The Quiet Man / Bushmills

0:00 In 1952 director, John Ford and starred John Wayne gave the world. A feisty Love Story, set in idyllic Ireland. In 2022. We returned to Ireland to try a true whiskey of the people. The film is The Quiet, Man. The whiskey is Bushmills, and we'll review them both. This is the film and whiskey podcast. Welcome to the film and whiskey podcast, where each week, we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob book, I'm Reggie and this week we are looking at John Ford's. 1952 classic The Quiet, Man. Now Brad, this is a movie that if I'm being frank got on here because I know you had seen it, and I have seen it. I own it.

1:03 I love this movie. It's just a fun little movie. Like, I don't really know that we're going to have a lot to dissect or analyze here today. But it's just like, you know, it's just a nice little movie. Yeah, this is one of the most incredibly fun movies. If not the most fun movie that John Wayne has ever done. Oh my gosh, I like I couldn't believe What capital F capital W, fun, Wayne brought to the table here. Like I'm just I'm so not used to seeing John Wayne, be fun and I'm you know, I'm used to seeing him have a Swagger and a sort of like, what's the word like not flippant attitude, but he's always kind of Rye, you know? Yeah. But in this one he's just legitimately playing a completely different type of character and it was the most Charming I've ever seen.

1:52 John Wayne in a movie. Yeah. He there's this in 32 his performance that I think outshines a lot of his other roles. It's just the fact that he comes in as a man, who is completely confident in himself and knows what he wants and doesn't feel the need to show off for anyone else. I think that's what I really love about this character. The funny thing is too, I would almost use that description to describe most of his other characters, and it's not that this character is more self-conscious or anything. It definitely still fits Your description. But there was something, I guess the word that I would use as like softer in his demeanor and in his performance here, more lighthearted, more lighthearted. And there's a boyishness to him that I am not used to seeing. And it really like, you know, I think he's like, 43-44 issue in this movie is filmed, but his face looks so much softer and more, I guess, just I'll keep using the word boyish. There's a youth to him that I think for a good portion of his 30s and 40s, the movies he was King. He was trying to distance himself from that and I really loved watching him Embrace that here. Yeah, and he's and he is paired with the absolute perfect counterpart in Marine O'Hara.

3:08 I remember you at one point telling me Brad that Maureen, O'Hara might have been like your most beautiful movie star ever like this was this was somebody that's like you know one of Brad's all-time movie crushes. Yeah, she is absolutely gorgeous and you know, as With all people who are attractive, it has so much to do with her personality and her feistiness and spunk. And her ability to hold her own in any relationship that she has in this in this movie. I just think she's spectacular in this film. So, I'm kind of diving into this episode today. Brad not having done as much background as we typically do on our films mostly because I think just the, the overall Vibe of this movie Is like, this is a laid-back fun movie where we're all just going to go be happy in Ireland, and I'm okay with kind of just, you know, it, for lack of a better term. Talking about this movie at the surface level today, and I think it kind of fits in this mini sub. Genre, we've created on our podcast of movies that fall into that vein, where it's like, don't take it too, seriously. It's a genre movie from the early 50s, you know. I would pair this up with Like, An American in Paris. I would pair this up with If like the African queen which is a movie, I know you didn't like that much. But just in terms of like the overall Vibe of both of those movies, I think this kind of fits in there really, really well and within those within that sub-genre obviously we can have favorites.

4:39 But do you know what? I'm kind of getting out here. Yeah, there's a certain category of movies that you just put on to enjoy that that you just really want to have a good time. And honestly, I hadn't watched the quiet. And in probably since I was a teenager until about oh I don't know. Six eight months ago the was TCM putting it on in the theaters. Yeah that Within by the movements. Yeah. Fathom events. Thank you. Yeah. They did a fathom event and they showed it my dad and I went and saw it because I know my dad loves this movie and man watching this movie in theaters was just an incredibly fun experience this movie is Gorgeous. Like it is it is not just Ireland, it is just impeccable cinematography and I want to talk a little bit about the shot compositions and stuff later on down the road. But I called out American in Paris and the African queen in particular because Brad, this is like the maybe the third or fourth movie we've ever done where the movie was filmed in, you know, the United Kingdom in the early 50s and used their film stock and used their Technicolor process. And when you're as nerdy about These as I am. When you watch early color films from England, they look so much different than early color films from America. There's just like a little bit softer Hughes and there's like a almost like a creaminess to

6:10 people's like skin tones. It's it's just really gorgeous and this movie man in the first two or three minutes, I just hit pause, I'd say five times and just lingered on some shots because it is just beautifully composed Yeah. The the way the camera moves throughout the setting, it almost feels like you're just a person walking through these gorgeous Irish Fields. Like it feels like it is a part of the story and I think that the choice to use Ward Bond as the narrator helps with that, that it gives you this sense of like we're just Outsiders looking in on a cute little love story and but everything about it works together.

6:55 There, and you're right. The way the cinematography is used here. You just get to enjoy Ireland, for what it is and, you know, make you want to book a ticket over there as soon as possible. All right, Brad, I think we've gotten a little bit too far down the rabbit hole for people who may not have seen the film yet. We should probably give them a proper introduction by way of our segments, Brad explains. And as we get into Brad explains, we do want to say, hey, if it is your first time with us, welcome into the podcast, if it's your 200 and whatever this is, Eighty fifth episode with us, thanks for sticking around this long. We would love for you to consider joining us at our patreon patreon.com film whiskey, where you can support the podcast at three different tiers, a three, five and seven dollar a month tear at all. Three of those tears, you get access to a special discounted server that Brad and I are on every single day at each successive tear you get more and more perks, Brad and I are actually going to record a special bonus episode just for our seven dollar a month, patrons, right? Finish this one.

7:56 So please consider joining. We'd love to have you on board patreon.com film whiskey, Brad. We have put 60 seconds on the clock for you. Can you break down the admittedly thin plot of The Quiet Man? I think I might be able to handle it. A retired American boxer named Sean Thornton. Well I guess he's not technically Americans. He was born in Ireland, so I retired Irish turned American. Turned back into Irish boxer named. Sean Thornton moves back to his small hometown of innisfree and he follows very quickly in love with the lovely.

