-A Few Words Before Reading-

Please be kind to the film at number 9. Any comment expressing negativity towards number 9 will be deleted. So once again, please be polite 🙂

-Introduction-

First off, before I continue, I would like to wish all of my dear readers a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day 🙂 Anyway, all of the films listed here are great films that I love to watch near or on St. Patrick’s Day. Most of these do not hail from Ireland, but they do have a hint of Irish flavor to them.

Click here to listen to The Irish Rovers Goodbye Mrs. Durkin

Click here to listen to The Irish Rovers Black Velvet Band

Click here to listen to their entire album

Click here to listen to The Dubliners Molly Malone

Click here to listen to their entire album

Now without further ado, I present to all of my dear readers:

-John Charet’s 8 Films Recommended for St. Patrick’s Day Viewing-
(In Chronological Order)

1.) Odd Man Out (1947)
Dir: Carol Reed
Country: United Kingdom
Color: Black and White
While The Third Man will always remain director Carol Reed’s crowning achievement (or at least for me), Odd Man Out has to at least rank as second best for most people like myself. Set over the course of one night, Odd Man Out is a tightly constructed British film noir rich in suspense. Robert Krasker’s expressionistic cinematography is as much a creative dress rehearsal for his work on The Third Man as it is masterful in it’s own right. Odd Man Out is also a reported favorite of directors Roman Polanski and Sam Peckinpah (read here and here).

Click here to watch the entire film

I can’t find a link to the film’s original theatrical trailer

2.) The Quiet Man (1952)
Dir: John Ford
Country: United States
Color: Color
While I am unsure whether The Quiet Man would rank somewhere within my top 10 favorite John Ford films (I love every single one), it is undeniably one of his most personal films, made evident by the director’s Irish heritage (read here). Along with Wake of the Red Witch, The Quiet Man was one of the very few big-budget projects ever financed by Republic Pictures, a studio that regularly specialized in B-films. What we get is a highly entertaining period piece doubling as a romanticized depiction of Ireland in all it’s Technicolor glory. Last, but not least, The Quiet Man is justifiably celebrated for a long climactic fight sequence that is every bit as humorous as it is exciting.

Click here to watch a 1992 making of hosted by Leonard Maltin

Click here to watch a 1991 documentary on The Quiet Man from Irish television (or at least I believe)

Click here to watch a documentary entitled Memories Of The Quiet Man. Though I am not sure when it came out

Click here to watch part 1 of 2 of a tour of The Quiet Man locations

Click here to watch part 2 of 2 of a tour of The Quiet Man locations

Click here to watch Irish actor Gabriel Byrne talking about The Quiet Man from 2011

Click here to view a trailer for the 2010 documentary entitled Dreaming The Quiet Man

Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer

3.) Duck, You Sucker! (1971)
(a.k.a. A Fistful of Dynamite)
Dir: Sergio Leone
Country: Italy/United States
Color: Color
Often overlooked in favor of his more popular Once Upon a Time in the West or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Duck, You Sucker! proves to be every bit as masterful as director Sergio Leone’s other spaghetti westerns, which include those first two aforementioned titles. In fact, Duck, You Sucker! is actually my personal favorite of Leone’s westerns. Part of it lies in it’s historical backdrop of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) and as a self-proclaimed cinephile, it’s presence has always fascinated me. The other half is rooted in the theme of friendship and along with Once Upon a Time in America, Duck, You Sucker! may be Leone’s most insightful take on it. Leone’s flair for exhilarating set pieces and celebrated composer Ennio Morricone’s distinctive music score serve as the icing on the cake.

Click here to watch the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to watch the entire film

