General

Theatrical Release Date: 1998 12 18 (USA)

UPC: 043396037267

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: 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, Rovi

Category: Crime

Awards: Best Director (Runner-up) – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Cinematography (Runner-up) – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Director – Cannes Film Festival Best Foreign Film – Independent Spirit Awards Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival

Features: Presented in the original theatrical Black & White release
Desaturated color version also included
Digitally mastered audio & anamorphic video
Production notes
Interactive menus
Languages: English [2-channel Surround]
Subtitles: English, French, and Spanish
Talent and filmographies
Scene selections

General

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 07/20/1999

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 124 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side A--
0. Scene Selections
1. Start [2:49]
2. Little thief [3:52]
3. Homecoming [2:23]
4. Principles [3:12]
5. Stealing in paradise [3:27]
6. $80 Grand [1:08]
7. Alibi & withdrawal [2:26]
8. Arcade robbery [3:22]
9. Inside man [4:39]
10. Planning the crime [5:28]
11. Study of the law [3:01]
12. Jewelry heist [7:08]
13. The Larceny Act [5:43]
14. One bar short [9:07]
15. "I'm not a pusher!" [3:24]
16. Art [1:59]
17. Russborough robbery [4:35]
18. Martin's alibi [4:43]
19. Police surveillance [4:30]
20. In labor [5:59]
21. Revenue men [2:20]
22. Diabetes [5:19]
23. The UVF [5:48]
24. Charged [8:01]
25. A silly disguise [1:20]
26. Staging a break-in [3:45]
27. Paranoia [4:25]
28. End of the day [4:41]
Side B--
0. Scene Selections
1. Start [2:49]
2. Little thief [3:52]
3. Homecoming [2:23]
4. Principles [3:12]
5. Stealing in paradise [3:27]
6. $80 Grand [1:08]
7. Alibi & withdrawal [2:26]
8. Arcade robbery [3:22]
9. Inside man [4:39]
10. Planning the crime [5:28]
11. Study of the law [3:01]
12. Jewelry heist [7:08]
13. The Larceny Act [5:43]
14. One bar short [9:07]
15. "I'm not a pusher!" [3:24]
16. Art [1:59]
17. Russborough robbery [4:35]
18. Martin's alibi [4:43]
19. Police surveillance [4:30]
20. In labor [5:59]
21. Revenue men [2:20]
22. Diabetes [5:19]
23. The UVF [5:48]
24. Charged [8:01]
25. A silly disguise [1:20]
26. Staging a break-in [3:45]
27. Paranoia [4:25]
28. End of the day [4:41]

Keith Phipps

By the time John Boorman shot The General, its subject had already entered the realm of contemporary folklore. A gangster killed by the police in 1994, Martin Cahill gets the full treatment from Boorman, who does an impressive job of explaining his way of life without excusing it, showing the desperation of his origins without glamorizing his crimes. He's assisted by a tremendously believable performance by Brendan Gleeson, who characterizes Cahill as a man who compensates for a doughy slow-wittedness with an almost scary singlemindedness. (One particularly inspired touch involves Gleeson's seemingly endless supply of shirts featuring risqu? cartoon pigs.) Boorman's feel for urban Irish grit, black humor, and an evenhanded approach to his characters helps make the film a standout amidst contemporary gangland chronicles. ~ Keith Phipps, Rovi

Cast and Crew: John Boorman  Director 
John Boorman  Producer 
John Boorman  Screenwriter 
Kieran Corrigan  Executive Producer 
Richie Buckley  Composer (Music Score) 
Betsy Davis  Executive Producer 
P.J. Pettitte  Executive Producer 
Brendan Gleeson  Actor 
Adrian Dunbar  Actor 
Jon Voight  Actor 
Maria Doyle Kennedy  Actor 
Angeline Ball  Actor 
Sean McGinley  Actor 
Eanna McLiam  Actor 
Tom Murphy  Actor 
Paul Hickey  Actor 
Tommy O'Neill  Actor 
John O'Toole  Actor 
Ciaran Fitzgerald  Actor 
Ned Dennehy  Actor 
Vinny Murphy  Actor 
Roxanna Williams  Actor 
Eamonn Owens  Actor 
Colleen O'Neill  Actor 

Country: UK,Ireland