8:37 Mary Kate danaher, he's assisted in his Endeavors by old Matchmaker drunkard, name, mickalene of win the local Catholic priest father, Lonergan helps him out, but he falls into a duel with Squire red. Will danaher who refuses to help him win the hand of his sister because he bought property that, that is red wanted to buy and they fight, and they trick red, and they have horse races, and it's just a romp of a tail, and it's a great type Bob. All right, Brad, this is where I'm gonna give a little bit of context for where I'm at with this movie, because I don't want to let you down at the end of the episode. And I really like this movie, I liked it a lot. I think that there is like a ceiling for how good movies like this can be.

9:36 This is at that ceiling. You know what I'm saying? But I think you probably are going to give this movie a little bit of a higher score than me. And at the end of the day, what it really comes down to for me is that I think this movie could be at least 30 minutes shorter than it is. 100% And like, when I, before I watched it, you know, you had watched it a few days ago and I was like, yeah. Is this like a like a sub 2 hour movie? You were like, no. It's like, at least two hours and ten or something like that. Yeah, it's 2009. Yeah, man. Everything you said in, Brad explains up until about the 52nd Mark happens in the first ten minutes of the movie. And then the last thing you said, which is they fight happens at the end of the movie and there is an hour and a half in between in which very little happens. Oh yeah.

10:22 I think that this movie should be about an hour and 40 minutes hour and 45 minutes. Yep it just runs on about 15-20 minutes too long. They draw out certain parts of the story of Sean like acclimating himself to the to the village and trying to win Mary-Kate that just takes way too long. But outside of that Bob, I don't know if there's much wrong with this movie. No, it's a very Charming movie. And I think that what, what might let some people down, if they go into this knowing John Ford knowing John Wayne is that it tells such a small intimate story. And it's again, like I think the goal of this movie just to be a Charming little diversion and it's very artfully made. I don't want to act like this is just like a throwaway movie. But I mean, we've traced the plot here, a guy moves to Ireland.

11:18 He has some secrets in his past. And which never really get explored at all. And he wins the heart of somebody and has to fight her brother, and that's really the end of the movie. And, and to take, they become very good friends. Yes. Also, at the end of the movie. So, like to take two hours and nine minutes to tell that story. I mean, that's essentially as long as like, Jurassic Park, you know what I mean? Like I don't know if we need a Jurassic Park length, movie to do The Quiet, Man. I mean, if there's anything I've said about Jurassic Park, it should have been Like an hour and nine minute movie. Yeah, there's anything I've said about Jurassic Park, it's that we should have let these dinosaurs loose in the village of innisfree and really used to mash up. Yeah.

11:59 All of a sudden, Chris Pratt's riding through. All right, man. So we would you like to start here? I think, you know, we can either talk about John Ford's Direction and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff or we can jump into the performances. Let's just talk about Ward Bond for a second. Oh my gosh, he might be the perfect supporting actor of all time. Here's the about, Ward Bond. I spent a solid portion of this movie. After, you know, I praised word bond last week with the Searchers just kind of looking at Ward Bond and saying, like why was this guy stuck as a character actor because he's gorgeous. He's a very good-looking man, like rights like broad-shouldered in great shape.

12:40 He's, you know, again, he's a few years older than John. I think he's almost like 50 at this point. He's got like a great voice. Great voice, beautiful smile. Like this man should have been a leading actor in. So I went on his IMDb and, and it seems like from the beginning, he was just kind of a supporting actor and hey, if that's what he wanted to do good for him. But I really feel like, you know, I listen to a few other movie podcast and on one of them, the host always talks about how sometimes somebody comes along that market corrects for somebody else and takes all their roles. And I realized that I think Ward Bond looks a lot like Fred MacMurray, you know, from Double Indemnity and yeah, I'm the a permanent and and you know, Fred MacMurray is a few years younger. And so I just kind of Wonder like did Fred MacMurray swallow up all of the Ward Bond Parts because and I like Fred MacMurray.

13:32 And I like all the movies that he's in word bond is a better actor than Fred. MacMurray. Yes. Anjali. And it really kind of bothers me that this guy didn't have the career that he deserved. Yeah, I think That he feels like somebody who would like go home to a really middle-class home with six children and just be like, act. Like he had just gone in, like, worked on the roads all day on a road crew, like like he just seems like he would be an incredibly down-to-earth kind of guy and maybe he just didn't have that main character Vibes, you know, I mean, I guess I don't know man. Can lead off is like, even as an older guy in this movie, you know, I say older in quotation marks, But, you know, older than then, John Wayne of course.

14:16 I'm like, you know, I would still totally buy a movie with Ward Bond as the Romantic lead at this age. Yeah, you know, I mean, like if Cary, Grant can do it into the 60s, like this guy could do it, right. I mean, yeah. He's actually only four years older than John Wayne. Right? So, just barely older and I'm with you, man. I think Ward Bond easily deserved a few leading roles and if not like Academy Since for what he did. I definitely agree. So let's let's jump into a couple of the other supporting characters here. I think, you know, the primary one to talk about would be Barry Fitzgerald who just made a career out of being like Irish, you know what I mean? Like, that's kind yeah, just he's like I'm Really Gonna lean into every stereotype, you have and just embody, you know, I'm going to be the Boston Celtics, leprechaun on screen and that's kind of.

15:09 Why has he wins an Oscar in 1944 for a movie called Going my way, which I think also really falls into the vein of this film. In that, it's just happy and charming, and cheesy and over-the-top in terms of Schmaltz. I love that movie Brad, and I'd love to watch it for the podcast someday. But Barry, Fitzgerald, essentially plays the same character. He's a priest in that movie so he's not drunk but he's just a very Irish priest. And yeah, that's kind of it. Yeah. Well if he was a very Irish priest then he probably would have been drunk now. I mean, I think that Hollywood has this Problem sometimes where they find one person to play all of the ethnic roles.

