Malachy McCourt, an Irish American author who also appeared on television as the bartender in “Ryan’s Hope,” died in Manhattan on March 11. He was 92.
The New York Times received confirmation of his death from his wife, Diana McCourt. He told the newspaper last year that he dealt with a myriad of ailments, including a heart condition, multiple forms of cancer and muscular degeneration.
McCourt appeared in soap operas including “Ryan’s Hope,” in which had a recurring role as a bartender. The show, which ran from 1975 to 1989, focused on an Irish American family living in Washington Heights. Some of McCourt’s film credits include “Reversal of Fortune,” “Bonfire of Vanities,” “The Other Guys,” “After.Life,” “The Devil’s Own” and “Q: The Winged Serpent.”
McCourt was born in Brooklyn to Irish parents on Sept. 20, 1931. His parents relocated the family to Limerick, Ireland, where he spent formative years alongside his older brother, Frank. He...
The New York Times received confirmation of his death from his wife, Diana McCourt. He told the newspaper last year that he dealt with a myriad of ailments, including a heart condition, multiple forms of cancer and muscular degeneration.
McCourt appeared in soap operas including “Ryan’s Hope,” in which had a recurring role as a bartender. The show, which ran from 1975 to 1989, focused on an Irish American family living in Washington Heights. Some of McCourt’s film credits include “Reversal of Fortune,” “Bonfire of Vanities,” “The Other Guys,” “After.Life,” “The Devil’s Own” and “Q: The Winged Serpent.”
McCourt was born in Brooklyn to Irish parents on Sept. 20, 1931. His parents relocated the family to Limerick, Ireland, where he spent formative years alongside his older brother, Frank. He...
- 3/11/2024
- by Jaden Thompson
- Variety Film + TV
Malachy McCourt, best known for recurring as the bartender, Kevin, on the soap Ryan’s Hope from 1975 to 1989, has died at the age of 92. He passed away in a hospital in Manhattan, his wife Diana McCourt, told the New York Times. He had previously revealed in March 2023 that he was battling a heart condition, multiple kinds of cancer, and muscular degeneration, though a cause of death has yet to be given. Malachy McCourt was the brother of Frank McCourt, who wrote Angela’s Ashes (which won a Pulitzer) about his childhood. In addition to his acting, Malachy was an author, with two memoirs, A Monk Swimming and Singing My Him Song, about his life, including his sobriety. He was born Malachy Gerard McCourt on September 20, 1931, in Brooklyn, then his family returned to Ireland when he was three years old. He returned to New York when he was 20. His first onscreen role...
- 3/11/2024
- TV Insider
Malachy McCourt, the Irish-American actor, raconteur and author best known to TV audiences for his long-running role as Kevin the bartender on ABC’s soap Ryan’s Hope, died today in Manhattan after battling a heart condition and cancer. He was 92.
His death was announced by his wife Diana McCourt to The New York Times.
The brother of Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela’s Ashes memoirist Frank McCourt, Malachy McCourt left an indelible mark on New York City’s Irish American community. As the owner of the quintessential 1950s Irish pub Malachy’s on Third Avenue in Manhattan – McCourt would often call it the city’s first singles bar, since he welcomed unaccompanied women to the establishment – the Brooklyn native became one of the city’s great story-tellers, regaling patrons from longshoremen to the actor Richard Harris with blarney, rugby talk and biographical anecdotes.
His way with words would hold him in good stead...
His death was announced by his wife Diana McCourt to The New York Times.
The brother of Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela’s Ashes memoirist Frank McCourt, Malachy McCourt left an indelible mark on New York City’s Irish American community. As the owner of the quintessential 1950s Irish pub Malachy’s on Third Avenue in Manhattan – McCourt would often call it the city’s first singles bar, since he welcomed unaccompanied women to the establishment – the Brooklyn native became one of the city’s great story-tellers, regaling patrons from longshoremen to the actor Richard Harris with blarney, rugby talk and biographical anecdotes.
His way with words would hold him in good stead...
- 3/11/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Taking a break from shooting a movie in the late Sixties, Richard Harris chartered a private plane. The actor and his entourage travelled to Hamburg to visit the brothels, and then went on a day trip to Ireland, spending an afternoon at one of Harris’s favourite pubs. They weren’t sober for a moment of the jaunt, which was chronicled by a photographer sent along for the ride.
The story of their antics is told in Adrian Sibley’s new feature documentary The Ghost of Richard Harris, a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week. What is most extraordinary about this particular episode is that it was nothing out of the ordinary for the Limerick-born star. Zigzagging across Europe in search of adventure, sex and alcohol was simply what Harris – at that stage of his life, at least – did.
His various paramours could likely attest to that.
The story of their antics is told in Adrian Sibley’s new feature documentary The Ghost of Richard Harris, a world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week. What is most extraordinary about this particular episode is that it was nothing out of the ordinary for the Limerick-born star. Zigzagging across Europe in search of adventure, sex and alcohol was simply what Harris – at that stage of his life, at least – did.
His various paramours could likely attest to that.
- 9/2/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- The Independent - Film
Stephen Colbert will host a virtual marathon reading of James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses, hosted by the New York venue Symphony Space. The event will take place June 16th, which is known as “Bloomsday,” as Ulysses takes place over the course of one day, June 16th, 1904, and the book’s protagonist is named Leopold Bloom.
Bloomsday on Broadway is an annual Symphony Space tradition and this year marks its 39th edition. But since the event can’t be held in person because of the Covid-19 crisis, this year’s lineup...
Bloomsday on Broadway is an annual Symphony Space tradition and this year marks its 39th edition. But since the event can’t be held in person because of the Covid-19 crisis, this year’s lineup...
- 5/26/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Exclusive: New York’s Irish Repertory Theatre has announced an upcoming online run of four plays, becoming what could be Off Broadway’s first summer season created specifically for virtual viewing. Included in the line-up is the world premiere of Darren Murphy’s short play The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, with characters affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like all Broadway and most Off Broadway theaters, Irish Rep is under shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly all New York venues have been dark since mid-March.
Announced today by artistic director Charlotte Moore and producing director Ciarán O’Reilly, Irish Rep’s first online summer season will feature three of the company’s more popular recent productions reimagined for the screen and filmed remotely – Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom, The Weir and Love, Noël: The Songs and Letters of Noël Coward – as well as the world premiere of Darren Murphy...
Like all Broadway and most Off Broadway theaters, Irish Rep is under shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly all New York venues have been dark since mid-March.
Announced today by artistic director Charlotte Moore and producing director Ciarán O’Reilly, Irish Rep’s first online summer season will feature three of the company’s more popular recent productions reimagined for the screen and filmed remotely – Yes! Reflections of Molly Bloom, The Weir and Love, Noël: The Songs and Letters of Noël Coward – as well as the world premiere of Darren Murphy...
- 5/21/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Daredevil has added Peter Halpin as Theo Nelson, the affable, younger brother of attorney Foggy Nelson. The Netflix series returns with Season 3 this Friday.
