The Van, The Snapper or The Commitments?

Omackeral

Which of the Barrytown Trilogy is your favorite? I've spoken to people who seem to really favour one over the other two by quite a distance and some who find it difficult to seperate them at all. Which is your fave and why?

The Van



Leans into nostalgia and heavily features Italia 90

The Snapper



Probably the most quotable of them all. A1 Sharon.

The Commitments



Banging tunes and Imelda Quirke's arse coming down a ladder

Johnny Sausage

For me they go

Books: the van, the snapper, the commitments

Films: the snapper, the commitments, the van

I find the van the best of the books to read, it was the first one I'd read of the 3 so maybe it's nostalgia

The snapper is the best film hands down, Georgie burgess

A1 Sharon

It's funny because they have Dublin accents..

r93kaey5p2izun

The Commitments is the best film, The Van is the best book. Absolutely love them all though.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

The Snapper. Colm Meaney is great in it and Sharon’s various hideous maternity clothes give me life.

Graces7

never heard of them

Oasis1974

Never saw The Van I saw the two others. Snapper by a mile the Commitments is really a musical which doesn't sit well with me.

Fr Tod Umptious

Johnny Sausage wrote: »

For me they go

Books: the van, the snapper, the commitments

Films: the snapper, the commitments, the van

I find the van the best of the books to read, it was the first one I'd read of the 3 so maybe it's nostalgia

The snapper is the best film hands down, Georgie burgess

A1 Sharon

I'd agree with that

I have only read the Van and found it great, but the film was poor

I've seen all three films and The Snapper is streets ahead of the rest.

The Commitments had a lot of hype and marketing when it came out and it did not live up to any of it IMO.
The Snapper was a low budget BBC made for TV movie and remains a cult classic.

MrAbyss

These wonderful films are so politically incorrect now I can only imagine how psychotic they would make the already psychotic 'woke' SJW crowd if they saw them.

Signore Fancy Pants

About time you came up with an important poll!

The Van for me, everybody else is wrong.

andekwarhola

The Van and Snapper were OK films. Van is probably the best. Actually hated the Commitments one.

Anything I've read by him irritated me except The Woman Who Walked Into Doors.

That two lads talking in the pub thing he does on Facebook makes me want to throw my phone at somebody.

endacl

Graces7 wrote: »

never heard of them

Ancient Irish folk tales.

HildaOgdenx

The Snapper is my favourite film of the three. I absolutely love Colm Meaney, especially in The Snapper.
Watched it over Christmas and laughed all over again.

Pretzill

The Van was the best read for me but didn't work on film. The other two are full of nostalgia and the Snapper would edge the commitments on laughs -

Raconteuse

Only seen The Commitments which I really enjoyed. Great music too and the guy's voice was unreal. Don't know what I'd think of it now.

Watched Family when it was on TV and I was a kid. Rough going but quite compelling.

debok

Graces7 wrote: »

never heard of them

Some day they will reach the forgotten shores of THE ISLAND

valoren

The Commitments. It did win four Baftas.

Galwayguy35

Raconteuse wrote: »

Only seen The Commitments which I really enjoyed. Great music too and the guy's voice was unreal. Don't know what I'd think of it now.

Watched Family when it was on TV and I was a kid. Rough going but quite compelling.

you have never seen The Snapper :eek:

I didn't think there was any one over 30 who hadn't seen it at some point.

Ken.

The commitments narrowly and for the following.

"Are you bring that horse in the lift?"
"I have to mister, fücking stairs will kill him."

Bloody classic.

Raconteuse

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

you have never seen The Snapper :eek:

I know. Never ever watched it. Really should!

The Snapper and The Goonies are my "movies everyone of my generation has seen except me".

r93kaey5p2izun

The Snapper really is a little gem of a film, particularly given it was much less hyped. I also find it to be very authentic - it could practically be a documentary. I think that's why I prefer The Commitments - The Snapper is almost too real.

castletownman

They have all aged badly if you ask me.

Better Than Christ

The Snapper is on TV3 (or whatever they're calling it now) every Sunday night. At least it seems like it's on every week anyway. One of the few examples of a film that's infinitely better than the book.

When I was in Transition Year in school, there was a Spanish student in my class. He arrived with zero English. When he went home, after nearly a year in Ireland, the only phrases he knew were lines from The Snapper, delivered in a perfect Dublin accent.

andekwarhola

andekwarhola wrote: »

The Van and Snapper were OK films. Van is probably the best. Actually hated the Commitments one.

Anything I've read by him irritated me except The Woman Who Walked Into Doors.

That two lads talking in the pub thing he does on Facebook makes me want to throw my phone at somebody.

Voted for The Van.

As well as the Hyguene Inspector calling, You'd have the Motor Vehicle inspector calling round pretty sharpish these days too.

Patrick2010

Graces7 wrote: »

never heard of them

I often see threads here I know nothing about or have no strong views on so don’t bother posting to avoid cluttering up the thread.
FWIW I think the Committments is the best film, haven’t read any of the books.’

KaneToad

Raconteuse wrote: »

Only seen The Commitments which I really enjoyed. Great music too and the guy's voice was unreal...

He was only 17 yrs old too!

Omackeral

castletownman wrote: »

They have all aged badly if you ask me.

In what way?

HildaOgdenx

Patrick2010 wrote: »

I often see threads here I know nothing about or have no strong views on so don’t bother posting to avoid cluttering up the thread.
FWIW I think the Committments is the best film, haven’t read any of the books.’

