Young Cassidy (1965)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Jack Cardiff

Writers:

Sean O'Casey (autobiography Mirror in My House)
John Whiting (writer)

Release Date:

22 April 1965 (Argentina)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

He's a brawling, sprawling giant - on the make for fame and fortune and then some!

Plot:

Biographical drama based on the early life of playwright Sean O'Casey, depicting his rise from the 1910...

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards.

Cast

Rod Taylor	...	John Cassidy
Flora Robson	...	Mrs. Cassidy
Jack MacGowran	...	Archie
Siân Phillips	...	Ella
T.P. McKenna	...	Tom
Julie Ross	...	Sara
Robin Sumner	...	Michael
Philip O'Flynn	...	Mick Mullen (as Phillip O'Flynn)
Maggie Smith	...	Nora
Julie Christie	...	Daisy Battles
Pauline Delaney	...	Bessie Ballynoy (as Pauline Delany)
Edith Evans	...	Lady Gregory
Michael Redgrave	...	W.B. Yeats
Arthur O'Sullivan	...	Foreman
Joe Lynch	...	1st Hurler

Runtime:

Germany:105 min | USA:110 min | Argentina:108 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

In an interview Jack Cardiff said that only four minutes and five seconds of the footage shot by John Ford ended up in the finished film. The riot scene was cited by critics as the obvious work of Ford, yet it was completely done by Cardiff who admitted that he found inspiration from Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925)

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Abbey Theatre: The First 100 Years (2004)

What Ford really directed

Two scenes, but one of them is the best of the whole movie:the mother's death.The camera only shows the hero when he enters the fateful room;we see the tragedy on his face longer than usual before the camera reaches the deathbed.There's a similar scene in JF 's "three godfathers" when the outlaws meet the dying mother in her wagon.The second scene is the fight in the pub which recalls "the quiet man" .

As for the lead,Ford wanted Sean Connery but he was too busy playing OO7.The female parts are strong,featuring Flora Robson,Maggie Smith and Julie Christie ,but the latter only appears for a few minutes.A lot of colorful characters ,from the stingy heartless undertakers to the "keep cool boy" grocer,from the old lady mixing with the riffraff by welcoming the playwright's committed dramas to the obscure librarian ,give the movie substance.

These two scenes and "Seven women" two years later were John Ford's swansong.