The General

There must be bad Irish actors; I must have even seen some bad Irish acting. But I can't think of any just now. When I hear that accent and see those mean Dublin streets, my criticism goes right out the window.I can’t think of a performance by Brendan Gleeson that didn’t give me pleasure. Maybe there’s something in the rarefied literary air of the Emerald Isle that produces better actors than most. Or maybe those of us with flat Midwestern accents are just taken in by the lilt and prolix verbiage of Irish talking.Whichever, Brendan Gleeson here is weirdly lovable even as he’s portraying a thoroughgoing villain, the vicious gangster Martin Cahill, a long-time thorn in the Garda’s side. The real Cahill was clearly no cuddly teddy bear, but darned if Gleeson doesn’t have us rooting for him even as he commits sundry felonies and assaults. To a point; when he gets to the point of nailing one of his minion’s hands to the snooker table, he’s crossed a line. But still. He’s tough, but fair.John Voight has not had a run of great roles lately. But here, as the beleaguered detective inspector, he’s just as good and just as Irish as Gleeson. These old pros work up nicely mirrored performances, the thug becoming increasingly world weary as his paranoia grows, the cop letting the crook’s violence seep in. It’s a nice bit of work.Adrian Dunbar, as Gleeson’s sidekick, is particularly good. Now I know that Ireland is a smallish island with a restricted gene pool, but there’s something just so Irish about Dunbar’s face, something you can see repeated again and again in the various extras and bit players in the background. He just looks the part. I have no idea how close to the actual events John Boorman kept his picture, but it convinced me well enough. The audacious burglaries of the art gallery and of Boorman’s house must have been great tabloid fodder.This stream is an odd artifact. Says on IMDB that John Boorman filmed in b&w and in 1:2.35 aspect. The file we seen on A-zon is color and square format. What’s the deal? My best guess is that the version streamed is made from a color video feed produced at the same time the film was being shot. Most directors in those pre-full digital days had video cameras mounted tandem with the film cameras, so as to be able to review in real time. Was this tape used to make the color version seen here? That could account for the soft image quality and sometimes off framing. And there’re signs of language being softened as well. The stream is watchable enough, but I’d have been interested to see what Boorman’s vision actually looked like in monochrome and full width. Been a big time John Boorman fan ever since seeing the superb “Point Blank” and the weird but gorgeous “Excalibur”.And Boorman’s “Hope and Glory” is one of the few truly perfect movies I’ve ever seen. “The General” isn’t up to that standard, but it’s thoroughly enjoyable even in this truncated version. It’s not easy to make a crew of sociopathic crooks and gangsters sympathetic, and I’m not sure that’s what John Boorman had in mind. But it’s not docudrama, more of a peculiar idiosyncratic take on an interesting bit of history. If I’ve a quibble (and who am I to question John Boorman’s narrative style?) it might be that by opening with Cahill’s IRA assassination, there’s no suspense as to how it all comes together at the end. It makes Cahill’s paranoia wholly justified as he feels the walls closing in, but for those of us unfamiliar with the real story, it’s a bit of TMI early on. I'd give a fifth star if this had been the monochrome full aspect version. But still worth watching.

Brendan Gleeson is convincing as a two-bit criminal in 1980s Dublin, but the story is too low-stakes to hold interest.Martin Cahill, aka the General, is a burglar with a large crew who pulls off a couple of bold heists. He gets killed for selling stolen goods to the wrong paramilitary outfit (you see this in the first scene). That's about it.As presented here, Cahill has to have been the least intimidating criminal mastermind ever to have walked the earth. He kills no one in the whole movie, and when he is violent he's almost apologetic. Knowing how many stone killers Ireland has had in its criminal and terrorist underworlds, it's hard to buy this lovable rogue could have hacked it.Worth watching if you're really interested in Dublin crime stories or if you're a big Brendan Gleeson fan, but that's it.

Could not find anything to complain about in this one, but then I am inclined to like Brendan Gleeson in anything. I have been looking for a movie with him, called (I believe "The Guard") The entire cast was wonderful, and the story and directing were works of love. Thank youAmazon.