15:50 If you will, like, let's be really honest. If you think about a Japanese character in a movie you're probably in a modern movie, you're probably going to think about Ken Watanabe like yeah, you know, and I don't say that in any way to put Ken Watanabe down. I think he's genuinely a good actor, but I think it's more of the casting directors who are like, yeah, we have a Japanese male. Male older middle-aged? Yeah. Why don't you just give Ken a call? Yeah, but like, so I don't know. I think that Barry Fitzgerald probably fits into that character into that role for 1940s 50s, 60s Hollywood? Yeah, definitely. And then you've got Victor McLaughlin playing Squire. Red will danaher also hold on, but one second throughout this movie, the pronunciation of their last name changes a million times.

16:39 Like it's danaher, it's danaher Got a doneger at one point. Even though the way it's spelled doesn't even have a g in it. So, like, I know this movie is not shooting for complete accuracy, from its American people doing Irish accents. But like, I don't even really know what their last name is. So he's playing Squire red and this is Maureen O'Hara. As brother he's good. I don't really have many notes on him. He's a big Burly, man, who's angry for most of the movie, he does a fine job. Yeah, I think that his best moments. It's are like at the horse race when they're springing the trap on him and telling him that like, well, of course, the Widow would have married you by now but you already have a woman in the house and, you know, one of and who would think of having two women in the house? One of them redheaded at that, right? It's those moments where he like starts to ponder and like think and scheme and I'm like Victor McLaughlin can like actually act a little bit.

17:40 I feel like he had to have been a real Boxer at some point, he just has that Vibe about him but in those little moments I'm like you know maybe it maybe I'm just speaking poorly about him. He just comes across as a big old dumb brute and you can see the wheels in his tiny little brain turning. Yeah and if that's him acting then he's killing yeah if that's just who he is then poured he's also killed him. You know. Okay. Let's let's go back to John Wayne. I mentioned at the beginning of the episode that I really loved this performance from him, and I'm happy that the two Ford movies, we picked with John, Wayne in them, where two performances where he's out of his wheelhouse, a little bit or, you know, are stretching himself first with Ethan Edwards in the Searchers and here, as Sean in The Quiet Man.

18:37 And really these are two opposite ends of the spectrum for him, where, you know, the Searchers he is. He closed off and Gruff and Haggard and evil in a lot of ways. And in this movie, it's him at his most kind of pure and good hearted. And I really, really loved watching John Wayne in this movie. And I think this is only in what? Brad, the third John Wayne movie we've done. If you count Stagecoach from way back in season one or two. Yeah, I believe. So we need to get around to True Grit. I think we should at some point, but between the Searchers and this I don't really know that it gets better for John Wayne. These are two really good performances. Yeah. I mean I think that True Grit is a really phenomenal performance from him much later in his career. I think that's like what 68 69 69. Yeah yeah.

19:26 So you know he's a very much older man at that point I think that this is the height of John Wayne's career and like you said it's the fact that he goes from The Searchers and just this incredibly intense Almost introspective performance to a really light-hearted, I love the word. You, you were using earlier. Bob, he just comes across as like a 42 year old. That's acting like a 26 year old and he's just boyish. That's a really good term and but he does it in such a way that is honoring to the character and doesn't feel pedantic.

20:08 Yeah. And so he, yeah, you're right, man. These are two of his best performances I did. Find it really interesting. The more I got into the film that the movies called The Quiet Man and it's adapted from a short story. So like you know, I don't remember if they carried the name over with it or not but John Wayne's character really. Isn't that quiet in this movie? You know what I mean? But I think the thing that makes him come across as a quiet man, is that he's not domineering and John Wayne. So often in his roles was the guy that would cut you off and talk over you and, you know, just be the loudest guy in the room and he's not, that imposing figure here. He's a guy that's Lee, you know, again, you find out halfway through the movie, that he's a boxer, who killed the guy in the ring, and that's why he's coming home to Ireland, to try to escape that past. So he's got Secrets, but he doesn't have malice in his heart and he lets other people talk and finish their sentences just like, man, I love polite, John Wayne. This is just that it's a joy to hang out with this person. Well, and not just polite, but romantic. Yes.

21:09 You know, like, the, the line that really stuck with me is, Is when Mary Kate comes over and kind of cleans the house before he moves in and, you know, they're they're having a conversation and she's about to run off and he goes well some things a man doesn't get over so easy. And she asked him what, the way he delivers this next line, you know, like, the sight of a girl, coming through the fields with the sun on her hair, kneeling in church with a face, like a saint and come into a man's house to clean it for him. And then, you know, she she kind of protest a little bit and he but the way he delivers his line, I know it was Mary Kate danaher and it was nice of you. Yeah. Like it's just incredibly polite and romantic and soft.

21:54 Yeah, and like you recognize that this man has a heart of gold and I just thought that Wayne pulled it off. And honestly, if I had watched every single, John Wayne movie leading up to this point, I don't know if I would have thought he could pull dialogue like that. Uh yeah. Yeah, well it and he just knocks it out of the park and it's a credit to John Wayne for being able to do it, but it's also a credit to Ford. And I think we really haven't talked a lot about forward, as a director during our, John Ford retrospective, like all three of these episodes and obviously his relationship with John Wayne is what defines his career. This is this is his Muse more than anybody else I guess in real life, you know, Ford was just a man he was and so John Wayne to, but John Wayne owed, his whole career to him. And they made a movie back in the early 1930s, I want to say it was called like the Big Sky that there's called the big something and it was a huge flop. We talked about this on the stagecoach episode and and John Wayne's career doesn't take off for like another eight or nine years with Stagecoach again, but he remembered Ford, he always wanted to work with Ford and he looked up to for kind of like a father.

23:04 There was like a boyishness to it and so he would do anything for wanted him to do. And it's only John Ford that can convince John, John Wayne to do a performance like this to be softer to not put on this super masculine, machismo thing, that he always felt so compelled to do. And it's really, I mean, if there's an actor in Hollywood, that I wouldn't expect to pull off a roll like this. Just like you said, it would be John Wayne, and the fact that that Ford was able to get this performance out of him, says, a lot about their relationship. Yeah, it really does. I think that Ford for for all of his foibles He has an ability with his actors to just draw out really great performances.

