:See also McClintock (disambiguation)

McLintock! is a 1963 American Western comedy film, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. The film co-stars Wayne's son Patrick Wayne, Stefanie Powers, Jack Kruschen, Chill Wills, and Yvonne De Carlo (billed as special guest star). Loosely based on William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, the project was filmed in Technicolor and Panavision, and produced by Wayne's company, Batjac Productions.

In 1991, the film entered the public domain in the United States because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.

Plot

<!--Per WP:FILMPLOT, each important scene should be described in minimal detail and wordcount should not exceed 700. Current count 665. -->thumb|Full film

The year is 1895. Cattle baron and town namesake George Washington "G.W." McLintock lives as a bachelor on his ranch on the Mesa Verde. His wife, Katherine, abandoned him with no explanation and became a socialite back East two years prior; his daughter, Rebecca "Becky" McLintock, is away finishing her college degree. In town, G.W. is disliked by bureaucrat Matt Douglas, Indian agent Agard, and Governor Cuthbert H. Humphrey. Despite this, he is a friend to many, including Sheriff Jeff Lord, general store owner Jake Birnbaum, and the local beggars and Comanche Indians.

While inspecting a shipment of cattle, G.W. warns a group of homesteaders that the Mesa Verde is unsuitable for farming; an earlier group of homesteaders tried, but failed because of insufficient rain for growing crops. Devlin "Dev" Warren, a young man with widowed mother Louise and sister Alice to support, asks G.W. for a job. G.W. initially refuses, but relents after Dev resorts to begging at the advice of aged drifter Bunny Dull. Dev then lashes out in disgust after having to beg for a job. However, G.W. still hires him and also hires Louise after tasting her cooking. G.W. then learns Katherine is in town seeking a divorce, which will give her a excuse to take Becky back East with her; hearing this, G.W. refuses. Katherine then decides to move back onto the ranch, and starts bossing everyone around, including Louise.

The Comanche, led by Running Buffalo, come into town to meet a train carrying their newly released chiefs; Sheriff Lord settles them near the homesteaders despite protests from Douglas. When homesteader Jones's daughter Millie wanders off with her suitor Ben Sage Jr., Douglas and the homesteaders assume the Comanche took her, and attempt to lynch Running Buffalo in retaliation. G.W. and his men try to defuse the situation, but a brawl ensues, with Katherine joining in on G.W.'s side.

The next day, Becky arrives home from college with a would-be suitor, Douglas' son "Junior". G.W. disapproves of Junior, so Katherine makes a show of approving to spite him. Also aboard Becky's train are four Comanche chiefs, one of whom is G.W.'s former enemy-turned-blood-brother Chief Puma. They have arrived for a hearing to determine if their people will be sent to a reservation in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. G.W. agrees to speak at the hearing on their behalf.

While preparing for Becky's welcome-home party, Dev and Becky get into an argument when he accuses Junior of being a "dude". At the party, Dev gets into a fistfight to protect Birnbaum's assistant Davey Elk, and impresses everyone with his boxing skills. Later, after being deliberately taunted by Becky and Junior, Dev accuses Becky of being a trollop for kissing Junior before they were properly engaged. Becky demands G.W. shoot Dev for insulting her; G.W. relents and "shoots" him with a starter's pistol to teach Becky a lesson. Dev, angry that he could have been killed, spanks Becky with a coal shovel, which angers Katherine.

At the hearing the next day, G.W. delivers a plea from Puma to Governor Humphrey, but is ignored; as a result, the Comanche are ordered to be imprisoned until they can be sent to Fort Sill. Getting drunk that night, G.W. suggests to Bunny that if the Comanche were to go out fighting as they requested, the government might realize Humphrey's mismanagement of the territory and intervene.

G.W. returns home and pressures Louise into drinking with him; while she tries to explain to G.W. that she is quitting as cook, Louise eventually gives in. The two end up falling down the stairs while trying to turn in for the night. Katherine, overhearing their conversation, assumes the worst when she sees Louise on G.W.'s lap at the foot of the stairs. Louise then explains she is quitting because Sheriff Lord has asked her to marry him.

At the Fourth of July celebrations the next day, Katherine refuses Governor Humphrey's advances, but continues to treat her husband harshly. Bunny, who took G.W. seriously, helps set the Comanches free by supplying them with Krag-Jorgensen military rifles from a military boxcar. The Comanches then charge through town, free their chiefs, and escape, with the cavalry in hot pursuit. In the chaos, Katherine’s yellow dress gets covered in molasses and feathers, ending up completely ruined beyond repair. While hiding in a haystack during the raid, Dev and Becky reconcile and become engaged. Encouraged by this, and on advice from Birnbaum, G.W. goes to confront Katherine as she changes her dress after the raid, getting her to admit that she left because she found lipstick on his shirt and incorrectly assumed he was having an affair. After pursuing her through town and publicly spanking her, G.W. tells Katherine that she is now free to divorce him, and leaves for home. However, she follows him, and the two reconcile.

