Tycoon (1947)

. . . if and who the title character of John Wayne's flick TYCOON could be. Perhaps a slick Hollywood producer bought the film rights to an obscure novel with a plagiarized copycat title in an effort to trick Americans into thinking that John Wayne was starring in an F. Scott Fitzgerald story. Wayne's "Johnny" character is such a bumbling loser here that NO ONE would mistake him for a TYCOON! Johnny's an engineer who designs tunnels which collapse and bridges that fall down the first time it rains. He tends to get lost in the woods, cuts corners on safety in his work place (maiming or killing most of his friends in a foreign country lacking Union Rules to protect working men), and sees all of his surviving employees quit when he turns into a mean drunk, causing his wife to flee in horror. Maybe Johnny's spouse IS the TYCOON, since she seems to wear the brains in the family (at least until this flick's implausible finale). Or maybe Johnny's father-in-law is the TYCOON, since this guy has the good sense to liquidate his foreign assets and move to Vermont. Without bonus points for ladies' lounge wear and llamas, TYCOON would get more of a piker's rating.

One has to be careful not to judge a 1940s film by 21st century standards of faithfulness to social realities whether involving industrial (read uncaring capitalistic) disregard for safety - even moral - issues, but that doesn't mean that there weren't standards, and somehow the film ran roughshod over them.John Wayne strolled about rather like the (1947 real world only 2 years earlier at the end of WWII) GI's in Europe captivating the local girls and repatriating them 'back home' to enjoy the unheard of luxuries of being American. But hang on, if Cedric Hardwicke and his daughter are high born Hispanic respecters of honour, tradition etc. (the 'shotgun wedding' is proof?) what's she doing ignoring generations of decorum/upbringing and wandering off with this dusty, hired worker - he's 'engineer' but that does not confer as much status on Wayne as he does himself, albeit an American in S. America (at one point he corrects a questioner about his height "..you're 6ft 3" I believe".. "...No, 6ft 4ins!" (Who put that in the script? A self-important Wayne?)Other items in the film stretch our patience in terms of authenticity, but, on the above, I rest my case, M'lud!

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 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.