsatisfying 2-hour romp. Plotting is poor, as the romance aspect (with Maureen O'Hara's character, Mary Kate) is introduced the first four minutes (she gazes longingly at Wayne in a forest with sheep), and the main plot (involving Mary Kate's brother, played by Victor McLaglen) is established in ten, leaving you another one-hundred and eighteen to wait for the inevitable. The ending, in which Wayne and McLaglen duke it out (completing the plot line involving how ex-boxer Wayne kills a man in America and swears to never fight again) is so stupid I could hardly believe it.
