Donovan’s Reef ** (1963, John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Allen, Jack Warden, Mike Mazurki, Dorothy Lamour, Cesar Romero, Marcel Dalio, Edgar Buchanan) – Classic Movie Review 6770

Ill-health was dogging illustrious action and Westerns film-maker John Ford in 1962 when he directed his buddies John Wayne as war hero Mike ‘Guns’ Donovan and Lee Marvin as Aloysius ‘Boats’ Gilhooley in this 1963 knockabout romantic comedy action adventure.

Ford’s pleasantly relaxed but disappointingly humdrum movie follows the story of a young woman, Ameilia Dedham (Elizabeth Allen), breaking up the idyll of a bunch of buddies on a South Sea island Pacific tropical beach just after World War Two. ‘Guns’ is running a shipping company and looking for true love.

The friendly, attractive cast is on the plus side, and it is especially good to see Dorothy Lamour (as Miss Lafleur) and Cesar Romero (as Marquis Andre de Lage) again, and if you get bored you can always look at the gorgeous scenery lensed by cinematographer William H Clothier in glorious Technicolor.

But, alas, the movie is pretty slack, careless and laborious, rather than the slick and carefree escapist experience it was clearly intended to be.

It also stars Jack Warden, Mike Mazurki, Dorothy Lamour, Cesar Romero, Marcel Dalio, Edgar Buchanan, Mae Marsh and Dick Foran.

Frank Nugent and James Edward Grant’s screenplay is based on the story by Edmund Beloin and source material by James Michener.

Donovan’s Reef is directed by John Ford, runs 109 minutes, is made by John Ford Productions, is released by Paramount, is written by Frank S Nugent and James Edward Grant, is based on the story by Edmund Beloin and source material by James Michener (uncredited), is shot in Technicolor by William H Clothier, is produced by John Ford, is scored by Cyril J Mockridge, and is designed by Hal Pereira and Eddie Imazu.

Also in the cast are Jacqueline Malouf, Cherylene Lee, Tim Stafford, Yvonne Peattie, Ralph Volkie, Frank Baker, Jon Fong, June Y Kim, Midori, Ron Nyman, Carmen Estrabeau, Pat [Patrick] Wayne, Chuck Roberson, Sara Taft, Carl F Leviness, Fred Jones, Scott Seaton, Sam Harris, Duke Green, King Lockwood, Charles Seel, Cliff Lyon and Aissa Wayne.

Donovan’s Reef was shot in July 1962 in Kaua’i, Hawaii, and at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Costing $2,686,585 and grossing $6,600,000 in the US, it did well as the 24th highest grossing film of 1963.

Though closely associated with Westerns (‘My name is John Ford and I make Westerns’), Ford made only one Western from 1950 to 1959, The Searchers (1956). But, starting with The Horse Soldiers (1959), six of his last eight completed movies were Westerns, including The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6770

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