War of the Buttons (1994)

The children of Ballydowse and Carrickdowse engage in battles where they cut of the buttons, shoe-laces and underwear of their captured opponents. This is to get the boys in trouble with ... See full summary »

Director:

John Roberts

Writers:

Louis Pergaud (novel), Colin Welland (screenplay)

Stars:

Gregg Fitzgerald, Gerard Kearney, Darragh Naughton

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gregg Fitzgerald	...	Fergus
Gerard Kearney	...	Big Con
Darragh Naughton	...	Boffin
Brendan McNamara	...	Tim
Kevin O'Malley	...	Fishy
John Cleere	...	Peter
Anthony Cunningham	...	Little Con
Thomas Kavanagh	...	Riley
Eveanna Ryan	...	Marie
John Crowley	...	Pat
Stuart Dannell-Foran	...	Tich
Danielle Tuite	...	Fionnuala
Helen O'Leary	...	Helen
Yvonne McNamara	...	Maeve
John Coffey	...	Geronimo

Storyline

The children of Ballydowse and Carrickdowse engage in battles where they cut of the buttons, shoe-laces and underwear of their captured opponents. This is to get the boys in trouble with their parents. They go to battle in mass groups of dozens, throwing stones and cutting off their opponents buttons etc. And sometimes they go to battle completely naked and exposed. In one such scene about 30 boys return from a battle to celebrate victory at a barn-house only to find some girls waiting for them and they get very embarrassed at losing their privacy.

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Plot Keywords:

button | boy | friend | nude in public | remake | 

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Taglines:

Most wars last years. This one has to be over by dinner.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK France Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 September 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Guerra dos Botões

Filming Locations:

Castletownshend, County Cork, Ireland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Enigma Productions, Fujisankei Communication Group, Hugo Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The parents of one of the boys in this film took a court action to prevent this film being released. The grounds for their action were that their son's naked buttocks could be seen in the film. the action was dismissed on the grounds that they (the buttocks) didn't appear on screen long enough to allow identification and also that the parents should have raised their objection before the scene was filmed.

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Goofs

Near the end of the second skirmish, the Carricks have Tim treed. When a scout tells Geronimo that Fergus is coming, Geronimo orders Brendan and Chick to keep Tim up the tree while the rest of the Carricks hide to trap Fergus. Two slender, blonde boys keep their slingshots trained on Tim (30:02 to 30:11) while the others hide. The third skirmish begins when the Carricks come across Tim sitting alone on top of a large stone arch. Spotting a concealed Bally, Geronimo orders Brendan and Chick to drag Tim down while he and the rest of the Carricks charge the Ballys in hiding behind them. This time, two completely different boys, a heavyset sandy haired boy and a tall brown haired boy run toward Tim (at around 2 mins) while the rest turn and charge the Ballys.

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Quotes

Riley: Long live the King.
Boffin: It's the Queen now, it is, you moron.
Riley: Then God save the Queen.

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Connections

Version of War of the Buttons (2011)

User Reviews

Great Story for the Whole Family

Wonderful, interesting story of a growing rivalry between young boys in two neighboring Irish small towns. This film is supposed to be based on the book, "La Guerre Des Boutons" by Louis Pergaud. The story, casting, acting and locations were perfect. One strong suit is the beautiful scenery filmed on location in Ireland. I really like this film. It seems few people who reviewed it actually watched it as none of the reviews I read even matched the film's content. I would have liked to have seen the one big battle scene played down as it seemed a bit over the top but other than that this was a pure joy to watch.