Main Cast: Albert Finney, Aidan Quinn, Robin Wright Penn, Milo O'Shea, Alan Devlin
Release Year: 1992
Country: IE/US/UK
Run Time: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Gillies MacKinnon directed this charming Irish romance, taking place in a small Irish village in 1957, just before the first television set makes an appearance in this conservative hamlet. There is a scandal in the village concerning the beautiful and independent Tara Maguire (Robin Wright) -- Tara is pregnant and refuses to identify the father. She goes into labor during Sunday Mass, which raises the ire of the parish priest (Alan Devlin), who thinks God will bring bad times down on the village for Tara's effrontery. The priest feels Tara should marry the local town constable, Sgt. Hagerty (Albert Finney), a dyspeptic reformed alcoholic who is in love with Tara. But she doesn't love Hagerty. This becomes particularly clear when a traveling band of actors known as the Playboys come into town. One of the players in the troupe, Tom Casey (Aidan Quinn), is caught by Tara stealing one of her chickens. But it is love at first sight, although it takes a while for their attraction to take root beyond some electric glances. Hagerty sees where the relationship is going and he is determined to undermine the burgeoning affair. Tara is wary and doesn't want to be dependent upon any man, even to the point of smuggling supplies to the Irish Republican Army. When Hagerty hears someone in the village is colluding with the IRA, he suspects Tom and throws him in jail. But Hagerty is a walking time bomb and finally his rage erupts with violent force. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
There's something about these small-village Irish historical pieces starring Aidan Quinn that equals cinematic dullsville. Neither This Is My Father nor this film, The Playboys, makes much of an impression in its consideration of the "scandals" that test the predominating church morality of the Irish countryside. Actually, Quinn does a fine job as a charming vagabond actor forever on the verge of a crooked grin. The Playboys also boasts the great Albert Finney and the widely respected Robin Wright Penn, but none of these contributors can transform the pale material into something worth strongly recommending. Even with a few moments of near tragedy, director Gillies MacKinnon can't extract a necessary urgency or universality from these events. The film is at its most interesting when it examines the inner workings of the gypsy-like troupe of actors, headed by the dignified but beleaguered Milo O'Shea. Learning both classic and popular works on the fly, and sometimes adhering to the requests of the audience, the performers show a remarkable talent for improvisation and a real piecemeal ingenuity regarding sets and costumes. But the story's main focus is the uproar over the mysterious pregnancy of Penn's Tara Maguire, and that kind of dated provincialism just doesn't register enough with a modern audience, especially in the absence of other distinguishing elements. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
In a small Irish village in 1957, Tara Maguire, a young resolute woman, is the talk of the town because she is having a baby out of wedlock, and refuses to name the father. During Sunday mass she goes into labor giving birth to a baby boy. The town’s constable, Brendan Hegarty, and Mick, a local landowner vie for Tara’s hand in marriage, but she refuses them both.
Mick loses his cattle and facing economical ruin commits suicide. People in town blame his death to Tara’s rejection. The local priest, father Malone, compels Tara to marry the constable before another tragedy takes place. But Tara is not in love with the solemn and older Sgt. Hegarty, a reformed alcoholic, who hides the fury of his unrequited love for Tara in his devotion for her. He carves a cradle for the baby, but Tara vehemently refuses the gift and his attentions.
The beautiful and strong willed Tara lives with her sister Bridget and is determined to make it on her own. She supplements her income as a dressmaker, raising chickens in her garden and smuggling goods from the nearby border with Northern Ireland. However even in this she has to face Hagerty who discovers her secret illegal dealings while riding his bicycle at night looking for smugglers on the roads.
The arrival of a shabby troupe of traveling actors called the "Playboys", stirs the town. Tara surprises, Tom, one of the actors, stealing one of her chickens. He has to pay for it, but he is smitten with her beauty and her character. They flirt and spar around the village, all under the resentful eye of the constable. The Playboys are a success in the sleepy village and the tent is full when the shows stars at night. One of their numbers with female dancers lifting their skirts creates the furious response of Father Malone who has other opinion of what is wholesome entertainment. The actors are forced to switch to staging Othello. A blind woman gets so excited during a show that she suddenly regains her vision. Not only the group of actors have to deal with discord when the time to share the dividends comes, but the recent arrival of television threatens the survival of their art.
The romance between Tara and Tom grows slowly over the few days that theatrical company is in the village. Her past has made her suspicious of men, and Hegarty's intrusions provide an added obstacle. He tells her that Tom is a liar who already has a wife, which turn out not to be true. Hagerty confronts Tom and tells him that he is the father of the baby, but Tara assures him that not only she does not have any feelings for the constable but that the baby was conceived on a lonely night without deep felling involved on her part.
One of the actors is involved with IRA and have smuggled some explosives, when these are accidentally discovered by Hagerty he blames his rival. Tom is framed as an IRA man, but he breaks out of jail with Tara's help. When Gone With the Wind plays on the local cinema, the actors stage an instant, improvised knock-off of it, with Atlanta burning while Tom struggles with his lines in the role of Rhett Butler. Comically, Fred has to take the role of Mammy. During the show the triangle between Tara, Tom and Sargent Hagerty comes to a boiling point. The performance is interrupted by the frantic Bridget. Hagerty, drunk, has taken the baby. He comes to the tent, drunk, but gives the baby back to Tara. There is a confrontation between Tom and the Sergeant, but the Sergeant painfully losses in a public fist fight with Tom. Even after this defeat, he trashes the tent. The next day the time for the playboys to leave has come. Hagerty, now jobless and in civilian clothes, also leaves the town for good. Tom is happily surprised when Tara decides to join the group with her baby and share a life together, perhaps in the end to take on a new life with Tom in America.