The character of Theo Nelson is as genial as his older sibling but less career-driven than Matthew Murdock’s law partner — the younger Nelson has worked his whole life with at his parents’ local business, the Hell’s Kitchen Butcher Shop in the gritty namesake New York neighborhood
The Theo Nelson character is a new addition to the Daredevil mythology — he has not previously appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics, which has published the hero’s ongoing adventures since 1964, nor in the 2003 feature film Daredevil.
Halpin launched his screen career in Angela’s Ashes, the 1999 adaptation of Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir. Halpin, a native of Limerick, Ireland, portrayed Malachy McCourt, brother of the author, in the grim New York tale directed by Alan Parker.
The character of Theo Nelson is as genial as his older sibling but less career-driven than Matthew Murdock’s law partner — the younger Nelson has worked his whole life with at his parents’ local business, the Hell’s Kitchen Butcher Shop in the gritty namesake New York neighborhood
The Theo Nelson character is a new addition to the Daredevil mythology — he has not previously appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics, which has published the hero’s ongoing adventures since 1964, nor in the 2003 feature film Daredevil.
Halpin launched his screen career in Angela’s Ashes, the 1999 adaptation of Frank McCourt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir. Halpin, a native of Limerick, Ireland, portrayed Malachy McCourt, brother of the author, in the grim New York tale directed by Alan Parker.
- 10/18/2018
- by Geoff Boucher
- Deadline Film + TV
1979: Ryan's Hope's Delia threated Johnny.
1980: Y&R's Leslie wanted to remember a secret from her past.
1991: As the World Turns' Ellen found out her husband had died.
1996: All My Children's Julia was visited by her Fairy Godmother."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1950: On radio soap opera The Guiding Light, Ted White (James Monk) told his wife, Meta (Jone Allison), he didn't think she...
1980: Y&R's Leslie wanted to remember a secret from her past.
1991: As the World Turns' Ellen found out her husband had died.
1996: All My Children's Julia was visited by her Fairy Godmother."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."
― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"
"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.
On this date in...
1950: On radio soap opera The Guiding Light, Ted White (James Monk) told his wife, Meta (Jone Allison), he didn't think she...
- 6/5/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
By Lee Pfeiffer
Scorpion has released the complete version of the 3-part 1978 mini series "The Dain Curse" as a double DVD set. The show has a checkered history in terms of home video. A truncated version was available for a while on VHS, then Image released the full three episodes on DVD. Now Scorpion has done the same and the quality of the set is very good, capturing the relatively rich production values of the series. Those of us of a certain age can remember when the major networks put a great deal of time, talent and financial resources into mini-series. In the 1970s and 1980s, many of these shows constituted "must-see" TV. In an age in which the average household didn't have video recorders, some shows were so special that people altered their lifestyles to ensure they could catch each episode. Today, those days seem long gone, with network...
Scorpion has released the complete version of the 3-part 1978 mini series "The Dain Curse" as a double DVD set. The show has a checkered history in terms of home video. A truncated version was available for a while on VHS, then Image released the full three episodes on DVD. Now Scorpion has done the same and the quality of the set is very good, capturing the relatively rich production values of the series. Those of us of a certain age can remember when the major networks put a great deal of time, talent and financial resources into mini-series. In the 1970s and 1980s, many of these shows constituted "must-see" TV. In an age in which the average household didn't have video recorders, some shows were so special that people altered their lifestyles to ensure they could catch each episode. Today, those days seem long gone, with network...
- 9/5/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Q The Winged Serpent
Directed by Larry Cohen
Written by Larry Cohen
1982, USA
Genre pioneer Larry Cohen takes a stab at the giant-monster genre with Q, The Winged Serpent, a first-rate grade-z schlock masterwork, which successfully combines a film noir crime story with good old-fashioned creature effects. The title refers to the winged Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, represented here as a dragon-like, flying serpent hovering over New York City. Detectives Shepard (David Carradine) and Powell (Richard Roundtree) investigate a bizarre series of deaths where victims have been snatched from high-rise buildings and dropped to the streets below, minus their head. After witnesses report seeing the flying creature, Shepard follows a lead that Quetzalcoatl has been brought back to life by a series of sacrifices performed by a killer they are also chasing. Meanwhile, when a diamond heist goes wrong, petty thief Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) hides out in the infrastructure of...
Directed by Larry Cohen
Written by Larry Cohen
1982, USA
Genre pioneer Larry Cohen takes a stab at the giant-monster genre with Q, The Winged Serpent, a first-rate grade-z schlock masterwork, which successfully combines a film noir crime story with good old-fashioned creature effects. The title refers to the winged Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, represented here as a dragon-like, flying serpent hovering over New York City. Detectives Shepard (David Carradine) and Powell (Richard Roundtree) investigate a bizarre series of deaths where victims have been snatched from high-rise buildings and dropped to the streets below, minus their head. After witnesses report seeing the flying creature, Shepard follows a lead that Quetzalcoatl has been brought back to life by a series of sacrifices performed by a killer they are also chasing. Meanwhile, when a diamond heist goes wrong, petty thief Jimmy Quinn (Michael Moriarty) hides out in the infrastructure of...
- 9/22/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Tony Award winner Alice Ripley stars in 'Isn't It Delicious,' alongside Keir Dullea, Mia Dillon, Kathleen Chalfant and Malachy McCourt. The film is 'Isn't It Delicious' is described as a black comedy about a loving but dysfunctional Catholic, upper-middle-class family gathering after it learns its controlling matriarch is dying of cancer. Michael Patrick Kelly directs.Check out the trailer below...
- 2/26/2013
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
After not only appearing in Friends with Kids, Man on a Ledge and the upcoming Alex Cross, the prolific Edward Burns has already churned out another feature. His next family drama, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, is set to premiere at Tiff and has just announced acquisition today.
Tribeca Film have picked up the film, which stars The Brothers McMullen leads Connie Britton and Michael McGlone. The distributor plans to get the film out on VOD late-November following success of Burns’ last feature on the format, Newlyweds. Check out the first stills above and below, along with a synopsis for the film also starring Kerry Bishé, Heather Burns, Brian D’Arcy James, Marsha Dietlein Bennett, Dara Coleman, Noah Emmerich, Caitlin FitzGerald, Anita Gillette, Tom Guiry, Ed Lauter, Malachy McCourt, Daniella Pineda, Nick Sandow, John Solo, Joyce Van Patten and Burns himself.
Synopsis:
With The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Burns returns to the working-class,...
Tribeca Film have picked up the film, which stars The Brothers McMullen leads Connie Britton and Michael McGlone. The distributor plans to get the film out on VOD late-November following success of Burns’ last feature on the format, Newlyweds. Check out the first stills above and below, along with a synopsis for the film also starring Kerry Bishé, Heather Burns, Brian D’Arcy James, Marsha Dietlein Bennett, Dara Coleman, Noah Emmerich, Caitlin FitzGerald, Anita Gillette, Tom Guiry, Ed Lauter, Malachy McCourt, Daniella Pineda, Nick Sandow, John Solo, Joyce Van Patten and Burns himself.
