Mubi Monday: The General (1998)

Directed by the great John Boorman (who has also given us a number of not so great movies, but his wins far exceed his losses), The General tells the story of the life of Martin Cahill, an Irish criminal who spent a long time avoiding and frustrating the Garda throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. The fact that he is played here by Brendan Gleeson ensures that viewers are unlikely to hate him.

Things start off well enough. After being in and out of trouble from a young age, Cahill is shown steadfastly refusing to move from a site that has been scheduled for demolition. His reasoning? He wants a better choice of alternative accommodation, and he gets it. Good for him. But we soon see the other side of Cahill, the man happy to rob, threaten, and beat anyone he views as a target. He will depositing thousands of pounds into a bank account and then visit a local police station to have an alibi while his cronies rob the bank and get his money right back to him. He will wave guns under the noses of people, he will plant bombs to potentially kill professional witnesses, and he will even nail someone to a snooker table if he thinks they have been skimming profit from him. Meanwhile, his home life is a non-traditional, but happy, set-up with Frances (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and her sister, Tina (Angeline Ball), as well as the children he has fathered with each of them.

Although black and white when it was shown in cinemas, I saw it presented a visual palette so muted that it often seemed as if it was in black and white anyway, but the occasional patches of colour managed to catch the eye (particularly the aforementioned snooker table). Not being utilised for any big “wow” moments, the cinematography and colour (or lack of colour) simply keep viewers more easily in the time and place alongside the characters.

Boorman, adapting the book by Paul Williams, as well as including a reference to the time he himself was robbed by Cahill (a gold record stolen from his home), does a decent enough job at showing the criminal operation, as well as showing the continuing efforts of the police trying to get their man. Where he falls down is in the tone of the film, making Cahill a loveable rogue for most of the runtime, instead of the callous and opportunistic criminal that he was. I am all for any kind of “Robin Hood” character, but that’s not what we see here, although maybe those romanticising his life want to see him that way.

Gleeson surely relished this role, a perfect fit for him and one of his best lead roles (which is saying something). Whatever problems I may have with the material, Gleeson is faultless. He’s given great support from Kennedy and Ball, who are both allowed to feel like more than just “daft wee wimmen”, and there are good performances from Adrian Dunbar and Sean McCginley, as crooks, and Jon Voight, as the main cop butting heads with Cahill. Yes, Voight’s accent is far from perfect, but it’s surprisingly not all that bad for most of his scenes. Not bad at all.

It’s really hard to rate this. There were so many moments I really enjoyed, partly BECAUSE Boorman and Gleeson work hard to keep Cahill such a cheeky charmer, but the moments that troubled me, moments of violence and nastiness that were moved past all too quickly, helped to build up a bitter taste that I couldn’t rinse away, even hours after the film had finished. Maybe many people view Cahill the way that Boorman depicts him, and maybe I would be feeling different if this was some Scottish criminal I had grown up knowing, and viewed as a bad person who also did some good things, but the film errs in maintaining an apparent lack of judgement.

As a film, it works brilliantly. As a film about Cahill, it doesn’t do so well.

7/10

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April Fools: The General (1926)

It would only be a fool, surely, who would come along and call The General anything less than a stone cold classic. Well, I AM that fool. Before anyone starts making voodoo dolls in my likeness, however, do bear in mind that I really enjoyed The General. In fact, there were a lot of sequences that I loved. Unfortunately, the best stuff - on the train - is bookended by weaker material that makes this slim movie feel as if it's been unnecessarily padded out.

Based on a true story, detailed in a couple of books by William Pettinger, which were subsequently adapted into a screenplay by a couple of people before being written and directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, the basic story concerns Johnnie Gray (Keaton). Johnnie is in love with Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), but his declaration of love comes just as war begins. Annabelle cannot love a man who won't fight for his county, so Johnnie duly heads off to enlist. Unfortunately, he's refused because of his vital role as a train engineer. One year later, without the love of his life, Johnnie is fired up into action when Union spies steal his locomotive, planning to use it as a way to ensure their victory. It's up to Johnnie to defeat numerous enemies, and perhaps even win the war.

As mentioned above, this movie has about 10-15 minutes at either end that just don't feel funny or energetic enough, BUT that may be down to the fact that the middle section (all of the action with Keaton on a train as he chases after his stolen locomotive) is just so damn good. There are so many moments of physical comedy gold that to pick out just one is nigh on impossible, but I'll personally nominate the scene in which Keaton tries to line up a spectacular cannon shot as one particular highlight.

Keaton is, of course, the star of the show, but it's also worth remembering just how much spectacle this movie puts on the screen. With the large cast of extras, the amount of destruction and those trains being onscreen for most of the runtime, this is a BIG film. In fact, one shot in the movie (that I won't spoil) remains the most expensive ever filmed in the silent movie era.

A great comedy, and a great tribute to the bravery of Pettinger, The General remains well worth a watch, and has maintained its reputation over the years with good reason.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Buster-Keaton-Chronicles-Repackaged/dp/B001IRFWFW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1391373294&sr=8-3&keywords=buster+keaton