What is the Greatest Irish Movie of all time?

corm500

By this I mean film set in Ireland so no Braveheart or Saving Private Ryan. Also the film needs to have been made here not a Hollywood sound stage or Isle of Man, so no Informer, Waking Ned etc.
In my opinion the best are in order of preference: The Quiet Man, Ryan's Daughter, Commitments, The Field, In the Name of the Father ( only partly set here I know)

Do you guys agree with this selection, or would you have differing choices.?Discuss

A2LUE42

Have you not seen the Johnstown Monster so?

Grab All Association

The Snapper was pretty good

e_e

Garage, by a country mile (no pun intended).

corm500

I haven't seen the Garage as of yet

Sam Mac

Garage was very good, but I also really liked The General

EDIT: Can't forget the Magdeline Sisters! Superb film.

LuckyLloyd

I think Irish Cinema has produced films that have great elements, but fall short as a whole. The Field has a rip roaring central performance but has some rough production values and struggles to escape the source material as a film for example.

I would say The Snapper, The Boxer and What Richard Did probably hang together the best for me. The Good Thief and In Bruges are great pieces from Irish Directors too (though not set in Ireland obv). Am fascinated to see what Lenny Abrahamson does next.

corm500

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I Went Down.

Great movie.
I missed Michael Collins off that list

Andersonisgod

The Garage is fantastic stuff, as is The Wind That Shakes The Barley and, though it seems to split opinions, I thought Calvary was a stunning piece of cinema with a tour de force central performance.

Sam Mac

jimmy180sx wrote: »

The Guard

One of the better Irish comedies for sure. Am I the only one who thought Zonad was a bit of a laugh too though?

zef

The butcher boy.
I went down was excellent, the garage... was that the depressing one about the local lad and a teenager from the town?

hidinginthebush

jimmy180sx wrote: »

The Guard

Not a patch on in Bruges (not set here, I know), which in turn is left in the dust by intermission.

newmug

Another vote for I Went Down. The Run Of The Country is a bit of a laugh aswell.

jimmy180sx

hidinginthebush wrote: »

Not a patch on in Bruges (not set here, I know), which in turn is left in the dust by intermission.

Ok...what about The General, & Veronica Guerin

limnam

I know a lot of people can't stand Glen Hansard.

But for the size of the budget, Once was a great film

tom_tarbucket

zef wrote: »

The butcher boy.
I went down was excellent, the garage... was that the depressing one about the local lad and a teenager from the town?

Correct.

Nymeria

Fatal Deviation....it's fantastically terrible.

Zeek12

Definitely would have The Field on this list.

Richard Harris' finest hour

Liam McPoyle

No My Left Foot?

cactuspaw

The field for one generation, but can I please include intermission also, a film that has made more people try brown sauce in there tea then any other condiment!

hidinginthebush

jimmy180sx wrote: »

Ok...what about The General, & Veronica Guerin

Intermission was funnier

In all seriousness, General was ok, once you get past the fact that it makes a violent criminal into a kind of modern day Robin Hood, which I find harder to do as I get older. I've never actually seen Veronica Guerin, I think knowing how it ends has taken the appeal away from it for me

jonon9

One of my favorites is Taffin with Pierce Brosnan

allthedoyles

Darby O Gill and the Little People with Sean Connery and Jimmy o Dea

Skerries

for shame lads! Irish Jam hasn't been mentioned!

takamichinoku

I like Garage a hell of a lot but I'm going to go with the Secret of Kells.

Trying to be pretty strict on what counts as an Irish film here though (e.g. location, funding, crew, etc... needs to be quite strongly Irish)

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Sam Mac wrote: »

One of the better Irish comedies for sure. Am I the only one who thought Zonad was a bit of a laugh too though?

I loved Zonad, thought it was hilarious in a The Brady Bunch movies kind of way. I heard John Carney talking about it on the radio a few weeks back and was surprised by how much hate he said it got.

