MEDICAL CENTER UPDATE: To all of you who were concerned yesterday when gale force winds here in Chicago used me as a basketball and dribbled me on the pavement, let me say thank you for caring. My left shoulder is screwed up but it could have been worse. I’ll fill you in more on Sunday’s blog. For now, ow!
This post is dedicated to Mike Farmer. A proud Irishman- and a big movie buff. “There was a wild colonial boy, Jack Duggan was his name…”
And sure if the top photograph isn’t the Savoy Cinema in Dublin, Ireland. And seein’ how today is St. Patrick’s Day, ’tis only right and proper that I be treating you, Dear Readers, to some of the best movies ever made by and about the descendants of the Auld Sod.
So get out the Guinness. We’re getting this show on the road with a masterpiece by the most Irish of all American directors- John Martin Feeney.
Better known to most of you as John Ford.
And, of course, the movie is The Quiet Man.
I owe my allegiance to this classic to two good men. A tip of me cap goes to my father, Ben O’Roffe. (Today everyone is Irish.) He was the first guy in my life to love this film and he raved about it so much that I saw it when I was just a wee slip of a lass.
But some forty years later, Mike also adored this flick and together we watched it countless times. We knew the dialogue by heart and would act out all the parts at the drop of a shillelagh.
“Woman of the house! I’ve brought the brother home to tay!” Mike would bellow when he came home. (There was no brother in tow and no tea brewing but I knew what he meant.)
If you have never seen this gorgeous tribute to the land and people of Erin Go Bragh, pour yourself a Black and Tan and settle in. It’s pure Emerald Isle movie magic.
It takes a lot to follow Trooper Thorne but I bet he can be followed by Trouper Foy.
I now present The Seven Little Foys.
It’s the show biz story of vaudeville star Eddie Foy, Sr. He and his wife had seven kids, and when Mrs. Foy understandably died of exhaustion, he did what any old trouper would do.
He put them in the act.
One of them grew up to be song and dance man Eddie Foy, Jr. Here he is as Hinesy in The Pajama Game.
Now just for fun here’s a look at a child-free clip of two old hoofers (one English, one as Irish as Mother Machree) having a grand old time in The Seven Little Foys.
Now if the old soft shoe is not your style, how about the old one-two? Here’s a dandy story of World Heavyweight boxing champion- James John “Gentleman Jim” Corbett.
In a real donnybrook, “Gentleman Jim” defeated fellow Irishman, John L. Sullivan.
Now see Hollywood’s version of the two contenders- and how they resolved their differences out of the ring.
Another Irish-American “gentleman” boxer also turns up in a terrfic movie. He’s Jim Braddock and he’s played by Russell Crowe in Cinderella Man .
Now if you’re getting worn out watching the fighting Irish, how about a real change of pace with Walt Disney’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People?
It’s the quaint story of an old codger who matches wits with a leprechaun- and also helps his daughter meet her match.
(The strapping young love interest is played by staunch Scotsman, Sean Connery, but why quibble?)
I saw this movie when I was nine and have been a James Bond fan ever since.
Take a listen to him singing.
Speaking of singers, why not take a look at THE singer of singers.
Here’s Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby- Irish on his mother’s side and the pride of Tacoma, Washington- doing his Academy Award-winning turn as Father Chuck O’Malley.
As the trailer pointed out, Barry Fitzgerald and director Leo McCarey also scored Oscars. And fellow Irish-American character actor, Frank McHugh, played Father Timothy That’s a lot of Blarney for one movie.
But as liberal and understanding as Father O’Malley was, bless him, he wouldn’t have stood for the malarkey that make up the subject matter of our next two films.
An illegitimate baby and cheating on the lottery.
An unmarried, pregnant daughter who won’t name the father of her child? Tis a scandal, I’m thinkin.’ But in The Snapper, the shenanigans turn heart-warming. (After a few trips to the pub.)
Another fabulous ensemble cast is up to no good when an entire Irish town conspires to cash in a dead man’s lottery ticket in Waking Ned Devine.
This movie is just swell. And a bittersweet send-off to a great actor- another Scotsman playing Irish- Ian Bannen.
My final selection is a real corker.
The Verdict.
And even though it starred Paul Newman, had a screenplay by David Mamet and was directed by Sidney Lumet, I’m still counting it as an Irish movie.
And a great one.
The action takes place in Boston, and if you’ve never seen it, let me warn you that Archdiocese of Boston is the villain in the piece. (Not à la Spotlight. This is a case of medical malpractice- and its coverup- at a Catholic hospital.)
Paul Newman plays Frank Galvin, a washed-up P.I. lawyer. All he wants to do is drink and settle the damn thing.
But his buddy, Jack Warden, has other ideas.
Dublin’s own Milo O’Shea is a nasty, nasty judge. And James Mason is the smoothest, oiliest lawyer in town.
If you’ve never seen it, schedule it into your viewing docket.
Well, that’s it for today.
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, Dear Readers.
Sláinte!
