Is it the same in any other country? Does every state have a madcap collection of films that nobody outside their borders could ever really understand? Admittedly, Roddy Doyle is the reason behind a good number of them, but still and all as a nation our homegrown movie output seems to make up for being sporadic by being ever-so-slightly off the wall.
We have some very unique set-ups. Irish children jailbreak a white horse and go on the run (Into the West). Irish villagers scupper the work of US politician’s aide for the laugh (The Matchmaker). Irish children from neighbouring towns have a quaint back-in-the-day rivalry (War of the Buttons). A writer friend holds the theory that stories are what happen in the space after ‘What if…’. Sometime in the ’60s, Spike Milligan asked what if the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic went right through a village, splitting it between States? Milligan’s what if gave us Puckoon which was eventually made into a movie in 2002 just as Roddy Doyle’s what if’s gave us The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van and Gabriel Byrne’s what if gave us The Last of the High Kings.
They’re not everyone’s cup of tea. They don’t transport us to far off places - they present the familiar. Familar set-ups, familiar locations, familiar accents. Cringey and low-budget as they often are, they give us what American movies mostly can’t - the chance to identify. Crazy and all as the plots are, they do invite you into the idea that it could happen to you - and mostly it could. Boy Eats Girl? Maybe not. Working class band makes good? Absolutely. Affair with your friend’s Da? Not desirable, but probably. Running away on the back of a horse? Sure why not.
They’re familiar RTÉ faces and foods in it’s old packaging (flat, round old Coke bottles take me back…), the world before hair straighteners and people paying for stuff with pounds. They’re great.
This Culchie recommends:
1. The Matchmaker
Highlights: Janeane Garofolo - all of her. Bangin’ Shane McGowan tunes (hey, one woman’s highlight…)
2. Into the West
Highlight: “It’s a horse Tayto, it’s a horse!”
3. The Snapper (check out how they tried to repackage it in the US into something Americans might actually want to watch. That is not Tina Kellegher’s real hair, and ‘Sassy’ is not a word that describes this film. Hands up, who thinks the first cover is the one they’d pick up down Xtravision?)
Highlight: “I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a ride?”
4. War of the Buttons
Highlight: When I was 15, it was the 15 year old boys running around in the nip. Seven years later that seems wrong, so I’ll go with the drunken Rocky Road to Dublin scene.
5. Puckoon
Highlight: Elliot Gould. All of him.
What do we think? Filum, anyone?
Have I left out anything great?
Some of the greats on this list allright.
Heres two more, The garage with pat short and the one from the eighties about the two fellas building the wall of death in a midlands bog. for the life of me i cannot remember its name.
I have to admit to never having heard of Puckoon and I haven’t seen War of The Buttons either. I’d definitely have stuck The Commitments in the Top 5 though.
Can’t believe you left out ‘Darby O’Gill and the Little People’ - classic Irish film, with Sean Connery & all…lol
By the way, The Snapper is one of my all tim favourites I haven’t watched it in several years but I bet I still know all the words…ALL of them!
@ML, that was Eat the Peach.
There’s a couple of films which I can’t remember the names of but they involve bad country music and road trips that seem to take days just to cover 80 miles.
Going Down!
@Michael I have an intolerance for Pat Shortt, but it’s a personal thing! I think everyone else in the country likes him!
@Niamh The Commitments almost seemed to obvious, but it probably belongs in a top five alright! Never got into Darby O’Gill, tried to watch it loads of times.
@Holemaster yus! Didn’t even think of it. Great movie!
I don’t understand. Is this great Irish films, great Irish films about Ireland or just kooky Irish films? I’ve read the post a couple of times and still am not sure you’re getting at.
If it’s the latter, The Commitments is, for me, straight in at number one. No question, even if it is directed by an English director. The Quiet Man; Breakfast on Pluto; Waking Ned; The Crying Game; The Butcher Boy; Once; Intermission; Circle of Friends; Adam and Paul; Garage, as Michael said above; Last of the High Kings; Summer of the Flying Saucer; the absolutely fabulous Mickybo and Me; An Everlasting Piece; Man About Dog; Disco Pigs and Inside I’m Dancing would all be on the list for “You’d almost have to be Irish to get it“. Even Anjelica Huston’s all-too-poor version of The Mammy is one that has some good moments.
We’re a great nation for movies - so many great ones. Darren and Liz, can I request a Three Sheets Irish edition please?
How can you not get Darby O’ Gill and the Little People? It’s Connery, Jummy O’ Dea and leprechauns. Then again, it was made in the USA…
I’m going to steal two of Darragh’s, Inside I’m Dancing and The Quiet Man.
I also (to my shame) loved The Most Fertile Man In Ireland.
Ah jaysis, I couldn’t remember the name of it. Another brilliant one! Possibly Bronagh Gallagher’s best role.
Ooh I also want to add This Is My Father to the list- love that film! /sniff
@Darragh I was going for great Irish films about Ireland, and I can’t believe I forgot The Quiet Man!
@Scaraboo have yet to see The Most Fertile Man in Ireland, the title makes me wary.