After Wayne's character has a heart attack and the doctor tells him his time is limited, he takes out a cigarette offers one to the doc takes one himself and asks the doc if it's ok. The doc says why not? The. 50s were great weren't they?
shareHe asks the doctor if it's okay to smoke. The doctor replies "why not?" The point is, he's going to die in a few days or a few years anyway; it's too late to do any good by quitting, so why deprive himself?
shareAn even more eyebrow-raising moment with cigarettes: the part at about 65 minutes into the film, when Min (Maureen O'Hara) walks down the hospital corridor after visiting hubby. She lights a cigarette and throws the match on the floor, then a second later drops the lit cigarette on the floor while she puts on her scarf, and keeps on walking.
Those old hospital buildings back then were largely made of wood. I'm surprised she didn't burn the place down, kill her rehabilitating husband, and end of story.
It is a typical feature of the time before (approx.) 1960:
People smoking like steel mill smoke stacks indoors. But they always drop their cigarettes when leaving.
Decent people - especially women, of course - don't smoke in public. They wait until they visit you to light up their fags. And if they're really decent they wait until the Sunday Roast is served.