Leonard Maltin totally confuses the politics of this film . He refers to Ray McNally's character as being " a former IRA gunman " when in fact he's from the opposite side of the sectarian divide . He's called Billy , refers to his religion , politics and football team being true blue and in his introductory scene his erstwhile colleague refers to " for God and Ulster " which is the motto of the Ulster Volunterr Force . Being brought up in the west of Scotland people tend to notice these though I have no agenda in noticing things like that . I do remember laughing at the sectarian jokes seen here and discussing it with friends who'd describe themselves as " protestant " or "catholic " but in reality were merely agnostics who followed Rangers or Celtic . I found little in it to laugh about it now
Thankfully the world has moved on from the mid 1980s which means the humour of this film has dated to the point of being painfully unfunny - and quite right too . Most of the humour in this plot less tale comes out of party of catholic OAP bigots being booked in to a nightclub with a party of protestant OAP bigots . Watching it today I thought I'd never start laughing at this subplot - and I didn't . No one laughs at the " N " word so what's funny about shouts of " ya fenian b*stards " and " ya orange b*stards " ? Nothing . That said there is some amusement watching a Rangers -Celtic match which in secular circles is known as " The chimps tea party " and realising that people who can't stand either team are ahead in the evolutionary ladder by about 300 years
The better scenes are those when Michael Angelis nightclub manager Mike and Bernard Hill's thick , thuggish and homophobic bouncer Bernard appear on screen together . Shades of Alan Bleasdale's previous and legendary landmark scathing blackly comical series BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF whose cast make several reappearances here . That reminds me I'll have to visit BLACKSTUFF but I've got a feeling that drama is also dated
Thankfully the world has moved on from the mid 1980s which means the humour of this film has dated to the point of being painfully unfunny - and quite right too . Most of the humour in this plot less tale comes out of party of catholic OAP bigots being booked in to a nightclub with a party of protestant OAP bigots . Watching it today I thought I'd never start laughing at this subplot - and I didn't . No one laughs at the " N " word so what's funny about shouts of " ya fenian b*stards " and " ya orange b*stards " ? Nothing . That said there is some amusement watching a Rangers -Celtic match which in secular circles is known as " The chimps tea party " and realising that people who can't stand either team are ahead in the evolutionary ladder by about 300 years
The better scenes are those when Michael Angelis nightclub manager Mike and Bernard Hill's thick , thuggish and homophobic bouncer Bernard appear on screen together . Shades of Alan Bleasdale's previous and legendary landmark scathing blackly comical series BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF whose cast make several reappearances here . That reminds me I'll have to visit BLACKSTUFF but I've got a feeling that drama is also dated