AdventureComedyRomance

Donovan's Reef

- Gangway...For This Years BIG Adventure!

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.

Release Date : 1963-06-12

Language :FrenchEnglishItalian

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Paramount Pictures

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Michael "Guns" Donovan

Original Name : John Wayne

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ameilia Dedham

Original Name : Elizabeth Allen

Gender : Female

Character Name : Thomas "Boats" Gilhooley

Original Name : Lee Marvin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Andre de Lage

Original Name : Cesar Romero

Gender : Male

Character Name : Monk Menkowicz

Original Name : Mike Mazurki

Gender : Male

Character Name : William Dedham

Original Name : Jack Warden

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lelani Dedham

Original Name : Jacqueline Malouf

Gender : Female

Character Name : Sarah "Sally" Dedham

Original Name : Cherylene Lee

Gender : Female

Character Name : Luki Dedham

Original Name : Jeffrey Byron

Gender : Male

Character Name : Miss Lafleur

Original Name : Dorothy Lamour

Gender : Female

Character Name : Father Cluzeot

Original Name : Marcel Dalio

Gender : Male

Character Name : Sean O'Brien

Original Name : Dick Foran

Gender : Male

Character Name : Francis O'Brien

Original Name : Edgar Buchanan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Mister Eu

Original Name : Jon Fong

Gender : Male

Character Name : Child (uncredited)

Original Name : Dan Ford

Gender : Male

Character Name : Family Council Member (uncredited)

Original Name : Mae Marsh

Gender : Female

Character Name : Naval Officer (uncredited)

Original Name : Ron Nyman

Gender : Male

Character Name : Native Girl (uncredited)

Original Name : Aissa Wayne

Gender : Male

Character Name : Family Council Member (uncredited)

Original Name : Sara Taft

Gender : Female

Character Name : Festus

Original Name : Chuck Roberson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Officer (uncredited)

Original Name : John Alderson

Gender : Male

Character Name : Chief Petty Officer (uncredited)

Original Name : Frank Hagney

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lawyer (uncredited)

Original Name : Richard Kipling

Gender : Male

Character Name : Deckhand Who Cries 'Man Overboard' (uncredited)

Original Name : John Qualen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Grand Uncle Sedley Atterbury Pennyfeather (uncredited)

Original Name : Charles Seel

Gender : Male

Character Name : Australian Navy Lieutenant (uncredited)

Original Name : Patrick Wayne

Gender : Male

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

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