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Published: May 31, 2008

Talk About Movies: "The Quiet Man"

Matthew Lickona and Ernie Grimm discuss current and classic films from a Catholic perspective

(Editor’s Note: Ernie Grimm is on vacation. John Teresa is filling in for him.)

The Quiet Man
Directed by John Ford
Starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara
1952, 129 minutes, Color, USA, English/Gaelic
Bishops' rating: A-II

Matthew: Remember that scene in The Godfather Part III where Andy Garcia takes Sofia Coppola's hand and shows her how to roll the gnocchi, and it's supposed to be this big sexually charged moment expressed through the sensuality and tradition of Italian culture? Well that didn't hold a candle to the sexually charged moments in The Quiet Man, in part because there are so darned many of them. Practically the whole film is about sex -- and by extension, family. I'm not just talking about Sean and Mary Kate kissing in the rainstorm, his shirt plastered to his skin, her soaking stockings clutched in her hand. I'm talking about Father having to remind Mary Kate that "here, a married man sleeps in a bed, not in a bag!" Even the last shot of the film -- Sean and Mary Kate are watching Red and the Widow go off a-courtin' ("No Patty-fingers, now!"), and she smiles and whispers in his ear, and they go running back to the cottage... But the best bit, the moment that answers all that Italian nonsense in Godfather III, is when Michaeleen sees the broken bed on the morning after the wedding, and pronounces: "Impetuous. Homeric!"

John Teresa: Yes, I do remember that dull scene in that particularly bad movie, and I agree. A sexually charged moment between first cousins making gnocchi is hardly sensual, or a tradition. However, that kiss in the graveyard is so much more than just a kiss. Thank you, Mr. Ford. The scene represents the promise of life, the certainty of death, and our faith to guide us through the storm. Up to that point, Mary Kate seemed to be a force equal to that storm, but the storm exposed her vulnerability. She was not the same woman in that situation. Did you notice how he looked a bit troubled after their kiss? Perhaps Ford wanted to convey the notion that all you have in life is your faith and family to stand against the storm. Perhaps Sean Thornton realized that Mary Kate really wasn't "no woman to be honked at," and that this courting business is deadly serious stuff. The tenderness conveyed by her kiss was more than just the promise of sex; it was the promise of a very deep love. We might imagine that Sean felt measured by the generations there beneath his feet. Could they be asking if he could provide shelter from the storms that would certainly come? In order to find out, he would have to face his own past and his own fears. A kiss amongst the sacred dead. That whole scene is magnificent.

But there were so many more great scenes. Right at the opening, Ford puts it all in there: the Celtic cross along the road, Father Lonergan, and then we meet Mary Kate taking the sheep to pasture. Let's not forget Michaeleen Flynn. He may have been there for the comedy, but he was once a soldier in the IRA – a reminder that a shadow always lurks amongst the joy.

Matthew: Oh, sure, take the high road. I try to bait a war-loving Italian, and what do I get? Astute ruminations on my own people. Staying with the kiss, then: I'm with you on Sean looking troubled. I thought the storm was sexual passion. He'd gone and played a little fast and loose, at least by the custom of the time -- rushing past all the usual delays and rituals, whole months' worth of them, to get to the kissing. Then, when he got there, he found more there than he bargained for. Besides the storm of passion, there was all her great love and need, born in no small part of that tradition you mention. Before, no man would have her, on account of her temper and her lack of fortune, the latter thanks to her brother. Tradition bound her, and it was only the arrival of an outsider that gave her cause to hope. All the virtues and dangers of Irish tribalism are on display from the outset. Father is only half teasing when he recalls that the Thornton who died in a penal colony was a good man -- he was a Thornton first, one of ours, and beloved no matter what. That's the good part. Also good is the way the group can stomach division and conflict -- Father making everyone cheer like good Protestants on behalf of the vicar, because, by God, he was born here, too. The fact that Red will drink with men he clearly dislikes, and they'll drink with him. But they won't drink with Sean, not until they know who his grandfather was. And they reject him when he applies a principle they don't care for -- refusing to fight for the sake of her dowry. The only one who helps him is the one who's outside the tradition in some way -- the vicar.

John Teresa: Baiting? I thought you were lamenting Coppola's lame attempt to capture the Italian experience in Godfather III. He actually nailed it in Godfather II, when the young Vito brings his wife a pear. It really was a pearl. Fomenting ethnic strife is a subtle art form; you'll have to work on that a bit. Besides, except for some minor culinary distinctions, the only difference I find between the Italians and the Irish is the Irish put the vowel at the beginning of their surnames.

Father Lonergan never mentions why Old Sean Thornton was sent to the penal colony. He was certainly a martyr for the cause. Without the complexities of Irish politics, the IRA is a theme in the film. It is part of the tribalism that you mention. When Sean and Mary Kate were on the long march from the train station, Michaeleen, after remarking again that this tale is "Homeric," asks Cohan the pub owner, in front of all the men, where he kept his "Parabellum.” Cohan replies, "In the same place," pointing to a box on the table. Of course the pistol would be in the same place it always had been. The beauty of the story is that Will Danaher would have known where Cohan kept his pistol, too. Danaher is a good man. The underlying conflict for the people of Innisfree to resolve is whether young Sean Thornton is going to be a good man like his grandfather. For Sean, he has to resolve whether something is worth becoming "mad enough to kill." Until he talks to the vicar, he has not quite made the link between the graveyard and Mary Kate. In his mind, the conflict is still about pewter and china. For the villagers, they have made the link, and understand. They all know where Cohan keeps his Parabellum because they have been forced to become "mad enough to kill" before. They know that this is not about pewter and china. The only way for Sean to reconcile the situation is to fight Danaher.

Matthew: "Minor culinary distinctions" -- that's very good. I see now that you're right about fomenting ethnic strife being a subtle art form. So are you saying that the story is about taking what's yours for the sake of maintaining tradition and identity, even if it means violence, and that the occasional references to the IRA mean we're supposed to apply the notion to the Irish people in general? That would explain why they're always singing "The Wild Colonial Boy," and also why, when Mary Kate talks about having what was promised her, you get the echo of Israel's promised inheritance. And there's no question that Sean's courtship of Mary Kate is about reconnecting with and continuing a tradition.

John Teresa: That theme in the story is about defending not "taking." It is not about what the IRA is, but about why the IRA existed in the first place. One can assume that the kiss in the graveyard is above the bodies of some of the people who died in the famine. Ford could have staged that scene in a garden or by a stream, but why do you suppose he chose to stage it among church ruins in a graveyard? It speaks to the cultural identity. These troubles were caused by an artificial reality imposed on the Irish by a hostile culture. If this artificial reality imposed by force destroys tradition, destroys faith, and most of all destroys life, what choice do the Irish have but to defend? If Sean won't fight the squire, what will he do when the next wave of oppressors come? The IRA in this film is simply a device, but it has meaning to all people who want to live free of oppression. In other words, it has meaning for people who cannot live under an artificial reality imposed on them by a more powerful unsympathetic entity. It is the underlying themes of this film that make it a classic, not so much the romance between Sean and Mary Kate. Sure sex and family are huge themes, so is drinking, but the field in which those good things can thrive must be protected. I think Ford created a great film that highlighted all the endearing aspects of his Irish heritage, but without excluding the hardships that formed that heritage. Just like we know from the story that Mary Kate's marriage is more than her pewter and china, this film is more than just comedy and romance.

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