Click here to listen to Ennio Morricone’s complete music score for the film

4.) Barry Lyndon (1975)
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Country: United Kingdom/United States
Color: Color
2001: A Space Odyssey is often considered legendary director Stanley Kubrick’s magnum opus, but some cinephiles usually opt for a different title. Whenever somebody asks me what my personal favorite Kubrick film is, my answer is Barry Lyndon. Indifferently received by both critics and audiences during it’s initial theatrical release in 1975, Barry Lyndon (like most of Kubrick’s films) has since been reassessed as a cinematic masterpiece. Based (loosely or otherwise) on William Makepeace Thackeray’s picaresque novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon (first published as a serial in Fraser’s Magazine in 1844), Barry Lyndon is the closest Kubrick ever came to creating a period piece akin to his unrealized ambitious Napoleon Bonaparte biopic. Set during the 18th century, Barry Lyndon chronicles the misadventures, eventual rise and inevitable fall of an Irish rogue. Not unlike 2001, Barry Lyndon remains a technically groundbreaking film. To achieve authenticity for it’s respective period setting, Kubrick relied (for the most part) on natural lighting for the exterior and interior shots (candlelight for the latter) courtesy of cinematographer John Alcott. Humorous, tragic and characteristically thought-provoking, Barry Lyndon may just be the most mature film in Kubrick’s oeuvre.

Click here to watch an analysis of the film from youtube user Empire of the Mind (click here to view his channel)

Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to view a 2016 BFI trailer for it

Click here to watch a video about Kubrick’s unrealized Napoleon Bonaparte epic uploaded by youtuber Frame Voyager (click here to check out his channel)

Click here to watch other video about it

Click here to read this Amazon link to a 2011 massive book that fully details Kubrick’s vision and given the size of it, no wonder the price tag is heavy 🙂

5.) The Dead (1987)
Dir: John Huston
Country: United Kingdom/United States/West Germany
Color: Color
If anything else, The Dead not only resembles the work of a seasoned veteran, but also that of a born-again director. For his intended or unintended swan song, Huston adapts James Joyce’s title story that first appeared in the aforementioned celebrated author’s 1914 book of shorts entitled Dubliners. Huston’s refined touch fits perfectly with the elegantly written drama, which is penned by his son Tony. The result is every bit as intimate as it is profound.

Click here to watch the film’s original theatrical trailer

6.) Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Dir: Joel Coen
Country: United States
Color: Color
If it weren’t for A Serious Man, Miller’s Crossing would be my number one favorite Coen Brothers film of all time. On the surface, Joel and co-writer Ethan borrow elements from hard-boiled crime novels and similar films to blend them together within it’s atmosphere. The former consists of works written by Dashiell Hammett (Red Harvest and The Glass Key), while films like The Third Man, Le Doulos, The Conformist and The Godfather make up the latter (read here). While the result most certainly works as a highly effective pastiche, Miller’s Crossing is so much more than that. In the center, Miller’s Crossing emerges as a bona fide gangster classic in it’s own right. As with all of their work, when it comes to characters, dialogue and direction, The Coen Brothers trademark quirkiness is evident in every single frame of Miller’s Crossing. Carter Burwell’s Irish influenced music score fits perfectly with the film’s late 1920’s period setting.

Click here to watch cinematographer turned director Barry Sonnenfeld discussing his experiences as director of photography on the film

Click here to watch an interview with actor Gabriel Byrne conducted by the late Bobbie Wygant

Click here to watch an interview with actor John Turturro conducted by Wygant

Click here to watch an interview with actress Marcia Gay Harden conducted by Wygant

Click here to watch an interview with actor Jon Polito conducted by Wygant

Click here to view the film’s original theatrical trailer

Click here to listen to Carter Burwell’s music for the film

Click here to listen to the song Danny Boy sung by Frank Patterson. This song appears when Albert Finney’s character is defending himself with a Tommy Gun and bumps off two rival gangsters with it (click here to watch the scene)

7.) The Fugitive (1993)
Dir: Andrew Davis
Country: United States
Color: Color
As an Illinoisan, I have a habit of making sure I watch The Fugitive at least once a year during the month of March. This is not only rooted in the fact that it was shot on location in the city of Chicago (at least for the most part) or that it’s director (Andrew Davis) and lead star (Harrison Ford) proudly hail from there, but also serving as the only film (or at least based on my knowledge) to feature the aforementioned city’s tradition of dyeing the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day (read here). Based (loosely or otherwise) on Roy Huggins 1960’s television series of the same name, which ran from 1963-67, The Fugitive is an expertly crafted chase thriller highlighted by it’s atmospheric Chicago locations. Ford is truly effective as the wrongfully accused Dr. Richard Kimble, but the standout is Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard, the Deputy US Marshall on his trail.

