Once the most popular form of American filmmaking, the Western has not fully recovered from the commercial and critical debacle of Michael Cimino's 1980 epic Heaven's Gate. Although a far better film than conventional wisdom would indicate, Heaven's Gate provoked widespread derision because Cimino dared to use the disreputable Western form for a serious purpose, to question the … [Read more...] about Film Forum: Land of the Second Chance
Archive
Northern Roots Southern Branches
By James W. Flannery, Contributor
Photos Courtesy of U.S. Library of Congress
August / September 2001
Photos Courtesy of U.S. Library of Congress
August / September 2001
Will a re-examining of the Ulster Scots advance the idea of a "pluralist society" or lead to further separation? Southerners like to say they are not like other Americans, and often base that claim on their characteristic ways of talking, storytelling, preaching, dancing and, above all, playing country music. But few of them realize that those very qualities can be … [Read more...] about Northern Roots Southern Branches
Photo Album: Gracie’s Crossing
Grace Boner was born December 10, 1904 in Altmore near Burtonport in the Rosses, County Donegal, Ireland. She married John Conaghan from nearby Crickamore. John went to America looking for work, leaving Gracie with two children, John and Celia, and a child on the way. Gracie, left to raise her family in a small one-room freestone house, thought she would never see her … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Gracie’s Crossing
The First Word: Something to Remember
"Irish people didn't get me out of jail. It was English people who got me out of jail." – Paul Hill I don't remember Bloody Sunday. I don't remember seeing footage on TV or being shocked by the carnage that left thirteen people dead and a fourteenth who would die later from wounds. How do I explain this? The Ireland I grew up in largely ignored the North. It … [Read more...] about The First Word: Something to Remember
For the Defense
If political power can be judged by how an individual influences society and changes its laws, then there's an arguable case for British defense lawyer Michael Mansfield being one of the most powerful figures on the British stage today. The list of trials and inquiries in which he has played a major role reads like a legal history of the last 20 years, including … [Read more...] about For the Defense