McLintock! (1963)
Wealthy cattle baron G.W. McLintock squares off with his estranged wife Katherine, home to finalize their divorce, while their headstrong daughter's return and a land dispute with the local Comanche stir up the whole territory around them.
A loose, boisterous transplant of The Taming of the Shrew to the Old West, McLintock! reunited John Wayne with Maureen O’Hara for the fourth of five pairings, and thanks to a lapsed copyright renewal it stands as one of the most famous accidental gifts to the public domain in Hollywood history — even as Wayne’s own Batjac Productions still guards the restored prints and the rights to Frank De Vol’s score.
Background
McLintock! loosely transplants the plot and spirit of The Taming of the Shrew to the American West, reuniting John Wayne with Maureen O’Hara for the fourth of five films the two made together over the course of their careers. Wayne plays a wealthy cattle baron whose estranged wife returns home to finalize their divorce just as their headstrong daughter’s own return and a land dispute with the local Comanche stir up the surrounding territory.
What to watch for
The film is one of the most widely cited examples of an accidental gift to the public domain in Hollywood history, after its copyright renewal lapsed, even though John Wayne’s own production company, Batjac Productions, has continued to guard a fully restored version of the film and the rights to Frank De Vol’s musical score. Watch for the broad, boisterous comic tone, closer to the farce of its Shakespearean source material than to the more serious Westerns Wayne is often associated with.
