{"id":2918,"date":"2017-01-30T11:34:34","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T11:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/?p=2918"},"modified":"2021-12-11T15:26:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-11T15:26:57","slug":"john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"John Wayne Movie Punch Ups &#8211; And The Winner Is&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span lang=\"en-GB\">Considering the number of movie fistfights John Wayne&nbsp;has indulged in over the years I thought I\u2019d revisit some of them to see how our boy fared mano a mano, as they say down Mexico way. This list is fairly arbitrary \u2013 not all of the films mentioned here are Westerns &#8211; so apologies if I missed a favorite of yours. Feel free to leave a comment at the bottom.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_65 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/#The_Spoilers_1942\" title=\"The Spoilers (1942)\">The Spoilers (1942)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/#Donovans_Reef_1963\" title=\"Donovan\u2019s Reef (1963)\">Donovan\u2019s Reef (1963)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/#The_Alamo_1960\" title=\"The Alamo (1960)\">The Alamo (1960)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/#Hondo_1953\" title=\"Hondo (1953)\">Hondo (1953)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/#McKlintock_1963\" title=\"McKlintock! (1963)\">McKlintock! (1963)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/#Chisum_1970\" title=\"Chisum (1970)\">Chisum (1970)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/#The_Cowboys_1970\" title=\"The Cowboys (1970)\">The Cowboys (1970)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/#The_Quiet_Man_read_more\" title=\"The Quiet Man (read more)\">The Quiet Man (read more)<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"western wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Spoilers_1942\"><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/mostlywesterns\/spoliers-3.jpg\" alt=\"JOhn Wayne fist fight in The Spoilers\" width=\"920\" height=\"545\">The Spoilers (1942)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The reason this fight takes place is due to Randolph Scott stealing a mine from John Wayne, but when the final confrontation is as brutal and exciting as this one, who needs an excuse? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">By my reckoning the fistfight at the end of this film runs for about three and a half minutes. It would have run longer but some scenes are speeded up in order to make the action appear faster than it actually is, which only serves to introduce a comedic element to the sequence as a whole.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I\u2019ve heard mention that JW did some of his own stunts in the fight and if you look closely you\u2019ll see it\u2019s actually him being bodily pushed through the glass window of the saloon just before the fight finishes. In the overhead shots it\u2019s obviously a couple of stunt men slugging it out whilst Scott and Wayne feature in the close ups. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">A statuesque Marlene Dietrich watches from the balcony above at the mayhem below whilst sporting a heavily coiffed mountain of hair carefully balanced on her beautiful bonce. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Good to see Harry Carey Senior in the film as well. I wonder if he gave Duke any tips on how to fake a punch, seeing as Carey made about 25 silent Westerns with the grand master himself, John Ford.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">And the winner is: John Wayne by a knockout <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"western wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Donovans_Reef_1963\"><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/mostlywesterns\/Donovans+Reef-1.jpg\" alt=\"John Wayne in Donovan's Reef\" width=\"1024\" height=\"801\">Donovan\u2019s Reef (1963)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">In this film Wayne and Lee Marvin share the same birthday so each year, to celebrate the occasion, they meet to try and beat each other\u2019s brains out. I can\u2019t think of a more better excuse for a fight. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Their first and main encounter takes place about ten minutes in when they confront each other in a bar, Marvin as Gilhooley getting in the first punch and knocking Wayne across the saloon into a table.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\"> There\u2019s a review on the net saying that Wayne ended up injuring himself when he hit the table but he appears to recover quite quickly in the scene, punching Marvin then dragging him out of the back of the saloon. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">A few minutes later we see Wayne trying to either bring Marvin round in a pool of water or attempting to drown him, it\u2019s not very clear one way or the other to be honest. Reprimanded by an old friend for their childish behaviour, they climb out of the pool then walk back into the saloon whereupon Wayne delivers a sucker punch and puts an amen to it all. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The rematch is just as perfunctory, Wayne and Marvin getting in a few licks at each other in the middle of a brawls with a bunch of sailors. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I reckon Wayne appears to have more trouble landing on top of the piano under which Dick Foran resides than he does hitting the table in the previous fight. Either way, although I\u2019m not usually a fan of \u2018comedy\u2019 fistfights and God knows Duke\u2019s been in a few of those over the years, it\u2019s good to see JW still punching a few lights out in his late 50s.