Cal (1984)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Pat O'Connor

Writers:

Bernard MacLaverty (novel)
Bernard MacLaverty (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 August 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller | Romance

Tagline:

Out of Ireland's struggle, a passionate love is born.

Plot:

Cal, a young man on the fringes of the IRA, falls in love with Marcella, a Catholic woman whose husband...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Guilt | Library | Northern Ireland | Police Officer Killed

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Helen Mirren	...	Marcella
John Lynch	...	Cal
Donal McCann	...	Shamie
John Kavanagh	...	Skeffington
Ray McAnally	...	Cyril Dunlop
Stevan Rimkus	...	Crilly
Catherine Gibson	...	Mrs. Morton
Louis Rolston	...	Dermot Ryan
Tom Hickey	...	Preacher
Gerard Mannix Flynn	...	Arty
Seamus Forde	...	Mr. Morton
Edward Byrne	...	Skeffington Sr
J.J. Murphy	...	Man in Library
Audrey Johnson	...	Lucy
Brian Munn	...	Robert Morton

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Norway:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland

Company:

Enigma Productions

Trivia:

The third film that employed Mark Knopfler as composer. The first one was Local Hero (1983).

Goofs:

Continuity: After Cal is beaten up in the street his father gives him a glass of liquor which he takes in his right hand but drinks it in his left.

Quotes:

Skeffington: Not to act is to act. By doing nothing, you're keeping the Brits here.

Momentum

A strangely and unhappily compelling film from the pen over the wildly over-rated Bernard MacLaverty. The script piles improbability on improbability but, given that its premise is so unlikely, perhaps that is the point, a kind of coincidental momentum of the poor and the bad.

Helen Mirren doesn't fare too well as an RUC widow - there are many Irish actresses who could have suited and played this role much more convincingly. John Lynch is fine, looks the part, capturing something of the long-haired, unwashed aesthetic of the hunger-strikers of the time. The best performance is easily by Donal McCann as Lynch's Da, greasily working up a sweat at the local slaughterhouse. Ray McAnally is wasted in a small part.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but it's an interesting addition to the Troubles archive. Some fine photography and backdrops go a long way towards salvaging a rotten script.