The Guard (2011)

An unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality is teamed up with an uptight FBI agent to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring.

Director:

John Michael McDonagh

Writer:

John Michael McDonagh

Stars:

Ronan Collins, Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 14 wins & 23 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ronan Collins	...	Young Man in Car
Paraic Nialand	...	Young Man in Car
John Patrick Beirne	...	Young Man in Car
Liam O'Conghaile	...	Young Man in Car
Christopher Kilmartin	...	Young Man in Car
Brendan Gleeson	...	Sergeant Gerry Boyle
Rory Keenan	...	Garda Aidan McBride
Declan Mannlen	...	James McCormick
Laurence Kinlan	...	Photographer
Michael Og Lane	...	Eugene Moloney (as Mícheál Óg Lane)
Liam Cunningham	...	Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
Owen Sharpe	...	Billy Devaney
Fionnula Flanagan	...	Eileen Boyle
Wale Ojo	...	Doctor Oleyuwo
Don Cheadle	...	FBI agent Wendell Everett

Storyline

Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a small-town Irish cop with a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humor, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international cocaine-smuggling ring that has brought straight-laced FBI agent Wendell Everett to his door.

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Plot Keywords:

fbi agent | fbi | drug smuggling | small town | derringer | 

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Taglines:

The FBI are about to discover that things work a little different around here.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive language, some violence, drug material and sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English Irish

Release Date:

7 July 2011 (Ireland)

Also Known As:

El irlandés

Filming Locations:

Barna, County Galway, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$76,834 (USA) (29 July 2011)

Gross:

$5,359,774 (USA) (3 February 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Reprisal Films, Element Pictures, Crescendo Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sgt. Boyle's quote, "the last of the independents," refers to the movie, and the character, Charley Varrick.

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Goofs

(00:03:30) When Sergeant Gerry Boyle is first meeting Garda Aidan McBride at the murder scene, he stops his police car while the windshield wipers are up. In the immediate next shoot they are down.

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Quotes

FBI agent Wendell Everett: You have anybody you want me to call?
Sergeant Gerry Boyle: Nah, I don't have anybody. Just pin a medal on my body like those boys coming home from Iraq.
FBI agent Wendell Everett: Fuck you again Sergeant.

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Connections

References Yellow Submarine (1968)

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Soundtracks

"Leaving on a Jet Plane"
Written by John Denver
Performed by John Denver

User Reviews

Either Smart or Stupid

Greetings again from the darkness. Writer/Director John Michael McDonagh is the brother of Martin McDonagh, who brought us the excellent In Bruges (which also starred Brendan Gleeson). I figured it best to say that upfront because there is no way to avoid comparisons of the two films. Clearly these men grew up in the same house and were trained in a brilliant method of writing dialogue.

Brendan Gleeson delivers a powerful and hilarious performance as a local cop (Garda) in rural Ireland. His Sgt Gerry Boyle is quite an enigma - he gets along great with locals, yet struggles to fit into society. This is never more apparent than when FBI Agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) hits town on a drug smuggling investigation. The key to their relationship is crystallized at the moment an exasperated Agent Everett says to Boyle, 'I can't tell if you are really smart or really dumb'. Of course, I am paraphrasing because the F-word gets literally worn out in this movie. There aren't many lines I can actually quote in print. But the word rolls off Gleeson's tongue as if it's a work of art ... especially in conversation with his ailing mother, played well by the always terrific Fionnula Flanagan.

The international drug smugglers being chased are a trio led by Liam Cunningham and the always interesting Mark Strong. The endless rips, insults and jokes are fired rapidly at Americans, Brits and anyone unfortunate enough to hail from Dublin. Boyle uses his Irish background as a crutch for his racism and insensitivity. But he leaves no doubt about his expertise as a cop. Heck he even recognizes the importance of some 9 year old kid riding around on a pink bicycle. That's just another example of the off-center approach to story telling offered by McDonagh.

If you are a fan of In Bruges, Snatch, or Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, I think you will enjoy this one. It falls just short of that level, but not by much. Gleeson is outstanding and the story is simple enough, yet with plenty of twist, turns and hilarity.