I know it’s old, and a sentimental piece, a 1952 valentine from the great John Ford, a Mainer by birth by the way, born John Martin Feeney in Cape Elizabeth and grew up in Portland.

This piece of his was nominated in 1953 for best picture, losing to “The Greatest Show on Earth,” but Ford picked up an Oscar for Best Director for his efforts as well as for cinematography.

MOVIE INFO

“THE QUIET MAN”
Comedy, Drama, Romance
A retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in 1920s Ireland, where he falls for a spirited redhead whose brother is contemptuous of their union.
Length: 129 minutes
Rating: Mild alcohol, drugs, smoking with mild frightening and intense scenes
Director: John Ford
Writers: Frank S. Nugent (screenplay), Maurice Walsh (from the story by), John Ford (contributing writer)
Stars: John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald

Our St. Patrick’s Day this year needs an Irish movie to dress it up and give us a smile, but happy Irish movies are hard to find in 2022.

We had Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” this year, but that’s set in Northern Ireland and full of tears and blood. We need to visit a Ford landscape today to quiet the anger and pain of the day.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, 2022, Ireland is quiet and probably rainy as it always was in my four grandparents’ time. Ukraine is in flames and the world is sitting around in the rain waiting for something to save its flesh and soul, as my grandmother would say, and so here it is.

It’s John Wayne as retired boxer Sean Thornton who killed a man in the ring back in Pittsburgh.

Bitter and full of guilt for his deed, he’s come home to Innisfree where he was born, and wouldn’t you know it, to buy the ancient and haunted cottage where he came into the world.

In every man’s life, the Irish say, there’s a summer, and a girl.

Here the girl is, would you believe it, its Mary Kate Danaher (the autumnal haired Maureen O’Hara) living unmarried and angry. Joining them is the land owning gruff brother to O’Hara, Squire Danaher (Victor McLaglen).

Our aging boy and girl meet in the doorway of the local Catholic church, where he cups some holy water in his hand and offers it to Mary Kate.

This propitious meeting will bloom, through scuffs and kisses until love takes hold and they agree to marry.

Squire Danaher will have not of that. There’s a dowry involved here, and family furniture.

The big moment arises when Sean and Squire Danaher pick a fight in the local pub that takes the two brawlers across miles of Irish greenery. It’s a historic cinematic fight that still has beauty to this day.

The cast is full of famous and sadly long dead Irish faces, including the most fabulous Irish character actor in movie history, Barry Fitzgerald who plays the local matchmaker and keeper of the courting rules of the time.

As my grandmother would say, “It’s a beautiful thing to behold.”

“The Quiet Man” is an undying delight and seems to hold a permeant place in movie history.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day. Pour a pint, boil some cabbage and potatoes and put your feet up and enjoy.

Yours truly, Jeremiah Patrick Devine.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.