Based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Spike Milligan, this is an absolutely hilarious satire on Irish North-South relations. The film takes place in 1924 and concerns the tiny village of Puckoon in County Sligo, which finds that the new border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, negotiated by the Boundary Commission, has split the village in two. Since not even a single blade of grass from one side was given to the other by the Boundary Commission in reality, the film (and the novel) could be seen as a light alternate history.
The unorthodox border arrangement means that part of Puckoon's churchyard is not only in Northern Ireland but the site of the British Customs post. Since the town's Catholic population cannot contemplate leaving people to rest in Protestant soil for all eternity, they devise a daring plan to exhume the bodies under cover of darkness. Unfortunately, they don't realise that the IRA is planning to smuggle a coffin filled with explosives to Northern Ireland and things go a bit pear shaped. I have never read the novel but the screenplay by Terence Ryan is certainly reminiscent of Milligan's comedic style so I get the impression that the script stuck to it quite closely. The film, which is very well directed by Ryan, has an extremely Irish sense of humour and I appreciated its irreverent tone and many fourth wall breaking moments. It is only 72 minutes long but it manages to fit quite a bit into its short running time.
The film stars Sean Hughes in an incredibly funny performance as Dan Madigan, a shiftless, feckless, feckin' eejit, as we say in Ireland, who finds himself at the mercy of the Writer-Director, played by the always wonderful Richard Attenborough in his final film as an actor before his death in 2014. Attenborough replaced Milligan himself in the role as the latter's ill health forced him to drop out of the film. He died before it was released and it is dedicated to his memory. Dan often takes issue with the hardships that the Writer-Director inflicts on him in order to combat his laziness such as crashing his bike, getting struck by lightning and being urinated on. The scenes in which Dan argues about his treatment with the Writer-Director are one of the highlights of the film, not least because he typically finds himself on the receiving end of an even worse punishment afterwards.
The film has an eclectic cast of Irish and British actors. And Elliott Gould. Daragh O'Malley is hilarious as Puckoon's priest Father Rudden, who devises the (relatively...) well-intentioned grave-robbing plot and tries to bless passing Protestant Boy Scouts in order to save their souls. Gould, whom Attenborough previously directed in "A Bridge Too Far", is not the most obvious casting choice for a film of this kind but is nevertheless very funny as Dr. Goldstein. He adopts a slight Irish lilt, never going over the top with it as other, lesser actors would do. In his penultimate film appearance, Milo O'Shea does not have much screen time but I loved his scenes as Puckoon's sole policeman, the 75-year-old Sgt. McGillikuddie.
The great Irish character actor David Kelly, whom I was lucky enough to meet in 2008, has a fantastic cameo as the publican Mr. O'Toole, whose business takes a sharp turn for the worse when it is discovered that part of the pub is in Northern Ireland where beer is 30% cheaper. Griff Rhys Jones is great as the supercilious Colonel Stokes, who is rather aggrieved that he must deal with the eccentric locals and shoots himself in the foot at one point. That probably hurt. The film also features nice appearances from Freddie Jones as both the Boundary Commission representative Sir John Meredith and a blind man in the pub, Peter Woodward (who wrote Attenborough's final film as a director, the very bad "Closing the Ring") as Colonel Martin and Joe McGann as Chief Inspector Tomelty. I have to say though that I was very surprised to see Ronnie Drew of the Irish folk band The Dubliners pop up since I had no idea that he made any films whatsoever.
Overall, this is a hugely enjoyable film that does not hesitate to have a bit of fun at the expense of almost every major institution in Ireland as well as the British government and its administration of Northern Ireland.
The unorthodox border arrangement means that part of Puckoon's churchyard is not only in Northern Ireland but the site of the British Customs post. Since the town's Catholic population cannot contemplate leaving people to rest in Protestant soil for all eternity, they devise a daring plan to exhume the bodies under cover of darkness. Unfortunately, they don't realise that the IRA is planning to smuggle a coffin filled with explosives to Northern Ireland and things go a bit pear shaped. I have never read the novel but the screenplay by Terence Ryan is certainly reminiscent of Milligan's comedic style so I get the impression that the script stuck to it quite closely. The film, which is very well directed by Ryan, has an extremely Irish sense of humour and I appreciated its irreverent tone and many fourth wall breaking moments. It is only 72 minutes long but it manages to fit quite a bit into its short running time.
The film stars Sean Hughes in an incredibly funny performance as Dan Madigan, a shiftless, feckless, feckin' eejit, as we say in Ireland, who finds himself at the mercy of the Writer-Director, played by the always wonderful Richard Attenborough in his final film as an actor before his death in 2014. Attenborough replaced Milligan himself in the role as the latter's ill health forced him to drop out of the film. He died before it was released and it is dedicated to his memory. Dan often takes issue with the hardships that the Writer-Director inflicts on him in order to combat his laziness such as crashing his bike, getting struck by lightning and being urinated on. The scenes in which Dan argues about his treatment with the Writer-Director are one of the highlights of the film, not least because he typically finds himself on the receiving end of an even worse punishment afterwards.
The film has an eclectic cast of Irish and British actors. And Elliott Gould. Daragh O'Malley is hilarious as Puckoon's priest Father Rudden, who devises the (relatively...) well-intentioned grave-robbing plot and tries to bless passing Protestant Boy Scouts in order to save their souls. Gould, whom Attenborough previously directed in "A Bridge Too Far", is not the most obvious casting choice for a film of this kind but is nevertheless very funny as Dr. Goldstein. He adopts a slight Irish lilt, never going over the top with it as other, lesser actors would do. In his penultimate film appearance, Milo O'Shea does not have much screen time but I loved his scenes as Puckoon's sole policeman, the 75-year-old Sgt. McGillikuddie.
The great Irish character actor David Kelly, whom I was lucky enough to meet in 2008, has a fantastic cameo as the publican Mr. O'Toole, whose business takes a sharp turn for the worse when it is discovered that part of the pub is in Northern Ireland where beer is 30% cheaper. Griff Rhys Jones is great as the supercilious Colonel Stokes, who is rather aggrieved that he must deal with the eccentric locals and shoots himself in the foot at one point. That probably hurt. The film also features nice appearances from Freddie Jones as both the Boundary Commission representative Sir John Meredith and a blind man in the pub, Peter Woodward (who wrote Attenborough's final film as a director, the very bad "Closing the Ring") as Colonel Martin and Joe McGann as Chief Inspector Tomelty. I have to say though that I was very surprised to see Ronnie Drew of the Irish folk band The Dubliners pop up since I had no idea that he made any films whatsoever.
Overall, this is a hugely enjoyable film that does not hesitate to have a bit of fun at the expense of almost every major institution in Ireland as well as the British government and its administration of Northern Ireland.