irish traveller movie

Film Details

Brief synopsis, cast & crew, jack n green, john williams, frederick e dann, mark wahlberg, scott schultz, technical specs.

On the highways and backwoods of the rural south, a coterie of Irish grifters live in a world distinctly and exclusively their own. Moving from town to town, the Travellers make their living through the family business, conning and scamming nearly everyone whose path they cross. Into this world ventures Pat O'Hara who returns to the Travellers to bury his father, once a Traveller cast out for marrying an outsider. He is shunned by the head of the clan but cautiously accepted by Bokky who takes the young man under his wing and teaches him the way of their forefathers. The two take to the road running con jobs and always staying one step ahead of the law. Along the way they meet Jean, a hard working bartender and single mother, and promptly devise a plan to swindle away her hard-earned money. But Bokky's instinct for quick cash and fast getaways runs into an unexpected obstacle... his heart.

Blaque Fowler

John bennes, nikki deloach, john paxton, jean speegle howard, paddy keenan, andrew porter, walter cobb, michael a. shaner, joanne pankow, julianna margulies, mary k heneghan, vincent chase, kerry maher, jim flowers, rance howard, james gammon, bonnie cook, jackie moran, trenton mcdevitt, john easterbrook, nigel stevens, barbara rowan, moses gibson, danielle wiener, chuck kinlaw, jo ann pflug, robert peters.

Bill Paxton

Mandy barnett, lou ann barton, joseph beal, david blocker, william broonzy, marshall brown, morry burns, jenny lou carson, bobby darin, steve davis, alton delmore, rabon delmore, eileen eichenstein, rick estrin, lefty frizzell, jimmie dale gilmore, henry glover, bobby helms, michael helmy, mabon hodges, carol joyner, mickey liddell, murphy monroe maddux, lila mccann, jim mcglynn, robert mickelson, joseph middleton, roger miller, james morrison, donald w murphy, sydney nathan, marvin rainwater, wayne raney, don robertson, ervin rouse, carl rudisill, torrell ruffin, michael a ruscio, charles segar, ronnie self, kevin sharp, thrasher shiver, alden shuman, earl shuman, brian swardstrom, jimmy thomas, randy travis, bryan white, miscellaneous notes.

Expanded Release in United States April 25, 1997

Expanded Release in United States May 2, 1997

Limited Release in United States April 18, 1997

Released in United States 1997

Released in United States March 1997

Released in United States on Video October 4, 1997

Released in United States on Video October 7, 1997

Released in United States September 1997

Released in United States Spring April 18, 1997

Shown at Oldenburg Film Festival in Germany September 3-7, 1997.

Shown at San Francisco International Film Festival April 24 - May 8, 1997.

Shown at South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas March 7-15, 1997.

Feature film directorial debut for veteran cinematographer Jack N. Green, best known for his numerous collaborations with director Clint Eastwood.

Began shooting November 29, 1995.

Completed shooting January 19, 1996.

Released in United States 1997 (Shown at San Francisco International Film Festival April 24 - May 8, 1997.)

Released in United States March 1997 (Shown at South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas March 7-15, 1997.)

Released in United States September 1997 (Shown at Oldenburg Film Festival in Germany September 3-7, 1997.)

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Traveller (1997)

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Directed by Jack N. Green

Swindlers. Scammers. Con-men. As American as apple-pie.