Synopsis:
With The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, Burns returns to the working-class,...
- 9/5/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Chicago – In our latest sports edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 30 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the original Cinderella story “The Mighty Macs” about women’s basketball!
“The Mighty Macs” stars Carla Gugino, David Boreanaz, Ellen Burstyn, Marley Shelton, Lauren Bittner, Jennifer Butler, Phyllis Somerville, Jesse Draper, Margaret Anne Florence, Christopher Mann, Kate Nowlin, Kathy Romano, Kim Blair, Malachy McCourt and Katie Hayek from writer and director Tim Chambers. The film opens on Oct. 21, 2011.
To win your free pass to the advance Chicago screening of “The Mighty Macs” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This advance screening is on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 at 7 p.m. in Schaumburg, Ill. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The movie poster for “The Mighty Macs” with Carla Gugino, David Boreanaz and Ellen Burstyn.
“The Mighty Macs” stars Carla Gugino, David Boreanaz, Ellen Burstyn, Marley Shelton, Lauren Bittner, Jennifer Butler, Phyllis Somerville, Jesse Draper, Margaret Anne Florence, Christopher Mann, Kate Nowlin, Kathy Romano, Kim Blair, Malachy McCourt and Katie Hayek from writer and director Tim Chambers. The film opens on Oct. 21, 2011.
To win your free pass to the advance Chicago screening of “The Mighty Macs” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This advance screening is on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 at 7 p.m. in Schaumburg, Ill. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The movie poster for “The Mighty Macs” with Carla Gugino, David Boreanaz and Ellen Burstyn.
- 10/15/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection James Joyce in 1904
At 8 am, there will be top hats in Bryant park, as people in Edwardian dress gather to hear some of James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses.” Downtown at Ulysses’ pub, there will be readings, complimentary drinks, and music. And from noon to 1 am, 85 performers will read from in 135 slots from Joyce’s novel at Symphony Space for Bloomsday on Broadway’s 30th anniversary.
And that’s just New York. People will be...
At 8 am, there will be top hats in Bryant park, as people in Edwardian dress gather to hear some of James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses.” Downtown at Ulysses’ pub, there will be readings, complimentary drinks, and music. And from noon to 1 am, 85 performers will read from in 135 slots from Joyce’s novel at Symphony Space for Bloomsday on Broadway’s 30th anniversary.
And that’s just New York. People will be...
- 6/16/2011
- by Gwen Orel
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
In "The Other Guys", which hits theatres today, funny man Will Ferrell is back on form. A classic mismatched buddy comedy, Ferrell plays Detective Allen Gamble, a forensic accountant, who’s paired off with fellow Irish American actor Mark Wahlberg, making this a macho and milquetoast combo that's about as combustible as it sounds. But it wouldn't be a Ferrell flick if there wasn't something richly subversive going on just beneath the surface. On the surface "The Other Guys" looks a typical cop drama, but it has some surprisingly pointed things to say about America's real villains and in the process it manages to trip up the never ending stream of macho blowhards that populate shoot em' up dramas. For Irish American audiences the scene set in a Manhattan Irish bar will really sell the movie. Involving writer and raconteur Malachy McCourt (brother of the late Angela’s Ashes writer...
- 8/6/2010
- IrishCentral
Chicago – In our latest horror/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of “After.Life” starring Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson and Justin Long!
“After.Life” also features Josh Charles, Chandler Canterbury, Celia Weston, Anna Kuchma, Shuler Hensley, Rosemary Murphy, Malachy McCourt, Laurel Bryce, Bill Perkins, Luz Alexandra Ramos and Laurie Cole from writer and director Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo. The film opens on April 9, 2010.
To win your free pass to the advance Chicago screening of “After.Life” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This screening is on Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The movie poster for “After.Life” with Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson and Justin Long.
Image credit: Anchor Bay Films
Here is the “After.Life” plot description:
After a horrific car accident,...
“After.Life” also features Josh Charles, Chandler Canterbury, Celia Weston, Anna Kuchma, Shuler Hensley, Rosemary Murphy, Malachy McCourt, Laurel Bryce, Bill Perkins, Luz Alexandra Ramos and Laurie Cole from writer and director Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo. The film opens on April 9, 2010.
To win your free pass to the advance Chicago screening of “After.Life” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This screening is on Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.
The movie poster for “After.Life” with Christina Ricci, Liam Neeson and Justin Long.
Image credit: Anchor Bay Films
Here is the “After.Life” plot description:
After a horrific car accident,...
- 4/1/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
St. Patrick's day. Everything's coming up green but the economy. This day brings me to Malachy McCourt. Raised in Limerick, he has children named Siobhan, Conor and Cormac. He's on Radio Free Eireann. The man's written books on life in Ireland, on the Irish ballad "Danny Boy," and his latest is "Malachy McCourt's History of Ireland." St. Patrick Himself wasn't as Irish as Malachy McCourt. He and his late brother Frank once talked to me about the charms of March 17th. What he said was: "God bless Ireland.
- 3/17/2010
- by By CINDY ADAMS
- NYPost.com
There are a few horror movies that tend to slink us out of nowhere and After.Life (yes After, period, Life) happens to be one of those films. The news on this film has trickled out slowing since announced late last year and finally we have a trailer to set the vibe for what looks to be a really creepy movie...
Synopsis: After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified, and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn’t believe she’s dead, despite the funeral director’s reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot,...
Synopsis: After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified, and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesn’t believe she’s dead, despite the funeral director’s reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot,...
- 3/3/2010
- by admin
- Horrorbid
With the recent remake of the 1972 shocker The Last House On The Left now available on DVD, new audiences have been seeking out Wes Craven's original film. At the inaugural Fangoria Trinity Of Terrors (to be held October 30 through November 1 at The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas), Fangoria welcomes the "baddies" of the original film, with David Hess, Fred J. Lincoln, Jeramie Rain, and Marc Sheffler all set to appear!
Tickets for our massive Halloween Weekend are now available online through http://www.trinityofterrors.com and through Vegas.com. You may also order tickets from Vegas.com by phone - 1-888-las-vegas (527-8342) 24 hours a day.
David Hess:
David began his professional career as a songwriter for Shalimar Music in 1957, under the pseudonym of David Hill. David's first recording was a quick hit, which was later performed and credited to Elvis Presley. The song: "All Shook Up.
Tickets for our massive Halloween Weekend are now available online through http://www.trinityofterrors.com and through Vegas.com. You may also order tickets from Vegas.com by phone - 1-888-las-vegas (527-8342) 24 hours a day.
David Hess:
David began his professional career as a songwriter for Shalimar Music in 1957, under the pseudonym of David Hill. David's first recording was a quick hit, which was later performed and credited to Elvis Presley. The song: "All Shook Up.
- 10/13/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Staff)
- Fangoria
While his books captivated millions of readers around the world, Frank McCourt, who died Sunday after a recent health battle, spent the earlier part of his life enthralling a smaller but no less impressionable group of people: his students in the New York City public school system, where he taught for 30 years. It was when the Brooklyn-born, Ireland-raised McCourt reached his 60s that he decided to put memories of his impossibly impoverished childhood in Limerick - and his mother Angela - to paper, and the result was Angela's Ashes, published in 1996 to acclaim and awards, including the Pulitzer and the National Book Award.
