Brendan Cauldwell Movies

Rival groups of boys from two neighboring Irish villages engage in a running battle in this remake of the 1962 French movie of the same name, based on a novel by Louis Pergaud. The boys from Ballydowse, who dress as they please, exchange insults with boys from nearby Carricksdowse -- who wear school uniforms. One day, the Bally gang cuts the buttons off the clothes of a bully in the Carricks gang. The Carricks retaliate by swiping the buttons from the clothes of the leader of the Bally boys, Fergus (Gregg Fitzgerald). The Ballys deface the Carricksdowse church, though both groups are Catholics. They rout the Carricks by charging at them naked. Marie (Eveanna Ryan), who heads the Ballys' girls auxiliary, tries to calm down the boys by raining new buttons on them to replace those lost in warfare. When Fergus' abusive stepfather (Jim Bartley) finds out about the war, he beats Fergus and sends him away. Fergus goes to the cliffs along the valley between the two villages, chased by the Carricks' leader, Geronimo (John Coffey). Geronimo, who has come to help, slips, and Fergus rescues him from a fall. In the end, Fergus, riding a horse, leads his troops, dressed in motley medieval suits, into a final battle. The allegorical anti-war film is primarily aimed at children. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

In this suspenseful thriller, some unknown man out there has a warped mind, a warped view of sex, and an urge to kill in a very specific way. An innocent yet seductive country woman named Patricia Telling (Moira Harris) moves into a new apartment building in Dublin, where a serial killer seems to have her in his sights. The killer's m.o. is to call a woman on the phone and charm her into inviting him over. Once he's alone with her, he murders her after stripping her naked and putting her body in a certain pose. Several men are suspect because of their odd behavior: Robert (John Cavanaugh), a colleague and teacher at Patricia's school; Danny (Timothy Bottoms), who lives in the building with his wife, and the police inspector McMyler (Christopher Casenove). The question is: will the murderer will be identified before Patricia is the next victim? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Set in the late 18th century in a small Irish village, this films chronicles the gradual demise of almost everyone in the village due to a constant state of war. The attrition begins as the village elder and a priest keep demanding that some of the men to go to battle in defense of the village -- and the outsider who has come in as an observer sees these men return wounded, and dying. As this continues, only the outsider and a handicapped man are left, along with a woman who pairs off with the latter. Next, invading soldiers come into town and there seems to be no escape -- a late 18th-century message for a late 20th-century audience all-too-familiar with fighting themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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

Adapted from the classic play by John Millington Synge, The Playboy of the Western World opens with the arrival of a stranger, Christy Mahon, in a small Irish town. Entering Michael James's pub, the locals -- including pretty Pegeen, the innkeeper's daughter -- convince him to tell his story, whereupon he reveals that eleven days previous he hit his mean, persecuting father with a shovel and killed him. Rather than being scandalized, however, the denizens applaud his courage and audacity; James even hires him, thinking the lad will keep his daughter safe from harm when he must be away. Pegeen's fiancé, Shawn, disapproves, but Pegeen dismisses him. Christy grows more bold as he sees the respect and admiration his deed has earned for him. What is he to do, then, when an unexpected visitor shows up -- his father, who it turns out did not die from Christy's blow and who now has come to punish his errant son and take him back home? When he is unmasked in front of all, Christy improvises a solution, but it fails to return him to the town's -- or Pegeen's -- good graces. Eventually, Christy leaves the town, a different man than when he entered. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi