The Quiet Man
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The Quiet Man was a 1952 American film starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara and Barry Fitzgerald, and directed by John Ford. It was based on a Saturday Evening Post short story by Maurice Walsh.
The film is about Sean Thornton, an expatriate Irishman and boxing champion who returns from the United States to Ireland to reclaim his family's farm and winds up falling in love with and marrying a local woman. The story bears many resemblances to Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The village of Cong in County Mayo was the setting for the film, and many of the houses used during the shooting can still be seen.
The film was something of a departure for Wayne and Ford, who were both known mostly for their Westerns. It was also a departure for Republic Pictures, which was given the chance to back Ford in what was considered a risky venture at the time. It was the first time the studio, known for low budget B-movies, put out a film receiving an Oscar nomination.
The film received a total of seven Academy Awards nominations, including best picture, and won two. John Ford won his fourth and final best director Oscar. Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout won for Best Cinematography. Victor McLaglen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
The movie is one of the few Hollywood movies in which spoken Irish Gaelic can be heard.
The 1961 Broadway musical Donnybrook! was based on The Quiet Man.