- 7/20/2009
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt has died of cancer, aged 78.
The Irish writer, whose book was made into a hit movie, had been battling melanoma skin cancer in a New York hospice, but his condition took a turn for the worse when he contracted meningitis earlier this month.
His brother, veteran actor Malachy McCourt, said his sibling died on Sunday afternoon in Manhattan.
Speaking last week (beg13Jul09), Malachy admitted he wasn't expecting the scribe to get through his illness, saying, "We don't expect him to live very long. He got meningitis and that screwed up the whole thing. (Until then) he was doing okay, speaking and lecturing and appearing and signing and doing all the usual stuff."
McCourt won a Pulitzer Prize for Angela's Ashes in 1996, which he wrote after retiring from his job as an English teacher.
His other works include Teacher Man and Tis.
The Irish writer, whose book was made into a hit movie, had been battling melanoma skin cancer in a New York hospice, but his condition took a turn for the worse when he contracted meningitis earlier this month.
His brother, veteran actor Malachy McCourt, said his sibling died on Sunday afternoon in Manhattan.
Speaking last week (beg13Jul09), Malachy admitted he wasn't expecting the scribe to get through his illness, saying, "We don't expect him to live very long. He got meningitis and that screwed up the whole thing. (Until then) he was doing okay, speaking and lecturing and appearing and signing and doing all the usual stuff."
McCourt won a Pulitzer Prize for Angela's Ashes in 1996, which he wrote after retiring from his job as an English teacher.
His other works include Teacher Man and Tis.
- 7/20/2009
- WENN
Frank McCourt, a teacher who in his sixties wrote a memoir of his desperately poor Irish childhood that became the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angela's Ashes, has died. He was 78.
McCourt, whose novel was adapted into a 1999 film of the same name, died of metastatic melanoma, said his brother, actor and writer Malachy McCourt. Frank McCourt, who lived in New York City and Roxbury, Conn., died Sunday, The New York Times reported.
See Frank McCourt talk about the importance of books
Angela's Ashes won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 and sold more than ...
Read More >...
McCourt, whose novel was adapted into a 1999 film of the same name, died of metastatic melanoma, said his brother, actor and writer Malachy McCourt. Frank McCourt, who lived in New York City and Roxbury, Conn., died Sunday, The New York Times reported.
See Frank McCourt talk about the importance of books
Angela's Ashes won the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 and sold more than ...
Read More >...
- 7/20/2009
- by Tim Molloy
- TVGuide - Breaking News
Frank McCourt, the Brooklyn-born, Ireland-raised author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1996 memoir Angela's Ashes, is in a hospice, his brother Malachy McCourt said Thursday. Frank McCourt, 78, who recently battled melanoma and contracted meningitis about two weeks ago, "is not expected to live," his younger (by one year) brother told Reuters. The author is in a New York hospice, "his faculties shutting down," according to his sibling. After the best-selling Angela's Ashes, which tracked his unimaginably impoverished childhood and was adapted to the screen in 1999, McCourt went on to write two other memoirs, 1999's 'Tis and 2005's Teacher Man, about his experiences...
- 7/17/2009
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Cancer-hit Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt is fighting for his life after contracting meningitis.
McCourt, whose book was made into a hit movie, has been battling melanoma skin cancer in a New York hospice, but his condition took a turn for the worse when he contracted the deadly brain disease.
And the 78 year old is not expected to recover from the illness, according to his brother, veteran actor Malachy McCourt.
He says, "We don't expect him to live very long. He got meningitis and that screwed up the whole thing. (Until then) he was doing okay, speaking and lecturing and appearing and signing and doing all the usual stuff.
"He was one of the unfortunate ones. Only three to five per cent of people who have melanoma get this form of meningitis.
"He's still conscious, but his hearing has gone and his eyesight is going. He's speaking less."...
McCourt, whose book was made into a hit movie, has been battling melanoma skin cancer in a New York hospice, but his condition took a turn for the worse when he contracted the deadly brain disease.
And the 78 year old is not expected to recover from the illness, according to his brother, veteran actor Malachy McCourt.
He says, "We don't expect him to live very long. He got meningitis and that screwed up the whole thing. (Until then) he was doing okay, speaking and lecturing and appearing and signing and doing all the usual stuff.
"He was one of the unfortunate ones. Only three to five per cent of people who have melanoma get this form of meningitis.
"He's still conscious, but his hearing has gone and his eyesight is going. He's speaking less."...
- 7/17/2009
- WENN
Veteran actor Malachy McCourt has been forced to pull out of a theatre production in Vermont after shattering his leg in a nasty fall.
The 77 year old, brother of Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt, slipped over in his hotel room, breaking his leg in three places.
He is recovering at Helen Hayes Hospital in Rockland County, but the accident has left him unable to continue his run in Prelude to a Kiss in the city of Burlington.
But he remains upbeat about the bad news, telling New York Post gossip column PageSix, "Friends told me, 'Break a leg,' so I did. Now, I have enough plates in my leg for a dinner party."...
The 77 year old, brother of Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt, slipped over in his hotel room, breaking his leg in three places.
He is recovering at Helen Hayes Hospital in Rockland County, but the accident has left him unable to continue his run in Prelude to a Kiss in the city of Burlington.
But he remains upbeat about the bad news, telling New York Post gossip column PageSix, "Friends told me, 'Break a leg,' so I did. Now, I have enough plates in my leg for a dinner party."...
- 5/21/2009
- WENN
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes is battling skin cancer.
Frank McCourt, 78, is being treated for melanoma, according to his publicist Brian Belfiglio, but the writer's brother insists he's not as gravely ill as reports suggest.
Malachy McCourt states his sibling's cancer is in remission, adding McCourt is "a hearty fellow, and he's survived worse than this."
The writer's agent, Molly Friedrich, tells U.S. TV news show The Insider that McCourt was in the hospital about a month ago but is now back at home and undergoing chemotherapy.
She insists her client is "doing well".
Frank McCourt, 78, is being treated for melanoma, according to his publicist Brian Belfiglio, but the writer's brother insists he's not as gravely ill as reports suggest.
Malachy McCourt states his sibling's cancer is in remission, adding McCourt is "a hearty fellow, and he's survived worse than this."
The writer's agent, Molly Friedrich, tells U.S. TV news show The Insider that McCourt was in the hospital about a month ago but is now back at home and undergoing chemotherapy.
She insists her client is "doing well".
- 5/20/2009
- WENN
Irish film maker Alan Cooke has won the NY Emmy for Best Writing for his documentary 'Home' at the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Awards at the weekend. Home' had received an additional two Emmy nominations at the awards for Best Documentary (Producers Dawn Scibilia and Alan Cooke) and Best Photography (Dawn Scibilia). The doc is a reflection on Alan Cookes immigration to New York. Surrounding questions of the concept of home, it features interviews with Liam Neeson, Susan Sarandon, Mike Myers, Alfred Molina, Colin Quinn, Rosie Perez, Pete Hamill, Fran Lebowitz, Frank and Malachy McCourt, Elaine Kaufman, Drew Nieporent, Vinny Vella and Armand Dimele. (Woody Allen appears in TV/Cable version only)...
