Forgotten Irish movies.

The White Feather

paul71 wrote: »

Not Irish but filmed in Celbridge, The Blue Max

When I was a kid, I came across pictures belonging to my dad of old biplanes and asked him what they were.

Turns out that at the time he lived near where this was filmed and sneaked onto the set where all the planes were. My dad was a camera buff so he took pics of the planes close up. They were all lined up just having been painted. The guns looked very real but he knew they couldn't be.

Then he watched the planes in the sky doing the dogfights and said one plane would follow the other and you would see the guns flashing. Of course sound is added later in production. He would watch them landing and then going up again with the camera plane following.

I know this is all obvious now but I thought it was great as a kid hearing about the "magic" of the movies.

A link I found here about the making of it said the guns were oxyacetylene torches. There is a pic there very like my dads pictures with all the planes lined up. It also says the movie set was like a military production but my dad said he sneaked in there all the time as he knew the area!

breezy1985

Grandeeod wrote: »

When I was in Film School way way back, I asked Noel Pearson that question. It was at a time when "Irish Films" were produced and Directed by non Irish people. Maybe an Irish Director. Maybe an Irish story/setting with American/British oroducers/Directors. At the time a true Irish made film was apparently Irish money and Irish crew. That only existed in state funded shorts. Therefore it never existed. We never actually had a film industry like other countries and still don't.

Very few countries have a complete film industry. Many US movies are shot in Canada, Ireland or Famously Italy and funded by multinationals and I would say nothing in Europe is completely written, cast, funded and made in a single country

Insect Overlord

I always felt "A Date For Mad Mary" should have been a much bigger success. It came out the same year as "Sing Street" and "The Young Offenders", so maybe it was lost behind their hype.

Seána Kerslake is amazing in it as a misunderstood kid who should have been helped instead of ostracized and punished. Tara Lee is gorgeous as the co-star.

bodhrandude

Agnes Browne 1999 a romantic comedy drama based on the book The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll starring Anjelica Huston and Tom Jones makes a cameo appearance. About a hard up family in late sixties Dublin struggling through money problems. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160509/

Song for a Raggy Boy 2003 with Aiden Quinn similar in style to Lamb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339707/

Good Vibrations 2013 A brilliant film about Belfast's first punk record shop that started up during the peak of the troubles and your man's resilience to continue with the business. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1920945/

odyssey06

breezy1985 wrote: »

Very few countries have a complete film industry. Many US movies are shot in Canada, Ireland or Famously Italy and funded by multinationals and I would say nothing in Europe is completely written, cast, funded and made in a single country

I thought France has a fairly large domestic film output?

munster87

odyssey06 wrote: »

I thought France has a fairly large domestic film output?

Good few Asian countries would too I’d say

the purple tin

munster87 wrote: »

Good few Asian countries would too I’d say

Korea has put out some great films Oldboy, Lady Venegance etc.

breezy1985

odyssey06 wrote: »

I thought France has a fairly large domestic film output?

Ya but look at the start of any french movie and you will see co funded by Canal, RAI, RTL and alot of other German, Belgian and whoever companies. So if an Irish movie can't have foreign money and be Irish then same rules apply.

It's a flawed way of looking at it and any movie that feels Irish is Irish

breezy1985

the purple tin wrote: »

Korea has put out some great films Oldboy, Lady Venegance etc.

Oldboy is based on a Japanese guys comics

the purple tin

breezy1985 wrote: »

Oldboy is based on a Japanese guys comics

Was the US remake any cop?
James Brolin in the lead role I think.

Joe_ Public

bodhrandude wrote: »

Agnes Browne 1999 a romantic comedy drama based on the book The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll starring Anjelica Huston and Tom Jones makes a cameo appearance. About a hard up family in late sixties Dublin struggling through money problems. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160509/

Song for a Raggy Boy 2003 with Aiden Quinn similar in style to Lamb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339707/

Good Vibrations 2013 A brilliant film about Belfast's first punk record shop that started up during the peak of the troubles and your man's resilience to continue with the business. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1920945/

Good Vibrations was great. I used to visit that shop quite a bit over the years and never understood the significance of it until that film came out. Richard Dormer is such a good, underrated actor imo.

munster87

the purple tin wrote: »

Was the US remake any cop?
James Brolin in the lead role I think.

