IRE
1971
1hr 16mins
Dir: Brian Maclochlainn
Starring: Derek King and Dearbhla Molloy
A working-class teenager, released from Borstal, finds that his background and education prevent him from finding work
This award winning social realist drama features lots of jazz music, a bad job interview, isolation, lousy parents, high-angled zoom shots, boredom, and chatty neighbours. The film depicts the tedium that inner city teenagers endured at the time, and it has some very good shots of Irish trains (as always). The railway scenes start shortly after two minutes in, and include shots inside a Cravens coach and a 24xx Buffet Car, along with a good shot of Mk1 Generator coach No.3172. The view shot from Liberty Hall shows the train headed by an A Class Metro-Vick loco as it crosses the viaduct through the streets. However, the loco had morphed into single-cab GM 121 Class No.B130 by the time it entered Dublin Pearse station, the interior shots of which give a particularly good view of the old station infrastructure. The close up shot of the loco drawing to a stand is particularly good. In a later scene, Martin Cluxton (played by Derek King) is caught hiding in a box van in a railway yard close to the docks and as he runs away in escape, there is a shot of 421 Class single-cab shunter No.E422 parked next to a level crossing. A whole myriad of freight stock is visible in this scene, which was probably filmed in North Wall Yard, adjacent to Dublin Port.