- 3/31/2009
- IFTN
The Hamptons aren't just about beach books. To benefit the East Hampton Library, about 80 writers - including E.L. Doctorow, Marie Brenner, Malachy McCourt, Steven Gaines, Barbara Goldsmith, Alec Baldwin and Jay McInerney - will gather there for cocktails tomorrow before splitting off for 22 dinner parties at nearby houses. Alec Kuczynski and Charles Stevenson are hosting 18 guests in honor of Vanity Fair's Doug Stumpf. Lawyer Tom Twomey...
- 8/8/2008
- NYPost.com
AFI Fest
Terrific performances by Anthony LaPaglia, Eric Stoltz and Caroleen Feeney infuse this well-written comic drama with a realistic ease. Director Mike Bencivenga and his co-scripter, Richard Levine, have crafted a Manhattan-set tale that strikes a fine balance between sardonic banter and poignancy. Centered on the last days of an alcoholic, "Happy Hour" deftly avoids the grimness and maudlin sentimentality one might expect. With a much truer take on the disease than such showier fare as "Leaving Las Vegas", the Davis Entertainment production, which is screening in the AFI Fest's American Directions section, deserves art house exposure.
LaPaglia plays Tulley, a middle-aged copywriter devoted to drink, his faithful colleague Levine (Stoltz) often beside him at the bar. An acclaimed short-story writer in his youth, he has been working on a novel for 17 years, living in the shadow of his father (Robert Vaughn), the kind of successful scribe who lunches at the Algonquin with Pete Hamill, Steve Dunleavy and Jack Newfield (all in for cameos). Tulley's "carefree, pointless life" takes on new meaning when he meets Natalie (Feeney), a spirited schoolteacher, at his watering hole and when he's diagnosed with advanced liver disease.
The film captures the workaday emptiness, politics and open hatreds at the ad agency Tulley calls "drudgery's cathedral." Thomas Sadoski has an effective turn as a cliche-spouting brown-noser who's sleeping with the gorgeous boss (Sandrine Holt). Tulley and Levine get back at the back-stabbing young wannabe with a couple of inventive pranks involving a colostomy bag and a porn tape.
LaPaglia's hard-boiled voice-over notwithstanding, the real focus of "Happy Hour" is Levine, and Stoltz portrays him with an appropriate ambiguity. An aspiring writer who hides himself behind a low-stress numbers-crunching job, he's effete and urbane, the consummate fifth wheel to Tulley and Natalie's relationship and possibly in love with his friend. Stoltz and Feeney convey the fallout and the rewards for people who attach themselves to alcoholics, while LaPaglia's Tulley is charming, awful and utterly believable. Malachy McCourt makes the most of his brief appearance as Tulley's gruff, disappointed literary mentor.
Terrific performances by Anthony LaPaglia, Eric Stoltz and Caroleen Feeney infuse this well-written comic drama with a realistic ease. Director Mike Bencivenga and his co-scripter, Richard Levine, have crafted a Manhattan-set tale that strikes a fine balance between sardonic banter and poignancy. Centered on the last days of an alcoholic, "Happy Hour" deftly avoids the grimness and maudlin sentimentality one might expect. With a much truer take on the disease than such showier fare as "Leaving Las Vegas", the Davis Entertainment production, which is screening in the AFI Fest's American Directions section, deserves art house exposure.
LaPaglia plays Tulley, a middle-aged copywriter devoted to drink, his faithful colleague Levine (Stoltz) often beside him at the bar. An acclaimed short-story writer in his youth, he has been working on a novel for 17 years, living in the shadow of his father (Robert Vaughn), the kind of successful scribe who lunches at the Algonquin with Pete Hamill, Steve Dunleavy and Jack Newfield (all in for cameos). Tulley's "carefree, pointless life" takes on new meaning when he meets Natalie (Feeney), a spirited schoolteacher, at his watering hole and when he's diagnosed with advanced liver disease.
The film captures the workaday emptiness, politics and open hatreds at the ad agency Tulley calls "drudgery's cathedral." Thomas Sadoski has an effective turn as a cliche-spouting brown-noser who's sleeping with the gorgeous boss (Sandrine Holt). Tulley and Levine get back at the back-stabbing young wannabe with a couple of inventive pranks involving a colostomy bag and a porn tape.
LaPaglia's hard-boiled voice-over notwithstanding, the real focus of "Happy Hour" is Levine, and Stoltz portrays him with an appropriate ambiguity. An aspiring writer who hides himself behind a low-stress numbers-crunching job, he's effete and urbane, the consummate fifth wheel to Tulley and Natalie's relationship and possibly in love with his friend. Stoltz and Feeney convey the fallout and the rewards for people who attach themselves to alcoholics, while LaPaglia's Tulley is charming, awful and utterly believable. Malachy McCourt makes the most of his brief appearance as Tulley's gruff, disappointed literary mentor.
AFI Fest
Terrific performances by Anthony LaPaglia, Eric Stoltz and Caroleen Feeney infuse this well-written comic drama with a realistic ease. Director Mike Bencivenga and his co-scripter, Richard Levine, have crafted a Manhattan-set tale that strikes a fine balance between sardonic banter and poignancy. Centered on the last days of an alcoholic, "Happy Hour" deftly avoids the grimness and maudlin sentimentality one might expect. With a much truer take on the disease than such showier fare as "Leaving Las Vegas", the Davis Entertainment production, which is screening in the AFI Fest's American Directions section, deserves art house exposure.
LaPaglia plays Tulley, a middle-aged copywriter devoted to drink, his faithful colleague Levine (Stoltz) often beside him at the bar. An acclaimed short-story writer in his youth, he has been working on a novel for 17 years, living in the shadow of his father (Robert Vaughn), the kind of successful scribe who lunches at the Algonquin with Pete Hamill, Steve Dunleavy and Jack Newfield (all in for cameos). Tulley's "carefree, pointless life" takes on new meaning when he meets Natalie (Feeney), a spirited schoolteacher, at his watering hole and when he's diagnosed with advanced liver disease.
The film captures the workaday emptiness, politics and open hatreds at the ad agency Tulley calls "drudgery's cathedral." Thomas Sadoski has an effective turn as a cliche-spouting brown-noser who's sleeping with the gorgeous boss (Sandrine Holt). Tulley and Levine get back at the back-stabbing young wannabe with a couple of inventive pranks involving a colostomy bag and a porn tape.
LaPaglia's hard-boiled voice-over notwithstanding, the real focus of "Happy Hour" is Levine, and Stoltz portrays him with an appropriate ambiguity. An aspiring writer who hides himself behind a low-stress numbers-crunching job, he's effete and urbane, the consummate fifth wheel to Tulley and Natalie's relationship and possibly in love with his friend. Stoltz and Feeney convey the fallout and the rewards for people who attach themselves to alcoholics, while LaPaglia's Tulley is charming, awful and utterly believable. Malachy McCourt makes the most of his brief appearance as Tulley's gruff, disappointed literary mentor.