Didn’t even bother watching it all. A poor effort.
The other two in the vengeance trilogy are decent films too.

whisky_galore

The White Feather wrote: »

When I was a kid, I came across pictures belonging to my dad of old biplanes and asked him what they were.

Turns out that at the time he lived near where this was filmed and sneaked onto the set where all the planes were. My dad was a camera buff so he took pics of the planes close up. They were all lined up just having been painted. The guns looked very real but he knew they couldn't be.

Then he watched the planes in the sky doing the dogfights and said one plane would follow the other and you would see the guns flashing. Of course sound is added later in production. He would watch them landing and then going up again with the camera plane following.

I know this is all obvious now but I thought it was great as a kid hearing about the "magic" of the movies.

A link I found here about the making of it said the guns were oxyacetylene torches. There is a pic there very like my dads pictures with all the planes lined up. It also says the movie set was like a military production but my dad said he sneaked in there all the time as he knew the area!

As if flying a thing made of timber, canvas and string with a petrol tank wasn't dangerous enough they had oxyacetylene tanks on them too.

One of those planes tragically collided with a helicopter a few weeks afterwards on the set of Zeppelin off Wicklow.

https://amp.independent.ie/regionals/wicklowpeople/news/wicklow-residents-recall-the-day-a-film-crew-met-their-fate-35046061.html

Ger Roe

The White Feather wrote: »

When I was a kid, I came across pictures belonging to my dad of old biplanes and asked him what they were.

Turns out that at the time he lived near where this was filmed and sneaked onto the set where all the planes were. My dad was a camera buff so he took pics of the planes close up. They were all lined up just having been painted. The guns looked very real but he knew they couldn't be.

Then he watched the planes in the sky doing the dogfights and said one plane would follow the other and you would see the guns flashing. Of course sound is added later in production. He would watch them landing and then going up again with the camera plane following.

I know this is all obvious now but I thought it was great as a kid hearing about the "magic" of the movies.

A link I found here about the making of it said the guns were oxyacetylene torches. There is a pic there very like my dads pictures with all the planes lined up. It also says the movie set was like a military production but my dad said he sneaked in there all the time as he knew the area!

The Blue Max, was the first of four 'flying films' made in Ireland from 1966 to 1970. The others were 'Von Richtoven and Brown', 'Darling Lilly' and 'Zeppelin'.
All featured WW1 aircraft flown by Irish Air Corps and civilian stunt pilots. The Blue Max, in particular is a feat of real flying, obviously done without computer graphics. The Max was filmed on location in Dublin Cork and Wicklow, with a WW1 trench warefare set being built on the slope of The Sugar Loaf, at Kilpedder.

The era of the flying films came to a sad end in 1970 when a WW1 replica craft crashed into a filming helicopter, killing five people. My father, was a flight sergeant in the air corps at the time and worked on all the films. This article about the Wicklow Head crash, includes a link to his memories of hearing the events unfold while listening in to air comms, at a temp airfield set up in Ashford. I have some old black and white photo's of a 3 year old me, sitting in some of the WWI replica planes, when a scene was being filmed at what was then a grass runway, Weston Aerodrome.

https://wicklownews.net/2020/05/cllr-paul-obrien-is-looking-for-your-help/

A documentary on The Flying Films was made by Irish special effects expert, Gerry Johnston. He first got into the effects business working on The Blue Max and the documentary was made at a 2008 reunion held at Baldonnell base and attended by army and crew members that had worked on the productions.

http://www.cowshedmedia.ie/the-flying-films

If you ever get a chance, The Blue Max, is particularly worth a look.

Some of the replica planes used in The Flying Films, are still around and are in the private collection of New Zealand film director, Peter Jackson. He has said that he rates 'The Blue Max' highly and has often talked of doing a remake.

weldoninhio

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

I remember vaguely a movie about two Dublin flatmates, early 20s and a covered-up murder. No idea what it was called.

Also, Cowboys and Angels. Frank Kelly had a supporting role in it.

Dead Bodies??

breezy1985

Ger Roe wrote: »

Some of the replica planes used in The Flying Films, are still around and are in the private collection of New Zealand film director, Peter Jackson. He has said that he rates 'The Blue Max' highly and has often talked of doing a remake.

Some of them are probably still around in the Irish air corps : )

Ger Roe

breezy1985 wrote: »

Some of them are probably still around in the Irish air corps : )

Unfortunately not... one or two would look good in the Air Corps Museum. There is however a display detailing the films there.

breezy1985

Ger Roe wrote: »

Unfortunately not... one or two would look good in the Air Corps Museum. There is however a display detailing the films there.

