Into the West (1992)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Mike Newell

Writers:

Jim Sheridan (written by) and
David Keating (additional writing)

Release Date:

17 September 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Adventure

Tagline:

Accused of a crime they didn't commit, two city kids and a magical horse are about to become the coolest outlaws ever to ride Into The West.

Plot:

Grandpa Ward gives a horse he found to his grandchildren, who keep it in their tower-block flat in Dublin...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Young Boy | Brothers | Irish | Escape

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Gabriel Byrne	...	Papa Reilly
Ellen Barkin	...	Kathleen
Ciarán Fitzgerald	...	Ossie
Rúaidhrí Conroy	...	Tito (as Ruaidhrí Conroy)
David Kelly	...	Grandfather
Johnny Murphy	...	Tracker
Colm Meaney	...	Barreller
John Kavanagh	...	Hartnett
Brendan Gleeson	...	Inspector Bolger
Jim Norton	...	Superintendant O'Mara
Anita Reeves	...	Mrs. Murphy
Ray McBride	...	Mr. Murphy
Dave Duffy	...	Morrissey
Stuart Dannell-Foran	...	Conor Murphy (as Stuart Dannell)
Becca Hollinshead	...	Birdy Murphy

Runtime:

USA:97 min

Country:

Ireland | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:L | Taiwan:GP | South Korea:All | Australia:M | Finland:K-8/5 | Germany:6 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Australia:PG

Company:

Channel Four Films

Trivia:

The film Ossie is watching in the cinema is Back to the Future Part III (1990).

Goofs:

Continuity: The dogs used when officials are tracking the boys and the horse through the forest change from crop-eared to natural floppy-eared.

Movie Connections:

Features Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Here's An Odd Irish Tale

I always remember this movie for the shock of seeing a horse trying to live an apartment. Now, there's an unusual sight! I revisited this film last week and for a second and an overdo "ride" with these mystical Irish gypsies and their strange. By the way, I hadn't realized how nicely filmed this was until I saw it on 1.85:1 widescreen DVD.

Also to my surprise was that it wasn't the happy, family film I had remembered. There are many moments of frustration, sadness, violence, injustice, ete. It's hardly a bunch of fun times. The language is such, too, that I wouldn't recommend this for little kids, unless perhaps in Ireland where everyone seems to use Jesus' name in vain frequently, even kids.

It's still a story, basically, about two kids trying to capture and then keep a white horse, which is taken away from them. The cops (some crooked, as filmmakers love to show), the crooks and family are all out over the countryside looking for the boys and the horse.

In between, their father slowly comes to grips with the death of his wife some seven years earlier, a tragedy he has never been able to deal with correctly.

The best character and the most fun to watch is little "Ossie," played by Ciaran Fitzgerald. He's the one most-attached to the horse and the wee one has some of the best lines in the film.