In 1963, John Wayne, having already established a thirty-plus year film career, was still one of Hollywood’s best actors. McClintock! would see Wayne in a slightly out of character role, although not too unlike the great North To Alaska. McClintock! had a superb cast and crew, including Wayne’s favorite screenwriter, James Edward Grant, his son Michael as Producer, William H. Clothier as director of photography, and Andrew V. McLaglen as director. Co-starring along with Wayne was the inimitable Maureen O’Hara, Wayne’s second son Patrick, Stefanie Powers, Chill Wills, Jerry Van Dyke, Yvonne De Carlo, Jack Kruschen, and others. I can honestly say that of all of the movies I have seen, the result of these folks getting together for this raucous, family-friendly romance/comedy/western remains fantastic and in its own way, timeless.
I actually grew up watching this and many other John Wayne movies, but my short list of favorite contained McClintock! in large part because it’s such a fun, feel-good movie. It’s not that there isn’t conflict and drama, but I liked that there were no violent deaths and that, in the end, everything worked out great for everyone. As I said, it’s a comfort-food kind of movie that until last night, I hadn’t watched in probably a decade. I’m happy to say that it’s still very well paced and the entire package still packs a wallop of entertainment. It’s one thing to have a movie that you can stand to watch a few times a year, but for that movie to be enjoyable both in your youth and adulthood is pretty rare, yet McClintock! manages to capture just that.
While there are numerous summaries and movie reviews from this now 50+ year old film, I’ll run down the jist of the story. Wayne plays GW aka McClintock, a very wealthy man who owns several industries in an around the town of McClintock. His wife, Katherine played by Maureen O’Hara, had moved out some time prior due to a breakdown in their marriage, but McClintock stays busy tending to his business ventures, playing chess, and staying out late drinking. That is until one day, his old friend, Jake Birnbaum (Jack Kruschen) gives him a letter that was hand delivered to him by Katherine. She wants to meet GW and work out the details of a divorce, including taking their only child, Becky, away with her. Becky is due to arrive back from college in several days, which is the sole reason, apparently, that Katherine even came back. McClintock won’t hear of a divorce or of Katherine taking their daughter to New York, which irritates Katherine greatly.
The relationship between GW and Katherine is the over-arching plot that doesn’t get resolved until the final moments of the movie. In between this two hour film are a variety of other sub-plots that develop the characters and their relationships nicely. Chief among these are the arrival of new homesteaders who are determined to make living farming in this town, even though GW is convinced it’s not good farm land. These new inhabitants clash with an old Comanche tribe that GW knows well, and this is the source of some of the action scenes. Patrick Wayne, who plays Devlin Warren, is a young worker who finally convinces GW to give him a job. He falls for Becky, but faces some competition from Matt Douglas Jr., played by Jerry Van Dyke. Regardless of the sub-plot or situation, subtle and not so subtle humor works its way into the scenes. It’s not the lol-type humor, but you’ll find ample reason to smirk and chuckle throughout.
This Authentic Collector’s Edition Blu-ray features a very bright and clean image that is easy on the eyes. It was almost like seeing this movie for the first time thanks to the clarity and vibrant colors. The green shutters on the McClintock house in the opening scene, the costumes of the actresses, and the scenic landscapes, all of these are an enjoyable sight. The clarity of the backgrounds keeps your eyes moving about the screen to take in the details. I can’t say the image quality is perfect, but it’s nonetheless highly impressive and without any significant technical fault that I could see. A variety of audio tracks are included, too: English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, English Mono Dolby TrueHD, and 5.1 Dolby Digital in French, Spanish, and Portuguese, with subtitles in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The audio was crisp and well mixed; I’m not an audiophile, but it sounded great to me. About the only knock on the presentation I would have is sort of nit-picky and that would be the box art and the disc’s menu. The boxart is overly simplified and not very indicative of the film itself, while the disc menu features a border of rotating (animated) golden stars that feels tacky. Fortunately, the menu is perfectly functional and legible.
Speaking of the disc menu, besides the expected Play, Chapters, and Setup options, there is of course an area for the extra features. Sadly, none of the extra feature are new that I can tell. Here’s what to expect:
-Audio Commentary with Leonard Maltin, Frank Thompson, Maureen O’Hara, Stefanie Powers, Michael Pate, Michael Wayne, and Andrew McLaglen.
-Introduction by Leonard Maltin: 2m39s, SD. Leonard, as we’ve often seen over the years, presents some interesting background information about this classic film.
-The Making of McClintock!: About 40m, SD, and split into three parts. The first of these runs about sixteen minutes and is called “The Batjac Story Part II: The Legacy of Michael Wayne.” Maltin introduces this segment which has several family members of Michael talking about their memories of John and Michael and Michael’s skill as a Producer. There are some great vintage still images of Michael at work with his father. The second segment of this Making Of is “Maureen O’Hara And Stefanie Powers Remember McClintock!” and its runs about 13m23s. Leonard Maltin again very briefly introduces this segment, which features separate interviews with O’Hara and Powers. Hearing them discuss their memories of the film is interesting and well worth a watch. Finally, “A Good Ol’ Fashion Fight” running just shy of 11m, has a Stunt Coordinator (I believe from the original film — but I’m not able to double check at this time) and two stuntman discussing the tactics and methods used in the two brawl scenes in the film.
-“The Corset: Don’t Leave Home Without One!” runs 7m49s and is in SD. This feature discusses the history and rationale women had for wearing corsets over the course of a few centuries. A clothing and costume historian does a good job explaining this while vintage advertisements and other documents related to corsets are shown.
-2 Minute Fight School is 2m13s, and in SD. The two stuntman from the previous feature demonstrate some punch throwing and taking techniques that are used in film during fight scenes.
-Photo Gallery – There are about forty images here, most in black and white. These are of the promo posters for the movie, some production stills, and so forth.
-Theatrical Trailer – HD and runs 2m46s.
And with that, let’s get to the summary…