Puckoon (2002)

Spike Milligan's book about the divided Irish village of Puckoon comes to the big screen.

Director:

Terence Ryan

Writers:

Susan Morrall (screenplay), Spike Milligan (novel)

Stars:

Sean Hughes, Elliott Gould, Daragh O'Malley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Hughes	...	Dan Madigan
Elliott Gould	...	Dr. Goldstein
Daragh O'Malley	...	Father Rudden
John Lynch	...	O'Brien
Griff Rhys Jones	...	Col. Stokes
Nickolas Grace	...	Foggerty
B.J. Hogg	...	Rafferty
David Kelly	...	O'Toole
Milo O'Shea	...	Sgt. McGillikuddie
Freddie Jones	...	Sir John Meredith
Richard Rickings	...	Alex Walker
Richard Attenborough	...	Writer-Director
Marc Sinden	...	The surveyor
Frankie McCafferty	...	Lenny
Conor Mullen	...	Shamus

Storyline

Puckoon is a wee Irish village that gets caught up in an argument about where the border separating Northern Ireland from Ireland should be. Keen to get the matter sorted before the pubs close, a random borderline is wrestled on the map of the Emerald Isle and Puckoon gets divided as well, literally. As the barbed wire fences and Army checkpoints go up overnight, suddenly people cannot get to their outhouses or walk from one side of the street to the other. It has some advantages, everyone squeezes into the tiniest corner of the pub because it is in Northern Ireland territory where the beer is cheaper, but worst of all, is the church and its graveyard. Now the newly deceased need a valid passport, renewable every year, if they want to be buried "across the border". A plan is hatched to return the newly dead back to Ireland. At the same time, a plan is hatched to smuggle explosives in coffins to Northern Ireland with, as they say, hilarious results.

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Plot Keywords:

ireland | border | coffin | church | rural setting | 

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Taglines:

Knowing where to draw the line

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site cast photos, trailer, reviews [UK]

Country:

Ireland UK Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 April 2003 (Ireland)

Also Known As:

Határvillongások

Filming Locations:

Ballywater Park, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann, Distinguished Features, Insight Ventures Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the original book, the character called "Dan Madigan" in this movie is named "Milligan", the author's own name.

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Quotes

Father Rudden: Wine must be treated with respect. It's liquid Christianity. There has never been a bigger argument against teetotalers since the wedding feast at Cana.

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Crazy Credits

The above Cast list was random... like most Borders!

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Soundtracks

Danny Boy
Traditional

User Reviews

A must see for fans of Spike Milligan's book -it's one of those films that I could watch over and over

This film is a must see for fans of the book and Milliganesque humour. I think the best thing about it is that the film works as a stand alone film in itself, irrespective of the book. It must have been very difficult to pull all the various scenes and diversions in the book together into one cohesive film.

All your favourite characters and scenes are in, and a great deal of the dialogue is word for word from the book, so you don't miss out on some of the characters' classic soliloquies, descriptions and chats with the author/director/viewer. The characters and setting really did appear as they did in my mind when reading the book. Off the top of my head, look out for the following classic scenes and dialogue from the book: - Madigan talking to the camera ('author' in the book) about his legs, his wife, retreating not running away etc.. - The owner of the Holy Drunkard pub describing his wedding day - Drawing the line to decide the border - Rafferty - Moving coffins to and fro across the border - two brothers smoking the same fag - the soldiers waiting for a train to show up - and lots, lots more!

Sean Hughes is great as Madigan (changed from Milligan in the book), .... Gryff Rhys Jones is head of the border patrols, Ronnie Drew of the Dubliners has a cameo role, Richard Attenborough plays the 'author', and one of the Macgann brothers is in it as well. For me, it's one of those films that I could watch over and over again as there are so many funny lines and scenes - bit like rewatching Life of Brian.