#the commitments

[formymentallyunstablebitches]

Winona Ryder at The Commitments premiere in 1991.

[shake-your-money-maker]

[chernobog13]

ME ST. PATRICK'S DAY WEEKEND VIEWING LIST

All the films I've assembled to watch through the weekend and the high holy day. It may take me until mid-week to finish them all, but that's a price I'm willing to pay.

In no particular order (although I ALWAYS watch Gorgo first, and The Barrytown Trilogy must be viewed in sequence):

GORGO (1961)

Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)

THE QUIET MAN (1952)

THE BARRYTOWN TRILOGY

(all starring me man, Colm Fookin' Meaney)

The Commitments (1991)

The Snapper (1993)

The Van (1996)

THE SECRET OF KELLS (2009)

WAKING NED DEVINE (1998)

HEAR MY SONG (1991)

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (2018)

THE GUARD (2011)

There's plenty more I could add to the list, but there's only so much time. And there's always next year.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

[batterknowsbetter]

[cillianmurphysdimples]

I had pain meds when I went to bed last night, and I dreamed I was on the Holyhead to Dublin ferry with Cillian Murphy, Andrew Strong, and an old school friend I haven't seen since 2002. Andrew was singing Mustang Sally at the top of his amazing lungs on the deck, in the middle of the Irish Sea - that was rough as fuck - and my school friend was seasick.

I remember I was searching for Cillian, and he was in the bar with a half-pint of Guinness. He was talking the ear off some overly made up woman who looked like she was from the 1910s. I tapped him on the shoulder and asked what they were discussing. He turned to me and, because it was a dream, the woman just vanished into thin air and he then started soliloquising 😅. I get the full, detailed version of some mad novel (I wish I remembered because I was invested. I could have written a best seller!).

And then the sea got really, really rough and Cillian was like "I'm gonna spill my fucking drink." And set it on the bar, and it skidded down the bar and then he looked at me, and was laughing his head off - that really adorable laugh he does when he has his tongue sort of between his teeth, like this...

And then I woke up.

I didn't even get a fucking dream shag or grope, or nothing! 🤣

Although it has reminded me that Andrew Strong existed so I need to listen to The Commitments album.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The Commitments is a 1991 musical comedy-drama film based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Roddy Doyle. It was directed by Alan Parker from a screenplay written by Doyle, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Set in the Northside of Dublin, the film tells the story of Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins), a young music fanatic who assembles a group of working-class youths to form a soul band named "The Commitments". Starring Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle, Dave Finnegan, Bronagh Gallagher, Félim Gormley, Glen Hansard, Dick Massey, Johnny Murphy, Andrew Strong, Kenneth McCluskey

(Classic Throwback)

[p1325]

So it looks like I'm gonna take two exams on the same day tomorrow and I'd like to recap the things I've studied so far. Other than studying Irish history and advanced English grammar split into a written and oral exam (yes, they're two different exams as stated before) I also had to watch a couple of movies that were on my syllabus and are:

-Maeve (1981): This movie felt like a documentary to me. It felt like the story was real but it's based on actual events (The Troubles) the movie itself was touching and poignant about the female experience in Ireland. 10/10

-The Crying Game (1992) This movie is an LGBTQ+ crime themed movie. It's a love story between an Irish spy and the ex-wife of a deceased British spy who happens to be a trans woman. That was a very good movie. The movie was really ahead of its time tbh 10/10

-The Commitments (1991) This movie comes from a book and it had the same vibes as Sister Act. Set in Dublin, the story recounts the dream of a young man forming a band. The movie really delves into the Irish identity and tries to compare the post-colonial Irish experience to the Black American one. Of course it's a bit of a stretch but there are some similarities.

-Michael Collins (1996) Now this is a historical movie. It is based on Michael Collins, one of the famous Irish icons and the first political leader to grant Ireland freedom from Britain. 10/10

-In The Name of the Father (1993) This movie is based on a true story. It's about the Guildford pub bombings where the main character along with his family are accused of terrorism. The movie explores the theme of the 'otherness' and how the Irish are portrayed by the British justice system. It was a very poignant movie 10/10

-The wind that shakes the barely (2006) This movie is set at the same time as the Michael Collins movie but the point of view is different. 8/10

-Hunger (2008) This movie was the rawest of them all. Other than seeing Michael Fassbender naked and weak (which is a shame) it is a raw portrayal of injustice and police brutality. This movie is based on a true story that happened in the 80s in Ireland. The event was called The Hunger Strikes. 10/10

So yeah, I'll need some good luck of the Irish and Wish me luck for tomorrow

[loveboatinsanity]

[myimaginaryradio]

Mustang Sally - The Commitments

[eclecticpjf]

Now watching:

The Commitments (1991, dir. Alan Parker)

[doyouknowthismusical]

From what I understood, there is both a stage musical and a movie musical called The Commitments. They are based on the same novel but use different songs. This poll is for the movie musical.