Terrific performances by Anthony LaPaglia, Eric Stoltz and Caroleen Feeney infuse this well-written comic drama with a realistic ease. Director Mike Bencivenga and his co-scripter, Richard Levine, have crafted a Manhattan-set tale that strikes a fine balance between sardonic banter and poignancy. Centered on the last days of an alcoholic, "Happy Hour" deftly avoids the grimness and maudlin sentimentality one might expect. With a much truer take on the disease than such showier fare as "Leaving Las Vegas", the Davis Entertainment production, which is screening in the AFI Fest's American Directions section, deserves art house exposure.
LaPaglia plays Tulley, a middle-aged copywriter devoted to drink, his faithful colleague Levine (Stoltz) often beside him at the bar. An acclaimed short-story writer in his youth, he has been working on a novel for 17 years, living in the shadow of his father (Robert Vaughn), the kind of successful scribe who lunches at the Algonquin with Pete Hamill, Steve Dunleavy and Jack Newfield (all in for cameos). Tulley's "carefree, pointless life" takes on new meaning when he meets Natalie (Feeney), a spirited schoolteacher, at his watering hole and when he's diagnosed with advanced liver disease.
The film captures the workaday emptiness, politics and open hatreds at the ad agency Tulley calls "drudgery's cathedral." Thomas Sadoski has an effective turn as a cliche-spouting brown-noser who's sleeping with the gorgeous boss (Sandrine Holt). Tulley and Levine get back at the back-stabbing young wannabe with a couple of inventive pranks involving a colostomy bag and a porn tape.
LaPaglia's hard-boiled voice-over notwithstanding, the real focus of "Happy Hour" is Levine, and Stoltz portrays him with an appropriate ambiguity. An aspiring writer who hides himself behind a low-stress numbers-crunching job, he's effete and urbane, the consummate fifth wheel to Tulley and Natalie's relationship and possibly in love with his friend. Stoltz and Feeney convey the fallout and the rewards for people who attach themselves to alcoholics, while LaPaglia's Tulley is charming, awful and utterly believable. Malachy McCourt makes the most of his brief appearance as Tulley's gruff, disappointed literary mentor.
- 11/11/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ash Wednesday
Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK — The heavy-handedness of this crime melodrama from Ed Burns is illustrated by the fact that it takes place entirely on one of the holiest Catholic days, with the end effect resembling a feature-length version of one of Coppola's celebrated montages at the end of his "Godfather" films. The tale of two brothers whose lives are irretrievably altered by the nonstop cycle of violence perpetuated by their Hell's Kitchen neighborhood — the film is set in 1983, before its gentrification and transformation into "Clinton" — "Ash Wednesday" is a distinct departure for the actor-filmmaker, most of whose previous efforts have been much more on the lighter side. The film recently received a special screening at New York's Tribeca Film Festival.
Burns plays the leading role of Francis Sullivan, a bartender trying to live down his violent past as an enforcer in an Irish gang. Francis' life is shaken when his younger brother Sean (Elijah Wood) starts showing up around the neighborhood, which is particularly puzzling because Sean was murdered exactly three years earlier, with only pieces of his body found. Of course, it soon turns out that Sean was not murdered but simply went into hiding after a violent encounter with some local gangsters who were trying to kill Francis. Now Sean has returned to reclaim his wife (Rosario Dawson), who, in the meantime, unbeknownst to him, has become very close to Francis. Despite Francis' efforts at damage control, news of Sean's reappearance gets around, with the resulting dire consequences.
Burns' affinity for his milieu and his characters is readily apparent in this effort, which contains colorful supporting performances by such actors as Oliver Platt, Malachy McCourt and James Handy, the latter as a helpful priest, naturally. But despite the authenticity of the trappings, the film is overblown in its plotting, hackneyed in its dialogue and anachronistic in its style. It takes place a mere 20 years ago, but it resembles a '30s-era melodrama starring Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien.
Burns' laid-back acting style is beginning to wear a bit thin, and a more intense turn would have better served this material. Wood brings a simple sincerity to his role but seems miscast, while Dawson is highly sympathetic as the beleaguered wife. The location shooting in New York adds the requisite gritty atmosphere, and David Shire's plaintive, piano-driven score is another plus. - Frank Scheck
Double Vision
Un Certain Regard
CANNES — Taiwanese filmmaker Chen Kuo-fu made ripples on the festival circuit a couple of years back with the clever lonely-hearts story "The Personals". "Double Vision", produced by Columbia TriStar Asia, is a more commercial work. Production values are upmarket, and special effects — courtesy of three Australian effects houses — are above par for the region. But structure and plotting are messy, and the performances from three of Asia's finest are perfunctory. The film played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.
The story is a melange of buddy movie, detective drama and horror film. Tony Leung Ka-fai ("The Lover") plays a troubled Taipei detective on the tail of an elusive serial killer. The clues refuse to add up, so the Taiwanese authorities call on the help of experienced American FBI agent Richter (David Morse). A harassed Leung, who's also suffering on the domestic front, is forced to let the foreign agent on the case — cue cultural differences. The duo trace the murders to the violent Aum-like True Sage sect, who are trying to kill their way to immortality. Will the cops be able to overcome the sect's supernatural powers?
Although the story strands work fine on their own, lumped together they are confusing. The supernatural element is an odd fit for what's essentially a downbeat cop drama. A subplot about the detective's mute daughter gets lost in the mix. The horror works best. A bloody scene in which the True Sage sect wipes out a police unit with swordplay and kung fu is exciting. Morse does a sterling job as Richter.
High production values and Leung will certainly provoke interest in Asian territories, though the sprawling plot could provide problems further afield. - Richard James Havis...
Tribeca Film Festival
NEW YORK — The heavy-handedness of this crime melodrama from Ed Burns is illustrated by the fact that it takes place entirely on one of the holiest Catholic days, with the end effect resembling a feature-length version of one of Coppola's celebrated montages at the end of his "Godfather" films. The tale of two brothers whose lives are irretrievably altered by the nonstop cycle of violence perpetuated by their Hell's Kitchen neighborhood — the film is set in 1983, before its gentrification and transformation into "Clinton" — "Ash Wednesday" is a distinct departure for the actor-filmmaker, most of whose previous efforts have been much more on the lighter side. The film recently received a special screening at New York's Tribeca Film Festival.
Burns plays the leading role of Francis Sullivan, a bartender trying to live down his violent past as an enforcer in an Irish gang. Francis' life is shaken when his younger brother Sean (Elijah Wood) starts showing up around the neighborhood, which is particularly puzzling because Sean was murdered exactly three years earlier, with only pieces of his body found. Of course, it soon turns out that Sean was not murdered but simply went into hiding after a violent encounter with some local gangsters who were trying to kill Francis. Now Sean has returned to reclaim his wife (Rosario Dawson), who, in the meantime, unbeknownst to him, has become very close to Francis. Despite Francis' efforts at damage control, news of Sean's reappearance gets around, with the resulting dire consequences.