Collins barracks has an old air corps bi plane iirc

El Tarangu

32A - this seems to really have dropped off the face of the earth. A coming of age drama (32A refers to the bra size, thought it was actually shot around Raheny, were the 32A bus runs). As it was shot close to where I grew up, I was curious to see it when it came out; it was shot around '02 or '03 and had still not been released several years later, which is never a good sign for film.


Widow's Peak - this was a sort of a murder mystery/caper-type film. Some fairly big actors in it

An Everlasting Piece - Northern Irish films seem to especially odd and crappy; this was a film about a Catholic and Protestant wigmakers who (I think) were rivals at the start of the movie, and then somehow manage to bridge the sectarian divide to make wigs for the British Army, many of whom have stress-related alopecia from the rigours of serving in the North in the 90s.

I had written this off as typical low-budget film board scutter (it starred the actor from 'Most Fertile Man in Ireland', who seems to star in any old dross), but googled it there trying to find the name, and it turns out to have been directed by Barry Levinson, of all people.

odyssey06 wrote: »

A Man of No Importance - Albert Finney

This was a great movie, genuinely surprised that more of a fuss was not made over it

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

They used to show Irish “short films” before an Irish movie in the cinema, not sure if that’s still a “thing”.

Remember seeing that one, one about Joyce and Beckett waiting for someone at a pitch and putt course

This was directed by Donald Clarke, the Irish Times' film critic

the purple tin wrote: »

Are there any Irish made films that have stood the test of time and would still be well known in UK and US?

I don't know if it is still well-known now, but the Crying Game (and the 'twist') was a huge cultural touchstone when it came out - Mayor Quimby references it on an episode of the Simpsons in '93 or '94, so you don't much more mainstream awareness than that.

Hangdogroad

weldoninhio wrote: »

Dead Bodies??

Another largely forgotten early Andrew Scott film.

RandomViewer

El Tarangu wrote: »

32A - this seems to really have dropped off the face of the earth. A coming of age drama (32A refers to the bra size, thought it was actually shot around Raheny, were the 32A bus runs). As it was shot close to where I grew up, I was curious to see it when it came out; it was shot around '02 or '03 and had still not been released several years later, which is never a good sign for film.


Widow's Peak - this was a sort of a murder mystery/caper-type film. Some fairly big actors in it

An Everlasting Piece - Northern Irish films seem to especially odd and crappy; this was a film about a Catholic and Protestant wigmakers who (I think) were rivals at the start of the movie, and then somehow manage to bridge the sectarian divide to make wigs for the British Army, many of whom have stress-related alopecia from the rigours of serving in the North in the 90s.

I had written this off as typical low-budget film board scutter (it starred the actor from 'Most Fertile Man in Ireland', who seems to star in any old dross), but googled it there trying to find the name, and it turns out to have been directed by Barry Levinson, of all people.



This was a great movie, genuinely surprised that more of a fuss was not made over it




This was directed by Donald Clarke, the Irish Times' film critic



I don't know if it is still well-known now, but the Crying Game (and the 'twist') was a huge cultural touchstone when it came out - Mayor Quimby references it on an episode of the Simpsons in '93 or '94, so you don't much more mainstream awareness than that.

Naked gun2 does as well,

RandomViewer

The Railway Station Man, Donald Sutherland in Gortahork

Alejandro68

Loving this thread, lot of films I never heard of but will hunt down and watch.

RandomViewer

There's something called Dead Long Enough starring Michael Sheen which was apparently filmed in Culdaff, never seen it but apparently it's a comedy
Grabbers ,grand wee comedy horror

Capt'n Midnight

Poitín (1978)

breezy1985

BTW "Kings" is on YouTube but the subtitles are terrible or non existent but any of ye with good command of the mother tongue can watch free

RandomViewer

breezy1985 wrote: »

BTW "Kings" is on YouTube but the subtitles are terrible or non existent but any of ye with good command of the mother tongue can watch free

Meaney's best performance?

breezy1985

RandomViewer wrote: »

Meaney's best performance?

