Paudge Behan Movies
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joel Schumacher take on the real-life story of an assassinated Irish journalist in the dramatic thriller Veronica Guerin. Cate Blanchett appears as the title character, a relentless crime reporter for The Sunday Independent during the early '90s. Guerin's violent murder in 1996 led to a revision of Ireland's laws and the creation of the Criminal Assets Bureau. The movie picks up with her pursuit of the underground drug trade in Dublin, which she suspects is led by mobster Martin "The General" Cahill (Gerry O'Brien). When Cahill's gang is attacked, she suspects mobster Gerry "The Monk" Hutch (Alan Devine) is responsible. Not deterred by threats or gunshot wounds, she uses thug John Traynor (Ciarán Hinds) as an informer to help out her investigation of psychotic mobster John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley). Schumacher's protégé Colin Farell appears in a small role. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, (more)
Vanessa Stewart (Janine Turner) has the soul of an artist, but her business tycoon father insists that she follow in his footsteps. As a result, Vanessa convinces herself that she wants to be a globetrotting executive, and also that she truly loves the man to whom she is engaged. But while in Venice on a business trip at the behest of her father, Vanessa meets and falls in love with adventurous Irish TV war correspondent Bill Fitzgerald (Paudge Behan). Deciding to kick over the traces, Vanessa is prepared to turn her back on her family obligations and plight her troth with Bill. But Fate, as it often does, takes a hand in matters when Bill is reported killed during a dangerous combat assignment. Based on a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford (as if the full title of this made-for-TV feature left any doubt), A Secret Affair first aired October 27, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Turner, Paudge Behan, (more)
- 1996
The friendship between a pair of buskers is fractured when one of them gets engaged. Prior to that Jean and Kate, who made their living performing comedy routines on the street, were thick as thieves until Jean surprised Kate by telling her that she has accepted the proposal of her musician lover Martin. Whereas Kate is quietly devastated, Jean's upper-middle-class mother is delighted and immediately sets out to prepare a grand and perfect wedding. Much of the ensuing comedy of this Irish-German film comes when Jean has a panic attack and makes a bad choice, the repercussions of which affect not only her relationship with Martin but also with Kate. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pom Boyd, Gina Moxley, (more)
Julia (Kate Beckinsale) has been busy about her job, doing painstaking restoration work on a fifteenth-century painting. As good restoration work is at least as much about doing good research and detective work as it is about the physical process of restoration, when her cleanup of the Flemish painting reveals a hitherto undiscovered Latin phrase which translates as "Who killed the knight?" she goes to the art authorities she knows to find out what it might mean. Oddly, at the same time a series of murders begin to rock her small world of art experts, patrons and restorers, and she finds that the mystery of the painting is interwoven with the mystery of the deaths around her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wood, Sinéad Cusack, (more)
- 1994
- R
A middle-aged Irish bus conductor with a passion for the writings of Oscar Wilde causes controversy when he attempts to stage Wilde's Salome in this period drama set in early 1960s Dublin. Alfie Byrne (Albert Finney) is a well-liked local figure, a life-long bachelor who charms his bus passengers with dramatic recitations of Wilde's poetry. One day, he spots a beautiful young woman named Adele (Tara Fitzgerald) who inspires him to attempt to stage Salome with her as the title character. Wilde's play inspires outrage amongst the more conservative members of the community, who attempt to shut Alfie down. Rather than giving in, however, Alfie chooses to be true to himself, a decision that forces him to face his true self, particularly his feelings towards his young, handsome co-worker Robbie Fay (Rufus Sewell). ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Brenda Fricker, (more)
- 1991
- R
Screenwriter Hanif Kureishi marked his directorial debut in this slice-of-life chronicle about a collection of drug-dealing slackers in London. Centering on a band of delinquents calling themselves "the posse," the group is led by an ambitious male hustler named Muffdiver (Steven Mackintosh). His friend, Mr. Clint Eastwood (Justin Chadwick), begins to wonder about Muffdiver when he announces that he will no longer sell drugs for the gang. But soon Clint is wondering about himself, and after being beaten and stripped naked, he decides to go legitimate and look for a real job. He applies to a chic restaurant for a job as a waiter. The owner, Hemingway (Brad Dourif), promises to hire him if he comes back to the restaurant wearing a good pair of shoes. Obsessed with landing the job, he tries any way he can to get the pair of shoes. Impressed by the efforts of Clint and Muffdiver to get normal jobs, Sylvie (Emer McCourt), a drug addict who lives with the two, is inspired to leave the street life behind herself and pursue a more ordinary vocation. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Justin Chadwick, Steven Mackintosh, (more)