A young man, Pat, visits the clan of gypsy-like grifters (Irish Travellers) in rural North Carolina from whom he is descended. He is at first rejected, but cousin Bokky takes him on as an apprentice. Pat learns the game while Bokky falls in love and desires a different life. Written by Jeff Hole

Bill Paxton Mark Wahlberg Julianna Margulies James Gammon Nikki DeLoach Luke Askew Danielle Keaton Andrew Porter Jean Speegle Howard Rance Howard Robert Peters Jo Ann Pflug Vincent Chase John Bennes Jim Flowers Blaque Fowler Ted Manson Kerry Maher

Director Director

Jack N. Green

Producers Producers

Bill Paxton David Blocker Tom Huckabee Brian Swardstrom Mickey Liddell

Writer Writer

Jim McGlynn

Casting Casting

Joseph Middleton

Editor Editor

Michael Ruscio

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

James Alan Hensz Donald Murphy Jim Flowers

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Rick King Robert Mickelson

Lighting Lighting

Stephen Thompson

Production Design Production Design

Michael Helmy

Art Direction Art Direction

Skye Bailey

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Steve Davis George W. Harding III

Title Design Title Design

Stunts stunts.

Glenn Randalls Christopher Tuck Jim Vickers

Choreography Choreography

Adam Shankman

Composer Composer

Sound sound.

Carl Rudisill Christopher Sheldon Gerry Lentz J. Stanley Johnston Scott Wolf Eric Flickinger

Costume Design Costume Design

Makeup makeup.

Rudolph Eavy III Vincent J. Guastini

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Mary Hedges Lampert

MDP Worldwide Banner Entertainment

Releases by Date

06 sep 1997, 18 apr 1997, 06 feb 1998, releases by country.

• Premiere 16 Oldenburg International Film Festival
• Theatrical R

101 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by HalloweenHenry ★★★★

A solid little film, with a typically great performance by Paxton.

Review by maneleeo ★★½ 1

Bill Paxton can do cool roles.

Review by Waldo ★★★★ 2

A forgotten indie little gem from the late 90's. An Irish clan of con men that operates mostly on the south of the US, Paxton is one of the best. A distant cousin with no real home to go back to played by Mark Wahlberg teams up with Paxton and his education on the con game and the way of the Irish travellers start. The script is gold here. Filled with tough guy talk and some really funny dialogue. Juliana Margulies, Paxton and Wahlberg are rock solid. The final act is right on the money with both brains and violence.

Review by BrashBelle ★★★½

The film centers on a group of Irish American nomads that con their way for a living. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m sucker for a con movie. Bill Paxton’s acting is perfect. It’s totally naturalistic just as his character in the con game always has to be: relaxed and believable. Mark Wahlberg is great as the supporting actor being mentored for the con game. This was early on in Mark’s career following Fear and right before Boogie Nights and he’s genuinely good in this role. 

Julianna Margulies pops up towards the beginning and catches Paxton’s eye. She’s really great in this role as a love interest. She brings much more to the movie than the typical thankless female “love interest” role. Traveller is super low budget so the likability all depends on the screenplay/story and it totally delivers. There were a lot of twists and turns which constantly made this completely compelling.

Review by Chris ★★★★

Just another movie with yet another great Bill Paxton performance.

Review by ames ★★★½

wish me and 90s bill paxton were scammin people together

Review by Dan Gorman ★★★½ 2

I liked this 90s indie about a group of Irish con-men, including Bill Paxton who likes to work alone but ends paired up with Mark Wahlberg, teaching him low-level cons. Along the way Paxton has a change of heart after swindling Julianna Margulies and ultimately tries for one-last-big-score with James Gammon.

Dovetails into some yikes-y unnecessary racial stuff in the finale but otherwise it's pretty entertaining and fairly satisfying. There's a low budget, fish-eyed-lens-catching-the-crew-in-the-corners charm happening here as well.

Review by Nuno Costa ★★★

Viewed on Hollywood Suite

One of my favourite movie sub-genres is "The Con Man".

Films like The Grifters (1990), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Matchstick Men (2003), The Sting (1973), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Paper Moon (1973) and Catch Me If You Can (2002), these storylines about people fooling, tricking, swindling and conning other people always intrigued me.

Maybe it's because I feel I'm incapable of pulling anything like that off.

