Tycoon

The sort of high flying melodrama that later became a staple of TV. The acting is good, particularly by Cedric Hardwicke and an elegantly suited Judith Anderson bearing the rather severe moniker 'Miss Braithwaite', the former cast as Anthony Quinn's uncle!

TYCOON is a very typical John Wayne picture with little to distinguish it from the multitude. The western star plays the man in charge of building a railroad across a dangerous gorge in South America; the plot is complicated - and slowed down quite considerably - when he ends up falling for his boss's daughter in the meantime. Yes, it's one of those dawdling tales that gets bogged down in romance and character interplay, with Wayne playing something of an amoral figure required to redeem himself through manly action. Unfortunately the running time goes on way too long, and there are too many scenes involving Cedric Hardwicke's glum character and not enough with the more interesting characters, like a youthful Anthony Quinn.

This movie provided little satisfaction when I watched it. No, it wasn't BAD, really, but it was certainly several notches below the quality you'd expect from one of his films. For example, while this is a color movie, every print I have seen looks very grainy and cheap--so it's very interesting that another reviewer comment on how good it looked. Maybe I just didn't get to see the right print. Also, the dialog is, at times, really crappy and riddled with clichés--like it was meant for just another B-movie and not a star whose career was definitely on the upswing as Wayne's was. And finally, the plot just didn't engage me--perhaps because there just wasn't that much action or suspense. Without the Japanese or Commies or Indians to fight, it just falls a little flat.

"Tycoon" has a lot going for it. Unfortunately it doesn't really deliver. John Wayne plays a familiar persona, and does so very well, as always. Laraine Day, with whom I was not familiar, turned in a very good performance. The most notable of the cast, I thought, was Anthony Quinn in a supporting role. Having said all this, the film really fails to engage. I don't know why. The plot had a lot going for it, the photography was nice, the direction OK. I just can't put my finger on why this isn't a better movie. Grade: C-

Laraine Day and John Wayne are well cast, each with their share of strong moments, however these moments are too few, and in between the film is rather dull and lacking in excitement. The storyline and character relationships are predictable: it is all very typical and riding on clichés. The extreme length does not help either, but there is one aspect of this film that is certainly very good: the art direction, captured well in Technicolor, is simply beautiful. In a way it is a shame that this film flopped because it otherwise may have had the chance of an Oscar nomination in the art direction field. However, it is not very good overall and only arguably adequate viewing, so it is not quite worth watching the film just to admire the sets. Perhaps worth a look for Day or Wayne die-hard followers though.

Is this John Wayne's best movie no, but I have seen it three times now and I enjoy the movie. Yes, it's more of a drama instead of an action movie, but that's not a bad thing. I think people today are just spoiled with over the top fast paced special effects driven action movies, and this makes it hard for people to have a little patience and slow down and just relax and try to enjoy the characters and the story. Also, to try and watch the movie through the lens of the time it was created and shown instead of trying to apply today's filming styles and standards to a movie over 50 years old it's a little crazy in my opinion. Anyway, overall I think it's a good movie and I find it enjoyable to watch especially at night when I want a more quite relaxing movie while chilling out in bed. So if it brings me joy in the end and every one else that likes the movie that's all that matters anyway.

This film was actually RKO's biggest failure of the year. This movie has Wayne playing an engineer who is building a railroad bridge across a gorge. He and his financier partner in this effort dislike each other intensely with spats that range from the inadequate financing of the project to the shotgun wedding of Wayne's character to the tycoon's daughter. This is where The Duke completely breaks from the hero he normally plays and acts like a spoiled child who believes that he who dies with the most toys wins. He and the tycoon's spat escalate to the point that sabotage is occurring and lives are being lost. There's some beautiful cinematography in this one, and although the plot just didn't work for me, Wayne's acting did. Most people don't like this film at least in part because Wayne convincingly plays someone completely unlikeable - and that's the point. He's given a role completely out of step with what he usually plays and does a good job.

Tycoon is a nice John Wayne film which looks splendid in color. Wayne plays a different character than usual. For the first part of the film he plays his standard All-American man, but during the second half he turns to a heel. Day looks fabulous. A negative point of this film is the dreary character of Hardwicke. The story and the exotic locale makes this an entertaining film.