23:49 And I think in all three of the movies that we watched for him this year, I'm just really impressed in an ERA with lots of really over-the-top, really cheesy performances. It seems like Ford has an ability to help his actors feel like real people who inhabits a real world, you know, and I know that At in in the Searchers we talked about how Wayne you know comes across as serious and everybody else has a bit of a Western Field of them but even that I look at and I go well the fact that he pulled it off with Wayne is pretty incredible. So yeah, I think that him as a director of actors.

24:31 He really does an impressive job Brad. I'm gonna ask if we can hold off on talking about Maureen, O'Hara, until after the break. Because you know, if there are any problematic parts of this movie, they kind of revolve around her. Anyway, so let's press pause here, let's try this Bushmills and then we'll come back and talk about Maureen, O'Hara, what do you say? Let's, yeah, let's do it, man. I'm in film whiskey Nation. Do you ever think about Awards, of course, you do you drink whiskey and watch movies. Which means that, you know, that nothing is validated until a group of random people say, hey, we love what you're doing. The awesome thing about doc Swensons, whiskey is that it isn't just some group of schlubs that are given them Awards. They have been winning attention from some of the most Orton. Twiss key experts that you can imagine, they've been voted best distillery in Washington state by the New York International Spirits competition.

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26:01 Alright, today we are checking out Bushmills, Irish whiskey, Brad. It is really good to get back to a brand where we are trying like their most basic offering we're not trying. Yeah, you're finish. We're not trying some weird one off here. We're talking about the like one of the most popular Irish Whiskey's on the market. It's just Bushmills, white label. And I am incredibly excited to pair it with the Quiet Man. I mean, I don't know how we came around to this idea, Don't know how it quite fits. I have no idea. Here we are. Alright, so let's talk a little bit about this product. If you've ever seen an Irish whiskey section in a store, you've seen Bushmills white label.

26:43 This is like I said, a very, very popular Whiskey on the front of the bottle on the label. It says 1608 in big old numbers almost of letters. And that's the first little bit of marketing. What's the word boy sleight of And because the Distillery that this comes from the Bushmills old distillery was not established until 1784. But Liars, the 1608 thing is, apparently a reference to some land grant or something that they were allowed to start distilling whiskey in this County in 1608. But the smaller 200 years to put out a product for this Distillery to come into place.

27:27 You know, they just wanted to seem older than they are even though I feel like 1780 Or would have been plenty of proof. Yeah. Perfectly ancient enough. To be considered Ancient Ancient age if you will. So like many Irish Whiskey's, this is not a single malt, whiskey. It's not a single pot still whiskey. It is a blend of single malt, Irish whiskey that is triple distilled and a lighter grain. Irish whiskey, so not made from Walt made from a mixture of other grains. They blend these two together and then they age it for at least three years in a combination of Used bourbon barrels and used oloroso Sherry casks. So this is actually a very similar process to what we see with a lot of Irish Whiskey's.

28:09 I know that when we did a burl our that's a single malt but they're aging process is part in Bourbon barrels, part in Sherry casks. So this may or may not end up having some of those great multi, you know, Scotch single malt notes on the nose for us. I'm really looking forward to what this has to offer. Yeah and I guess I'll just say this, if you know anything. Bushmills, you know, that it is not a very expensive whiskey. No. So, for me, I'll, you know, I'll reflect that in my value score. But just know this going in that, this is a $22.50 bottle of whiskey. And like you said at the start, Bob, I'm excited to get into a super bass line offering of whiskey because I feel like it's it's like we're getting in touch with our Roots. Yeah, I mean, listen, we just did Cutty Sark at the end of last season or was it the beginning of this season? And that was like a fifteen dollar bottle of Scotch and I have nothing against that.

29:03 And in fact, we gave it such high scores that I remember some of our patreon patrons wrote in to us and said, hey I went out and bought a bottle of Cutty Sark, I'm so excited and then we asked them what they thought and they were like, well it was okay and I was like doing it with fifteen dollar bottle of Scotch like temper, your expectations here. So this is again $22. It's 80 proof. Let's dive into the nose here, Brad. And when I stick my nose in this Glencairn and get a whiff of this, it has such a light. Rudy fragrant kind of bouquet to it and I really really love it man like it it has the brightness almost like a melon kind of thing that we get sometimes on Irish whiskey. Yeah it for me.

29:44 It's got a decent amount of honey going on as almost like a baseline foundational note and then on top of that I get a little bit of like a light Citrus, a few herbal notes. And honestly the longer I spent with this, the more I realized that it almost smells Smells exactly like a white wine. Mmm. Yeah there is a ton of like almost like just grape skin, you're totally right. It reminds me even less than white wine. It reminds me or I guess even more than white wine. It reminds me of those fake like Welch's sparkling juice. Mmm. Yeah like a sparkling white grape juice. Yes 100% man. I love this. You know again $22. Like hell yeah here here. I'm going to give it an eight and a half out of ten on the nose.

30:28 Yeah. I'll give it a 7 out of 10 on the nose. Like I think it's fine and fun. Fun fact, I don't like white wine that much. So so you're denying it not quite an eight and a half for me, but I recognized what they're doing here. There is very little alcohol on the nose here and it smells like it's going to be very light in flavor. And one thing that I do, kind of hate about Irish whiskey, is that it smells so fruity and sweet on the nose, almost whiny. And then when you take a sip of it, it's usually that's where the malt comes out. And it's a completely opposite, you know, flavor wheel flavor and that always pisses me off. So, like I want this to be really sweet but based on prior experience, I don't think it will be but that's still not going to affect my my nosing score.

