Bullet Points: Darby O’Gill and the Little People
Worthy adversaries are very important in making an exciting movie have real tension. Think about the physical behemoths that Kurt Sloane (Tong Po) and Frank Dux (Chong Li) had to face. Intellectual opponents can be equally as difficult, just ask Superman (Lex Luthor) and James Bond (Ernst Stavro Blofeld.) However, every once in a while a movie will come along with two great adversaries become allies thanks to their shared experiences. While the prime example is Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed becoming best of friends after nearly killing each other in the ring, I just happen to have some Bullet Points for a movie that features two adversaries that while enjoying besting one another must put aside their differences to stop a great foe. Join me on an adventure to a 1959 film that has a wee bit of magic, Darby O’Gill and the Little People.
- Darby O’Gill (Albert Sharpe) is a caretaker for a large estate in the quaint Irish town of Rathcullen. Darby regales the townsfolk with his ongoing battles with King Brian (Jimmy O’Dea) the leader of the leprechauns aka little people. Darby is a rare individual who not only see the little beasties but can also keep up with King Brian and the trickery of the leprechauns. That doesn’t mean that King Brian doesn’t get the better of Darby, like when he snookered Darby into making a fourth wish, which as we all know wipes out the previous three wishes… and just might come back into play at the end of the movie.
- Darby lives with his daughter Katie (Janet Munro) and their life is about to be turned upside down when the landowner hires a new caretaker (and a Dublin man no less) to replace Darby, Michael McBride (Sean Connery, Zardoz.) Darby sees the only way to keep his life at the estate is to use three more wishes from a leprechaun. King Brian is none too happy to have to be doing the bidding for Darby after being captured by Darby for the second time. How does one capture a leprechaun? I would assume like capturing most other Irish, offering it copious amounts of alcohol. A drunk King Brian and Darby singing The Wishing Song is a highlight in Darby O’Gill and the Little People.
- Michael quickly has the hots for Katie, but he is not the only suitor for her affection. Local strongman, Pony Sugrue, wants both Katie and Darby’s job. He is aided by his mother Sheelah (leave it to someone with a unique name like Sheelah to name their kid Pony) in trying to undermine Michael and Darby. The Michael/Pony fight keeps getting teased and all that teasing really pays off when the two heavyweights finally get to duke it out. Michael eventually gets some help, unbeknownst to him, from Darby and King Brian in is wooing of Katie. However, a strong independent lass like Katie prefers to make up her mind on her own.
- You might be thinking that a movie from 1959 might feature substandard effects, but Darby O’Gill and the Little People still holds up. This is thanks to the use of force perspective that gives illusion that average height actors appear to be as tiny as leprechauns in the same shot as average height actors. You get to see the two interacting without any fake looking green screen misadventures. There is some use of chroma key effects on Darby’s horse, a banshee and the Cóiste Bodhar (death coach) to frightening effect. In fact, the banshee is one of the scariest visages in the history of film and she still gives me nightmares to this day.
- Even with all the magic and romance, Darby O’Gill and the Little People still manages to get some high level action scenes. After the Michael/Pony fight, the next best action piece involves leprechauns riding horses. The horses are proportionally small as the leprechauns and to see them riding around and getting ready for the hunt is a hoot. However, the real action is the sparing between Darby and King Brian, and these two prefer the intellectual battle. That kind of make sense considering one of the combatants is over 5000 years old.
Darby O’Gill and the Little People is very entertaining film that works because of the adversarial relationship between Darby and King Brian. They might not see eye to eye (literally and figuratively) and enjoy outsmarting one another, but that doesn’t stop them from having a mutual respect and helping each other when in need. The film has a light hearted tone that is suitably for the whole family but still manages to pack is some action and few haunts. I like to think that we have a mutual respect for each other and to show my admiration I have some Bonus Bullet Points for you.
- Movies Aren’t Just Entertainment – Darby O’Gill and the Little People taught me many words I never knew before like the derogatory terms jackeen and blackguard, the Irish moonshine poitín, and the supernatural pooka. There are probably a bunch more that I missed due to most sounding like gibberish.
- “It takes an Irishman to play the pipes.” – The Irish music and dancing is not only a real highlight in Darby O’Gill and the Little People, but it also plays a major role. Big ups to the bagpipe and fiddle work.
- Best Insult – “Your heart is as cold as a wet Christmas.”
- You Fool – In the credits, Walt Disney himself thanked King Brian of Knocknasheega and his Leprechauns whose gracious cooperation made the picture possible. Walt Disney thought that his movie had real life leprechauns!
- Best Irish Euphemism for Fat Lady – “A doorfull of a woman.”
- Final Question – Sean Connery has had a successful and entertaining career, but I can’t decide which movie had the Scot’s worse accent: Irish in Darby O’Gill and the Little People; Russian in The Hunt for Red October; or Moroccan in The Wind and the Lion?