Traveller (1997) is a film about a group of "Irish Gypsies" con artists, in particular Bokky, played by Bill Paxton, who takes Pat played by Mark Wahlberg, an estranged cousin of sorts, under his wing when Pat's father dies and brings his body back to the family.

Again, the…

Review by Sev ★★★

bill paxton ily

Review by amber23 ★★★★½

Great indie film with Bill Paxton as a con artist who takes in a relative played by Mark Wahlberg. Paxton takes Wahlberg with him to scam some folks and ends up teaming up with a fellow con man played by the wonderful James Gammon. Julianna Marguiles co stars as a victim turned love interest of Paxton. There are some non PC things but it’s 1997! Very entertaining hidden gem.

Review by Rita Costa ★★

I thought this movie was so boring. By the way Mark Whalberg can not play someone from anywhere but Boston.

Review by badvibesreport ★★

Markathon 5/54

This is pretty much a boring slice-of-life flick with a conman veneer. Bill Paxton is fine and Mark is even fine but the script is incredibly boring. I totally felt like Jean's character was leading up to a con so for her to just be relegated to a misogynistic, stereotypical love interest was super disappointing. On Markathon terms, I think Mark is very OK here. He's still doing the breathy Michael Jackson-esque delivery from Fear but it's less jarring here because it works as a naive conman's attempt at appearing disarming. The writing in this one is just so boring. All the minor cons are low-stakes and underwhelming. The final con is confusing and boring. The climax is…

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A young man, Pat, visits the clan of gypsy-like grifters (Irish Travellers) in rural North Carolina from whom he is descended. He is at first rejected, but cousin Bokky takes him on as an apprentice. Pat learns the game while Bokky falls in love and desires a different life. Written by Jeff Hole

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10 great films about Gypsies and Travellers

Jonas Carpignano’s The Ciambra, about a young boy growing up in an Italian Romani community, is one of the rare films about the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community that avoids stereotypes of criminality or mysticism. Here are 10 other films and TV shows that honestly show the vibrant culture of the GRT community.

Jonas Carpignano ’s new film  The Ciambra  is a neorealist fable about a young boy growing up in the Italian region of Calabria, part of a secluded neighbourhood of Romani people. In a nation where highly publicised hate crimes against Gypsies and Travellers have been relatively recent, The Ciambra looks at the mistrust with which the GRT (Gypsy, Roma and Traveller) community regards the rest of society. As the young protagonist Pio’s grandfather tells him: “It’s us against the world.”

When it comes to depictions of the GRT community in cinema, the feeling can be pretty similar. Travellers frequently find themselves stuck between invisibility or ridicule, and as in real life, misunderstandings about them abound. Romani people are stateless, but have been living for generations in Europe and Great Britain; Irish Travellers are Celtic (‘Pavee’) in origin – all suffer endemic poverty, social exclusion and open discrimination.

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In some ways, it might be easier to write a list of films wholly ignorant of the travelling communities they portray – in the UK , for example, the obnoxious ‘reality television’ series and films that turn travellers into punchlines or employ racial epithets. Still, some films and filmmakers have sought to counter the popular narratives of their people as criminals or mystics. Their work has run the gamut from abstract fiction to harrowing documentary; they have depicted Eastern European slums and modern travellers’ camps in Essex.

Some of the filmmakers showcased below offer honest and diverse portrayals of their own Gypsy communities; all of them attempt to purge centuries of collective myth-making that obscure a vibrant culture.

Sky West and Crooked (1966)

Director: John Mills

Sir John Mills ’ pastoral drama  Sky West and Crooked  is an open-minded portrayal of the travelling community in rural Britain. Its central focus is an oddball romance between Brydie ( Hayley Mills ), a troubled West Country teenager, and Roibin ( Ian McShane ), a broodingly handsome young man from a nearby travellers’ site.

