Donovan's Reef (1963)
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John Ford's last film to deal with World War II, Donovan's Reef is an alternately comical and sentimental look back on the fighting Navy men from that war, and how and where -- in Ford's eyes, and Frank Nugent and James Edward Grant's script -- they should have ended up. Michael "Guns" Donovan (John Wayne), Thomas "Boats" Gilhooley (Lee Marvin), and Dr. William Dedham (Jack Warden), a trio of navy veterans who fought on the Pacific island of Haleakalowa during the war, now live on the island. Donovan and Gilhooley, biding time and enjoying themselves, engage in rough-house hijinks among themselves, and are both part of the doctor's extended family, enjoying the good will of the islanders for whom they fought during the war. While Dedham is away on a call to a neighboring island, his grown daughter, Amelia (Elizabeth Allen), from his first marriage, whom he has never seen, announces that she is arriving from Boston to determine Dedham's fitness of character to inherit the majority shares in the family shipping business. Donovan contrives to present Dedham's three Polynesian children, whom the doctor had with the island's hereditary princess, as his own, and also squires Amelia around the island in her father's absence. In the process, the cold Bostonian woman discovers a whole world -- of passion, joy, heroism, and a life among men and women whose lives have been about something other than making money -- that she's never known. She also understands all of the good that her father has accomplished away from Boston, even though it entailed abandoning her. Sparks and even a few fists fly between Donovan and Amelia (and between Donovan and several other characters), in the usual Ford rough-house manner, before their eventual reconciliation and a romantic clinch at the end, in this sweet, sentimental comedy-drama. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 108 mins
Complete Cast:
- John Wayne - Michael Patrick "Guns" Donovan
- Jack Warden - Dr. William Dedham
- Dick Foran - Australian Navy Officer
- Dorothy Lamour - Miss Lafleur
- Mike Mazurki - Sgt. Menkowicz
- Jon Fong - Mr. Eu
- Carmen Estrabeau - Sister Gabrielle
- Edgar Buchanan - Boston notary
- Ron Nyman - Naval Officer
- June Kim
- Ralph Volkie - James
- Charles Seel - Grand uncle Sedley Atterbury
- Yvonne Peattie - Sister Matthew
- Fred Jones - Family council member
- Scott Seaton
- Cliff Lyons - Officer
- Harold Fong
- Cheryline Lee - Sally Dedham
- Lee Marvin - Thomas Aloysius "Boats" Gilhooley
- Elizabeth Allen - Amelia Sarah Dedham
- Cesar Romero - Marquis Andre de Lage
- Jacqueline Malouf - Lelani Dedham
- Marcel Dalio - Father Cluzeot
- Tim Stafford - Luki Dedham
- Frank Baker - Capt. Martin
- Midori - Servant
- King Lockwood - Lawyer
- Patrick Wayne - Navy Lieutenant
- Sara Taft - Family council member
- Chuck Roberson - Festus
- John Stafford - Child
- Aissa Wayne - Native girl
- Mae Marsh - Family council member
- Carl Leviness
- Duke Green - Mate
- Sam Harris - Family council member
- Director(s):
- John Ford
- Writer(s):
- Frank S. Nugent, James Edward Grant
- Producer(s):
- John Ford
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