31:14 Let's dive into the palette though, bread. Yeah, on on the taste for me it was very light and Airy, which is code word for thin, but I like it. There's Citrus there's honey little bit of vanilla Going on. But for me, it really had a nice kind of floral bouquet almost like a rose petal type of note going on that. I really liked. It was a little bit of a step up from the nose for me. I'll give it a seven and a half on the taste sometimes. When you're like reading tasting notes, you see that there's a note of cereal, and it doesn't necessarily mean breakfast cereal, but it means it has that green Enos to it. This definitely tastes to me like a very unsweetened. Cereal note.

32:01 Whatever. That might mean to you, it gets it not bitter at all. And in fact on the very front of the palate, there's some kind of just generic sweetness going on more sweet than I expected it to be, but as it kind of like, you know, continues its journey across my palate, it gets less and less, sweet and more, and more multi, and I don't mind it, but you're right, it's really really thin. There's very little alcohol burn and it kind of just seems like It almost seems like shy to announce itself. Dear auntie. But I mean like, like, hey I'm just gonna. It's like the Midwest ooop like when we bump into someone and say, oh my God, excuse me. Like, I'm just gonna sneak past. J here. Like this one is a little bit of a taste. This whiskey just wants to sneak right on pasture.

32:42 I'm not saying it's bad. It just it sucks that it doesn't have more of a punch to it that it doesn't like lean fully into that fruity character. I think I'm only going to give it a six out of ten on The Taste bread. Yeah. And and the Finish it's short and And for me, it just slightly soured at the very end of the experience, which lowered by score bed. I'll give it a six and a half on the finish. I think it's decent, but nothing to write home about. Yeah, I get almost a like an artificial sweetener thing on the very, very end of this and it's not, it's not like aspartame, it's what's the one in like the green packet like Stevia they get almost have like a Stevia aftertaste to me, which is like a weird note that I've never gotten on a whiskey but I mean that's what's going on here for me.

33:28 It tastes like unsweetened like oats or cream of wheat or something and then on the very back of it, it's like oh also here's a packet of stevia to make that taste better. I'm not digging this man and I'm really bummed because the nose was so promising. Once again, I'll give the finish a 6 out of 10. Yeah. And the balance for me, I literally just wrote down. Like, there's not much to see here, like it's just a really nice pleasant bright Irish whiskey. Like you can just move along your next whiskey. Enjoy this. For what it is, it's fine. There's, there's nothing to complain about for this 22 dollar bottle of whiskey. I'll give it a seven and a half on balance. Yeah, this is always the Hard One to do when we don't really care for the whiskey, but the balance is there, right? Like, I don't want to reward it for being mediocre across the board but it's also like a nice consistent. Yeah, and I feel weird giving it a six out of ten on balance because it seems pretty well balanced. So, I'll give it a seven on the balance and that takes us into value.

34:31 Where Brad, as you've said this is what 2250 in the state of Ohio. Well, I'm sorry. $22.49 there you go. They couldn't just round up and make it a 23 dollar bottle of whiskey. Yeah, that would be pricing themselves out of the market here. That's right. I don't mind this at $23. It's definitely less than a bottle of Jameson. I think Jameson's up to like, 27, or 28 dollars now. Hmm, I think I still like Jameson better. This though. But when you're talking about like a four to five dollar difference, we're talking about you know like a quarter of this thing's value. So man, I don't know I'm vamping a lot because I don't know where to put this I guess I'll give it a 7 out of 10 on value. It's a really good value but it's just not a great whiskey. Yeah, I think for me I'm going to give it an eight and a half out of ten on value.

35:22 I think that this is a really solid Irish whiskey for a really solid price. That, you know? Yeah, if you want to spend about 30 bucks, you can go get Jameson and I love Jameson. Honestly, we need to have some total more do on this podcast because I liked old more do mmm, but what was the movie? We did. Tullamore Dew was that like green book. It was like one of the very first ones we ever did. We should have done Cutty Sark with him. No, I wasn't thinking back then. Well, I'm glad you've started thinking now and the quiet band with Bushmills. But yeah, I think it now. On values is a fair place for this. All right, so that's bringing me out to a 34.5 out of 50. Brad, what are you coming out to just a little bit higher? I'm at a 37 out of 50.

36:09 Oh, nice. All right, so that's bringing us out to a 71.5 out of 100 or a thirty five point seven five out of 50. I think Brad if we're being honest, like, if you just looked at this whiskey and and didn't take into account how we score our categories, this Skis, not really a 35 out of 50 whiskey, but when you consider that we do value and that we are taking the 23 dollar price tag into consideration, I get it, I get that. This is where it's ending up. Yeah, I think that the, here's the interesting thing, Bob, I think we might be one of the only people that like truly sits down and does a tasting notes on the Bushmills, whiskey. Like most people who buy this aren't going to be buying it too.

36:57 Sit down, put it in a Glencairn and take 20 minutes, 30 minutes to like sample. It out and think about what they think about this whiskey. Yeah. So but together, they case like home on lip. If you're buying this, then you're probably either just trying to consume it as quickly as possible and it is large enough quantities as possible or it's a mixer but I don't know that. I would think that this would be a great mixer, it's just too subtle and to I don't know, non non attention-grabbing. Yeah. I feel like it kind of swallowed up by everything else in your cocktail. Yeah, I like this on its own and I agree. I don't know if it would stand out well enough in a cocktail as far as if I would recommend it or not. I'd recommend.

37:41 I mean it's cheap enough go for it man. If you like Irish whiskey then there's a good chance you like this. Honestly if you have a you know, loved one a spouse who enjoys white wine. I think this actually might be a good way for you to get them into whiskey. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely there on the on the nose but it could backfire and they could just get really pissed off that. The rest of the experience is nothing like white wine and then they'll start acting like Maureen O'Hara towards you. There you go. All right man. So this has been Bushmills, white label, I think we both hesitantly recommend the whiskey or recommend with a caveat. Let's say yeah, yeah, I'd say. So, all right. Let's get back into talking about The Quiet Man.

