I have no Irish family members that I know of, and, thus, am not Irish myself. Nevertheless, this was a big thing in my neck of the woods for some reason, perhaps because of the exuberance of ethnic holidays in Chicago (home of Casimir Pulaski Day). Normally, I cook a big Irish-themed dinner including a dessert on the occasion and we watch some sort of Irish-themed film. The celebrations are a little muted this year.
Although Boondock Saints was a cult classic around my college years, one of my favorite Irish stereotype films is Darby O’Gill and the Little People. And I mean Stereotype with a capital “S” (quizzically, Sean Connery, the world’s best known Scotsman, plays the hunky lead). It’s shot in beautiful technicolor and has some remarkable special effect mirror work (for the time).
Toward the end, Connery (in his pre-Bond days) confronts the local blowhard and boot lick, Pony, while Darby (the colorful old man who believes in Leprechauns) looks on approvingly. No surprise, Connery gets together with his love interest and everything works out just fine (it’s a Disney film). It’s of a time, for sure, and the plot is fairly predictable, but trust me when I say that the special effects will be a trip (I don’t want to spoil them here).