G. W. McLintock, like the man who plays his character, is bigger than life. And this film perhaps more than any other John Wayne film embodies all that Wayne finds good in life…and bad. The good is being able to forge a very successful life out of the American frontier -he is a very rich cattle baron, with a beautiful home, a large spread and loyal people around him who are very devoted and loving. The bad is that women don’t understand him, especially his estranged wife (marvelously played by Maureen O’hara). Further bad is a government which purports to do good, but only does harm -the miserable treatment of the native American Indians and corrupt government officials, embodied by a nincompoop government Indian Agent, hilariously played by Strother Martin (Cool Hand Luke), and a corrupt governor, the “honorable” Cuthbert H. Humphrey (a not too subtle jab at Wayne’s nemisis Hubert H. Humphrey), played by Robert Lowery, who is after his wife. How G.W. managers to sort out all his troubles takes a cue from Shakespeare’s The Taming of The Shrew. Throughout the film McLintock’s allies and close friends urge him to take action against this shrew of a woman. The audience is finally given some comic relief when he spanks the living daylights out of his recalcitrant wife. When his Wife, daughter (Stephanie Powers) and her Ivy League boyfriend (Jerry Van Dyke) spout big words to confound those they attack, Wayne/McLintock retorts, “The results of an Eastern education!” If all this sounds a bit much, it is, but is also a lot of fun and a great tribute to all that John Wayne stands for in good wholesome American entertainment. (1963)