Verrat in Belfast

Years ago I visited NY, noticed this film and despite a pan by the NY Times, saw it since I'd been impressed by Craig Wasson in Go Tell the Spartans (still the best fiction film on Vietnam). Loved it: excellent story that avoids clichés, very well acted and directed. Came off a bit as The Further Adventures of the Craig Wasson Character Who Had Been in Nam. Disillusioned Nam vet wants purpose in life, goes to ancestral home Ireland, gets more disillusioned at being used by both IRA and Brits for their own, different purposes. Even becomes disillusioned with grandfather, whose screwed up memories of IRA glory persuaded him to go there. Maybe my memory of details is inaccurate (saw it once when it opened), but the final scene stays with me still: Wasson in a phone booth in Detroit, hitting the receiver on the phone box in frustration. Hope it comes out in DVD. If so, I'd order it in an instant.

I happened to be in NYC when this was released. Read no reviews of it, but having recently seen Craig Wasson in Go Tell the Spartans (still the best fiction movie about Vietnam) and having admired Frank Grimes since I saw him as the lead in The Playboy of the Western World in Dublin years earlier, I decided to go. And was glad I did. This movie is a gem. Its disappearance after that initial showing in NYC (and probably other metro centers in the US) baffles me. Even more baffling is its non-resurrection in DVD. The Wasson character sort of made the film a sequel to Go Tell the Spartans. The story (which I won't spoil by telling the plot), about both IRA-ers and Brits using the American for their political ends was great, as were the acting and directing. Still vivid in my memory is the emotional ending with Wasson in a phone booth in Detroit. I keep searching for its release on DVD, with no luck.

I saw this movie with my parents when I was only 10. It is not an appropriate film to take a child to, as there is a graphic torture scene and a lot of violence. However, I did not have any lasting trauma, and I thought the film was incredible. Very realistic, good acting, cynical story line that looked at multiple sides of the issue of the Troubles. The movie did not paint either the IRA or the British government in a positive light. I thought the violence in the film, though graphic, was necessary to show the brutality of the situation. This was one of the most memorable movies I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find it on DVD. I would love to see it again as an adult.

This is one of the better films on the IRA struggle I have ever seen, despite its age. You also get what looks like a film shot on location in Belfast from the 70's, which surprised me in that it looked like a warzone. Other later films on the subject cannot quite capture the setting as this film does wonderfully. The plot is complex, the acting is good, and it is pretty intense, and overall very well done. For anyone that likes the IRA subject matter it is definitely worth seeing, and one of the best films on that subject that is for unknown reasons, not well-watched.

This movie has haunted me since I saw it in the mid-1980s. It is one of the very best movies I have ever seen. I have searched in vain for a videotape (later DVD!) since without avail.

This movie is without peer in depicting the Troubles and in its exploration of loyalty and betrayal. It contains one of Sterling Hayden's last performances and, to say the least, he does not disappoint. Craig Wasson offers the best performance of his career in this film. Patricia Quinn demonstrates her capacity for a dramatic role (in sharp contrast to her performance in "Rocky Horror").

Northern Irish partisans of either stripe should be both warned and reassured: the movie is scrupulously even-handed and neither side is portrayed in a flattering light. Rather, it makes the point that the conflict has degenerated into a corrupt exercise in hatred, blood lust, and revenge.

This movie is stark and raw suspense, disillusionment, and heartbreak. I would happily pay $100 for a used VHS of this film.