- "The Devil's Own" is also a nickname for the Connaught Rangers and of the Inns of Court Regiment
The Devil's Own is a 1997 movie starring Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, Rubén Blades, Natascha McElhone, Julia Stiles and Treat Williams. It was the final film directed by Alan J. Pakula.
Synopsis
In 1972, eight year old Francis Austin McGuire lives in Northern Ireland with his father, mother and sister. One night, his father, a Republican sympathizer, is gunned down by a masked Loyalist gunman at the dinner table. 20 years later in September 1992, Frankie (Brad Pitt), now a grown man, has become a member of the Provisional IRA. In Belfast, Frankie and his team get caught up in a battle against British soldiers pursing Frankie. After a tense gun fight in the street, Frankie escapes. British agent Harry Sloan (Simon Jones) kills Frankie's colleague after he refuses to tell Sloan where Frankie is.
Frankie escapes to a safe house in the countryside where he meets up with Martin MacDuf. MacDuf tells him that the IRA are in need of surface-to-air missiles. Five months later in February 1993, Frankie travels to New York City, using a false passport under the name 'Rory Devaney'. He meets Peter Fitzsimmons, a New York court judge who is supportive of the IRA's cause. Fitzsimmons drives Rory to the home of Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford), a New York City cop. Rory meets Tom and his family and is unwittingly welcomed. Fitzsimmons also provides Frankie with a bag of millions of dollars in cash.
The next day, Rory meets up with his friend Sean Phelan, another IRA gunman. The two begin work on a boat intended to take them back to Ireland with the weapons. Rory meets with Billy Burke (Treat Williams), a black market dealer who agrees to provide Frankie with the missiles.
Later, Rory meets Megan Doherty (Natascha McElhone), Fitzsimmons's nanny, who becomes attracted to Frankie and agrees to help him with his mission. After a celebration for one of Tom's daughters, Rory is informed that Martin has been killed and that the deal with Burke has to be put on hold for a little longer than expected.
Tom is also having problems. One morning when he and his partner, Eddie Diaz, see a thief stealing car radios, the two surround the suspect and pursue him down the street. When the crook throws his gun down a flight of stairs, Tom goes to collect the gun but Eddie chases the crook into an alley where he shoots him in the back. At the police station, Tom covers up for Eddie and says that the crook had a gun at the time Eddie shot him. Tom subsequently decides to retire from active duty, as he cannot do his job with the guilt of lying to his superiors.
When Tom and his wife arrive home early one afternoon, they find two masked men in their house. Tom fights both of them off while his wife (Shelia) phones the police. The two are saved by Rory, who beats the two men just as a third masked man comes in and holds Shelia at gunpoint. The intruders leave just before the police arrive at the house and Rory checks that his bag of money is still in its hiding place. He visits Burke, who suggests that Rory talks to Sean about the exchange. Burke then takes Rory to an alley where Burke has beaten and gagged Sean in the back of his car. Burke tells Rory to get the money to him by that evening, or he'll kill Sean.
Rory returns to the Tom O'Meara's house. When he gets down to the basement he is challenged by Tom, who had been looking through Rory's room and has found the money. Tom demands to know what it is for, and even after Rory explains to Tom why he is doing what he's doing, Tom refuses to let him go. Tom and Eddie arrest Rory and drive him towards the police station. However, when they run into a obstacle, Eddie gets out to make the truck driver move and in the meantime Rory manages to knock Tom unconscious and escape. Rory kills Eddie when he draws his gun, but Rory fails to retrieve the money from the car trunk.
At the morgue, Tom is questioned by the FBI and Harry Sloan about his association with Rory, and Tom finally learns that Rory is really the wanted terrorist Frankie McGuire. Tom then goes on his own vendetta to find Frankie before the FBI and the British SAS can find him and kill him. Frankie meets Burke and his men in a warehouse that night. Burke reveals that he has killed Sean by tossing Sean's severed head at Frankie's feet, and Frankie gives the men a bag with a bomb inside, which triggers when opened. Frankie kills Burke and his men and then drives the missiles to Megan's home. He asks her to tell their contacts in Ireland that he is returning. She agrees, but before she can do so, Tom turns up and chases her upstairs while Frankie escapes. Having no choice, Megan tells Tom where Frankie is going and Tom drives to the docks where Frankie is loading the vessel that he and Sean had fixed up to transport the missiles. Just as Frankie sets off from the pier, Tom jumps on board the boat and the two men exchange gunfire, during which time Tom is shot in the shoulder. Frankie emerges and holds Tom at gunpoint, but is then shown to have been wounded in the chest - fatally. The film ends as Tom sails the boat back to shore.
Cast
Filming
The Devil's Own was filmed in Greenport NY (Long Island) as well as Montclair, New Jersey. The opening scenes were filmed at Port Oriel, Clogherhead, County Louth, Republic of Ireland. The Belfast shootout scenes were filmed in Inchicore, Dublin in July 1996. Other location shoots in Ireland were in the Dublin Mountains.
External links
