Galway and the Cinema
The crimson hills, sweeping vales and
pristine loughs of Ireland have captivated filmmakers
for as long as movies have been made. Galway and its
surrounding country, most notably the famed landscapes
of Connemara, have been no exception to the rule, and
over the years a number of famous projects have called
County Galway home.
Man of Aran
In 1932 and 1933, only a few years after
the introduction of synchronised sound in motion pictures,
Robert J. Flaherty travelled to the Aran Islands to
make the then monumental Man of Aran; a 75 minute black
and white spectacle that depicted the ongoing struggles
of an island family against the sea. The picture was
one of the first of its kind in Ireland and its 1934
premiere was attended by Eamonn De Valera and William
Butler Yeats. The mystique of the movie hasn’t
worn off in the nearly 70 years since it was filmed.
Today visitors to Inis Mór, the largest of the
Aran Islands, will still find a daily screening of the
film.
The Quiet Man
Perhaps the most famous movie to originate
in the Galway area is the 1952 John Ford classic The
Quiet Man. The film, which starred John Wayne and Maureen
O'Hara, was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, 4 of which
it won, including the Best Director nod for Ford. In
the movie, the Irish born Sean Thornton (John Wayne),
who migrated to Pittsburgh as a child, returns to his
home village of Innisfree to begin a new life and start
a family. Sean quickly falls for Mary-Kate Danaher (Maureen
O’Hara) the sister of the fiery 'Red' Will Danaher.
The trials of life and love that follow for Sean and
Mary Kate make for one of the most compelling stories
of its time. Although a great deal of the film was shot
in County Mayo, the heart of the movie lies in Tully
Strand in Connemara where Sean and Mary-Kate forged
their life together at the little white cottage White
O'Mornin'. Tours of The Quiet Man locations are available
from the Quiet Man Heritage Centre from April to October.
The Field
In more recent years, the 1990 Jim Sheridan
adaptation of the John B. Keane play The Field brought
Richard Harris, John Hurt and Tom Berenger to the fields
of Leenane, in the north of Galway. The film, which
was the biggest draw at the 1990 Irish Box Office, and
garnered Harris a 1991 Academy Award nomination for
Best Actor, traced the story of 'Bull' McCabe (Richard
Harris) and his quest to retain a field that his family
had farmed for generations, and which his mother had
died upon. Bull pronounces that he will pay £50
for the field when the owner puts it up for auction
and threatens any outsiders that might challenge his
bid. When a strange American arrives in town promising
to outbid McCabe the story begins its march to a climactic
conclusion. Harris' masterwork as an actor sheds an
astonishingly honest light on the often-lamentable life
of a simple man and his family. Both the play and the
film are based on the true events that culminated in
the death of the American Moss Moore in 1958 County
Kerry.
Other movies
Other movies shot in the Galway area
include the lesser known 1988 Joe Comerford Reefer and
the Model. Reefer was shot in its entirety in Galway
Bay, Connemara and the Aran Islands. The movie followed
the often-illegal adventures of the ex-IRA man Reefer,
his friends Badger and Spider, and the mysterious Model
that Reefer finds on a lonely road in Connemara.
Parts of the 1973 conspiracy laden John
Huston film, The MacKintosh Man, starring Paul Newman,
were shot in Connemara. The historical epic Alfred the
Great, starring David Hemmings, Michael York and a young
Ian McKellen, is still talked about by locals (many
of which served as extras) near where the film was shot
between Gort and Loughrea. And the 1992 Mike Newall
production Into the West, starring Gabriel Byrne, Ellen
Barkin and Ciaran Fitzgerald, featured footage from
the Galway coast.
From the rocky limestone stretches of
the Aran Islands to the beautiful territory separating
Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, Galway has made an indelible
mark on the films of our time. It has often been said
that when a production is shot in Ireland the true star
is the countryside itself. For the movies of Galway
this is almost certainly the case. It is little wonder
then that Barbara Ford, daughter of the renowned John
Ford, wrote to her father upon seeing the site of The
Quiet Man exclaiming that she never believed any place
could be so lovely. It is thus fitting that Galway will
be preserved forever on the silver screen, for the entire
world to enjoy.
Jeremy M. Usher
November 2000
|
