05 May 2012
524
R. Linda:
You think this trip is going to be fun, don't you? I don't. I know what it will be, agony for Gabe. Last night I overheard Tonya talking to her mother (the Dragon), on the phone about the day we are to spend in Cong Abbey, Ireland. They were talking about the film The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Seems Dragon be all about this, so being curious (I was in the loft) I got online and went to the tour of Cong. It starts out with scenes from the film and then goes to what the place looks like today. OH BEGORRAH! The famous cottage was nothing but ruins and the inside was filmed somewhere else! The stepping stones over the brook have been replaced by a 1950s gravel and cement-type bridge which is decidedly unattractive and takes away the ambiance. The town still boasts the tavern, and the inside is probably the same as in the film, I assume. The downtown road marker be still there, but it doesn't look like anything exciting. The entire place looks like an Irish village, a not very quaint one, but it's okay, not anything I'd think a visitor would find . . . attractive.
This got me to get the movie up online and I sat there and watched it. Oh my God! I'd never seen it, not a fan of John Wayne, his walk always annoyed me for some reason until I noticed he was quite young when he made The Quiet Man and he walked the same . . . funny. Well, the film is senseless. I think an older person would say it was "sweet" but if Tonya sees it (and I know she hasn't) she will go all women's liberation. For one, Wayne plays an ex-pat Irish who lived in Pittsburg, Pa. but the silly Irish in the movie say Massachusetts, ha ha . . . not funny. And he comes back to buy the cottage he was born in. This he does and he sees this red-haired girl acting (to me) kind of crazy stealing glances at him, running among the sheep, stealing some more glances, falling over rocks, and the look on her face be one of mixed fear and curiosity. But guess what -- it was really love at first sight! Who knew?
So this shy, strange-acting lass, when with her brother and family (or workers), I don't know who the others were exactly, changes into bossy, slinging potatoes, sarcastic, caustic, don't mess with me, lass. SURPRISE! But when she sees Wayne she turns into the lass who they need to come with the straight jacket and butterfly net, because her behaviour is just THAT bizarre.
Finally, she's caught by Wayne and he be the most aggressive male I've seen in a long time. He corners her in between him and the door and then kisses her not knowing who she is or if she had escaped the loony bin. I mean was it the red hair? The wild eyes and acting like a frightened animal would have turned me off. But well, I am not John Wayne of the funny walk because all that crazy behaviour turned him on, quite obviously.
Near the end of the film, Wayne gets the courtship time accelerated to wham they are married! Then it's she won't sleep with him on the wedding night because HE didn't bring her dowry home. Yes, the furniture and money were more important to her than him, so she was going to teach him a lesson. This is from the shy, retiring, crazy woman who suddenly turns into Tigress Central. I'd have called for an evaluation, not got mad and thrown her around. R. Linda, he threw her on his oversized bed and broke it with her in it, leaving her there, HIM slamming the door and sleeping in his sleeping bag in the kitchen. WHO DOES THAT? I know I attempt anything like that with Tonya, she'd be out of that room with a poker so fast I'd be running all the way to Belfast.
So then, she gets her furniture, but not the money. So another lesson has to be taught to him. This time she sleeps with him and the next morning she's gone! WHO DOES THAT? Well, he was clueless as he might be, but for the silly sidekick Irishman (Barry Fitzgerald) who eggs Wayne on and gives him hints as to where she be and why (it's all about the money, stupid). So off he goes, well, he gets a hold of her in front of the whole village who turned out for this like they had nothing better to do, and drags her, pushes her down into the turf, pulls her after him, for five long miles of manhandling with some silly Irish woman handing him a stick and saying, "Here's a stick to beat the pretty woman with." REALLY? And he took it! Thank heavens he didn't use it, but just the same I was thinking every woman who would see this, would be incensed over it. It was bloody dreadful it was.
They get to her brother who be withholding the money because he doesn't like Wayne, and the man finally gives up the money, and what do the two newlyweds do? They burn it! All that to burn £350! What was the fuss about I wanted to know? And, SHE gets on her high horse and smugly tells Wayne (in front of the entire nosy parker village), that she's going to make supper. Now I ask ya, what up wit dat, as the Weasil would say.
Then there is a fistfight that gets the entire village involved in flying fists (meanwhile the priest be fishing for a rather large salmon in the river having absolutely nothing to do with anything), and it goes on and on until brother and brother-in-law decide the other be a "good egg" and it ends happily ever after I suppose. But what a brutal, abusive, film! No woman in her right mind would want to be treated like that. I said I thought she was crazy? Well, now I be quite convinced of it and him too! Actually, the entire village too!
So I went back to the travel thing, and the 60th anniversary of the film was celebrated at Cong, with the arrival of the now ancient Maureen O'Hara. Well, looking at both those clips, you would not believe the number of Q-tips that were on the scene. They took the tour of the place and you could see in the background the villagers standing around watching them take pictures, like they thought the tourists were amusing. Maureen O'Hara (poor dear) had to be helped out of the car they had her in, and it looked like it took a very long time to get her out. I couldn't watch it. So I be suspicious I be officially on the Q-Tip Tour of Ireland, or as me Da refers to it, "Arlyn."
Oh goody!