38:21 What do you say? Let's get to it. All right, everybody, that was Bushmills. A whiskey from Ireland that Bob and I were like, solid on. I thought you were just going to end it with that. It was a whiskey, it was from Ireland. Moving on, we're moving on to the quiet, man, which was decidedly a film. Well, Brad it is time for what is rapidly? Becoming my favorite segment, two, facts. And a falsehood, this is where Brad presents three items to me, all of them presented, as fact, One of, which is a bold-faced lie. Brad, I'm doing pretty well this season. I can't remember the exact number right now, but I'm like, what is that saying, mean bald-faced also is it bold-faced or boldface? So I think it's bald-faced.

39:10 I think it's be ald. I thought so too. But like does that mean? That people who shave are just liars? Or does that mean that all women are liars? If they're not growing beard? I don't know. We'll have to look that up. Yeah, it needs to be a whole bonus episode. I think in any case we're doing two truths and a lie right now. And so Brad's going to hit me with these items. I was trying to give myself a pat on the back by saying I think I'm like nine and six now. I strategically interrupted. Okay okay I had had to give myself my flowers here though. So all right. Brad right man, let's do it. Alright fact, number one, the final line of the wedding toast got censured by the company, Republic pictures, who made the movie, it should have said May their days, be long and forth.

39:57 Dennis Mather children, be many and forth, health and may they live in peace and National freedom. But after the film was completed, Republic pictures decided that National freedom and Island was a little bit too controversial subject. Fax number two Marine O'Hara was initially reluctant to work with Wayne again. After having a bit of a cool relationship with him on their first film, Rio Grande. However, they enjoyed enjoyed their time so much together on the Batman that they became close and lifelong friends. Hmm fact. Number three during the filming of one of the takes of the scene where John Wayne first kisses Marine O'Hara.

40:38 She slaps him in the face. However, he blocks her blow and the first time they did that she broke a bone in her hand. However, the movie was not being filmed in like a sequential order. So, she was not allowed to wear a cast to fix the broken bone. That sounds like something. John Ford would do, man, these bread, these all sound very plausible. This is your best written one in a while. Hey, thanks man. I can see to being true, but that also seems like the easiest one to concoct. Now I'm trying to figure out, like, which one did you write? I'm just over here. Drinking whiskey, man. I like number two, I like number three. As fact, I'm going to say one is the falsehood. I don't know.

41:24 If number one has ever been the falsehood before, but didn't say one is the falsehood, Bob, your streak has been broken. Number one was true. Okay. Yeah, Maureen. O'Hara was not reluctant to work with Wayne again. I don't think that up. Okay, cool. I mean, I just assumed that, you know, people would be reluctant to work with. Here's the crazy thing. There is a ton of Hollywood rumors that it during John Wayne's second or third marriage that he didn't just have an affair with Maureen. O'Hara. They had like a four to five year long Affair. Yeah, that sounds about right.

42:04 So, yep. You know, they have great chemistry. You know, sometimes you got to commit to the role it's method acting. I was gonna say it's method acting and it's a honey, honey, I promise. I don't actually like her. I'm just method actor. I'm just sleeping with her for the role. Either, roll, do you like the money on bring? Also the next three roles speaking of misogyny. Yeah, let's talk about Maureen, O'Hara. In this movie. Here's the thing, Brad, I think that this movie could be by today's standards accused of being misogynistic. I mean, you have an entire scene towards the end of the film where he is just Literally dragging her across the Irish Meadows and and they like make a make a point of saying it's like a six or seven mile walk. And a woman comes up at some point and says like, oh, here's a nice stick for you to beat the lady with. You know what?

42:55 That that honestly reminded me of the opening scene of Boondock Saints when they're talking about the, the rule of thumb. Oh yeah, yeah. He's like, he just can't have a piece of wood to, as big as your wrist. It can only be as big as your thumb. I don't know that I would consider this movie to be misogynistic. I think that part of it is that they so clearly, establish within the world of this movie, the rules of innisfree and how there are these already outmoded sort of cultural customs and norms and John Wayne just kind of leverages them to his Advantage at the end of the movie. And so, like, I'm not interested, frankly, Brad in doing a conversation on like, Does this age well by today's standards because of course it doesn't. But but also like I don't think this movie is mean to its female characters.

43:51 Hmm. No honestly if I can dip my toes into those waters for a second. the second time watching this through, you know, recently I watched a few times as a kid watching it through this time I realized I was like if we're being really honest about this movie I think it's actually a super progressiveness for nineteen fifty two hundred percent, like the idea that a American you know boxer who has made millions of dollars would come to Ireland and fully respect the wishes of the local culture and honor them. And you know, go about the process of matchmaking and you know you pushes the boundaries a little bit.

44:35 He kisses her a little earlier than he's supposed to but there's a sense that he genuinely And leave loves and cares about her. And the way he goes about talking about money and the way he goes about talking about her possessions. Yeah, I just was incredibly impressed with the dignity that I feel like John Ford gives Marine O'Hara in this movie. I'm 100% with you and I think that that character is where I would focus that argument, because we've talked a lot on this podcast, you know. And again, we are to like, straight white males. It's It's hard to have these conversations without, like somebody set like without having a female co-host here.

45:17 And we're like, no, it's not misogynistic. Like I understand how this sounds. But what I'm saying is we've talked a lot on this podcast about films that sort of robbed, their female characters of agency. Hmm. And this movie is like her entire thing. The inciting incident is that they cannot get married because Victor McLaughlin won't let them and so they kind of trick him into it. Once he discovers that, he's been tricked into it, it's too late. They're married but she basically says like, I'm going to withhold sex from you, John Wayne. I am going to like refuse to do the things. You expect of me as a wife until you help me get what's mine, might he took the Dowry away her brother and so she's like that's mine and John Wayne's basically saying like you're getting hung up on the wrong thing, we can be together now.

46:05 Don't you love me? And she's like put all that aside. I have very little in this world. I want The things that are mine and for her to be able as a character in the early 1950s and especially in the culture that this movie is portraying to be able to dig her heels in and say, no. Like, this is my decision and you're going to respect it. I think is an incredibly Progressive message for this film. Yeah. Well and also, when you look at the actions that, you know, Sean Thornton takes as a character like, you know, she locks the door on him and he kicks the door down and is like, hey, there's not going to be Locked doors in this house. He throws her on the bed. It breaks a little bit. It's a gag. But what does he do?