His best was Miles O'Brien. He played an Irish man on US TV with zero cheese or stereotypes

dvcireland

Hangdogroad wrote: »

Was that in black and white? I seem to remember Colin Murphy ripping the p!ss out of it in the Blizzard Of Odd in that weekly section that focused on bad Irish movies

he covered Taffin in that show and the Irish b movies used to be brilliantly bad

dvcireland

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Lamb

early liam neeson movie where he plays a christian brother

I remember my dad and brother worked in hugh oconnors family home shortly after he was in lamb

dvcireland

Has Joyriders been mentioned ?

Len_007

Saltwater.
Starring your man from I Went Down, & Brendan Gleeson.
Also, I was in TY at the time, & the whole year group got drafted in to be extra’s in an under age pub scene which was shot in the old Bray Head hotel.

L1011

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Guiltrip (1995)
Rough Gerry Stembridge effort.

Filmed in various locations across Kildare, not a cheap filming process from the bits of set construction etc I saw as a kid. Never saw the movie as my mother wouldn't let me see it when it was on TV and its not been shown in years.

odyssey06

L1011 wrote: »

Filmed in various locations across Kildare, not a cheap filming process from the bits of set construction etc I saw as a kid. Never saw the movie as my mother wouldn't let me see it when it was on TV and its not been shown in years.

Oh I remember Guilt Trip now, think it was shown on RTE2 one time ... tough viewing, subject matter wise domestic abuse... Andrew Connolly was a right b*****d in that. All credit to the cast on that one but it's not going to be a big draw.

OUTOFCONTROL

High Boot Benny.

saabsaab

breezy1985 wrote: »

His best was Miles O'Brien. He played an Irish man on US TV with zero cheese or stereotypes

He plays a regular Irishman, wasn't he in 'The Dead' as well?

RandomViewer

L1011 wrote: »

Filmed in various locations across Kildare, not a cheap filming process from the bits of set construction etc I saw as a kid. Never saw the movie as my mother wouldn't let me see it when it was on TV and its not been shown in years.

Is that the one the main character is in the army, your man from Ballykissangel is in it and Mrs Doyle, her name will come to me, saw it years ago, Main character beats the wife to death

RandomViewer

OUTOFCONTROL wrote: »

High Boot Benny.

Is that filmed at Dundee fort?

RandomViewer

dvcireland wrote: »

Has Joyriders been mentioned ?

May as well throw in Black Ice

EmmetSpiceland

breezy1985 wrote: »

His best was Miles O'Brien. He played an Irish man on US TV with zero cheese or stereotypes

Well...

Edgware

Has anyone mentioned "Quackser Fortune has a cousin in the Bronx"?

Hangdogroad

dvcireland wrote: »

Has Joyriders been mentioned ?

I mentioned it a few pages in.

Hangdogroad

OUTOFCONTROL wrote: »

High Boot Benny.

I watched that during a six film video viewing marathon one night in the mid 90s. I rented it out as I'd been meaning to see it for a while to find my flatmate had rented out five other videos, all of them terrible, one was Highlander II The Quickening

Divine Rapture 1995

Abandoned


with Marlon Brando

Hangdogroad

RandomViewer wrote: »

Is that the one the main character is in the army, your man from Ballykissangel is in it and Mrs Doyle, her name will come to me, saw it years ago, Main character beats the wife to death

It was a woman he was having an affair with that he kills. The wife of the mild mannered fella in the shop if I remember correctly.

cj maxx

Does anyone remember Run Of The Country.
Say nothing till you hear more

Randy Archer

Crush proof and Accelerator (Carol from Fair City is in that- playing the same character)

Both about skangers

Funny how for all the hype it got from the Irish media - Garage is not uttered by anyone much - not a bad film btw but certainly forgotten

As for that Irish Times article - hilarious . They put in a film that had NOTHING to do with Ireland as a subject or location as number 1 . Ignore funny films like I went Down . They put in Johnny Connors Card board gangster dirge despite it being no better than the two films mentioned above

The Knacker

Del.Monte

Hangdogroad wrote: »

I watched that during a six film video viewing marathon one night in the mid 90s. I rented it out as I'd been meaning to see it for a while to find my flatmate had rented out five other videos, all of them terrible, one was Highlander II The Quickening

I went to a great deal of trouble tracking "High Boot Benny" down on VHS - what a waste of time - bizarre rubbish.

Del.Monte

Deleted User wrote: »

Divine Rapture 1995

Abandoned


with Marlon Brando

Known by many as Divine Rupture due to the fiasco it turned into.