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I know, I know. I'm gonna use good judgement. I haven't lost my temper in forty years, but pilgrim you caused a lot of trouble this morning, might have got somebody killed... and somebody oughta belt you in the mouth. But I won't, I won't. The *hell* I won't! (belts Jones in the mouth)
-- John Wayne (George Washington McLintock)
McLintock! was the fourth of five movies that paired John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.
McLintock!
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McLintock!
November 13, 1963
McLintock! is a 1963 comedy Western starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The film is notable, perhaps even infamous, for its two spanking scenes, in which mother and daughter are each paddled with coal shovels: the daughter by her suitor, the mother by her estranged husband. Richard Wormser wrote a novelisation of the screenplay. The title song was performed by the popular folk singing group The Limeliters.
Produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions for United Artists, John Wayne's estate retained the rights to the film. Legal suits prevented the film's copyright from being renewed, causing the film to enter the public domain.
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Cattle baron George Washington McLintock (John Wayne) is living the single life on his ranch. He is estranged from his wife Katherine (Maureen O'Hara), who left him two years before, suspecting him of adultery. He holds a record for throwing his hat up onto the longhorn-shaped weather vane at the top of his house every time he comes home drunk. McLintock hires beautiful widow Louise Warren (Yvonne De Carlo) as his cook and welcomes both her and her two children into his home. He also butts heads with Douglas, a sleazy bureaucrat who is looking to discredit McLintock, settle the territory, and remove the local Indians. Sparks begin to fly as an unexpected turn of events results in brawls, gunfire, an Indian attack...and the return of Mrs. McLintock, who wants custody over their daughter Becky (Stefanie Powers) (returning from college) and a divorce from G.W.
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The "mudhole" in which the famous brawl took place wasn't actually made of mud. It was made of a material called bentonite, which is used in the drilling of oil wells and has the consistency of chocolate syrup. According to actor Leo Gordon (the first one to be knocked down it), that scene took a week to shoot.
Promotional events were postponed for a week following the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Although Stefanie Powers claims that John Ford came to the set to direct the movie for a week, Andrew V. McLaglen the director says that it never happened. He says he was there for the entire shoot of the movie.
In the scene where the Comanches are being outfitted with rifles it's easy to see that they're Krag Jorgensen carbines, meaning that this film takes place in at least 1896, as the Krag didn't service as a military arm until 1894.
John Wayne insisted that the role of the weak, insipid Governor be called "Cuthbert H. Humphrey", with the intention that he be seen as a parody of liberal Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, whom Wayne intensely disliked.
The inspiration for this raucous John Wayne comedy was none other than William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew", which producer Michael Wayne and director Andrew V. McLaglen thought would have even more of a comedic kick if it were set in the Old West.
Although often seen as simply a knockabout comedy, John Wayne also intended the film to be a statement of his own conservative political views.
During the pheasant hunting segment John Wayne was shooting real birdshot. The pheasants were released on cue so that he knew when and where to shoot.
In the mud fight scene, a person is seen in the background wearing a modern business suit. In the same shot, there's also a person wearing sunglasses.
In the scene where John Wayne is hunting with a shotgun, you see him reload the shotgun, but it appears that the shotgun shell that he is using is a plastic hulled shotgun shell, not the paper ones or wax impregnated paper ones that would have been common during the time when this movie was supposedly set. In fact, plastic hulled shotgun shells did not come around until Remington introduced them in 1960. Remington used green plastic in their shells, so the moving was more than likely using a modern Remington plastic hull shotgun shell.
When Junior Douglas is singing with Becky at the McClintock house, he isn't really playing the instrument. His hand movements are completely out of rhythm with the music.
During the rodeo scene you can clearly see a 48 star flag (6 rows x 8 columns). If this area is still a territory, we know it's not Alaska or Hawaii. Before Arizona and New Mexico became states, there were 46 stars.
After McLintock hires young Devlin, McLintock drives off with Drago sitting to his left. The wagon turns around (off-screen) and heads out of town. After the off-screen turnaround, the characters have traded places in the buggy and Drago is now on McLintock's right.
In the opening credits there is an artist's rendering of the town of McLintock, with signs for every building indicating that every business in town is owned by McLintock. The sign on one of the buildings misspells McLintock as "McClintock."
When McLintock shoots Devlin Warren, we see a close up of Devlin as he raises his hands and backs away. We can see that his right hand is clearly empty in this shot, but in the next shot he's holding his hat in his right hand as he falls.
When Agard falls from his horse, his glasses are on his face at an angle. When getting lifted up he has them in his left hand. But when he gets into the buckboard they are back on his face at an angle again.
When McLintock shoots Devlin Warren, he 'shoots' him in the lower abdomen. When Devlin gets up to clean himself off, the 'shot' is in his upper chest.
In the music of the band that welcomes Becky home at the train, a clarinet can clearly be heard; however, there is no clarinet there.
At the start of the "the hell I won't" scene, just before Gordon Jones pushes at Wayne with the shotgun, John Wayne's pants are clearly wet up to his knees, as if he had been walking around in the water at the bottom of the mudslide. The next shot the pants are dry.
In the long fight scene at the end, Katherine flies out of a window and lands in a trough of water. After that, trying to escape G.W., she falls into the dusty and muddy road. But still, in the next scene her underwear are clean white - and dry.
A tipsy McLintock is trying to walk Katehrine upstairs while swigging from a full whiskey bottle. They fall to the bottom of the stairs and the bottle clearly spills. Katherine picks the bottle up and bops McLintock on the head with it, then it amazingly becomes a full bottle again just before she throws it against the wall and it shatters.
After the mud fight when Mrs. Warren is carrying Katherine's breakfast tray the teapot spout is pointing to her right at the bottom of the stairs but is pointing to her left when she knocks at Katherine's door.
After McLintock hires Dev Dev rides a horse to the encampment. First the animal is wearing full harness, next Dev mounts and as he rids away there are stirrups visible; last view entering the camp Dev seems to be riding bareback - no harness under his seat.
During the fight at the mudslide, when Agard is in the mining cart headed for the slide, the cable pulling the mining cart is clearly visible.
In the famous chase scene near the end of the movie, when Katherine tries to escape from G.W. into an alley behind the general store, the shadow of the camera as it zooms in for her closeup is clearly visible against the store wall on the left side of the shot.
The greeting in Comanche is "maruawe". But the "Comanches" greet each other (and are greeted by McLintock) with "yatahe", which is a Navajo greeting.
The first punch that was thrown by G.W. at one of the spectators is obviously a fake punch. The fist was 2 inches away from the spectator's face.
During the scene in the store where McLintock is chasing Kathrine,the fall where McLintock crashes into the baskets is very clearly done by stuntman Chuck Roberson, not John Wayne.
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