[beautyarchive]

Andrea Corr in The Commitments (1991).

[porterdavis]

The Commitments

Every five years or so I make a point of re-watching this movie, and last night was it. Once again I laughed, I cried, and I was nostalgic.

What a good movie, and my god is the music superb.

[georgefairbrother]

Remembering British film director and writer Sir Alan Parker CBE, who passed away July 31st, 2020, aged 76.

Born to a working class family in Islington, North London he made his early reputation as a pioneer of creativity in television advertising. He formed a creative partnership with David Puttnam and went on to become one of his generation’s most accomplished film directors.

He directed Jack Rosenthal’s television play, The Evacuees, for the BBC (BAFTA and International Emmy), and his first international cinema success was Bugsy Malone (1976), a musical gangster pastiche featuring a cast of children, including Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Andrew Paul (The Bill), Bonnie Langford and an uncredited Phil Daniels. He said that he wrote Bugsy Malone out of frustration, as his work was constantly being rejected on the grounds of being 'too parochial'.

He went on to create a commercially successful, diverse and at times controversial body of work, including Midnight Express (written by Oliver Stone: they didn’t get on), Fame, Pink Floyd-The Wall, Mississippi Burning, The Commitments, Evita and Angela's Ashes. His final feature film was The Life of David Gale in 2003.

According to his official website;

"...In all, his films have won nineteen BAFTA awards, ten Golden Globes and ten Oscars...In January 1998, Parker took up his post as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute and in August, 1999 he was appointed first Chairman of the UK Film Council; a position he held for five years...In November, 1995, Parker was awarded with a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the British film industry and he received a knighthood in 2002. He is also an Officier des Arts et des Lettres, awarded by the French Government..."

He was also fascinating to listen to on the subject of the film industry generally, and gave a number of entertainingly grumpy interviews over the years. In the mid 1980s, his Thames TV documentary, A Turnip Head’s Guide to the British Film Industry, which according to his own website ‘lambasted the British film establishment and film critics’, seemed to upset just about everyone but won the British Press Guild award for the year’s best documentary.

He was interviewed by Warner Brothers executives as a potential director for the first Harry Potter, however during a teleconference (from his kitchen table at home) didn’t seem to express enough interest or gratitude at being asked. When a Warner exec told him that lots of directors would just love to do it, Parker said, 'Well go and ask them, then', and that was the end of that.

In conversation with David Puttnam for a BFI function, Alan Parker explained why he gave up making films, and talked a little about his art and drawing.

"…I’m out of it, I’ve had enough, I think it’s time for someone else to do it. I get more pleasure out of doing my art…I’ve been directing since I was 24, and every day was a battle, every day it was difficult, whether you’re fighting the producer who has opinions that you don’t agree with, the studios or whoever it is, because film, unlike art, pure art, film is hugely expensive, and the moment it gets expensive, you have people you have to serve…I’ve been punching out, all my life…to fight for the work…for our right to make our movie, the way we want to do it, and that’s hugely difficult, because it seems that you’re forever punching out. There comes a time, when you think, I don’t want to do that…I showed (a friend) one of my art works, and he said, who’s your audience here? Because that’s what film people think. I said the audience is me, and that’s all I care about, if someone likes my art, fine, if they don’t, fine…If they don’t like my movies, I want to kill ‘em…"

He was Michael Parkinson's first guest on Desert Island Discs in 1986, (a great interview) and featured once again 14 years later talking to Sue Lawley.

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: August 13, 1991

Lyrics:

Mustang Sally

Guess you better slow that Mustang down

Mustang Sally now, baby

Guess you better slow that Mustang down

You've been runnin' all over town

Ooh, I guess you gotta put your flat feet on the ground

Sing it to 'em one more time, girls

All you wanna do is ride around Sally, come on (ride, Sally, ride)

All you wanna do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride)

All you wanna do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride)

All you wanna do is ride around Sally, tell you (ride, Sally, ride)

One of these early mornings

I'm gonna be wiping those weeping eyes, yeah, alright

I bought you a brand new Mustang

It was nineteen sixty-five

Now you come around signifyin' a woman

Girl, you won't, you won't let me ride

Mustang Sally now, baby

Guess you better slow that Mustang down

Alright

You been running all over town

Oh, I guess you gotta put your flat feet on the ground

Oh yeah, baby, you gotta put your flat feet

All you wanna do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride)

All you wanna do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride)

All you wanna do is ride around Sally, oh yeah (ride, Sally, ride)

All you wanna do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride)

One of these early mornings

I'm gonna be wiping those weeping eyes, yeah

Oh yeah, baby, come on, boys

Those weeping eyes, oh yeah, babe (Sally)

Those weeping eyes (Sally), yeah, yeah

Those weeping eyes (Sally), yeah, yeah (Sally)

Oh, those weeping eyes (Sally)

Those weeping eyes (Sally)

Those weeping eyes (Sally), yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Songwriter: Mack Rice

SongFacts:

👉📖