MovieChat Forums > McLintock! (1963) Discussion > Taming of the Shrew and

Taming of the Shrew and

posted 17 years ago by OldManWithDominoes
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Whenever this movie (which I rather like) comes up mention of "The Taming of the Shrew" by Shakespeare is rarely far behind. But how close are the parallels really?

Both pieces are in their different ways about the battle of the sexes but this is such a commonplace theme, the staple of romantic comedy, that it's maybe not that useful a comparison.

"Taming of the Shrew" is about a father who has two daughters and wants to marry them both off. The elder, Katherine, is the shrew so-called and she needs to be married first but he's finding it very difficult to find a husband for her. So the poor younger one, Bianca, is also having to stew in spinsterdom. Enter Petruchio to take Kate off her father's hands.

Maureen O'Hara is the "shrew" figure in "McLintock!". But she is long since married to her husband, the eponymous hero of the film played by John Wayne. Any father and sister to her are quite irrelevant to the plot.

The story has moved on a generation. The conflict bewteen Wayne and O'Hara, though they doubtless have other personal issues betwen them, is really about their only daughter, played by Stefanie Powers.

The plot centres around Stefanie's marriage, and she's no shrew (a bit flighty but no shrew)- there's at least two young men who are more than happy to get romantic with her. The problem here is not finding her a husband but choosing which one.

I would suggest that the origins of "McLintock!" lie not in "The Taming of the Shrew" but in Italian Commedia dell' Arte and the story of Harlequin.

Harlequin is the boy from the wrong side of the tracks who wants to wed the lovely and spirited Columbine. Columbine's father, Pantaloon, wants her to marry his man, known as Fool or Clown.

This is pretty close to the essential "McLintock!" story. Because of the chemistry between Wayne and O'Hara, the role of the disapproving parent is shared between father and mother, but the preferred suitor is a classic Fool from Renaissance times, and Patrick Wayne gets close to the old style roaring Harlequin figure.

[–] hugobm 16 years ago

I think you're right. I've never seen a performance of "Commedia dell' Arte", but the story you describe DOES very closely resemble the subplot of "McLintock!" involving G.W.'s daughter and the men courting her.

And you're right about another thing. The "shrew" in "McLintock!" is a middle-aged woman who is already married and is the mother of a grown daughter, not really that much like the character from Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" who is a teenager still living with her father. Katy McLintock is a strong American pioneer woman who helped her husband to build his massive cattle empire, but then had different ideas about how she wanted to live her life, once they had become wealthy... but deep down inside, she still loves her man and his rough ways. Katherine and Petrucchio are total strangers at the beginning of their story.

Also, the script of "Taming of the Shrew" doesn't include any spankings. I believe that idea must've come from "Kiss Me Kate", which is based somewhat on "Taming of the Shrew", but incorporates a lot of 20th Century notions into the story.

"McLintock!" isn't really a direct adaptation of any other story, but it incorporates plot elements from several other stories. Screenwriter, Edward Grant, once said that John Wayne didn't need a real plot to make an entertaining movie... just a male opponent to punch and a female opponent to spank. Perhaps he wrote the script of "McLintock!" to prove his point.