List 5 Quintessential Movies Which Define the Spirit of Your Country

Drifterwood

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Leslie Nielsen as in Airplane? That's like saying Benny Hill is quintessentially British.

Pink Panther's French, no?

Well Blake Edwards was definitely American, so I am not sure whose film you would call it, but not French.

Benny Hill could have been considered quintessential British Humour in the 1970's. It wouldn't be my choice now but that music brings a smile to my face.

I was just looking for something that represented US humour, but that would be your call not mine. I liked the Canuckstani. Maybe Blazing Saddles?
 
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Perhaps I was exaggerating when I said every movie made about this country sucks ass, but it's not far off true nonetheless. :p
The Commitments wasn't bad. But....Far & Away was a bit shit. :p
 

ManlyBanisters

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urgh, every movie ever made about Ireland sucks ass. They're either beedahokey shite with leprechauns and a thatched cottages and Maureen O'Hara in them or they're misery-porn or they're excessively cutsey bullshit which makes everyone here look like a mindless cunt.

Damn you all for having decent films made about your countries! :(

Agree - I nearly made a list including Derby O'Gill and the Little People, Leprechaun, Leprechaun II and Into the West (*gags*) but then I was worried everyone but you and Hick (and maybe Drifter) would take me seriously.

I love Maureen O'Hara too, but the movies she starred in about Ireland weren't really all that definative of anything except the universally accepted myths about Ireland.

Angela's Ashes, My Left Foot, and the Magdalene Sister's are all part of that Misery-Porn genre in it's Irish form. While they do tell interesting stories none of them could be said to be quintissentially definative of Ireland, and in my view they've contributed to a lot of misunderstandings about this country around the world. There's no doubt those movies needed to be made, but in the absence of anything to counterbalance them and fill out the picture of Ireland I feel like they distort somewhat.

That gets a giant, fat, erect and straining 'agree' from me.

The Celts I admit to being unfamiliar with...

Me either - I only see TV series of that name on IMDB. Nudie - enlighten us.

Waking Ned Devine doesn't cut it IMO, it's just so "Oirish" and cutsey, and it really would have people believe we're all a bunch of bog-trotting eejits.


The Quiet Man is in most respects a great movie, and it's unusual in that it bucks a lot of the clichés, but if I'm honest whenever I watch it I can't help feeling that it could have been set anywhere in Europe that happened to be remote, sparsely populated and culturally traditional. I also feel like it's about how incredible the performances in it are, rather than saying much about Ireland.

More agreement.

The only decent movie I've seen about Ireland that I had few reservations about was The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Again though that's mining a cultural and historic seam which is important and needs to be explored but which I feel has been explored lots already where a vast field of other stories about Ireland remain untold and unexplored to the detriment of people's understanding of what this country is actually like. I used to live in the part of the country The Wind that Shakes the Barley is set in so I can vouch for much of its veracity too.

It's worth a watch and Loach did way better than I thought he would.

Perhaps I was exaggerating when I said every movie made about this country sucks ass, but it's not far off true nonetheless. :p

Movies made about Ireland are rarely Irish though.

Movies made in Ireland by Irish filmmakers are maybe more the thing the OP is looking for.

Look for some of Bredan Gleeson's Irish films. I Went Down is very good, for example. Also, Neil Jordan has made a few good'uns (and some not so good'uns - but ignore them). Breakfast on Pluto, for example, is worth a watch.

Are they quintessentially Irish? I don't know - I'm not sure I believe that exists, there are too many Irelands (none of them ever make it to Hollywood though, even though there is a multitude of Irish talent there).
 

Drifterwood

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Agree - I nearly made a list including Derby O'Gill and the Little People, Leprechaun, Leprechaun II and Into the West (*gags*) but then I was worried everyone but you and Hick (and maybe Drifter) would take me seriously.

Come on - you know I never take you seriously :biggrin1:.

I did consider doing a wholly "Celtic fringe" list as I can see us being more similar than the English four weddings and a funeral stuff.
 

D_Tim McGnaw

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Agree - I nearly made a list including Derby O'Gill and the Little People, Leprechaun, Leprechaun II and Into the West (*gags*) but then I was worried everyone but you and Hick (and maybe Drifter) would take me seriously.

Best list of Irish movies ever! :biggrin1::biggrin1::biggrin1:




Look for some of Bredan Gleeson's Irish films. I Went Down is very good, for example. Also, Neil Jordan has made a few good'uns (and some not so good'uns - but ignore them). Breakfast on Pluto, for example, is worth a watch.

Are they quintessentially Irish? I don't know - I'm not sure I believe that exists, there are too many Irelands (none of them ever make it to Hollywood though, even though there is a multitude of Irish talent there).



Hmmm, I was in two minds about I Went Down after I saw it, it was good in parts... but it is worth a watch. I forgot Breakfast on Pluto, it's a good movie but I agree with you in that I'm not sure is says much about Ireland, it's just a well told story about unusual and well drawn and well acted characters. It could have been set anywhere really.


It's weird that as you say so many Irish people are involved in the movie industry and yet we still struggle under the millstones of mythology about Ireland created in large part by Hollywood and don't seem to be able to tell our own stories in a compelling manner.
 

