A Strong Word Against This Film

An old joke says, "It takes three to enjoy a good joke: one to tell it, one to laugh out loud, and one to go, 'Whaaah?'" Personally I think it takes a fourth, as a really good joke needs someone to walk out.

The Irish have an expression, "Catch yourself on!" Basically this means that since something so absurdly contradictory as Life deserves to be laughed at, people need not to take it so seriously. We need to reign-in our indignance.

For a start, The Quiet Man is a product of its age, as well as of the age intrinsic to the period in which the film is set. (I've always taken that setting, btw, to be circa the 1930's. Comments?) Curiously and for the past forty years, people have been saying that modern Ireland is no longer like that. Outwardly, perhaps and to a degree, they're right; and yet, just below the surface the Irish remain more like the characters in The Quiet Man than perhaps they might care to admit. I know. I've lived in Ireland for more than those forty years. It‘s that very ability of the Irish, however, to take, such as is the style of The Quiet Man, all aspects of life just that tad askew, which continues to make them and their culture so widely enjoyable. They're certainly not dull; nor would they ever wish to be.)

Like Tomtac, I'm no advocate, either, of the typical gratuitous violence generally foisted upon the public by the film industry. I think that churning out gratuitous blood and gore is one of the most appallingly immoral ways to make a buck. I do, however, accept that violence has its place—in humour, as in history. However whimsical a look one may take at how life was in rural Ireland in and around the 1930's—to include in that image also something of how those who lived there and then felt about that—The Quiet Man is in just that way a type of historical document. Historically, people everywhere—for sure, the Irish—were just like that.

Or perhaps you, Tomtac, (Let me guess; you're not Irish. Right?), would re-write history to suit your uber-Liberal-PC agenda? It was people like you who, because they were so certain they "knew better" than the great Renassaince artists later considered it their right and so, who painted ludicrous linen underpants over all the "embarrassing bits." (When the man the world knows as Christ was crucified, he was crucified naked!) By your definition of what is an acceptable level of violence, would you forbid the showing of films about the World Wars, or films about ancient Rome? Putting aside its gratuitous desecration of and in its own case, history, what about Paramount’s The Ten Commandments? Now there's violence for you. Would you shackle it? If you teach your kids that the people of past ages were saintly powder puffs you’ll do your kids far more harm than good. Instead, give your kids some credit for the intelligence to discern humour from actual violence. They can, you know; just as long as and as you say, you explain to them the difference.
Violence? If a parent is not there to regulate things, even chocolate is unhealthy. Would you bad-mouth chocolate?

The Quiet Man: a classically funny film, in a style all its own—and which, I suspect, spawned many a TV family sitcom, such as (another of my great favourites) Everybody Loves Raymond. I’ve watched TQM twenty times, and, if I live long enough will likely see it another twenty.

Don't read too much into the fight. This movie, while entertaining, is a catalogue of cliches about Ireland and Irish people. One such stereotype - Irish men love to fight. They do it for fun, not because they really want to hurt each other. It's just the way they are. Old movies featured plenty of drunken Irishmen beating the crap out of each other one minute, then singing "Danny Boy" and weeping on each other' shoulders the next. "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" includes a canteen brawl performed by half the cast of "The Quiet Man."

When I was a kid The Jungle Book was my favorite book. I wanted so bad to escape my life and be like Mowgli living with the wolves, like you, the book made a huge impact in my life and I LOVED it. So, when my Grandfather took me to see the Disney Movie ...I hated it. I mean HATED it. It took the dignity the seriousness of the book and made it what I thought was a joke. If a book makes a BIG impact on your life, you are quite likely not going to enjoy the movie.

That doesn't mean the movie is bad, or even wrong in its interpretation. Millions of people have enjoyed both movies. I didn't take from The Quiet Man the lesson you saw, that fighting makes friends of your enemies - fighting good. But I DO understand the way you feel.

Tomtac....your assertion that this is some sort of ultra-violent no lesson learned movie is ridiculous. Yes...one SHOULD have conversations with the laddies and lassies...when viewing ANY film. From my little pony to fight club. One of the things you explain to...CHILDREN (like yourself?) is that not only is this a period piece, but it's how some people act in real life. Not everything is roses and rainbows.

Also another thing you EXPLAIN to CHILDREN, is that almost ALWAYS, the films are not like the books or short stories. If you want the book, read the book. Shouldn't have to explain that to an adult.

John Wayne definitely had rough and tough characters, but it was almost always within the context of the character and the story- not violence for the sake of shocking violence. There may come a time you do have to fight. People say war never solved anything...but when we dropped the bombs on Nuremberg and Nagasaki...the Bllsht stopped- and...isn't it odd we became great allies to those two countries? Not like now... many years of war- with hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed and no peace in sight.

tomtac, I will explain to you like I would a child...a movie like this is what human do, have done and likely always will do. It doesn't make it right, it doesn't make it something to aspire to. It's a story of humans. You don't have to like all the characters or agree with their sensibilities- and that is one of the greatest lessons you could give a child. Or adult.

Stop being so PC. This is one of my favorite movies. It has some of the most romantic scenes. This is one of my favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jreYChl7k10

My question to the OP would be, "Have you ever been in a fight?"

The reason I ask is that the post reads like the comments of a bystander, or worse a victim.

If that is true then I think it is difficult to understand the adrenalin rush and the subsequent euphoria that it can produce or afterwards the sense of clarity that replaces the fear.

I'm not saying it's the go-to way to make friends, but what is at the core of conflict resolution? Confronting an individual with one's anger. Now a therapist wants one to use one's words, but a good dust-up gets to the same end- just taking a different route.


In the case of this film, Sean's problem is that he is traumatized by the results of one of his prize-fighting bouts. But what happened was an unfortunate accident. His reaction to it was pathological but by the end of the film he comes out of his funk.

Boxing does not equal killing. And I think in that respect the film is an improvement over the short story, because the story takes itself a bit too seriously.

I remember reading the short story in High School many years ago--I am now 70. I never saw the movie, this was my first viewing. And I found a slightly discordant note between what I remember the story from way back when and what was depicted in the film I plan on re-reading the short story to get what I think I remembered from way back when and compare the two.

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