Gabe
Copyright © 2012 All rights reserved
R. Linda:
You think this trip is going to be fun, don't you? I don't. I know what it will be, agony for Gabe. Last night I overheard Tonya talking to her mother (the Dragon), on the phone about the day we are to spend in Cong Abbey, Ireland. They were talking about the film The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Seems Dragon be all about this, so being curious (I was in the loft) I got online and went to the tour of Cong. It starts out with scenes from the film and then goes to what the place looks like today. OH BEGORRAH! The famous cottage was nothing but ruins and the inside was filmed somewhere else! The stepping stones over the brook have been replaced by a 1950s gravel and cement-type bridge which is decidedly unattractive and takes away the ambiance. The town still boasts the tavern, and the inside is probably the same as in the film, I assume. The downtown road marker be still there, but it doesn't look like anything exciting. The entire place looks like an Irish village, a not very quaint one, but it's okay, not anything I'd think a visitor would find . . . attractive.
This got me to get the movie up online and I sat there and watched it. Oh my God! I'd never seen it, not a fan of John Wayne, his walk always annoyed me for some reason until I noticed he was quite young when he made The Quiet Man and he walked the same . . . funny. Well, the film is senseless. I think an older person would say it was "sweet" but if Tonya sees it (and I know she hasn't) she will go all women's liberation. For one, Wayne plays an ex-pat Irish who lived in Pittsburg, Pa. but the silly Irish in the movie say Massachusetts, ha ha . . . not funny. And he comes back to buy the cottage he was born in. This he does and he sees this red-haired girl acting (to me) kind of crazy stealing glances at him, running among the sheep, stealing some more glances, falling over rocks, and the look on her face be one of mixed fear and curiosity. But guess what -- it was really love at first sight! Who knew?
So this shy, strange-acting lass, when with her brother and family (or workers), I don't know who the others were exactly, changes into bossy, slinging potatoes, sarcastic, caustic, don't mess with me, lass. SURPRISE! But when she sees Wayne she turns into the lass who they need to come with the straight jacket and butterfly net, because her behaviour is just THAT bizarre.
Finally, she's caught by Wayne and he be the most aggressive male I've seen in a long time. He corners her in between him and the door and then kisses her not knowing who she is or if she had escaped the loony bin. I mean was it the red hair? The wild eyes and acting like a frightened animal would have turned me off. But well, I am not John Wayne of the funny walk because all that crazy behaviour turned him on, quite obviously.
Near the end of the film, Wayne gets the courtship time accelerated to wham they are married! Then it's she won't sleep with him on the wedding night because HE didn't bring her dowry home. Yes, the furniture and money were more important to her than him, so she was going to teach him a lesson. This is from the shy, retiring, crazy woman who suddenly turns into Tigress Central. I'd have called for an evaluation, not got mad and thrown her around. R. Linda, he threw her on his oversized bed and broke it with her in it, leaving her there, HIM slamming the door and sleeping in his sleeping bag in the kitchen. WHO DOES THAT? I know I attempt anything like that with Tonya, she'd be out of that room with a poker so fast I'd be running all the way to Belfast.
So then, she gets her furniture, but not the money. So another lesson has to be taught to him. This time she sleeps with him and the next morning she's gone! WHO DOES THAT? Well, he was clueless as he might be, but for the silly sidekick Irishman (Barry Fitzgerald) who eggs Wayne on and gives him hints as to where she be and why (it's all about the money, stupid). So off he goes, well, he gets a hold of her in front of the whole village who turned out for this like they had nothing better to do, and drags her, pushes her down into the turf, pulls her after him, for five long miles of manhandling with some silly Irish woman handing him a stick and saying, "Here's a stick to beat the pretty woman with." REALLY? And he took it! Thank heavens he didn't use it, but just the same I was thinking every woman who would see this, would be incensed over it. It was bloody dreadful it was.
They get to her brother who be withholding the money because he doesn't like Wayne, and the man finally gives up the money, and what do the two newlyweds do? They burn it! All that to burn £350! What was the fuss about I wanted to know? And, SHE gets on her high horse and smugly tells Wayne (in front of the entire nosy parker village), that she's going to make supper. Now I ask ya, what up wit dat, as the Weasil would say.
Then there is a fistfight that gets the entire village involved in flying fists (meanwhile the priest be fishing for a rather large salmon in the river having absolutely nothing to do with anything), and it goes on and on until brother and brother-in-law decide the other be a "good egg" and it ends happily ever after I suppose. But what a brutal, abusive, film! No woman in her right mind would want to be treated like that. I said I thought she was crazy? Well, now I be quite convinced of it and him too! Actually, the entire village too!
So I went back to the travel thing, and the 60th anniversary of the film was celebrated at Cong, with the arrival of the now ancient Maureen O'Hara. Well, looking at both those clips, you would not believe the number of Q-tips that were on the scene. They took the tour of the place and you could see in the background the villagers standing around watching them take pictures, like they thought the tourists were amusing. Maureen O'Hara (poor dear) had to be helped out of the car they had her in, and it looked like it took a very long time to get her out. I couldn't watch it. So I be suspicious I be officially on the Q-Tip Tour of Ireland, or as me Da refers to it, "Arlyn."
Oh goody!
Gabe
Copyright © 2012 All rights reserved
