The General is a Irish crime film directed by John Boorman about Dublin crime boss Martin Cahill, who pulled off several daring heists in the early 1980s, and attracted the attention of the Gardaí, PIRA, and UVF. The film was shot in 1997 and released in 1998. Brendan Gleeson plays Cahill, Adrian Dunbar plays his close friend Noel Curley, and Jon Voight plays Inspector Ned Kenny. After selling stolen paintings to the UVF Cahill realizes he has made a dangerous mistake. When the PIRA hear of this, they ordered his assassination, which was carried out on 18 August 1994. The film was based... on the book of the same name by Irish journalist Paul Williams, who is crime editor of Ireland's best-selling tabloid, [The Sun]. Director Boorman was himself one of Cahill's burglary victims. This event was dramatized in a scene in which Cahill breaks into a home, stealing a gold record and pilfering a watch from the wrist of a sleeping woman. The gold record, which Cahill later broke in disgust after discovering it was not made of gold, was awarded for the score of Deliverance, Boorman's best-known film. Filming was at various locations around Dublin including South Lotts and Ranelagh.
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| Release date: | May 29, 1998 |
| Directed by: | John Boorman |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 124 Minutes |
| Producer: | John Boorman |
| Editor: | Ron Davis |
| Music by: | Richie Buckley |
| Cinematography: | Seamus Deasy |
| Screenplay by: | John Boorman |
| Adapted from: | The General |
| Genre: | Biography |