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">And the winner is: John Wayne by a knockout. Again.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"western wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Alamo_1960\"><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/mostlywesterns\/john-wayne-alamo.png\" alt=\"JOhn Wayne in The Alamo as Davy Crocket\" width=\"900\" height=\"411\">The Alamo (1960)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">There\u2019s only two punches thrown in what one might term a light fistfight in this film, but they are two awfully big punches which are worth discussing in a bit more detail. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">According to scriptwriter James Edward Grant, Davy Crockett and his band of faithful Tennesseans would on occasion resort to smashing each other in the face in order to alleviate the boredom of a slow day. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">In the film we are introduced to a quaint old custom whereby the individuals involved balance a feather on their nose whilst their counterpart in pugilism tries to knock the feather away by \u2013 yes, you\u2019ve guessed it \u2013 smashing the other one in the face with their fist. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">In this instance one of the participants happens to be Davy Crockett, whilst the other is a real big guy whose name escapes me at the moment so let\u2019s just call him RBG. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">RBG gets the first shot in, whacking JW in the face as hard as he can, but unfortunately for him our boy remains standing. JW gets the next shot and, wouldn\u2019t you know it, not only knocks RBG clean across the cantina but bowls over half of the other customers at the same time. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Viewed on a big screen this small altercation takes on a more epic quality, mainly because the movie was shot using a very large Panavision 65m camera. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I had the opportunity to visit the Alamo village in Bracketville back in 2000 and I was quite taken aback by how small the back room of the cantina, in which they filmed the infamous \u2018Republic, I like the sound of the word\u2019 speech, actually was. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The cantina itself wasn\u2019t that much bigger either, confirming once more the magic and illusion that underlines our pleasure in all things cinematic. In this case the illusion is more upfront than normal, because if I were on the end of either of the punches thrown by Wayne or Blubber I\u2019d have probably ended up in intensive care or, at the very least, eating soup through a straw.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">And the winner is: John Wayne by a whisker, but it\u2019s a close run thing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"western wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hondo_1953\"><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/mostlywesterns\/hondo-1.jpg\" alt=\"John Wayne in Honda\" width=\"1024\" height=\"704\">Hondo (1953)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I think Hondo is probably one of the most action-packed films John Wayne ever made.&nbsp;<\/span>You get an Apache \/ Wayne chase sequence, a hand-to-hand combat scene, a climactic cavalry \/ Apache battle, as well as a couple of punch ups along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Duke gets to belt it first off with Leo Gordon, who turns out to be the wayward husband of Geraldine Page, left alone with her young son at a ranch in the middle of nowhere. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Duke is unaware of the connection between the two until after he punches Mr Gordon\u2019s lights out in a fairly clich\u00e9d but short saloon fight. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Of course Gordon doesn\u2019t help matters much by pulling a gun on Wayne after the first punch, after which Duke is morally obliged to knock him through the swinging saloon doors \u2013 I told you it was clich\u00e9d. In fact the moral obligation goes even further when later on Duke has to shoot him, but that\u2019s another story.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The other punch up is literally just a one-off interaction between Wayne and James Arness in which Arness attempts to blackmail Duke after Duke has killed Page\u2019s husband. Like the film as a whole, which runs for only about 1 hour 30 minutes it\u2019s short, sharp and to the point. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">And the winner is: Duke Wayne on both counts<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"western wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"McKlintock_1963\"><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/mostlywesterns\/McLintock-1.jpg\" alt=\"John Wayne in McLintock\" width=\"728\" height=\"410\">McKlintock! (1963)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">What is it that McKlintock, North to Alaska and The Undefeated have in common? Answer. They all contain fist fighting sequences in which John Wayne and certain other actors demean themselves by attempting to outdo each other when it comes to pratfalls, gurning and downright plain silliness. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">If I went to see a John Wayne film as a kid I didn\u2019t want to end up witnessing a sub-par Charlie Chaplin movie in which the assembled cast dodge flying chairs, thumping fists and, in the case of McKlintock!, a mud-filled crater into which everyone inevitably visits at some point in the proceedings. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I\u2019ve said it before and I\u2019ll say it again. I don\u2019t like comedy fights, especially in a film that doesn\u2019t start out as a comedy. The Undefeated is not a comedy, it\u2019s a pretty serious film and dropping a comedic fight into the middle of it breaks the tone of the whole thing. North to Alaska is definitely a comedy but unfortunately not a very funny one, which is why I never got round to watching the movie all the way through. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I\u2019m giving McKlintock! a pass though because the mud crater fight starts with a truly iconic and unexpected John Wayne \u2018moment\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Duke decides he\u2019s not going to punch Leo Gordon (again?) in the face, telling him \u2018I\u2019m not gonna hurt you\u2019, then changes his mind with the statement \u2018The hell I won\u2019t\u2019 before dispatching him to said mud crater. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I found that genuinely funny, as I seem to remember the rest of the packed audience also did back in Dreamland cinema in Margate, UK in 1963. There\u2019s also a pretty good separate punch-up in the film between Patrick Wayne and Edward Faulkner which, along with the epic mud fistfight, fits with the narrative of the film. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">They\u2019re not just dropped into the film irrespective of the main story so both fights in McKlintock! work for me. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">And the winner is: No one. They all end up covered in mud. I think.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"western wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Chisum_1970\"><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/mostlywesterns\/chisum-2.jpg\" alt=\"John Wayne in Chisum\" width=\"1024\" height=\"764\">Chisum (1970)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Ladies and gentlemen, welcome one and all to the cowboy town of Lincoln, where the bad guys are tough but the good guys are even tougher.&nbsp;<\/span>We have for your delectation a good old fashioned no holds barred cinematic grudge match, with the winner taking all and the loser buying a one-way ticket to Boot Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">In the left-hand corner, weighing in at about 63 years old and more pounds than he\u2019d care to admit to, the one, the only Duke \u2018Uppercut\u2019 Wayne. Over in the right hand corner we have his opponent, Forrest \u2018Roundhouse\u2019 Tucker, who has the advantage of age \u2013 he\u2019s 12 years younger \u2013 but Duke\u2019s got more experience on his side, as well as his faithful stand-in Cliff Roberson so we\u2019re going to be witnessing a fairly even matched fight. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">This isn\u2019t the first time these two have met of course. Their first match was back in \u201949, both men much younger and rather more sprightly, but judges voted a tie on account of the Second World War getting in the way \u2013 although if the match had gone the full twelve rounds my money would have been on Duke.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The Marquis of Queensberry rules go out of the window as Duke rides in through the window on his horse, dodges the blast from Tucker\u2019s shotgun, jumps down and throws the first proper punch of the fight. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">They wrestle each other to the ground but Tucker\u2019s too quick for Duke, getting up and smacking him across the head with a conveniently placed piece of furniture. Tucker runs up the stairs pursued by Cliff \u2013 sorry, Duke \u2013 who gets kicked back downstairs again. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Duke then pops up \u2013 or is it Cliff \u2013 then runs back upstairs whereupon he attempts to rearrange Tucker\u2019s features with three punches to the face. The fight spreads out onto the balcony where Duke gets to pummel Tucker a few more times, Tucker swinging a branding iron at Duke\u2019s skull. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Both men plummet from the balcony where \u2013 wouldn\u2019t you know it \u2013 Tucker ends up skewered on that long cow horn that got thrown off the balcony a moment before. The end result is a damned sight more conclusive than the last time these two met and the best man definitely won.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">And the winner is: Duke by a mile. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"western wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Cowboys_1970\"><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/mostlywesterns\/cowboys-2.jpg\" alt=\"John Wayne in The Cowboys\" width=\"1000\" height=\"676\">The Cowboys (1970)<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I have to admit that every time I catch The Great Escape on tv, where it is now a staple of all Bank Holidays over here in England, I always hope that just one time Steve McQueen will finally make it over that last barb-wire fence on his bike and scoot off to Switzerland. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Similarly, I find myself fervently wishing that just for once Bruce Dern doesn\u2019t get to pull out his gun and blast Duke to kingdom come in The Cowboys but my prayers are never answered. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Now let\u2019s be honest here for a moment. Telling Mr Dern that although he might be thirty years older but on his worst day could still \u2018beat the hell\u2019 out of him was probably not the most diplomatic approach by Wayne, particularly as he and his fellow cowboys were outgunned and surrounded by Mr Dern\u2019s gang.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\"> Exacerbating the situation, even more, Wayne sucker punches Dern twice before being knocked to the ground by one of Dern\u2019s cronies from behind. Dern sportingly waits for Duke to get up before punching him to the ground, whereupon Duke catches him with a left punch to the face. Dern gives as good as he gets until Wayne tries to knock down a tree using Dern\u2019s head. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">As someone said at the end of the World Cup final between England and Germany back in 1966, \u2018they think it\u2019s all over\u2019, and you genuinely think it is until Dern goes and spoils it all by shooting Duke in the back three times before finishing him off. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">I don\u2019t think it\u2019s an exaggeration to say that, for audiences watching this scene for the first time back in 1972, it was probably the most unexpected early demise of a major Hollywood actor on screen since Janet Leigh, after only forty-seven minutes into Psycho, took a shower and exited the film after forgetting to lock the bathroom door. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">Duke doesn\u2019t leave the stage that quickly, in fact, he lingers on until the morning before finally giving up the ghost. After that, the rest of the film becomes a curious mixture of Bugsy Malone meets Death Wish, the cowboys wreaking revenge upon our hero\u2019s killers who luckily don\u2019t seem to be capable of hitting a barn door from ten paces when it comes to shooting at kids.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">And the winner is: Duke won the battle, but Bruce Dern won the war.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"western wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Quiet_Man_read_more\"><\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/mostlywesterns\/quietmanfight-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Quiet Man Fight scene with John Wayne\" width=\"579\" height=\"461\">The Quiet Man <span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">(<a href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/category\/the-quiet-man\/\">read more<\/a>)<\/span><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\">\u2018<span lang=\"en-GB\">Danaher, you owe me three hundred fifty pounds. Let\u2019s have it\u2019. So begins probably the most famous screen fight of John Wayne\u2019s cinematic career. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">But wait one moment, I hear you ask. The Quiet Man is a romantic comedy, and the ensuing fight is more of a humorous conflict than, for example, the literal fight to the death in The Cowboys. Yes, but the eventual encounter between Sean Thornton and Will Danaher in The Quiet Man comes at the end of a story in which everything is leading up to this moment, a bit like the fight in The Spoilers if I\u2019m honest, with the tension between the main characters finally exploding into a climactic brawl that cannot be contained in one place. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The fight takes the audience on a mini-tour of the village of Innisfree, in which, along the way, various bystanders jump in to contribute to the action, before the final denouement in Cohan\u2019s Bar. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The very first time I visited Cong back in 1993 I parked the car and went for a walk across the Rose Cottage bridge. If you look in the other direction to the cottage you\u2019ll see \u2013 hopefully, it\u2019s still there \u2013 a big tree on the right bank of the stream, and I immediately recognised it as the location where Wayne pulls Victor McLaglen from the water, only to be rewarded by a punch in the face. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">The fact that the first thing I saw and recognised in Cong from the film was related to the fistfight says it all. There are many other memorable scenes in The Quiet Man that come to mind but it will always be celebrated for the fight at the end which, by my reckoning, runs for about nine minutes of screen time from first to last punch. \u2018Homeric, impetuous\u2019, as a certain character in the film might remark.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-GB\">And the winner is: John Wayne (and the audience) by a mile. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Considering the number of movie fistfights John Wayne&nbsp;has indulged in over the years I thought I\u2019d revisit some of them to see how our boy fared mano a mano, as they say down Mexico way. This list is fairly arbitrary &#8230; <a title=\"John Wayne Movie Punch Ups &#8211; And The Winner Is&#8230;\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/john-wayne-movie-punch-ups-winner\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about John Wayne Movie Punch Ups &#8211; And The Winner Is&#8230;\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,65],"tags":[77,54,83,81,78,82,42,76,79,80],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2918"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6414,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2918\/revisions\/6414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}