Just out of interest why are the McDonagh brothers films considered Irish when they're quite clearly English. Calvary or The Guard fine, they're set here, filmed here, Irish cast and crew. In Bruges though just has 2 Irish actors in it. By that reasoning Batman Begins has 2 Irish actors in it....

newmug

Man about dog. The quiet Man. THE QUIET MAN!!! **shouting**

hidinginthebush

con___manx1 wrote: »

the van

The van is realistically my least favorite of the barrytown films, but I can't being myself to admit it due to the Italia 90 scenes!

Retrovin

My left foot or Adam and Paul for me. 2 completely different films, but had everything for me.

darragh o meara

Can't believe someone didn't mention The Commitments.
The Garage being a close second.
And The Field being a close third.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

It's Garage not "The" Garage. Unless you're all talking about another Irish film you all love so much.

e_e

"The" really makes all the difference in movie titles, makes it seem like it's haunted or something.

IvaBigWun

First one that came to mind for me, after the obvious Commitments, was In Bruges.

Two Irish leads and a director who has Irish citizenship. Its Irish to me dammit! :cool:

Drexel

The snapper for me. So many classic lines.
I've told the girlfriend 'that was A1 Sharon' plenty of times

Fr Tod Umptious

Does "Kings" count.
Set in London, part filmed in Belfast but about Irish people.

Great film.

Aidric

Where do you draw the line on what constitutes an Irish film? The answers so far are deviating all over the place.

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Garage is fantastic stuff, as is The Wind That Shakes The Barley

I would agree with these two choices if only for their honesty.

Brief_Lives

I´d have to go with the Committments..... it´s pure Irish, completely hilarious and full of musical talent...
I tried to show it to my Canadian wife, but she needed subtitles..

corm500

Aidric wrote: »

Where do you draw the line on what constitutes an Irish film? The answers so far are deviating all over the place.

Set in Ireland and filmed in Ireland was the criteria for me. Once you get into the passports of cast and crew it gets a bit messy. For example the quintessential (and best) Irish film had a mostly Irish cast but two of the main actors were American and one English. The director and producer were also American.

Judgement Day

Sam Mac wrote: »

One of the better Irish comedies for sure. Am I the only one who thought Zonad was a bit of a laugh too though?

Yes. Zonad is without doubt one of the worst movies ever made in Ireland - or anywhere else.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

mattser

No such thing as a great Irish film. Puke, mostly, and The Guard tops that list.

o1s1n

mattser wrote: »

No such thing as a great Irish film. Puke, mostly, and The Guard tops that list.

So you'd describe 'In The Name of The Father', 'The Butcher Boy' and 'The Field' as puke?

Right so Ted. won't be taking any film advice from yourself.

Judgement Day

What would define the greatest Irish Movie of all time – the box office success, the quality of the acting, filming, plot…I don’t know, but these are some of my favourites in date order. If I could only take one with me to a desert island, it would be a toss-up between “Oh Mr.Porter” and “The Commitments” as both would serve to lift my spirits while I awaited rescue.

I have a fairly broad definition of what constitutes an Irish movie – location, storyline and cast/director – with the storyline being the most important. I have listed any Irish movie/TV series etc. that I can find on my blog here:
http://irelandsmovies.wordpress.com/

Some of you could do with a visit if only to broaden your horizons. Sorry for the shameless plug.

bellinter

There have been some excellent one in recent years. Garage, The Guard, Calvary stand out. But my favourite was What Richard Did.

Mickeroo

Don't know about best but Disco Pigs was my favourite for a long time. Haven't seen it in years though so I'm not sure if it would have the same effect on me now I'm a good bit older.

TerrorFirmer

Intermission for me. I'm not really a fan of re-watching movies but I make an exception for that. Everything about the movie is just perfect - Colm Meany steals it.

tricky D

Not so much a greatest, but more a must see imho: Zardoz.

Warper

I watched The Guard for the second time last week great film.

The Butcher Boy and Calvary are also two standouts.


Best, hmm tough but I'd pick The Guard

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I liked The Runway. Not sure anyone else has watched it though.

Judgement Day

I can't believe that anybody would nominate "Intermission" as the Greatest Irish Movie of all time. I thought it was pure muck and I'm a fan of the black comedy crime genre and of Colin Farrell, Colm Meaney and Cillian Murphy. Still it takes all sorts.

Maybe not the best but my favourite was Crush Proof. Just a very real movie.