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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures
The rising popularity of television was of concern for several motion picture studios, not the least of which was Republic. By late summer 1948, the company had experienced a noticeable decrease in ticket sales. Audiences were choosing to stay home and watch the Milton Berle Show and Kraft Television Theatre rather than venture out to the cinema. In September 1948, Yates announced the layoff of extraneous personnel in all departments. Only workers essential to ongoing productions were retained. By the end of 1950, it was clear to Yates that he could no longer take a gamble on such arthouse-style projects like Macbeth. He would focus on familiar storylines with proven talent both in front and behind the camera. Yates would use the production funds built up between 1941 and 1945 to hire John Ford and John Wayne to make The Quiet Man.
Based on the 1933 Saturday Evening Post story by Maurice Walsh, The Quiet Man was a romantic drama set in Ireland. The tale centered on an Irish-born American who returned to his homeland to reclaim his family’s farm and birthplace in Innisfree. John Ford read Walsh’s story when it was released and purchased the rights for ten dollars. Walsh was paid another twenty-five hundred dollars when Yates and Republic Pictures joined the quest to bring the story to the screen. Walsh would earn an additional $3,750 when the film was made.
Republic Pictures agreed to finance the film with Maureen O’Hara and John Wayne starring and John Ford directing only if they agreed to first film the western Rio Grande. Yates was taking a chance, albeit a small one, backing Ford and Wayne in anything other than a western, and he wanted to hedge his bets. Whatever funds would be used to make The Quiet Man must first be made doing the film Rio Grande and its subsequent success.
Rio Grande is an almost balletic story of the relationships among a man and his two loves: his wife and the cavalry. John Wayne plays Lieutenant Colonel Kirby York who finds his son Jeff among his new recruits at his command in the West. Kirby and his wife Kathleen, portrayed by Maureen O’Hara, have been separated since the Civil War, when in the line of duty as a Northern officer he was required to burn her estate. They meet again for the first time in sixteen years when Kathleen comes to the fort to buy Jeff’s obligation, which neither father nor son allow her to do.
Based on another story from the Saturday Evening Post entitled Mission With No Record by James Warner Bellah, Rio Grande completes a loose trilogy about Ford’s beloved Seventh Cavalry.
In addition to Wayne and O’Hara, Rio Grande also featured Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr., Chill Wills, Victor McLaglen, and Claude Jarman Jr. Jarman portrayed Trooper Jefferson York, Wayne and O’Hara’s son in the picture. It was Jarman’s first adult part. He had risen to fame playing Jody in the Academy Award–winning film The Yearling. He was twelve when that classic was released. At sixteen, he was six feet, two inches and stood nearly eye to eye with Wayne in the Ford classic.
To learn more about the many films Republic Pictures produced read
Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures.