Burns' affinity for his milieu and his characters is readily apparent in this effort, which contains colorful supporting performances by such actors as Oliver Platt, Malachy McCourt and James Handy, the latter as a helpful priest, naturally. But despite the authenticity of the trappings, the film is overblown in its plotting, hackneyed in its dialogue and anachronistic in its style. It takes place a mere 20 years ago, but it resembles a '30s-era melodrama starring Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien.
Burns' laid-back acting style is beginning to wear a bit thin, and a more intense turn would have better served this material. Wood brings a simple sincerity to his role but seems miscast, while Dawson is highly sympathetic as the beleaguered wife. The location shooting in New York adds the requisite gritty atmosphere, and David Shire's plaintive, piano-driven score is another plus. - Frank Scheck
Double Vision
Un Certain Regard
CANNES — Taiwanese filmmaker Chen Kuo-fu made ripples on the festival circuit a couple of years back with the clever lonely-hearts story "The Personals". "Double Vision", produced by Columbia TriStar Asia, is a more commercial work. Production values are upmarket, and special effects — courtesy of three Australian effects houses — are above par for the region. But structure and plotting are messy, and the performances from three of Asia's finest are perfunctory. The film played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.
The story is a melange of buddy movie, detective drama and horror film. Tony Leung Ka-fai ("The Lover") plays a troubled Taipei detective on the tail of an elusive serial killer. The clues refuse to add up, so the Taiwanese authorities call on the help of experienced American FBI agent Richter (David Morse). A harassed Leung, who's also suffering on the domestic front, is forced to let the foreign agent on the case — cue cultural differences. The duo trace the murders to the violent Aum-like True Sage sect, who are trying to kill their way to immortality. Will the cops be able to overcome the sect's supernatural powers?
Although the story strands work fine on their own, lumped together they are confusing. The supernatural element is an odd fit for what's essentially a downbeat cop drama. A subplot about the detective's mute daughter gets lost in the mix. The horror works best. A bloody scene in which the True Sage sect wipes out a police unit with swordplay and kung fu is exciting. Morse does a sterling job as Richter.
High production values and Leung will certainly provoke interest in Asian territories, though the sprawling plot could provide problems further afield. - Richard James Havis...
- 6/12/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tribeca Film Festival
The heavy-handedness of this crime by melodrama from Ed Burns is illustrated by the fact that it takes place entirely on one of the holiest Catholic days, with the end effect resembling a feature-length version of one of Coppola's celebrated montages at the end of his "Godfather" films. The tale of two brothers whose lives are irretrievably altered by the nonstop cycle of violence perpetuated by their Hell's Kitchen neighborhood -- the film is set in 1983, before its gentrification and transformation into "Clinton" -- "Ash Wednesday" is a distinct departure for the actor-filmmaker, most of whose previous efforts have been much more on the lighter side. The film recently received a special screening at New York's Tribeca Film Festival.
Burns plays the leading role of Francis Sullivan, a bartender trying to live down his violent past as an enforcer in an Irish gang. Francis' life is shaken when his younger brother Sean (Elijah Wood) starts showing up around the neighborhood, which is particularly puzzling because Sean was murdered exactly three years earlier, with only pieces of his body found. Of course, it soon turns out that Sean was not murdered but simply went into hiding after a violent encounter with some local gangsters who were trying to kill Francis. Now Sean has returned to reclaim his wife (Rosario Dawson), who, in the meantime, unbeknown to him, has become very close to Francis. Despite Francis' efforts at damage control, news of Sean's reappearance gets around, with the resulting dire consequences.
Burns' affinity for his milieu and his characters is readily apparent in this effort, which contains colorful supporting performances by such actors as Oliver Platt, Malachy McCourt and James Handy, the latter as a helpful priest, naturally. But despite the authenticity of the trappings, the film is overblown in its plotting, hackneyed in its dialogue and anachronistic in its style. It takes place a mere 20 years ago, but it resembles a '30s-era melodrama starring Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien.
Burns' laid-back acting style is beginning to wear a bit thin, and a more intense turn would have better served this material. Wood brings a simple sincerity to his role but seems miscast, while Dawson is highly sympathetic as the beleaguered wife. The shooting in New York locations adds the requisite gritty atmosphere, and David Shire's plaintive, piano-driven score is another plus.
The heavy-handedness of this crime by melodrama from Ed Burns is illustrated by the fact that it takes place entirely on one of the holiest Catholic days, with the end effect resembling a feature-length version of one of Coppola's celebrated montages at the end of his "Godfather" films. The tale of two brothers whose lives are irretrievably altered by the nonstop cycle of violence perpetuated by their Hell's Kitchen neighborhood -- the film is set in 1983, before its gentrification and transformation into "Clinton" -- "Ash Wednesday" is a distinct departure for the actor-filmmaker, most of whose previous efforts have been much more on the lighter side. The film recently received a special screening at New York's Tribeca Film Festival.
Burns plays the leading role of Francis Sullivan, a bartender trying to live down his violent past as an enforcer in an Irish gang. Francis' life is shaken when his younger brother Sean (Elijah Wood) starts showing up around the neighborhood, which is particularly puzzling because Sean was murdered exactly three years earlier, with only pieces of his body found. Of course, it soon turns out that Sean was not murdered but simply went into hiding after a violent encounter with some local gangsters who were trying to kill Francis. Now Sean has returned to reclaim his wife (Rosario Dawson), who, in the meantime, unbeknown to him, has become very close to Francis. Despite Francis' efforts at damage control, news of Sean's reappearance gets around, with the resulting dire consequences.
Burns' affinity for his milieu and his characters is readily apparent in this effort, which contains colorful supporting performances by such actors as Oliver Platt, Malachy McCourt and James Handy, the latter as a helpful priest, naturally. But despite the authenticity of the trappings, the film is overblown in its plotting, hackneyed in its dialogue and anachronistic in its style. It takes place a mere 20 years ago, but it resembles a '30s-era melodrama starring Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien.
Burns' laid-back acting style is beginning to wear a bit thin, and a more intense turn would have better served this material. Wood brings a simple sincerity to his role but seems miscast, while Dawson is highly sympathetic as the beleaguered wife. The shooting in New York locations adds the requisite gritty atmosphere, and David Shire's plaintive, piano-driven score is another plus.
- 6/12/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Angela's Ashes" is a meticulous and sincere film version of Frank McCourt's best-selling memoir of his impoverished Irish childhood and adolescence. Director Alan Parker has scrupulously stuck to McCourt's story -- its people, sense of time and place -- but he, of course, has no way to reproduce the Irish-American writer's language and wit. Thus, the story, shorn of its writing, can't help veering sometimes into stereotypes and cliches.
McCourt's book, which won a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, has generated a huge following throughout the world, so the film version will get off to a good start based on name recognition. The quality of this production and a cast headed by Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle should earn good reviews that will also help.
