John Ford and 'The Quiet Man' shaped Irish identity in US says columnist

The Quiet Man is a disgusting film and now idiots visit Ireland and assume this is what we are like. Pathetic. We are no more like the characters in that film than Americans are like the characters in Mad Max or Law and Order.

Quiet men tend to be given to volatile outbursts, even non-Irish ones. Just think of more contemporary alpha male stereotypes pedalled by patriarchy in its relentless self-abusive and abuse of others gender stereotyping of future impressionable adolescent males. Clint Eastwood with is cigar-chewing/denture-grinding "go ahead punk! - make my day!" anger mismanagement, (due to his controlling mother prhaps?) Or Arnold Swartschanegger's granite-jawed "hasta la vista" unt relentless terminating of adversaries (perhaps influenced by his 3rd Reichian dad?) Yet I wonder if the pendulum hasn't swung to the other extreme in contemporary Ireland with hastily imposed multi-culturalism and homosexually licentiousness neo-liberalism of the Church of Political Correctness which replaced the decline and fall of the [Holy?] Roman Empire here. PS Hope Maureen2 reclaims the 'O' prefix her Dad dropped to enhance his job prospects in WASPish America. Not least now that she's an influential New York Times columnist. Go for it Maureen [a dó]. If the president can do, so can you.

Quiet men tend to be given to volatile outbursts, even non-Irish ones. Just think of more contemporary alpha male stereotypes pedalled by patriarchy in its relentless self-abusive and abuse of others gender stereotyping of future impressionable adolescent males. Clint Eastwood with is cigar-chewing/denture-grinding "go ahead punk! - make my day!" anger mismanagement, (due to his controlling mother prhaps?) Or Arnold Swartschanegger's granite-jawed "hasta la vista" unt relentless terminating of adversaries (perhaps influenced by his 3rd Reichian dad?) Yet I wonder if the pendulum hasn't swung to the other extreme in contemporary Ireland with hastily imposed multi-culturalism and homosexually licentiousness neo-liberalism of the Church of Political Correctness which replaced the decline and fall of the [Holy?] Roman Empire here. PS Hope Maureen2 reclaims the 'O' prefix her Dad dropped to enhance his job prospects in WASPish America. Not least now that she's an influential New York Times columnist. Go for it Maureen [a dó]. If the president can do, so can you.

McClintock? was a Western film in which in-character John Wayne dragged his recalcitrant wife? played by Maureen O'Hara through the town and spanked her to the cheers of townspeople. Even so, it's not fantasy that town priest cheered-on John Wayne slugging it a scene from "The Quiet Man"; that's gone on in the U.S. too, though not with Jack Dempsey ! Like another skilled fighter, Chuck Norris, both Dempsey parents with Irish and Cherokee (Indian). My friend Tamara is, likewise!

That's pretty good GabrlOSullivan. I agree with you. Your take on the Hollywood producer is very funny.

Sorry guys. Yanks under 50 never hearing of it. Not true. All those under 50 with ANY Irish is their family could watch it while growing up, on t.v., VCR, and dvd. It gave the now over 50's a beautiful visit to Ireland that mad us want to travel there, as it has done for our children. We didn't see it about drunks, fighting, and the like, we saw it as a love story with beautiful picture of Ireland. You Irish are far too hard on yourselves, and makes me wonder if you've ever seen the movie! And, the new Irish gangster movies? Aren't your countrymen in a lot more than this? Aren't we Yanks smart enough to figure this out? Parts come as parts come, and some times they are few and far between as any actor will tell you. Give it up today and go watch 'The Quiet Man.'

The quiet man was a nice old film and fords use of capturing the Irish country side was a good pr piece for Ireland which not too many people had a chance to experience back then. Today its a nice piece of nostalgia to make a euro or two from, much like Moneygall is doing with the fake Irish president's visit, can blame a guy who is trying to make a little money.

Stiofain -- where credit is due, yes stage Irish and rugbyplayer is right in that no Yank under 50 has probably heard of the Quiet Man. So, all those young tourists that come to Cong, are not coming for the Quiet Man "experience" but for the castle one. Of course, now Hollywood has us stereotyped as film gangsters, so what next I wonder? Love when the writeup is about some Hollywood producer pursuing his "Irish" roots and WE come up short as drunken, red-haired hooligans or murdering leprechauns.

"Quiet Man" nostalgia, well, maybe. But I don't think the 1950's stereotypes exist any more at least not in the USA. Most Irish Americans, once known for their loyalty to the Democrat Party have moved over to the GOP (case in point are Fox News anchors like Hannity and O'Reilly and audiences). Jews, too, once known for their Democrat Party loyalty have crossed over to the GOP(Podhoretz,Kristol, Bloomberg, Adelson, Ichan, Perlman, etc.). I loved the "Quiet Man" because I knew where it was filmed and had been to all those beautiful places years ago in Mayo and Galway. But I doubt today that any Yank under 50 has ever watched or even heard of "The Quiet Man." The new Americans are no longer European descendants but Hispanic and Caribbean.

"...in the arid land", "...this prehistoric desert." ? GabrlOSullivan: Correct. A film about stage Irish.

Maybe in Ford's time the treatment of women by men like Wayne's character was the norm, but today dragging and kicking a feisty woman through a field with the whole town helping out, is nothing more than abusive. I don't think tourists come for the Quiet Man experience, they come to see Ashford Castle and Cong Abbey. The Quiet Man set or what's left of it, is nothing more than a burp.