I liked this movie and thought it was well done with good actors, including academy award winner Jon Voight and Brendan Gleeson, whom you may recall from films Brave Heart and Lake Placid. The only thing I had a problem with was the Irish brogue, which is so thick you could cut it with a knife, but the story, which is true, is interesting and entertaining and funny at times. I recommend it.

All Irish all the time. Set in Dublin and filmed up and down the streets of Irelands rainy capital, this movie is very Irish, but not country Ireland; City Ireland! Martin Cahill -The General- is a very interesting crime boss from the low income, ghetto, public housing project known as Holyfield. He is a simple but complex character and you never know what he will do next. The cast is realistic and the crimes they commit are interesting. A great Irish gangster movie based on a real story.

I'm sure it's an awesome movie, if I could understand a word they are saying. The accents are so thick and sound quality so poor that I found myself completely lost without English subtitles. I really wanted to enjoy this film but finally gave up a little over halfway through.

This is another illustration that smart people can become ruthless criminals. This particular presentation makes it more unforgettable than some purely fictional expressions do.

Depressing. Watch a man destroy himself and his family.

In a world which valued creative artists, someone would give John Boorman a couple of million quid every year and let him get on with making the movies which interested him. As it is, his personal films are fewer and further between, and the hackwork in between is best forgotten by everyone concerned. Still, we must be grateful for small mercies, since even a mediocre personal film by Boorman is going to be more interesting than most people's best. This is about gangster Martin Cahill, who once robbed John Boorman's Irish house. You don't get a more personal connection than that, but Boorman doesn't let any resentment get in the way.First thing to ask is why the film is released in Black and White (though I understand it was made in colour). It's a distancing device. We're not going to be drawn into wholesale identification here. The result is that we're pulled in different directions by contradictory emotions. On the one hand Martin Cahill (Brendan Gleason) is brutal, ruthless and violent. On the other he is charming enough to hold the affections of two women, generous to his family, treats his men fairly (except where he tortures one who he thinks wrongly he is a squealer), and shows a fine contempt running rings round the Gardai, in the impressive shape of Jon Voigt. We get all the contradictions and we're invited to make up our own minds. This makes uncomfortable viewing, and it's not surprising the film didn't do brilliant business.Martin Cahill is the product of a time and place; a sink estate at perpetual war with a police force as corrupt and brutal as any of the criminals. His rise and fall reflects the changing times. His gang is built up on the loyalty which comes from hanging together in good times and bad. The loyalty disperses with the dispersal of the estate and increasing affluence in the community. In this respect, the crucial exchange occurs when Cahill visits a woman to get her to persuade her daughter to withdraw rape allegations against his lieutenant. He appeals to the fact that they both came from the same estate, which he paints in glowing nostalgia. She turns on him: those days are over, and good riddance. This is the tipping point of the movie.From then on, we're into Macbeth territory, as Cahill's power and influence fade, and the police close in, literally hemming him and his family in. Boorman plays much of this for laughs, with Cahill always hiding his face - the original hoodie. But Brendan Gleason also conveys the man's pain and bewilderment, someone who knows no other way of engaging with the world, an animal at bay.Boorman's script is beautifully economical, and the photography with its quick fades gives the whole thing a dreamlike, detatched quality. If I don't give it five stars, it's because the very detachment drains the film of the kind of entertainment value we expect of gangster movies, with the one exception of a heist scene, and while it constantly engages the interest, it doesn't suck you in.

Didn't think I would stay with it being shot in black and white, but the film is so engrossing you don't notice after a while. Brendan Gleason is brilliant in this role.

This was a gift, my friend is Irish,he thought I may like some movies about Irish life ,people ,history,it is a very good movie ,with a feel of real life about it,I rate this movie 5 STARS,and the informer is a 5GOLDEN STAR RATING,money well spent both times.

This DVD portrays the true story of Martin Cahill who masterminded the Beit art theft. For people who want more background information I recommend reading The Irish Game. Fascinating.

Good film - delivered on time - as described