Watch The General For Free

It is a performances centric movie

best movie i've ever seen.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I has to confess that l didn't like when the cinema glorofying bad persons of our history,it's certanly make them actually a kind of hero for many young generation ,but as form of study of personality is helpful,this infamous thief and his gang was magnificently portraited by the great Boorman as always in old days style and more made a true gem of the real picture mean to be,but great crooks don't has a long life and them left us for good....so fast they are replaced!!!Resume:First watch: 1999 / How many: 2 / Source: Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 8.25

Like with any movie genre, there are good gangster movies and there are bad gangster movies. If you asked me to name a good gangster movie, I'd have dozens to choose from. If you asked me to name a bad gangster movie, probably the first one to pop up in my mind is one that still has me in a sort of depression of disappointment about a week since I saw the film for the first and I promise you, the last time. That film is "The General", unrelated to the 1926 silent film of the same name. This is a very dry, very slow gangster epic that raises questions not about the story (it's more than easy to follow) but about why the filmmakers chose to make this rather flimsy endeavor.Like "Goodfellas" (1990) and "American Gangster" (2007)—two superior mob movies—"The General" is based on real people and true events. The film revolves around an Irish criminal named Martin Cahill (Brendan Gleeson) who started his long chain of crimes stealing food as a teenager and then moving up to robbing museums and houses as an adult. Meanwhile, the police led by an inspector named Kenny (Jon Voight) try desperately and vigorously to prove just one of his crimes and convict (or kill) him.Perhaps because it's a film in the same category as the marvelous "Goodfellas" (1990) and the first two "Godfather" films, I was expecting too much from "The General." But that may be going too easy on it. This would have been a bad film had I not seen the aforementioned masterpieces before being swamped by boredom in this oater and its far-too-stretched running time of screaming bad scenes. Let's start knocking the film by just looking at the style in which it is presented. For some reason, director John Boorman and cinematographer Seamus Deasy selected to film this movie in black-and-white while its style and presentation are clearly the elements that belong to a full-fledged color film. Now I have nothing against b/w pictures, not even ones made in modern-day times. "Schindler's List" (1993) was more than ninety percent filmed in black-and-white and it's a masterpiece. "The General", made just five years after "Schindler's List" is not. The cinematography is also far too blown out with high lighting keys that seem very distracting and give the movie a very video-game-like quality that I found simply annoying. The filmmakers were obviously going for a realist's documentary-like style, like "Schindler's List" did, but they fail by making it seem too much like a documentary and at the same time, too much like a classic-style motion picture. Performances in the film range from passable to poor. Brendan Gleeson and Jon Voight gave decent enthusiasm for their roles, but it seemed to me at times that even they were getting kind of run down by the awful screenplay from which they were quoting. The sound design is also very primitive, probably in an attempt to give it a 40s crime-noir appeal, but that also fails because again, it's made too much like a contemporary picture and seems vastly out of place.But the worst thing that occurs is that there's not one—not one—character in the film that I felt any emotions or opinions for. In fact, for every moment of every scene, the only thought going through my head was "okay…so what?" Moments that in a better film might come across as shocking or appalling are just dull and time-consuming here. I did not sympathize or hate the Brendan Gleeson character because the way the Cahill character is written is simply flat and dull. Gleeson just plays the common criminal and does not strike out with the impact the real Martin Cahill obviously did. If a character is killed off (as they always are in gangster films), we feel nothing. No remorse, no relief, no surprise, nothing. We just say "so what?" And that's all I did during the entire running time of this very flimsy, very poorly-made crime film.

"The General" is the nickname of the real-life, contemporary Irish criminal, Martin Cahill. Brilliantly played by Brendan Gleeson, director John Boorman dramatizes Cahill's odd career as a very successful thief and robber. Shot in black and white the movie has a gritty realism that doesn't glamorize Cahill and his gang. But Cahill, as portrayed by Gleeson and Boorman, is a likable and quirky eccentric who does things his own way, a characteristic which causes him to fall afoul of both the police and the IRA.Not your typical A-List Hollywood crime melodrama, this movie is not for everyone, especially those looking for the typical Vin Diesel or Al Pacino crime flick. This is more like the Sopranos in the Irish slums. And, I recommend it highly for a Saturday night rental; just be forewarned that it is quite brutal and intense at times.

The general is a superbly well made original gangster film based on a true story from director John Boorman. The film highlights the historic rise and fall of one of Ireland's most feared gangsters "Martin Cahill" (played masterfully by Brendan Gleeson).The first impression I got of the general was one of disappoint when I saw that the film in black & white as i'm not the biggest fan of B&W but i soon forgot this as i became totally fascinated by the film.The acting in this film is of the very highest order particularly the performance of Brendan Gleeson as Martin Cahill, he portrayed his character amazingly showing both the sadistic and tender side of Martin Cahill.Another great feature of this film is the songs of Van Morrison which seem to perfectly fit the scene of the film. Overall this film is superb from start to finish with many original ideas. I have this film on VHS and the more times i watch it the better it gets. .I think this film never got the credit it deserved and had it been in colour people would be mentioning it in the same breath as braveheart, goodfellas, rocky and other famous films.I would recommend this film to anyone as it is one of my favourite films of all time. You should never judge a book by its cover and just because this film is in B&W doesnt take anything away from a truly entertaining movie.This movie has it all drama, romance, action and great actingIf you havent seen it, your missing out big time