Joe Cahill Movies
Filmed in Ireland, Cry of the Innocent stars Rod Taylor as an American insurance executive on a grim mission. A private plane has exploded, killing Taylor's wife and children. Also on board was a scientist who was the target of the criminals who engineered the tragedy. The "maguffin" is a secret formula worth untold millions, and aiding Taylor in bringing the murderers to justice is journalist Joanna Pettet, who bears a close resemblance to Taylor's ex-wife (and no wonder, since Pettet plays both roles). Based on a novel by Frederick Forsyth, this made-for-TV espionager premiered on June 19, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Not a remake of the landmark 1903 Edwin S. Porter film, The Great Train Robbery is a dramatization of the famous first hold-up of a moving train in 1855 England. The conspirators in this undertaking are Edward Pierce (Sean Connery), Agar (Donald Sutherland) and Clean Willy (Wayne Sleep). Pierce is the brains, Clean Willy the brawn, and safecracker Agar provides the finesse. The scheme involves stealing a shipment of gold bars intended to be used in the payroll for the Army in the Crimean War. Lesley Anne Down co-stars as Miriam, the woman on the outside who arranges Connery's getaway. When released in England, this film was titled The First Great Train Robbery, so as not to be confused with Britain's embarrassing 1963 railroad heist. Director Michael Crichton adapted the story from his own, more-clinical novel on the same subject. Filmed in Ireland, The Great Train Robbery was dedicated to the memory of its director of photography, Geoffrey Unsworth, who died shortly after the production wrapped. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland, (more)
- 1973
- PG
John Huston directed this cold war spy thriller (from a script by Walter Hill) concerning a British agent trying infiltrate the organization of a nefarious communist spy. Paul Newman is Joseph Reardon, a British secret agent commissioned by Mackintosh (Harry Andrews) to impersonate a jewel thief. When the police are tipped off about his diamond robbery, Reardon is arrested and shipped off to a high-security prison. At the prison, he meets a convicted Russian spy and the two are involved in a prison break, arranged by a mysterious group called the Scarperers. After the successful breakout, Reardon finds himself drugged and sent to Ireland. It turns out that the escapade was organized by Mackintosh in the hopes Reardon could infiltrate the Scarperers and gather information on the group's leader, Sir George Wheeler (James Mason), and prove him to be a Russian spy. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Newman, Dominique Sanda, (more)
- 1972
- R
In between gigs writing two of the first films from director John Boorman and the sequel to The French Connection (1971), writer Alexander Jacobs adapted this bloody, violent drama from a pulp crime novel. Oliver Reed stars as Harry Lomart, a dangerous convict who's been planning a breakout with a fellow inmate, Birdy Williams (Ian McShane). Before the two men can abscond, word comes that Harry's wife Pat (Jill St. John) has been having an affair with another man and has become pregnant with the man's child. That brings the total number of scores that Harry's got to settle once he's on the outside up to two. After a spectacular escape, the pair of hardened criminals are supposed to lie low until it's safe for them to leave the country, but a furious Harry won't allow his wife to get away with her betrayal, and he sets out to find and kill her, as well as her lover. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Oliver Reed, Jill St. John, (more)
- 1971
Two children set out in search of freedom and a loving home in this adventure drama based on a novel by Walter Macken. Finn Dove (Jack Wild) and his sister Derval (Helen Raye), a pair of children living in England, are tired of the tyranny of their stepfather Hawk Dove (Ron Moody), and they decide to run away to Ireland, where Finn and Derval hope to stay with their Granny O'Flaherty (Dorothy McGuire). However, the children are heirs to their grandfather's estate and stand to inherit a large fortune upon his death, so Hawk is keen on the idea of finding Finn and Derval and bringing them safely home as soon as possible. The Flight of the Doves was a reunion for Ron Moody and Jack Wild, who starred together as Fagin and The Artful Dodger, respectively, in the movie Oliver!. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