Paramount and Universal Pictures International could have the best of both worlds: a prestigious film that does well at the boxoffice. But what made McCourt's book great -- the sense of how memory filters experience -- is entirely missing from the film.
While two hours and 25 minutes of grinding poverty sounds like a tough sit, what transforms this memoir into something funny and uplifting is the triumph of the human spirit over abject deprivation and ignorance.
The story begins in 1935 Brooklyn and, as McCourt notes in the opening paragraph of his book, his parents should have stayed in the New World. Had they done so, much of the hardship and unhappiness that was to come would have been avoided. But after his infant sister dies, the grandmother (a stern Ronnie Masterson) sends enough money for passage back to Limerick, Ireland.
Two more boys are born and two more children die as the family struggles to exist in the wet and filthy Roden Lane slum. (One of the grand ironies of this production is that since this Limerick slum no longer exists, it was painstakingly re-created at considerable cost by production designer Geoffrey Kirkland.)
The dad, Malachy McCourt, charms his boys with wry stories and fatherly affection. But he is never able to support the family because of chronic alcoholism, which leads to chronic unemployment. Scottish actor Robert Carlyle plays the dad like one of the walking wounded, who sees what has to be done but has no way to achieve his goals. He maintains as much of his pride as he can but realizes how deadly accurate are the gibes tossed at him by his overburdened wife, Angela.
Emily Watson's Angela is a woman worn down by time and troubles. For the children's sake, she usually holds her tongue. But you sense the anger in her eyes. She always has an urgency about her, as if every lump of coal or morsel of food will make the difference between life and death -- which indeed it might.
Three young actors play the young protagonist: Joe Breen as young Frank and Ciaran Owens and Michael Legge as older Frank. The trio not only look reasonably alike, but under Parker's direction they give a seamless performance as the resilient youngster who manages to cope with dysfunctional adults and horrifying conditions.
Kirkland's terrific design makes you feel the dampness and smell the stench in that dark, depressing slum. There is hardly ever a "dry" shot in the movie, as rain pours constantly and the downstairs of the McCourt flat is nearly always flooded. Indeed, one joyous moment occurs when the boys tear down a bedroom wall to turn it into much-needed fuel.
The filmmakers probably erred by insisting on tracing McCourt's entire life up until his arrival back in New York at age 19. In making the hard choices of what to include and what to jettison, Parker and his fellow writer Laura Jones are forced to rush things.
Hopscotching through the years certainly keeps the story entertaining. But the viewer remains at a distance, never really developing an identification with the hero or his travails. This is a noble effort, but one that falters in its desperate need to cram in characters and incidents.
ANGELA'S ASHES
Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures International
A David Brown/Scott Rudin/Dirty Hands production
Producers: Scott Rudin, David Brown, Alan Parker
Director: Alan Parker
Screenwriters: Laura Jones and Alan Parker
Based on the book by: Frank McCourt
Executive producers: Adam Schroeder, Eric Steel
Director of photography: Michael Seresin
Production designer: Geoffrey Kirkland
Music: John Williams
Costume designer: Consolata Boyle
Editor: Gerry Hambling
Color/stereo
Cast:
Angela McCourt: Emily Watson
Malachy McCourt: Robert Carlyle
Young Frank: Joe Breen
Middle Frank: Ciaran Owens
Older Frank: Michael Legge
Grandma Sheehan: Ronnie Masterson
Aunt Aggie: Pauline McLynn
Narrator: Andrew Bennett
Running time -- 145 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
McCourt's book, which won a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, has generated a huge following throughout the world, so the film version will get off to a good start based on name recognition. The quality of this production and a cast headed by Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle should earn good reviews that will also help.
Paramount and Universal Pictures International could have the best of both worlds: a prestigious film that does well at the boxoffice. But what made McCourt's book great -- the sense of how memory filters experience -- is entirely missing from the film.
While two hours and 25 minutes of grinding poverty sounds like a tough sit, what transforms this memoir into something funny and uplifting is the triumph of the human spirit over abject deprivation and ignorance.
The story begins in 1935 Brooklyn and, as McCourt notes in the opening paragraph of his book, his parents should have stayed in the New World. Had they done so, much of the hardship and unhappiness that was to come would have been avoided. But after his infant sister dies, the grandmother (a stern Ronnie Masterson) sends enough money for passage back to Limerick, Ireland.
Two more boys are born and two more children die as the family struggles to exist in the wet and filthy Roden Lane slum. (One of the grand ironies of this production is that since this Limerick slum no longer exists, it was painstakingly re-created at considerable cost by production designer Geoffrey Kirkland.)
The dad, Malachy McCourt, charms his boys with wry stories and fatherly affection. But he is never able to support the family because of chronic alcoholism, which leads to chronic unemployment. Scottish actor Robert Carlyle plays the dad like one of the walking wounded, who sees what has to be done but has no way to achieve his goals. He maintains as much of his pride as he can but realizes how deadly accurate are the gibes tossed at him by his overburdened wife, Angela.
Emily Watson's Angela is a woman worn down by time and troubles. For the children's sake, she usually holds her tongue. But you sense the anger in her eyes. She always has an urgency about her, as if every lump of coal or morsel of food will make the difference between life and death -- which indeed it might.
Three young actors play the young protagonist: Joe Breen as young Frank and Ciaran Owens and Michael Legge as older Frank. The trio not only look reasonably alike, but under Parker's direction they give a seamless performance as the resilient youngster who manages to cope with dysfunctional adults and horrifying conditions.
Kirkland's terrific design makes you feel the dampness and smell the stench in that dark, depressing slum. There is hardly ever a "dry" shot in the movie, as rain pours constantly and the downstairs of the McCourt flat is nearly always flooded. Indeed, one joyous moment occurs when the boys tear down a bedroom wall to turn it into much-needed fuel.
The filmmakers probably erred by insisting on tracing McCourt's entire life up until his arrival back in New York at age 19. In making the hard choices of what to include and what to jettison, Parker and his fellow writer Laura Jones are forced to rush things.
Hopscotching through the years certainly keeps the story entertaining. But the viewer remains at a distance, never really developing an identification with the hero or his travails. This is a noble effort, but one that falters in its desperate need to cram in characters and incidents.
ANGELA'S ASHES
Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures International
A David Brown/Scott Rudin/Dirty Hands production
Producers: Scott Rudin, David Brown, Alan Parker
Director: Alan Parker
Screenwriters: Laura Jones and Alan Parker
Based on the book by: Frank McCourt
Executive producers: Adam Schroeder, Eric Steel
Director of photography: Michael Seresin
Production designer: Geoffrey Kirkland
Music: John Williams
Costume designer: Consolata Boyle
Editor: Gerry Hambling
Color/stereo
Cast:
Angela McCourt: Emily Watson
Malachy McCourt: Robert Carlyle
Young Frank: Joe Breen
Middle Frank: Ciaran Owens
Older Frank: Michael Legge
Grandma Sheehan: Ronnie Masterson
Aunt Aggie: Pauline McLynn
Narrator: Andrew Bennett
Running time -- 145 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/13/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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