ManlyBanisters

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Come on - you know I never take you seriously :biggrin1:.

Thank gawd for that. :biggrin:

It's weird that as you say so many Irish people are involved in the movie industry and yet we still struggle under the millstones of mythology about Ireland created in large part by Hollywood and don't seem to be able to tell our own stories in a compelling manner.

No - but we have the theatre for that. :smile:
 

hud01

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Five is not enough, I'm not sure ten is even enough, so even though I agree with many posted I will add five for discussion

Giant (Texas oil)
The Grapes of Wrath (The depression)
12 Angry Men (The judicial system and melting pot)
Easy Rider (Quintesential 60's)
Wall Street (Haven't we seen this before)

I could add another ten
 

monel

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urgh, every movie ever made about Ireland sucks ass. They're either beedahokey shite with leprechauns and a thatched cottages and Maureen O'Hara in them or they're misery-porn or they're excessively cutsey bullshit which makes everyone here look like a mindless cunt.

Damn you all for having decent films made about your countries! :(

How about "Ryan's Daughter"? Robert Mitchum was great as was John Mills who, I believe, won an oscar for his performance. Always high on my list of movie favorites.

As for my movie choices:

King Kong
Citizen Kane
Once upon a time in America
The Candidate
Superman: The Movie
 
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ManlyBanisters

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How about "Ryan's Daughter"? Robert Mitchum was great as was John Mills who, I believe, won an oscar for his performance. Always high on my list of movie favorites.

David Lean - English.
Robert Mitchum - American.
Sarah Miles - English.
John Mills - English.
Christopher Jones - American.
Trevor Howard - English.
Leo McKern - English.
Maurice Jarre (music) - French.
Freddie Young (cinematography) - English.
Robert Bolt (writer) - English.
Gustave Flaubert (original idea) - French.
Scenery - Dingle, Ireland. (Yay! Finally!!)

And it isn't even about Ireland - it is about people, relationships. Nor is it exactly a 'quintessentially' Irish film, eh?
 

monel

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David Lean - English.
Robert Mitchum - American.
Sarah Miles - English.
John Mills - English.
Christopher Jones - American.
Trevor Howard - English.
Leo McKern - English.
Maurice Jarre (music) - French.
Freddie Young (cinematography) - English.
Robert Bolt (writer) - English.
Gustave Flaubert (original idea) - French.
Scenery - Dingle, Ireland. (Yay! Finally!!)

And it isn't even about Ireland - it is about people, relationships. Nor is it exactly a 'quintessentially' Irish film, eh?

I beg to differ. The nationality of the actors and director are irrelevant to whether the movie captures a quintessential element of the Irish experience and I think, in the conflict and the relationships, as an allegory, it does.
 

ManlyBanisters

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I don't see how something that involves nothing Irish whatsoever other than pretty scenery can be quintessentially Irish? Is Braveheart, in your opinion, a Scottish movie? What exactly is it in 'the conflict and the relationships' in Ryan's Daughter that you think 'captures a quintessential element of the Irish experience'?
 

LaFemme

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Nikki, Dog of the North
Canadian Bacon
Dudley Do-Right
Strange Brew
Meatballs
:biggrin:

LMAO - I had first dates to three of those movies! Bet you can guess which 3!
 

monel

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I don't see how something that involves nothing Irish whatsoever other than pretty scenery can be quintessentially Irish? Is Braveheart, in your opinion, a Scottish movie? What exactly is it in 'the conflict and the relationships' in Ryan's Daughter that you think 'captures a quintessential element of the Irish experience'?

I don't think it is an accident that the movie is set againt the backdrop of the Easter Uprising. It is also notable that the woman of everyone's obsession - in particular Mitchum's character and the cripple Michael - is taken away by the British soldier. But she is uncertain about whether to stay loyal to her hard scrabble Irish husband or follow the romantic promise of life with her soldier. To me it certainly mirrors the two minds by which the country viewed the uprising. Many believed the future of Ireland looked brighter within the British empire and looked at the rebels as trouble makers.

Of course I could be wrongand you may be correct that Leprechaun II is the quintessential Irish film :smile:

And Hickboy, yes.
 

B_Hickboy

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I don't think it is an accident that the movie is set againt the backdrop of the Easter Uprising. It is also notable that the woman of everyone's obsession - in particular Mitchum's character and the cripple Michael - is taken away by the British soldier. But she is uncertain about whether to stay loyal to her hard scrabble Irish husband or follow the romantic promise of life with her soldier. To me it certainly mirrors the two minds by which the country viewed the uprising. Many believed the future of Ireland looked brighter within the British empire and looked at the rebels as trouble makers.

Of course I could be wrongand you may be correct that Leprechaun II is the quintessential Irish film :smile:

And Hickboy, yes.
Grew up in Ireland?
 

ManlyBanisters

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Even if Rosy is Caitlín Ní Uallacháin, and I don't necessarily agree with that analysis, I still don't think that makes it an Irish film - quintessential or otherwise.

ETA: Is Lawrence of Arabia a Middle Eastern film? (you never answered the question about Braveheart)
 
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