Donovan's Reef

"Gangway...For This Year's BIG Adventure!"

1963 1h 49m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 164

AdventureComedyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After her great aunt's death, a high-society woman arrives on a Hawaiian island in search of the heir - the father she has never met.

“Gangway...For This Year's BIG Adventure!”

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Cast

John Wayne
Michael "Guns" Donovan
Elizabeth Allen
Ameilia Dedham
Lee Marvin
Thomas "Boats" Gilhooley
Cesar Romero
Andre de Lage
Mike Mazurki
Monk Menkowicz
Jack Warden
William Dedham
Jacqueline Malouf
Lelani Dedham
Cherylene Lee
Sarah "Sally" Dedham

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Ford
Writers: James Edward Grant, Edmund Beloin, Frank S. Nugent
Languages: French, English, Italian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

63 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: French, English, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Ford, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Cyril J. Mockridge. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Otho Lovering shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Wayne and Elizabeth Allen and Lee Marvin carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Gangway...For This Year's BIG Adventure!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Ford directs. William H. Clothier behind the camera. Cyril J. Mockridge scores. Otho Lovering cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in French, English, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
263 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: French, English, Italian.
4Directed by John Ford, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Cyril J. Mockridge. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Otho Lovering shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7John Wayne and Elizabeth Allen and Lee Marvin carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Gangway...For This Year's BIG Adventure!".
9IMDB entry: tt0057007 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "birthday", "half-brother", "priest", "veteran".

The technical file

Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Original score: Cyril J. Mockridge
Editing: Otho Lovering
Costume design: Edith Head
Makeup / hair: Wally Westmore
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Status: Released
Budget: $2,686,000
Box office: $6,600,000
Return: 246% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Donovan's Reef (1963)

Also by

John Ford

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2018-12-24
★ 8/10
Sunny, breezy and flipping delightful. You hear the names John Ford and John Wayne and one automatically thinks of Westerns, sprawling landscapes and machismo in bunches. Odd then that their last collaboration should be a knock about comedy set on a paradise isle. Perhaps even odder is that it should turn out to be one of their most entertaining films. Donovan's Reef finds the two Johns in very relaxed mood, as is the rest of the cast I might add. A cast that includes Lee Marvin, Mike Mazurki, Jack Warden, Cesar Romero, Dorothy Lamour and the lovely Elizabeth Allen. Speaking personally, I found the film far more rewarding by not knowing much about it before hand, I really only ventured into it out of loyalty to the Johns and the Marv. So in that, this isn't much of a review as such, because I would simply urge people to give it a go. Why you ask?, well because it's one of those films that can brighten your day when things have gone dark, you got The Duke and The Marv slugging each other at regular intervals, not in the normal way associated with these guys, but jocular-with this biff bang machismo comes laughs a plenty. We have Romero and his beard on prime slime mode, Allen as delicious as she is prim and proper and the Kaua'i location work gorgeously realised by William H. Clothier's photography. It's not just a comedy either. Under the mirth we find Ford dealing in thematics such as anti-racism, anti preconceptions and one of his pet leanings of brotherhood. Donovan's Reef is a smashing film, it's far from perfect, something the principals were aware of. But in the end it's obvious that all involved just said to hell with it, lets enjoy it and hope the audience buys into that attitude as well. One can only hope that you do buy into it, and thus get as much fun from it as yours truly most assuredly did. 8/10

Production companies