The Playboys *** (1992, Albert Finney, Aidan Quinn, Robin Wright, Milo O’Shea) – Classic Movie Review 11,787

Director Gillies Mackinnon’s 1992 Irish film The Playboys stars Albert Finney, Aidan Quinn, Robin Wright and Milo O’Shea.

Police sergeant Brendan Hegarty (Finney) and travelling actor Tom (Quinn) fight for the hand of young unmarried mother Tara Maguire (Wright) in the small Irish village where Freddie (O’Shea)’s touring players have come to perform in 1957.

The arrival of the troupe called The Playboys stirs the town. Tara surprises Tom stealing one of her chickens but he is taken by her beauty and character. The sergeant watches resentfully as they flirt and spar.

The yarn, co-written by Shane Connaughton (My Left Foot) and Kerry Crabbe, makes a pleasing film, quite gentle despite the passions (frustrated and realised, secular and religious).

Albert Finney in 1966.

Finney gives a touching portrait of a disappointed middle-aged man overcome by frustrated love, while Quinn and Wright make the kind of attractive young lovers you want to cheer on. Mackinnon is making his big-screen début (after his 1991 TV film The Grass Arena) and keeps it all running smoothly.

Also in the cast are Alan Devlin, Niamh Cusack, Adrian Dunbar, Ian McElhinney, Stella McCusker, Anna Livia Ryan and Niall Buggy.

Shane Connaughton was an Oscar nominee for My Left Foot. The Playboys is shot in his native village Redhills, in County Cavan, Ireland.

Director Gillies Mackinnon’s films: The Grass Arena (1991), The Playboys (1992), A Simple Twist of Fate (1994), Small Faces (1996), Trojan Eddie (1996), Regeneration (1997), Hideous Kinky (1998), The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2000), The Escapist (2002), Pure (2002), Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004), Tara Road (2005), Castles in the Sky (2014), Whisky Galore! (2016) and Torvill & Dean (2018).

The cast are Albert Finney as Sergeant Hegarty, Aidan Quinn as Tom, Robin Wright as Tara, Milo O’Shea as Freddie, Alan Devlin as Father Malone, Niamh Cusack as Brigid, Ian McElhinney as Joe Cassidy, Stella McCusker as Rachel, Niall Buggy as Denzil, Anna Livia Ryan as Vonnie, and Adrian Dunbar as Mick.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,787

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