''Poitín'' is a 1978 Irish

crime drama film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...

produced and directed by Bob Quinn, and starring

Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland's finest thespians, and was renowned for his inte ...

Donal McCann Donal McCann (7 May 1943 – 17 July 1999) was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, '' The Dead'' (1987). In 2020, McCann was listed ...

, and

Niall Tóibín Niall Tóibín (; 21 November 1929 – 13 November 2019) was an Irish people, Irish comedian and actor. Born in Cork (city), Cork into an Irish language, Irish speaking family, Tóibín grew up on the north-side of the city in Bishop's Field. H ...

. It was the first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

to be made entirely in Irish, and the first recipient of a film script grant from the

Arts Council of Ireland The Arts Council (sometimes called the Arts Council of Ireland; legally ) is the independent "Irish government agency for developing the arts". About It was established in 1951 by the government of Ireland, to encourage interest in Irish art ( ...

Plot

Michil is a

moonshine Moonshine is alcohol proof, high-proof liquor, traditionally made or distributed alcohol law, illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of distilling the alcohol (drug), alcohol at night to avoid detection. In the first decades of the ...

r in rural

Connemara Connemara ( ; ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speaking Gaeltacht, ...

, living in an isolated cottage with his adult daughter. Two local degenerates, Labhrás and Sleamhnán, terrorise the old moonshiner for his contraband liquor (

poitín Poitín (), anglicized as poteen () or potcheen, is a traditional Irish distilled beverage (40–90% ABV). Former common names for Poitín were "Irish moonshine" and "mountain dew". It was traditionally distilled in a small pot still, and the ...

, made from

potatoes The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

), threatening to kill him and rape his daughter, until the moonshiner outwits them and tricks them to their deaths.

Cast

Production

''Poitín'' was shot on

16 mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

film. It was shot entirely on-location in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Release

''Poitín'' premiered in the Cinegael studio in

Carraroe Carraroe (in Irish language, Irish, and officially, , meaning 'the red quarter') is a village in Connemara, the coastal Irish-speaking region (Gaeltacht) of County Galway, Ireland. It is known for its traditional fishing boats, the Galway Hook ...

on 25 February 1978. Its

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

premiere was at the

Adelphi Cinema The Adelphi Cinema was a city centre film theatre on Middle Abbey Street, in Dublin, Ireland from 1939 to 1995. History This 2,304-seat Art Moderne style movie palace was designed by William R. Glen, (assisted by local Irish architect Robert ...

on 16 March. The film aired on

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's public service broadcaster. Its first channel was Telefís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RTÉ Television has added chan ...

on Saint Patrick's Day in 1979 and caused a "public outrage". Taken by some as an insult to the idealized Western Irish identity, particularly pointing to the "spud fight" scene in the film, criticism echoed the response to

John Millington Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, essayist, and collector of folklores. As an important driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, Ir ...

's stageplay '' The Playboy of the Western World'' (the "Playboy Riots") seventy years earlier and the reaction to

Brian O'Nolan Brian O'Nolan (; 5 October 19111 April 1966), his pen name being Flann O'Brien, was an Irish civil service official, novelist, playwright and satirist, who is now considered a major figure in twentieth-century Irish literature. Born in Straban ...

's Irish language novel '' An Béal Bocht'' forty years prior, both of which also played on Irish stereotypes, to which some in "respectable society" were sensitive. The film was transmitted on Friday 17 October 1980 by UK-based

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

– in a slot that usually included films not made in the English language.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 17 October 1980, page 23 The Times Digital Archive does not give any further British TV transmissions of this film.

References

External links

* 1978 films Irish-language films Films shot in Ireland Irish crime drama films 1978 crime drama films 1970s Irish films {{1970s-drama-film-stub