Tycoon (1947)

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  • Hi Mike

    Very underated movie imo and as you remark with a very good support cast including Grant Withers, Sir Cedric Hardwick, James Gleason and Dame Judith Anderson.


    Regards

    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low

  • Rediscovering John Wayne's Forgotten Movies, (Tycoon).


    As Chester has pointed out the movie discussions would be best served occurring in the relevant thread so this post here will mark the beginning of the discussion and all subsequent reviews in this series relating to 'Tycoon' can be posed here. Let the reviewing begin and have fun.


    :agent:

    Regards
    Robbie

  • Well, although I may not be long winded in my reviews. I will give it a shot.

    I watched the movie over a couple nights which may or may not have something to do with my assesement. As others have stated, it is not a top 25 or even top 30 movie from JW. But I wouldn't rate it poor either. Ona 10 scale I would rate it a 5, average. I thought the acting was very uneven from some of the characters, especially the father(Cedric Hardwicke). While I didn't mind his acting too much, I did mind the fact that we are suppose to believe some of the things that he did to undermind his daugthers relationship with Munroe(Duke). As a father I don't care how much I might dislike a person who married my daughter, I wouldn't put his safety, nor the safety and security of my daughter at risk. Duke's acting I think was on par with most of his stuff, maybe the material didn't give him much to go on from a scripted standpoint but he acted just as he usually did, confident and bold. The supporting cast was just as you would expect in a Duke movie from this time period, I like Paul Fix and Grant Withers in there roles. And Laraine Day, man, nice legs, very pretty lady. Not sure what Anythony Quinn's role was as he really didn't do much from what I could tell, his chracter was not needed. I guess he was the liason between Munroe and Alexander.
    The movie to me suffered from a poor script at times and the un even acting didn't help either. This may sound biased on a JW forum but if it wasn't for Duke I don't think there would be an other reason to watch this movie. Will I watch it again? Yes, only for the fact that I am sure some other new things may come up and next time I will try to watch it in one sitting. Like I said above. I rate it a 5 stars on a 10 scale.

    Life is hard, its even harder when your stupid!!
    -John Wayne

  • I feel the same as you did about this movie, SXViper. 5 0ut 0f 10 is just about right. I wasn't crazy about Cedric Hardwicke's roll as the father either. He did the things he did with no thought to the consequences it had on his daughter. Can any loving father be that cold?

    Like alot of older films, I find it difficult to buy into the fact that you can meet someone, fall instantly in love and ask a person to marry you in a matter of a few days. But, Laraine Day is a looker. The instant love thing, maybe. But marriage? Nah.

    Duke plays a driven man to the extreme. It's like he loses who he is and becomes a totally different person. This roll was ok by me. Kind of "middle of the road" in that it isn't very memorable (as Tom Dunston was).

    This is a film I will watch more than once, but not nearly as much as his more popular films. Maybe once a year or so will do.

    Sorry if this is short. I am not much of a reviewer. But I try. :wink_smile:

    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

  • I've recently just finished watching this masterpiece :wink_smile: so I''ll post my review.


    Overall the movie is not bad but its not a great or even good movie either, it probably will forever remain within the mediocre category of the movie achieves.


    The film involves John Wayne playing a railroad construction engineer whom while building a railroad hat to battle the elements, personal problems and his boss played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke. Sir Cedric takes an initial dislike to John Wayne and one can easily suspect this is a class issue, Sir Cedric being upper class and John Wayne lower class. Whilst Sir Cedric is happy enough for John Wayne to dig his tunnel its only when he become romantically involved with his daughter that things start to become messy and Hardwicke then begins to hinder John Waynes construction work.


    The most interesting aspect of the movie is the deterioration of John Wayne's character it begins when we learn he is not sleeping properly and skipping meals, added to the mix are his tendencies to drink and the severe pressures of building the railroad due to the fact that at ever turn his work is being hampered by Hardwicke. Some aspects of the John Wayne character are interesting due to the fact he is a workaholic at the expense of his personal life and also very compulsive when romantically involved which is not far away from John Wayne himself.


    However whilst Dukes acting is good in the more dramatic scenes he is a little too hammy in the romantic scenes as is Larraine Day, the overall storyline is not executed very well and the romantic subplot almost dominates the first half of the movie. There are too few action scenes in the movie and too many scenes with Hardwicke while better actors like Paul Fix and Anthony Quinn are underused.


    The best line in the film goes to John Wayne after knocking a man out he throws water on him to make him conscious again and growls at him "Get up your not hurt".


    Overall this movie rates at 5.5 out of 10, with a better director this could have been a great movie and only for John Wayne it would be completely forgettable.


    :agent:

    Regards
    Robbie

  • The instant love thing, maybe. But marriage? Nah.

    :wink_smile:

    Mark



    How bad for us, girls:wink_smile:
    May be it's funny, but I couldn't imagine love in the other way. To me love always meant responsibility to have children from the man I love and marrige. I guess it sound rather silly.
    In this movie I always enjoy first half of it with romantic relations and can't belive when Duke's caracter turns bad...
    I'm certainly must see this movie again to refresh my impression of it.
    Regards,
    Senta

  • liked the plot line in that the characters get lost then redefine themselves.

    Greetings from North of the 49th

  • Hi

    The problem with Sir Cedric Hardwickes portrayal of the father in Tycoon is the same he had with many of his films that of playing a stiff backed authoratarian aristocrat he was type cast.

    Watch his role in The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Maureen O'Hara he is the same.



    Regards

    Arthur

    Walk Tall - Talk Low