I loved all three books.

Again, probably The Snapper was my favourite of the three. (It was my favourite of the films.)

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

andekwarhola wrote: »

The Van and Snapper were OK films. Van is probably the best. Actually hated the Commitments one.

Anything I've read by him irritated me except The Woman Who Walked Into Doors.

That two lads talking in the pub thing he does on Facebook makes me want to throw my phone at somebody.

That “two lads” thing is awful indeed. There’s something very patronising about it.

Greyfox

The snapper is up there with Michael Collins as a contender for best Irish film ever. The van is excellent. The commitments is only ok

JohnnyFlash

Roddy Doyle is a proper pain in the hole. I’m talking Joseph O’Connor levels of being a pain in the hole.

mzungu

The Commitments by a long way. The rise and fall (if you can call it that) of the band and was by far the most endearing tale of the trilogy. Who can forget that cover of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness"? It was great!

Whereas The Van and The Snapper (especially the latter) had arguably more quotable lines, for me there was no heart in them. Jimmy Rabbitte refused to accept his lot. He was neither afraid or ashamed of dreaming big and to want success for its own sake, but to also bring others along on the journey. His self actualisation is the glue that holds the movie together and gives it a relatability that neither The Van or The Snapper had. That scene where Jimmy comes across Wilson Pickett (perhaps?) near the end is always a gut puncher. An ode to the many artists that never quite made it despite huge promise. So close, but yet so far.

The message of the movie can be summed up by this exchange near the end between Jimmy and Joey:

Joey : Look, I know you're hurtin' now, but in time you'll realize what you've achieved.

Jimmy Rabbitte : I've achieved nothing!

Joey : You're missin' the point. The success of the band was irrelevant - you raised their expectations of life, you lifted their horizons. Sure we could have been famous and made albums and stuff, but that would have been predictable. This way it's poetry.

AulWan

Graces7 wrote: »

never heard of them

:eek:

Oh Grace, you are missing out. Get to a library immediately.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVu9MDE5Sjk

andekwarhola

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

That “two lads” thing is awful indeed. There’s something very patronising about it.

It's right in that cringey RTE type lineage of Twink's charlady etc

Happy4all

andekwarhola wrote: »

It's right in that cringey RTE type lineage of Twink's charlady etc

Two Pints?

I've seen a lot worse.

Better Than Christ

Happy4all wrote: »

Two Pints?

I've seen a lot worse.

I haven't. And I fought in 'Nam.

PTH2009

Expecting one of these possibility all to be remade in the next few years

MrAbyss

PTH2009 wrote: »

Expecting one of these possibility all to be remade in the next few years

The Stunning and Brave Snapper - Sharon is a transgender and zees 'father' has her father's baby and then aborts it after finding out it is going to be a boy as there are enough white male rapists in the world. Georgie Burgess is a climate change activist who gets estrogen so he can breast feed the baby but they all decided to abort it. Eventually after finding a Nigerian sperm donor Georgie has the baby and begins a sexual relationship with it while teaching the boy about what his periods will be like.

Van > Snapper > Commitments.

I didn’t even know any of them were books.

smilerf

Johnny Sausage wrote: »

For me they go

Books: the van, the snapper, the commitments

Films: the snapper, the commitments, the van

I find the van the best of the books to read, it was the first one I'd read of the 3 so maybe it's nostalgia

The snapper is the best film hands down, Georgie burgess

A1 Sharon

I agree the van was an hilarious read

Omackeral

Snapper way out in front with 50% of the total vote so far.

unkel

Read the trilogy by the pool on my summer holidays in '96. Never laughed as much since. Brilliance!

The Van is my favourite. A lot of darkness in it too.

marklazarcovic

Read them all and watched them all, all classics to me ..the music in the commitments is first class, snapper and van characters are hilarious and easy to relate to mostly.

Was on the bus reading the snapper ,and it mentioned the dog ,Larry gogan was his name I believe, first time I ever laughed out loud as I'd seen the movie already and they never called him by name, I'd stumbled onto the snapper flicking through channels late one night..

What a gem.

It BeeMee

I'm fcuked if I know, Terry

The Rape of Lucretia

All three are overflowing with gratuitous vulgar language, even from the younger children, which while maybe accurately reflective of the vernacular of that section of society or areas of Dublin, is most ofputting, and rather spoils them as what might otherwise have been an entertaining glimpse into that particular world.

Omackeral

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

All three are overflowing with gratuitous vulgar language, even from the younger children, which while maybe accurately reflective of the vernacular of that section of society or areas of Dublin, is most ofputting, and rather spoils them as what might otherwise have been an entertaining glimpse into that particular world.

Go and ask me bollix

Ken.

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

All three are overflowing with gratuitous vulgar language, even from the younger children, which while maybe accurately reflective of the vernacular of that section of society or areas of Dublin, is most ofputting, and rather spoils them as what might otherwise have been an entertaining glimpse into that particular world.

Aye, and boyz in the hood would have been an interesting look in to south central LA if it wasn't for all the black people in the film.

Johnny Sausage

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

All three are overflowing with gratuitous vulgar language, even from the younger children, which while maybe accurately reflective of the vernacular of that section of society or areas of Dublin, is most ofputting, and rather spoils them as what might otherwise have been an entertaining glimpse into that particular world.

OK Boomer

Johnny Sausage

Johnny Sausage wrote: »

OK Boomer

There’s a phrase needs to be firmly left in the 2010’s.

screamer

Don’t like any of them being honest, coarse and vulgar