Click here to watch an interview director Andrew Davis did late last year promoting his debut novel (co-written with Jeff Biggers) entitled Disturbing the Bones, which is a great read. Legendary director Michael Mann (also born and raised in Chicago) gave it a positive blurb (read here)

Click here to watch a 1993 interview with him conducted by the late Bobbie Wygant

Click here to watch a 2013 documentary on it entitled The Fugitive: Thrill of the Chase

Click here to watch a 2001 short documentary entitled On the Run with The Fugitive

Click here to watch another 2001 short documentary entitled Derailed: Anatomy of a Trainwreck

Click here and here to watch two respective trailers for the film

Since I have endless links on Davis, just click here to watch them all 🙂

8.) The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
Dir: Ken Loach
Country: Ireland/United KIngdom/Italy/Germany/France/Spain/Switzerland
Color: Color
In The Wind That Shakes the Barley, British director Ken Loach takes his knack for social realism and applies it to both the Irish War of Independence (1919-21) and the Irish Civil War (1921-23). Limited to 21st century cinema alone, the result still stands out as the best drama centering on the two subjects as of 2025. Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd’s gritty cinematography goes hand in hand with Loach’s firm socialist sensibilities. In fact, the scene featuring Damien O’Donovan (Cillian Murphy) telling his brother Teddy (Padraic Delaney) that he will never sell out debatably parallels that of Loach’s own uncompromising political philosophies. Ever the dissenting Brit, Loach (along with screenwriter Paul Laverty) pulls no punches in depicting the traditionally heroic British Army as a pack of sadists. Unsurprisingly, this aspect was part of the film’s controversy (read here). Would you all like to hear another interesting piece of trivia? At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, The Wind That Shakes The Barley won Loach the coveted Palme d’Or prize.

Click here to watch the film’s original theatrical trailer

9.) The Irishman (2019)
Dir: Martin Scorsese
Country: United States
Color: Color
As much as I love Goodfellas, for me, it is The Irishman that stands out as esteemed filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s crowning achievement. Helmed when Scorsese was at the age of 74 going on 75, The Irishman represents a culmination of his trademark themes that originated in his electrifying 1973 breakthrough Mean Streets. On the surface, when it comes to form and content, The Irishman is as fast-paced as Goodfellas. Simultaneously, in the center, The Irishman moves so gracefully that it makes that 1990 classic look like the work of a 27-28 year-old director as opposed to that of a then 46 year-old by comparison. In contrast to the black comedy of that earlier masterwork, The Irishman relies on subtlety for it’s humor. Taking into account the film’s overall somber tone, a very credible argument can be made that The Irishman comes off as Scorsese’s way of reflecting on his past crime films. Thematically speaking, If Goodfellas centered on loyalty and Casino centers on greed, than The Irishman is about mortality and regret. The film’s use of The Five Satins In the Still of the Night serves as further confirmation of this. The result is unquestionably the most mature of Scorsese’s crime dramas. If anything else, The Irishman serves as the perfect epitaph for the subgenre. In closing, The Irishman ranks as my second favorite gangster film of all time after Howard Hawks Scarface.

Click here to watch an insightful analysis on The Irishman by youtuber Why It’s Great (Click here to view his channel)

Click here to watch another insightful analysis on The Irishman by youtuber Renegade Films (Click here to view his channel)

Click here to watch the film’s Official teaser trailer

Click here to watch the film’s Original theatrical trailer

Click here to watch the film’s final trailer

10.) The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Dir: Martin McDonagh
Country: United Kingdom/United States
Color: Color
British-Irish playwright and film director Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin serves as only one of many perfect examples of how to define a tragicomedy. Delightfully misanthropic, the key to understanding The Banshees of Inisherin’s hilarity is rooted in the more absurd aspects of the human condition. For example, the film’s central plot centers on aspiring music composer Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) needlessly ending his friendship with drinking buddy Padraic Suilleabhain (Colin Farrell). When every single one of his efforts at repairing the relationship is declined by Colm, Padraic starts a feud that leads to horrifying results for the both of them. Similar to the American cult sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Banshees of Inisherin relies on irony to execute it’s humor. In the case of The Banshees of Inisherin, the beautiful Irish scenry stands in contrast to the film’s overall irreverent tone. Thematically speaking, The Banshees of Inisherin may just be McDonagh’s richest film to date.

Click here to watch the film’s original theatrical trailer

Let me conclude this blog entry with two questions for my dear readers below:

What are some of your favorite films to watch during St. Patrick’s Day?

What links or videos were your favorites?