Product Description

When an American prize-fighter kills a man in the ring, he returns to the Irish village where he was born to find peace and there he meets and falls in love with the sister of the village bully.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: NR
Release Date: 22-OCT-2002
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1001 in DVD
• Brand: Republic Pictures
• Released on: 2002-10-22
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 129 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Blarney and bliss, mixed in equal proportions. John Wayne plays an American boxer who returns to the Emerald Isle, his native land. What he finds there is a fiery prospective spouse (Maureen O'Hara) and a country greener than any Ireland seen before or since--it's no surprise The Quiet Man won an Oscar for cinematography. It also won an Oscar for John Ford's direction, his fourth such award. The film was a deeply personal project for Ford (whose birth name was Sean Aloysius O'Fearna), and he lavished all of his affection for the Irish landscape and Irish people on this film. He also stages perhaps the greatest donnybrook in the history of movies, an epic fistfight between Wayne and the truculent Victor McLaglen--that's Ford's brother, Francis, as the elderly man on his deathbed who miraculously revives when he hears word of the dustup. Barry Fitzgerald, the original Irish elf, gets the movie's biggest laugh when he walks into the newlyweds' bedroom the morning after their wedding, and spots a broken bed. The look on his face says everything. The Quiet Man isn't the real Ireland, but as a delicious never-never land of Ford's imagination, it will do very nicely. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Film - Be Careful Which DVD Edition You Get
*****5 stars for the film

Haunted by an incident that happened in the ring, American boxer Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns to his Irish birthplace, seeking only his roots and a quiet, peaceful life.

He soon falls in love with the beautiful, tempestuous Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara). She is equally taken with him, but won't marry without the consent of her stubborn, blustering brother, Will (Victor McLaglen), who disapproves the match.

With the help of a well-intentioned scheme arranged by their friends, Mary Kate gets her brother's permission and Sean and she wed. Relationships spoil soon after, however, when Will refuses to pay the rightful dowry. Sean doesn't care, but Mary Kate is outraged and wants Sean to have it out with Will.

Time and again Sean backs down - determined not to use his fists - his inner tension building the whole while. But eventually he will have to decide between losing his wife's love and respect and facing his greatest fear.

This was an important and personal project for John Ford (whose real name was Sean O'Feeney). That his heart and those of his cast members were in what they were doing shows through. The fact that much of the film was shot on location in Ireland (on location shoots were somewhat unusual at the time) also adds an authentic flavor.

Barry Fitzgerald was at his comedic best here, and Ward Bond's performance as a priest has several simply unforgettable moments.

The Quiet Man is a charming classic and among Ford's best (in fact, it won him an Oscar for Best Director). It's funny, romantic, and always entertaining. It also features an exuberant score (courtesy of Victor Young) and one of the longest and most memorable knock-down, drag-out fights ever committed to film.

-DVD-

Two different editions of this DVD have been released with almost
identical packaging. Be careful which one you buy! (I wish I'd known this).

"John Wayne Collection" edition (*1 star)

This is the one I bought (ISBN 0-7820-1057-1, ASIN: B00000I1KV). It has "John Wayne Collection" printed on a green band at the top. Its special features include "The Making of the Quiet Man" documentary & the theatrical trailer. DON'T BUY THIS VERSION, PLEASE. The sound is decent, but the picture is absolutely terrible: blurry and full of splotches, almost unwatchable.

"Collector's Edition"

Apparently, the sound and picture quality are okay on the "Collector's Edition" DVD (ASIN: B00006JMRD), whose special features include Commentary by Maureen O'Hara, the theatrical trailer, "The Joy of Ireland" documentary with Maureen O'Hara, "Remembering The Quiet Man" Montage, and "The Making of The Quiet Man."

Crushing disappointment
I will not, as some feel necessary, go over the story/characters/performances of this film. Suffice to say, this is one the most enjoyable films ever made, blarney or not.

Rather, what I would like to briefly comment on is the utterly pathetic transfer of this classic film to DVD. It states quite clearly on the back of the cover that this film has been digitally remastered. I took that to mean both video and audio. WRONG. The picture quality of this DVD is shocking, one of the worst I have ever seen. Believe me when I say this -- the VHS version I purchased in 1991 has a better video clarity than this. At times it's actually difficult to make out the actors features. The company behind this, ARTISAN I believe they are called, should be ashamed. I have a copy of the recently released and remastered CASABLANCA DVD. That film was made in 1942, yet it looks as if it was just made, such is the sharpness of the video. The Quiet Man deserved the same treatment, but didn't get it. Shame on ARTISAN.

Terrible DVD Transfer
i hate giving a classic a 1 star rating. the movie is nothing less than 5. but the dvd transfer is pathetic. i've seen better 2nd generation VHS to DVD transfers than this. what was the distributor thinking when they allowed this to be distributed to the public?? did they even bother to review the final product before its release? there's no excuse for this with todays movie restoration technology. hopefully we will see this movie re-released by a company who cares about art.