Expectations Met

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I went to the AFI Silver to see John Ford's The Quiet Man starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.  I have never been a fan of John Wayne, mostly because the two genres of most of his films, westerns and war movies, are probably two of my least favorite genres.  So I was hoping that somehow seeing this movie, I would suddenly enjoy John Wayne's oeuvre.  But that didn't happen.  I did like the movie, but there were certain parts of the movie that I didn't like (and seemed a little dated), specific the implied spousal abuse (towards the end of the movie, John Wayne walks/drags Maureen O'Hara for 5 miles). But, there were other aspects of the movie that I did like.  The supporting cast was really good and the cinematography was gorgeous.  So I would say watching the Quiet Man did make me want to see more John Ford movies (although, I know he did make quite a few westerns and war movies).  There were a quite a few times watching the movie, I thought, "Oh, if only the casting was different I would enjoy this movie more".  Which then led to think about what actors I would have preferred in the roles.   I thought about one of my old standby favorite Joseph Cotten but he didn't have the right build to play an ex-boxer.  I also thought maybe Dana Andrews, but again he was a little on the short side.  Robert Mitchum has the right build, but I also find him kind of terrifying due to seeing Cape Fear and Night of the Hunter.  On the female side, I thought maybe Bette Davis or Ida Lupino (though she was a very tiny woman).  I ended up thinking that Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck would have been great together (they were in a few movies together, including Banjo on My Knee which I watched this week). Any other suggestions?