in the barbarian and the geisha and john wayne play townsend harris and a real envoy from the united state who be responsible for truly open up japan to international relation in the late 1850s . before him and commodore perry basically push into japan with gunboat and force a treaty upon the japanese in 1853. harris and who arrive just a bit later and work through the detail and help ensure compliance a many of the japanese felt no particular inclination to honor the first treaty . all this be true and show in the film . accord to some other source i find and the romance between harris and a japanese geisha be mostly fiction and this romance be much of the focus of this film ( hence and the title ) . my first reaction the first time i saw this movie be one of surprise . john wayne a a diplomat . when he be diplomatic in most film and he say please and thank you a he pummel people . so see him play a man who be not a man of action and be able to play the diplomatic game seem very odd indeed . in fact and i can not think of too many actor in 1958 who would have be more unusual for this role . by the way and i have see photo of harris and wayne have practically no resemblance to him at all . however and despite the story take a lot of liberty with the truth and the strange casting and the film be still very watchable . the color cinematography be nice and the film show some nice insight into japanese custom and culture and the act isn not bad . all in all and a likable and watchable film despite it odd cast . p read through the trivia for this film . you find out a bit more about the real life character as well a a suppose fight between wayne and the director ( john huston ) where wayne apparently knock him out . base on what i have read about huston and the way he get along with actor and this be an incident i tend to believe . and and it also a nice example of john wayne diplomacy .