46:48 After that? He takes his sleeping bag and he sleeps out in the main room. Yep. Like his anger. There wasn't no, you're not having sex with me. It was which is the opposite of what we saw in Gone With the Wind. Remember that scene where Rhett Butler comes up the stairs and like lifts her up and says like you're not gonna cast me out of our bed. Scarlett. O'Hara. And they application is like Like did she actually want this and is just playing hard to get? Or is she kind of being raped within the context of her marriage and you write this movie takes the complete opposite tack there? Yeah yeah. He just basically says we're not going to have locked doors in here like like it's fine. You can you can kick me out of the bed but we're going to have open lines of communication and I'm like oh that's that's that's already really modern healthy.

47:38 Now yeah the dragging through a meadow. Less healthy rate. Yeah, I would say it's slightly less healthy. All right, so having said all that, here's my big problem with her character. It's that towards the end of the movie. I don't understand what her motivations are or frankly, what anyone's motivations are. So they finally consummate their marriage and then the next morning, she wakes up and like runs off to the train and John Wayne traces. Her chase her down to the train and I think the explanation given was like You know, it's just the way things are done here. Anytime they need something to happen in this movie that just say, like, it's just the way of the Irish. So it's just the way we do things around here Bobby. So I don't understand where she's going, why she's leaving, what the hell's going on.

48:24 He gets her from the train. He drags her five miles so that he can fight her brother. Finally, to demonstrate to her, that he will do what she wants of him. If that's what she really wants. Even though it's kind of going against his own principles but then she's also like fighting against that and and Trying to get away from him as he like carries her drags her through this Meadow and I'm like, is this not what you've been asking for the whole movie, like where you trying to go? I didn't understand exactly what anyone wanted in that moment of the film Bob. You just don't understand the beautiful Nuance of a romantic relationship in 1930s. Ireland.

49:06 You just, you just don't get it. Bob actually, I think that is a great explanation is just like When you are married and you're fighting with your spouse and you guys are just both digging your heels in and none of it makes sense anymore, but you don't want to lose the argument. You know, you just drag your wife through a few. Yeah, let it be known film in pesky podcast in horses. Spouse dragging great. All about it. Yeah, no, I think that genuinely it felt and this kind of gets back to what you were saying about. How long the movie is, I think that everything up until that scene felt like Had a purpose felt like it was like all right, it's driving the plot forward but at that point it was like, all right, we just need something funny. Well, what could we do?

49:51 I yeah we'll just have him dragged her through a field, right? That'll be funny. Let's let's order that up. Get the get the camera crew ready. We're going to do it now well. So then they get back to Victor McLaughlin and he's like, all right fine, here's your money. And then he gets the money and we're you know, hair is not satisfied with that and and has John Wayne throw it in the furnace. Us and is like know what I really want is for you to beat my brother to a pulp which is really not her motivation through the whole movie. And you know again if they want her brother beat up, like I completely understand that impulse. He's the worst but yeah, what she has said, the whole time is like I want this money, this money is mine and and they throw it in the freaking steam engine and it kind of turns in. So there's a movie from a few years ago called Phantom thread. It's a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. And that movie takes a very weird turn towards the end. And I'm going to try not to spoil the whole thing, but it essentially becomes this weird Kink between the two main characters, where one of them kind of poisons. The other one repeatedly so that that character gets sick and that the other one can nurse the first one back to health. And it is like this weird psycho sexual fetish thing at the end of the film and it ruined the movie for me. I did not like that film, but I couldn't help but think of it the whole time I was watching, Watching this movie because I'm like I don't think she even once anything anymore other than just to like put John Wayne in this situation where she is in control of him and watching and like this weird blood lost. It seemed like this weird Kink

51:23 and I was like what purpose does this serve anymore? I didn't like the whole end of the movie. Didn't make sense from the characters, motivations standpoint Kink feels like a strong monosyllabic word. Throw that way, I think that if anything at a certain point she wants to see her husband shine and so if anything it's more of a lust for drama than it is for anything else. But I see what you're saying that it at a certain point it's like man. He's right like he got your furniture back. He like he's providing for you.

52:07 He is Gentle and kind, he's honoring your wishes to not have sex which you know who would have expected that from a 19, you know, 50s person. So like at a certain point I'm like, what are you even asking for any more Mary-Kate like and then when she finally gets the money she just throws it in the in the fire, right? And you're like but that always still makes him follow through on the fight when they could have just walked away at that point. I don't know if she makes him follow through because Victor just punches him in the face right after that, thread. That's fair. I think it was more of a at this point. The fight has to happen but no, I think you're right though, it's like, she just has misguided motives right by the end of the film and they're weird well, and I think that's where this movie suffers, right?

52:57 Is that it's over long and also leaves random dangling threads, the best part of the movie from a cinematic point of view for me is that flash back to John Wayne when you find out that he I killed the guy in the ring, like the way, it's filmed is very dreamlike that you don't see a crowd behind them and that gets it in a very surreal. Can I also point out the camera we talked about in Raging Bull that is the first time. The camera had ever been inside the ring. However, the camera and The Quiet Man was inside was reading pointing at John Wayne's face and the way they cut that Montage together without sound of like you nude his two trainers standing next to him smiling and then it cuts back to his face and it's this weird like Dutch Go close up it.

53:40 I mean, it is incredible filmmaking. Yeah. And then it is never return to, he never confesses that to anyone. He just is completely able to put this trauma behind him or at least ignore it for the course of the movie and never deals with it again. And I really was like, okay again, I know that like every movie in 2022, we want someone to have like baggage and Trauma. And so I'm not saying that but it was just weird that it would be a focal point of the movie. And then Then immediately dropped right after that fact, well, I mean, he has the conversation with the Reverend play fair about it and, you know, it tells him to shut up. He's like, don't you tell anybody know when he goes into his into his office later a movie?

