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The General
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Synopsis
John Boorman, who won the 1998 Cannes Film Festival's Direction award for this film, previously won the same Cannes award almost three decades earlier for his Leo the Last (1969) about an alienated aristocrat in a London slum. Shot in widescreen color (but printed in sharp black-and-white), The General is a biographical portrait of ruthless Irish crime lord Martin Cahill, shot down outside his home by a single assassin on August 18, 1994. After this opening, the film then unfolds as a lengthy flashback of the events that led to his death, sketching in the raw beginnings of the youthful Martin (Eamonn Owens of The Butcher Boy) and moving into the Dublin slum of Hollyfield to show the adult Cahill (Brendan Gleeson) and his link to a local cop, Inspector Ned Kenny (Jon Voight). Various thefts enable Cahill to support his wife Frances (Maria Doyle Kennedy), his four children, and his sister-in-law Tina (Angeline Ball). As the years pass, Cahill rises as a mobster, bamboozling cops, constructing airtight alibis, pulling off a near-impossible jewel heist, and setting up a menage a trois with Frances and Tina. (Both actresses were seen previously in Alan Parker's The Commitments). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide


Production Crew

Paul Williams Book Author
Jina Jay Casting
Seamus Deasy Cinematographer
Richie Buckley Composer (Music Score)
Maeve Paterson Costume Designer
John Boorman Director
Ron Davis Editor
Betsy Davis Executive Producer
Kieran Corrigan Executive Producer
P.J. Pettitte Executive Producer
Kevan Barker First Assistant Director
John Boorman Producer
Derek Wallace Production Designer
John Boorman Screenwriter
Brendan Deasy Sound/Sound Designer
Doug Turner Sound/Sound Designer
Year: 1998
Runtime: 123
Country: UK
MPAA Rating: R
for violence and pervasive language
Category: Feature

Genre
Crime

Sound
Dolby Digital

Produced by
J & M Entertainment
Merlin Films

Release
December 18, 1998 (USA)
by Sony Classics (US)
Warner Bros. (UK)

Awards
1998 - Best Foreign Film - Independent Spirit Award
1998 - Best Foreign Film - Independent Spirit Awards
1998 - Film Presented - Telluride Film Festival