The Devil's Own (1997)

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writers (WGA):

Kevin Jarre (story)
David Aaron Cohen (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 March 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

One man trapped by destiny, and another bound by duty. They're about to discover what they're willing to fight, and to die for.

Plot:

A police officer uncovers the real identity of his houseguest, an IRA terrorist in hiding.

Plot Keywords:

Ireland | Murder | Police | Friendship | Northern Ireland

Cast

Harrison Ford	...	Tom O'Meara
Brad Pitt	...	Rory Devaney / Francis Austin McGuire
Margaret Colin	...	Sheila O'Meara
Rubén Blades	...	Edwin Diaz
Treat Williams	...	Billy Burke
George Hearn	...	Peter Fitzsimmons
Mitch Ryan	...	Chief Jim Kelly (as Mitchell Ryan)
Natascha McElhone	...	Megan Doherty
Paul Ronan	...	Sean Phelan
Simon Jones	...	Harry Sloan
Julia Stiles	...	Bridget O'Meara
Ashley Carin	...	Morgan O'Meara
Kelly Singer	...	Annie O'Meara
David O'Hara	...	Martin MacDuf
David Wilmot	...	Dessie

MPAA:

Rated R for strong brutal violence, and for language.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #34333) | Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Baruch College, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Average Shot Length = ~4.8 seconds. Median Shot Length = ~4.6 seconds.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning, when Frankie’s Mother is dishing out the stew for dinner, she sits down, picks up her napkin and then clasps her hands together for grace without serving herself any food. In the next wide shot there is food on her plate.

Quotes:

Rory: Don't look for a happy ending. It's not an American story. It's an Irish one.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Holiday (2006)

Soundtrack:

Veni Creator Spiritus

One Sorry Mess

There seems to be a certain template for making "Oirish" movies in Hollywood. Add some or all of the following ingredients to your movie script - Aran Sweaters, a sub-Deliverance rural setting, comely maidens with red hair, a village idiot (teeth optional), impromptu céilís and dancing at the crossroads, priests, drunken violence and the obligatory "Ooh arr, begorrah" accents and you have an Irish film. And if you want some controversy, why not try to tackle the situation in Northern Ireland by adding in some IRA men for good measure. Unfortunately, the Devil's Own has quite a few of the aforementioned clichés in abundance.

It is a great shame that with a cast and director of this calibre, they couldn't have come up with something better. There have been very few, if any, decent films ever made about Northern Ireland and perhaps it's time Hollywood stopped trying to put forward its own take on it, especially when it is as cack-handed as The Devil's Own. Not only is the whole movie grossly offensive to Irish people, and anyone else with a brain, but it is a dangerous message to be sending out to gullible Irish Americans. It's time film-makers stopped buying into the idea that the IRA are noble warriors when in fact they and others of their ilk are terrorists, pure and simple.

Avoid this like the plague. Brad Pitt's accent is the least of the problems in this film. He just isn't convincing as the cold-blooded killer he is supposed to be - he's far too nice. Harrison Ford is his usual reliable self but too much of the movie is taken up with a largely irrelevant sub-plot featuring himself and Ruben Blades as his police partner. At times, The Devil's Own seems like an IRA film mixed up with NYPD Blue.