54:23 Yeah. And they look at the picture of, you know, Playfair as a boxer and they have a little conversation about like what it means to be a fighter in Ireland, and what it, what it takes to win his wife, I think, I think they kind of tie that thread up nicely. I Was one. Other dangling thing for me that I need to ask your opinion on because I couldn't tell if they were implying that Maureen, O'Hara is unable to have children. When when the you know they bring the bassinet over to the house and she's like it was my mother's before me, she runs out crying and then the next scene she finds John Wayne planting roses back in you know in the essentially in their backyard and says like oh you could have planted a potato or something' and and she's like what's up what good is a house without this and this and then he says or children and the way she responds is she puts both of her hands under her stomach and kind of like rubs there.

55:20 And I'm like, huh? I wonder if we're implying something here and I didn't know if you caught on to that or if I was just like reading into things too much, if I'm being honest, I think you're reading into things. I think it's I think that was more of a commentary on like you're not having sex with me and so we're not having children got it and I in my mind I think that that was kind of a little bit of a biting remark from John Wayne but also just him being honest saying Hey I want to have kids and we are not having sex, right? So you know don't don't give me shit about about planting roses. That's that my dad.

56:04 And mom used to plant around the garden like that has sentimental value for me. Yeah, back off a little bit. Well and I think that's also kind of why I felt so comfortable talking about Kinks at the end of this. Because sex is kind of the driving force behind this whole movie. She beats up his brother and then the end of the movie like the the end of the movie, is her tapping him on the shoulder to be like, let's and and then they like the run back to the house and it's like the end and up. She rewards him for his bloodlust and I'm like this is very, very kinky. Yeah. I mean apparently John Ford gave her a line to whisper in his ear and that final scene, huh? And was it lets D, she would not she have fit initially was like, I'm not going to say that line, but eventually he got her to agree to say the line and John Wayne did not know what the line was.

56:57 So that it would get like a genuine reaction. Wow. And like to this day Marine O'Hara, you know, she I think she passed away in 2015 or 16 but she always refused to tell anyone what that line was. We still don't know what she actually whispered into his think I died. Just gave it away. I think you might have and knowing their relationship. They probably went off and had and did that very thing. Yeah. And and had some method acting. All right, man, it's time for us to wrap things up here. And before we give our final scores, we're going to play our new game which we call. Let's make it a double Brad. If you had to pair this movie up with another one to make a double feature, what would that film be?

57:38 Yeah. Bob, you know, I was thinking about this and I think that I'm going to point towards a Another movie that you, and I actually decided isn't necessarily a romantic movie or a romance movie, but I think I'm going to point people to about time. Oh, interesting, what does emotions? I just think that the, the relationship between the main characters in about time, has a light heartedness about it. That reminds me of Wayne and O'Hara in this film, interact like McAdams and Doll domhnall Gleeson the way that they interact with one another with such lightheartedness and love and tenderness it just kind of reminds me of these two. I like that.

58:25 Man. I would not have made that connection. Good pick. Hey, thanks, man. I think for me, I'm gonna go with another movie that has a similar Vibe and we didn't really touch on this that much, but there's something about movies coming out post-world War Two, where I think so many men went across the Ocean and fought overseas and brought back like pieces of European culture with them. And there seemed to be like an openness to. Let's make movies about Americans going overseas. And so you get all these movies like American in Paris and this film, and a couple of years after American in Paris Gene Kelly and Vincente Minnelli teamed backup for an adaptation of the Broadway musical Brigadoon and I love Brigadoon and it is not, are you doing? Is it's not.

59:14 It's not a great movie like and it actually is kind of slow and probably too long, just like this movie. And so it has like the exact same feel to it, but it has Gene Kelly singing and dancing. And so like if you can watch The Quiet Man and then throw on Brigadoon and it's like wow this just got even better for me. So I would pair this up with Brigadoon you just take a little short, hop from Ireland to Scotland and, you know, enjoy yourself. You're all set. Yeah, I love it, man. It's get into final scores than Bob. You said earlier that you're going to give it like a 4 out of 10. So I'm bracing myself. Where are you at with John Ford's The Quiet Man?

59:57 I think that this is like, when this movie came out, it was like an 8 out of 10, right? Like it's clearly not the best film ever made. But I think the fact that it's an eight out of ten film, that's also aged by 70 years, would probably knock it down a little bit to like a seven and a half in my book. I enjoyed this. More than I enjoyed the African queen. But when you have a two-hour movie that we're advocating for taking 25% of the runtime away, like that's clearly a big flaw with the film. And, and, you know, the other things about the plot that I've brought up that, I don't really understand motivations and things like that. I'm going to knock it down and give it a seven and a half out of ten. But it's a really good seven and a half. Yeah, I think I'll give it an eight and a half out of ten. I think that it has some of the best one-liners out of any movie that We've ever watched, I think that the pacing of the first 70% of the movie is really great and then it slows down a lot. So yeah.

1:00:55 And and the performances are just fabulous. So I I really love this movie and it's an easy eight that half for me. Alright, so those are our scores on the quiet man, but we'd like to know what you think, Brad, I have a feeling that this might be the least seen of the three. John Ford movies, we've done this. In but, who knows, maybe a lot of people have watched it and loved it. Like we have, you could reach out to us across our social media accounts, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tick-Tock at film whiskey or you can jump onto a Discord. We are on there every single day. Talking to you guys film Louis key Nation. So jump on their join the conversation. You can find a link to our Discord at the end of every single one of our show notes next week, we're going to start a mini-series on a director who frankly, Brad. I didn't expect would be in something like this, but when you look at his movies, he's made some absolute Classics. We're talking about Rob Reiner and we're going to be looking at his early 90s horror Masterpiece misery. I cannot wait for you to see this movie, like yeah, he's go in as cold as possible to this film. Possibly the most incredibly talented yet. Like diversely interested director. Yeah.

1:02:11 That we've ever seen, like, all of his movies are different. And like incredibly solid. I can't wait man. All right we'll kick that off with misery but until then I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and we'll see you next time.