The General

A very interesting and well done film about an Irish gangster and his very strange life. Well acted and directed, with good locations,

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.

Well lets see...John Boorman and Brendan Gleason; how could that not be incredible? This film, based on the real life heist of Boorman's art collection from his home in Ireland, is superbly cast and directed. For some reason, it remains obscure but it easily ranks as one of Boorman's best films. Gleason is a national treasure of Ireland and tends to impart a golden glow to just about any film he stars in, even low budget oddities (28 Days Later?), but his portrayal of an Irish thief who eventually runs afoul of the IRA is top notch. Highly recommend.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Dieser Film erzählt die Geschichte eines irischen Gangsters, der mit Hilfe seiner "Freunde" Raubzüge veranstaltet, sich gegen die Obrigkeit auflehnt, die Kirche verhöhnt und die Polizei für dumm verkäuft. Ein im Grunde guter Mann, der seine Berufung im Verbrechen sieht und damit seine positiven Seiten ins Negative verkehrt. Der Film erzählt ohne das übliche Krimi-Action-Spektakel in fast ruhigen Zügen die vermeintliche "Karriere" dieses Mannes, dessen Ende schon am Anfang des Films steht. Brendan Gleeson überzeugt hier mit einer phänomenalen schauspielerischen Leistung. Unbedingt ansehen! Kaufempfehlung.

Good value for money considering dvds are almost a thing of the past.

Not that good of a movie. Brendan Gleeson was great as usual. Jon Voight did a passable Irish accent.

Unbedingt ansehen!Die Konkurenz wird ignoriert. Die Polizei ist scheinbar ohnmächtig. Geselschaftliche Werte werden auf den Müll geworfen. Am Ende regelt alles die IRA. Trotz Allem kommt man nicht drumherum den "Filmhelden" zu mögen.

Je recommande ce film à tous ceux qui n'aiment ni les curés, ni les flics, ni l'État.Un brin anar sur les côtés, ce film en noir et blanc ne fait pas non plus d'un brigand un héros. John Boorman a su trouver une fois de plus le ton juste. J'ai vu le film au cinéma à sa sortie. Il vieillit très bien. Du cinéma.