The General (1998) on Netflix
Martin Cahill leads a gang of robbers in Dublin. Inspector Ned Kenny of the Gardaí pursues him, and the IRA and the UVF take an interest in his work.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.2/109,864 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Martin Cahill grows up in 1950s Dublin, stealing with his siblings to add to the family's small income until a Garda catches him in a butcher's shop and sends him to an industrial school. In the early 1980s he leaves prison and returns to the Hollyfield Buildings in Rathmines, which Dublin Corporation is demolishing; he fights the demolition in the courts. Garda Sergeant Ned Kenny helps Dublin Corporation clear the residents and urges Cahill to leave quietly. After the demolition Cahill moves a caravan onto the site, and it is burned out.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The General (1998)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- John Boorman, who directed The General, was one of Dublin criminal Martin Cahill's burglary victims. The film dramatizes the break-in, with Cahill stealing a gold record awarded for the score of Boorman's Deliverance and later smashing it in disgust on discovering it was not made of gold.
- John Boorman said he financed The General himself with a bank loan, so no one could tell him not to make it in black-and-white; a studio, he said, would have refused to let him do it.
