The Movie Nick Offerman Has 'Seen A Million Times'
The weekends on All Things Considered series Movies I've Seen A Million Times features filmmakers, actors, writers and directors talking about the movies that they never get tired of watching.
Actor Nick Offerman's credits include the TV show Parks and Recreation and the movie The Kings of Summer — currently in theaters. The movie he could watch a million times is the John Wayne film, The Quiet Man.
Interview Highlights
On when he first watched The Quiet Man
"Gosh, I was probably 7 or 8 years old. I grew up way out in the country in Illinois, and it was very exciting in the early '80s when we got a VCR. We were not a wealthy family, we never did get cable, but we did own five video cassettes and The Quiet Man was one of them. It was my dad's favorite, and it quickly became mine. It's very nostalgic for me."
On what makes the movie different than your typical romance
"It's a rather tempestuous love story, you know, there are fists flying as equally as kisses being planted."
On how the film and John Wayne influenced him
"I was a very big fan of John Wayne as a kid, and my dad and I would watch a lot of movies on Sundays — on WGN, on television — and even though I ended up having a little more of a sense of humor than the Duke, I like to think that I sort of maintain a rugged edifice in the service of authoritarian types."
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Transcript
TESS VIGELAND, HOST:
You've got one - the movie you've seen a million times. And so do the people who make them. We've been asking entertainers about the movies they never get tired of watching. Today, one of the stars of the TV show "Parks and Recreation" revisits an American icon in Ireland.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
NICK OFFERMAN: Hello. This is Nick Offerman. I'm an actor. I play Ron Swanson on "Parks and Recreation" on NBC. I'm also a woodworker and husband - not necessarily in that order. And the movie I've seen a million times is "The Quiet Man," directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and the beautiful Maureen O'Hara.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE QUIET MAN")
WARD BOND: (as Father Peter Lonergan) A fine, soft day in the spring it was when the train pulled into Castletown three hours late as usual.
OFFERMAN: Gosh, I was probably 7 or 8 years old. I grew up way out in the country in Illinois. And it was very exciting in the early '80s when we got a VCR. We were not a wealthy family. We never did get cable. But we did own five videocassettes, and "The Quiet Man" was one of them. It was my dad's favorite, and it quickly became mine. It's very nostalgic for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE QUIET MAN")
JOHN WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) I'll tell you why Michaeleen Oge Flynn, young small Michael Flynn who used to wipe my runny nose when I was a kid, because I'm Sean Thornton, and I was born in that little cottage over there.
OFFERMAN: A storied, celebrated American boxer kills a man in the ring. And it's so traumatizing for him that he moves to a small town in Ireland. He does his best to keep his fists in his pockets while making a life for himself in this little village. But unfortunately, Maureen O'Hara lives in this village, and she catches both his eye and his heart.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE QUIET MAN")
WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) What did you say her name was?
BARRY FITZGERALD: (as Michaeleen Oge Flynn) Mary Kate Danaher. Now, don't be getting any notions in your head.
WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) Mary Kate.
FITZGERALD: (as Michaeleen Oge Flynn)Forget it, Sean. Forget it.
OFFERMAN: He finds himself drawn irretrievably down a stream of emotion along the banks of which stand her enormous pugilistic brother, who's kind of the antagonistic, blotto-type landlord of the town. And so inexorably, they're drawn towards one more battle of the fisticuffs.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE QUIET MAN")
VICTOR MCLAGLEN, ACTOR: (as Squire 'Red' Will Danaher) He took liberties that he shouldn't have.
WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) I said good morning to her.
ACTOR: (as Squire 'Red' Will Danaher) Good morning? Yes, but it was good night you had on your mind.
WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) That's a lie.
ACTOR: (as Squire 'Red' Will Danaher) Put up your fists.
WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) I'm not going to fight you, Dan.
ACTOR: (as Squire 'Red' Will Danaher) Well, I'm going to fight you (unintelligible).
OFFERMAN: It's a rather tempestuous love story. You know, there are fists flying as equally as kisses being planted.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE QUIET MAN")
MAUREEN O'HARA: (as Mary Kate Danaher) It's a bold one you are. And who gave you leave to be kissing me?
WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) So, you can talk?
O'HARA: (as Mary Kate Danaher) Yes, I can, I will and I do. And it's more than talk you'll be getting if you step a step closer to me.
WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) Don't worry. You've got a wallop.
O'HARA: (as Mary Kate Danaher) You'll get over it, I'm thinking.
WAYNE: (as Sean Thornton) Well, some things a man doesn't get over so easy.
OFFERMAN: The favorite scene has got to be when John Wayne is finally provoked to fight the brother, you know, really, for the honor of Maureen O'Hara's hand. They end up in this epic fistfight that travels out through the window of the bar, across the town.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE QUIET MAN")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (as Character) Well, you animals. Get back there. Go on, get back.
OFFERMAN: It's quite gratifying.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE QUIET MAN")
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (as Characters) )(Singing) He was born and bred in Ireland.
OFFERMAN: I was a very big fan of John Wayne as a kid. And my dad and I would watch a lot of movies on Sundays on WGN on television. And even though I ended up having a little more of a sense of humor than the Duke, I like to think that I sort of maintained a rugged edifice in the service of authoritarian types.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
VIGELAND: That's actor Nick Offerman, talking about the movie he could watch a million times, John Ford's "The Quiet Man." Offerman's new film, "The Kings of Summer," is currently in theaters.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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