The Playboys

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The Playboys ★★★ 1992 (PG-13)

In 1957 in a tiny Irish village, unmarried Tara Maguire (Wright Penn) causes a scandal by having a baby. Her beauty attracts lots of men—there's a former beau who kills himself, the obsessive, middle-aged Sergeant Hegarty (Finney), and the newest arrival, Tom Castle (Quinn), an actor with a rag-tag theatrical troupe called the Playboys. Slow-moving and simple story with particularly good performances by Wright as the strong-willed Tara and Finney as Hegarty, clinging to a last chance at love and family. The Playboys' hysterically hammy version of “Gone With the Wind” is a gem. Directorial debut of Mackinnon. Filmed in the village of Redhills, Ireland, the hometown of co-writer Connaughton. 114m/C VHS, DVD . Albert Finney, Aidan Quinn, Robin Wright Penn, Milo O'Shea, Alan Devlin, Niamh Cusack, Ian McElhinney, Niall Buggy, Adrian Dunbar; D: Gilles Mackinnon; W: Shane Connaughton, Kerry Crabbe; C: Jack Conroy; M: Jean-Claude Petit.