Cast

upright|thumb|Yvonne De Carlo as Louise Warren

  • John Wayne as George Washington "G.W." McLintock
  • Maureen O'Hara as Katherine "Kate" McLintock
  • Patrick Wayne as Devlin "Dev" Warren
  • Stefanie Powers as Rebecca "Becky" McLintock
  • Jack Kruschen as Jake Birnbaum
  • Chill Wills as Drago
  • Yvonne De Carlo as Louise Warren
  • Jerry Van Dyke as Matt Douglas Jr.
  • Edgar Buchanan as Bunny Dull
  • Perry Lopez as Davey Elk
  • Strother Martin as Agard
  • Gordon Jones as Matt Douglas
  • Robert Lowery as Governor Cuthbert H. Humphrey <!-- (a reference to Hubert H. Humphrey

The film was shot at Old Tucson Studios, west of Tucson, Arizona, and at San Rafael Ranch House - San Rafael State Natural Area, south of Patagonia, Arizona, and Nogales. Michael Wayne estimated the budget as being $3.5 to $4.0&nbsp;million.

Music

thumb|

  • "Love in the Country" sung by The Limeliters
  • Music coordinator: "By" Dunham
  • "Love in the Country" words and music by "By" Dunham and Frank DeVol
  • "Just Right for Me", "Cakewalk", "When We Dance" words and music by "By" Dunham

Reception

The film was a box-office success, and a timely one, since The Alamo had cost Wayne in both financial and "box-office capital" terms. McLintock! grossed $14,500,000 in North America,

Andrew McLaglen said the film "put me in the big time." He made four more films with Wayne: Hellfighters (1968), The Undefeated (1969), Chisum (1970), and Cahill, U.S. Marshal (1973).

thumb|John Wayne and Michael Pate as G.W. McLintock and Comanche Chief Puma (Pate is in [[redface).]]

thumb|John Wayne watches as Patrick Wayne spanks Stefanie Powers.

According to Bosley Crowther, "the broadly comic Western&nbsp;... sounded like a promising idea"; "the scenery is opulent and the action out-of-doors, the color lush, and the cast made up almost entirely of recruits from John Ford's long cinematic cycle commemorating the tradition of the American frontier." Since "the direction was entrusted to a relative newcomer, Victor McLaglen's television-trained son, Andrew V. McLaglen&nbsp;... good intentions, when the task at hand is as difficult as lusty farce, are not enough."

Novelization

Richard Wormser wrote a novelization of the screenplay.

Public domain status

The film was produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions and released through United Artists. Batjac failed to renew the copyright, which expired in 1991. In 1994, a legal case determined the film was in the public domain in the United States, but the music score remained under copyright.

Batjac Productions, a company now owned by John Wayne's estate, retains distribution rights for "officially restored" versions of the film and holds the original film negatives, as well as rights to the film's musical score.

Home media

Despite being available in the public domain by various distributors for the past decade (including GoodTimes Home Video and Simitar Entertainment), the first official home video issue of the film was released in the mid-1990s by MPI Home Video. In 2005, Paramount Home Entertainment struck a distribution deal with Batjac (which owns the original film negatives) and was granted exclusive distribution rights for an official remastered release debuting on DVD in 2005. This "official" DVD release uses a restoration made from the original camera negative, under license from Batjac, with a newly created 5.1 surround mix and the original monoaural. Bonus features include a new extensive documentary, a "2 Minute Fight School" featurette, photo and trailer galleries, and an audio commentary with Leonard Maltin, Frank Thompson, Maureen O'Hara, Stefanie Powers, Michael Pate, Michael Wayne, and Andrew McLaglen. In spite of this licensed release, numerous versions of the film are still being released by other companies, with most using old TV prints and film elements outside of Batjac's official restoration.

Olive Films released a bare-bones Blu-Ray in March 2013, using a 2012 2K scan of a 35-mm Technicolor element with the original monoaural track. Olive's release had no involvement from Batjac Productions, as the 2K restoration was provided by the Library of Congress and is classified as public domain, whereas the "official" restoration is copyrighted to Batjac with Paramount handling exclusive distribution.

Paramount followed up in May 2014 with their Blu-Ray release, under license from Batjac Productions. This release uses a brand new 4K remaster from the original camera negative with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround and original mono. It also carries over all the bonus features from the previous Paramount DVD, with the only new addition of the original theatrical trailer scanned in 2K from a 35-mm element.

Comic-book adaption

  • Gold Key: McLintock! (March 1964)

See also

  • List of American films of 1963
  • John Wayne filmography

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References

  • (also widescreen version)