McLintock! *** (1963, John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Patrick Wayne, Stefanie Powers, Yvonne De Carlo, Alissa Wayne, Chill Wills, Bruce Cabot, Jack Kruschen, Edgar Buchanan) – Classic Movie Review 3411

Best friends in real life, John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara star together for the fourth of their five movies in director Andrew V McLaglen’s thoroughly enjoyable, typically raucous, rowdy romantic comedy Western.

There are some soapy ingredients, but there is also a full measure of knockabout laughs, brawls and punch-ups. The idea here is The Taming of the Shrew translated to the Old West, somehow managing to mix a few political barbs and sexual politics together with a spectacular climactic mud-fight.

The Duke slips comfortably into his familiar persona as the grouchy, rich cattle baron George Washington (‘GW’) McLintock, who is faced with having to try to win back the affections of his estranged, long-suffering wife Katherine [Kate] (O’Hara). After walking out on him a couple of years earlier, she decides to return to reclaim their headstrong daughter Becky (Stefanie Powers) who is coming back to him after being away at school.

On the action front, Wayne’s McLintock is having problems tackling a land dispute involving the hard-pressed Indians, dozens of new land-grabbing farmers with free grants and corrupt government officials.

Re-creating their dynamic on-screen chemistry from The Quiet Man a decade earlier seems easy and fun for the two ideally-paired stars Wayne and O’Hara, and the pleasure all the actors seem to be sharing is infectious. Yvonne De Carlo plays Louise Warren, the widder woman McLintock takes on as his cook, arriving along with her two kids, Devlin and Alice (Patrick Wayne, Alissa Wayne).

Also in the cast are Chill Wills, Bruce Cabot, Jack Kruschen, Jerry Van Dyke, Edgar Buchanan, Perry Lopez, Michael Pate, Strother Martin, Gordon Jones, Robert Lowery, Hank Worden, Leo Gordon, Bob Steele and Mari Blanchard.

Maureen O’Hara (1920 – 2015) starred in five films with Wayne, the most beloved being The Quiet Man (1952), but also Rio Grande (1950), The Wings of Eagles (1957) and Big Jake (1971).

RIP Jerry Van Dyke (1931–2018).

Jerry Van Dyke made his film debut in The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963) and went on to make two more movies that year, Palm Springs Weekend and McLintock!

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3411

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/