Pat Layde Movies
- 1971
Here Are Ladies could easily be amended to say "Here are some famous Irish women" -- made famous by Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, and other Irish writers who have brought the country and its culture to the heights of literary attainment. The one-woman show of stand-up actress Siobhan McKenna has been taken like a nomad to several appropriate settings as the talented McKenna brings the women to life. She interprets Shaw's "St. Joan" while in an Irish jail cell, Beckett's "Winnie" under a mound of sand at the beach, or women washing clothes in a river from "Finnegan's Wake." An excerpt from "Drama at Inish" by Lennox Robinson -- in which a broadly overacted version of Russian drama is put on for two nonplused Irish spectators -- is particularly funny. McKenna's interpretations will entertain most viewers quite adequately, even if they are not Irish. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Siobhan McKenna, Niall Buggy, (more)
- 1970
- PG
Paddy Maguire (Des Cave) is the wild Irish rogue who works as a butcher in Dublin. Harry (Milo O'Shea) is his good friend and drinking companion. He has an affair and his first sexual encounter with the attractive widow Mrs. Kearney (Maureen Toal). He eventually takes a job with an insurance company where he has another affair with his secretary Maureen (Dearbhla Molloy). He also has a romantic romp with Breeda (Judy Cornwell), who revels in having more than one man at once. Maureen becomes pregnant and tells Paddy she is marrying another man because he is irresponsible. He goes drinking with Harry, who has taken up with the American tourist Irenee (Peggy Cass). Several memorable performances are given in this comedy taken from the novel by Lee Dunne. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Milo O'Shea, Des Cave, (more)
The logic behind inflating Robert Bolt's minimalist romantic drama Ryan's Daughter into a 12-million-dollar epic seems to have been "When David Lean directs, it's a super-spectacular." Sarah Miles (who at the time was married to Robert Bolt) stars as Rosy, the daughter of Irish pub keeper Tom Ryan (Leo McKern). Married to tweedy, sexless schoolmaster Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum), restless Rosy has an affair with British officer Randolph Doryan (Christopher Jones). When village idiot Michael (an Oscar-winning turn by John Mills) innocently uncovers evidence of Rosy's indiscretion, the local gossips begin wagging their tongues. Shaughnessy chooses to remain above the scandal, assuming that Rosy will come to her senses. Later, Rosy's father informs on a group of IRA insurgents, hoping to keep the peace in his village. The locals assume that Rosy, still enamored of Doryan, is the informer, and exact a humiliating punishment. Realizing that his very presence has caused disgrace for Rosy, Doryan kills himself. For Rosy and Shaughnessy, life goes on...not happily ever after, just ever after. The film was lensed on location in Ireland by frequent Lean collaborator Freddie Young. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, (more)
- 1964
Pat Boone plays Stephen Cole, a young Irish man who believes himself to be worthy of a promotion from his employer. Believing that his boss instead is practicing nepotism, giving the promotion to his own nephew, Stephen writes--and mails--the company a caustic letter. Before long, however, Stephen finds that he has, indeed, just been named general manager/junior partner rather than the nephew. Now he must rush to London to intercept the letter before it reaches its initial destination. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pat Boone, Milo O'Shea, (more)
- 1959
This well-acted drama about an Irishman just released from jail is filled with rich characterization. The story is adapted from a stage play by Walter Macken who also plays the role of the ex-convict Paddo in this screen version. Direction is by J. Fielder Cook. Once Paddo returns home after being sentenced to five years for killing a man, his old friends try to put him back in their niche of local hero but Paddo will have none of it. He is disillusioned and changed. His son Willie (Arthur Kennedy) walks with a limp that keeps him too self-conscious to assert himself as he would like with the young woman of his dreams. While other people come in and out of Paddo's life, from his taciturn friend the trapper to the local tinker, it is Paddo's son Willie suffering from his own disability who makes the difference in his father's life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Macken, Eileen Crowe, (more)