Examining small-town prejudice and siding firmly with its two outsiders, Mills’ film intelligently portrays the mistrust between the settled community and the travellers and underlines how foundational fear of the unknown is when it comes to racism. Kids under the age of 10 parrot that they’re “scared of gyppos”, clearly never having interacted with anyone outside their country village. With poignant empathy and a smattering of real Romani words, Mills’ film attempts to bridge the gap between communities in a heartening way. Considering this was made in the 1960s, it’s shocking how few British films since have come with such a progressive perspective.

I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967)

Director: Aleksandar Petrovic

Aleksandar Petrovic’s  I Even Met Happy Gypsies  has the distinction of being one of the earliest internationally released features to be made in the Romani language. Because of the tendency of nomadic people to pass down culture orally, it’s a language that has long struggled to be recognised and written into the annals of linguistic history.

Soundtracked by genuine Gypsy melodies and unafraid of depicting the shocking poverty of isolated traveller sites around what was then Yugoslavia,  Petrovic ’s story is one of small-time dramas and family machinations, filmed with a heightened black and white realism that gives it a stylised documentary feel. The subject matter, too, is ultimately fitting – ritualised courtship, elopements, domestic strife and a girl seeking to escape the cruelty of a domineering stepfather – all feel deeply relevant to the close-knit, family-oriented Traveller community.

Where Do We Go from Here? (1969)

Director: Philip Donnellan

This  short documentary  comes in at just around the 60-minute mark, but its activist intentions are as vital today as they were almost a half-century ago when they were filmed. This BBC doc attempts to shed light on the enigmatic lifestyles of British Travellers, particularly at a time when more traditional nomadic habits were being displaced by an increasingly industrialised nation and pressure to find a fixed abode.

Director  Philip Donnellan  was a documentary filmmaker for the BBC for decades, making dozens of films on the struggles of the working class and with a particular interest in GRT issues. He allows generous time in his film for insightful interviews with his subjects, many of whom still maintain prominent family names in contemporary English Traveller society. At a moment in the 20th century when questions about alternative ways of living were becoming increasingly germane, this film turns a fresh eye to the ethnically nomadic people who had been populating Britain for hundreds of years.

Angelo My Love (1983)

Director: Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall ’s overlooked  feature  stars a young New Yorker that the director had a chance encounter with on the street. The boy’s street-smart manner belied his age, and Duvall was intrigued to learn that the kid – Angelo Evans – came from a cloistered enclave of Romani people.

The loose narrative of the film focuses on a stolen family heirloom, but this is a thin premise for a vérité romp through the chaos of the real Angelo’s life, featuring actual friends and family along the way. His rough-and-tumble and often comical interactions – not to mention his light hustling – are captured with a pseudo-documentary style. Swirling around old-fashioned values of the community – family pride, masculine honour and the like – Duvall makes a surprisingly ethnographic character study out of his collection of on screen incidents.

Time of the Gypsies (1988)

Director: Emir Kusturica

As Serbia’s arthouse director du jour,  Emir Kusturica  has dealt glancingly with the Romani community in Eastern Europe for many years. Often, this is in the mode of magical realism, which presents certain questions about the superstition around Gypsy people, and the claptrap associations with the mystical attributed to them.

Time of the Gypsies  doesn’t help much on that front: its main character, the bespectacled Perhan, is telekinetic. But what Kusturica lacks in cliché-busting he makes up for in other ways: he is masterful in his tragi-comic sensory overload-style depiction of Traveller life. Squawking chickens, muddy-faced children and noisy encampments seem to overwhelm the characters within, and their response to that impoverishment is what one might expect: denigration, crime and outright begging on the street. The magical powers might be a foolhardy touch, but the rest of the picture is unfortunately accurate.

Latcho Drom (1993)

Director: Tony Gatlif

Tony Gatlif – a prolific European Romani filmmaker who almost exclusively makes films in the Romani language – perfectly married form and content in this  French film . Its title means ‘safe journey’, referring to the fabled ancient migration of Romani people from India into the nations of Europe. The film is a quasi-historical documentary that meets with the far-flung Romani diaspora in various countries and examines their cultural practices and differences.

Brilliantly,  Gatlif  employs no voiceover or interviews for his non-fiction film, using traditional music and dance to evoke the moods and impressions of the people on screen. “Why does your mouth spit on us?” croons a female Gitano singer sorrowfully, bringing back the centuries of discrimination, enforced sterilisation and holocaust brought upon her people. It’s a moment that speaks for itself in reverberative, literal terms.

Pavee Lackeen (2005)

Director: Perry Ogden

Perry Ogden’s gentle  fiction film  is about a real Irish Traveller girl and her family, as they stop on an unfriendly roadside outside Dublin. Ogden underlines the stark contrast between the Maughan family’s trailer and the lights and colours of contemporary urban life in Ireland. Since the governments of both the UK and Ireland regularly fail to allocate legal sites for Travellers to stay in, they are often forced to camp illegally on roadsides and lay-bys.

There’s no judgement in  Ogden ’s gaze, and he charts the frequent misunderstandings between the travelling and settled communities with real sensitivity. The community officers and various bureaucracies may want the family to integrate, but there’s a refusal to see that it may mean the Maughan family would be subsuming their ethnic identity as a result. Yet the safety and continued education of the children in the family is of concern, and so Pavee Lackeen offers a measured look at both sides.

Knuckle (2011)

Director: Ian Palmer

Ian Palmer’s  documentary  was over a decade in the making as he gained intimate access to two Irish Traveller families locked in a series of violent feuds.  James Quinn McDonagh  is the central protagonist of the tale – a bare-knuckle Gypsy champion with a shaved head and solemn features. A rival clan, the Joyces, have a long-held hatred of the McDonaghs over an old brawl that landed one family member in prison and another dead.

Knuckle may not do much to quell stereotypes of Irish Travellers as belonging to a violent, honour-driven society deeply in thrall to old-style masculinity, but Palmer, trusty with a handheld camera, does present the reality of what he sees: engaging, brutal and sometimes bizarrely funny. There’s a real failure to more pressingly get to the heart of what drives these bare-knuckle fights – or to truly understand the families of the men who go through this primitive, trying behaviour repeatedly. As bitter a pill as it is for some to swallow, the iron-clad tradition of bare-knuckle boxing in the Traveller community is unlikely to go away anytime soon.

An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (2013)

Director: Danis Tanović

A Bosnian festival favourite and winner of the Berlinale Grand Jury Prize,  Danis Tanović ’s upsetting  drama  is played out by a non-professional cast who genuinely experienced the events of the film.

Filmed in an unobtrusive style, the title describes Nazif and his wife Senada, who have two children and live on Nazif’s scrap-dealing income. Because of their ethnicity, the two are refused admittance to their local hospital after Senada suffers a miscarriage. They are then forced to undertake a painfully long journey while Senada grows increasingly desperate and in need of medical care. The shocking endemic racism recalls the cruellest days of America’s Jim Crow era, where the Travellers are turned away by the institutions that they are most in need of.

Peaky Blinders (2013-)

Creator: Steven Knight

Although it took a few seasons to fine tune, this historical gangster drama about a gang of vicious British criminals is one of the most accomplished televisual depictions of Traveller history. With its colourful and nuanced set of central characters born of English Traveller blood, it offers something new – anti-heroic, dashing and complicated protagonists from Gypsy stock.

Set in the Black Country of Birmingham in the early 1920s,  Steven Knight ’s series focuses on the Shelby family, a bunch of strapping Romani-born lads who come up out of nothing to build an organised crime empire. Chief among them is the charismatic and coldly feline Tommy Shelby ( Cillian Murphy , whose angular face and cutting blue eyes are put to excellent use here), a shell-shocked First World War veteran who returns to his decrepit hometown with a desire for more.

Featuring Romani language from the second season onward and input – even supporting roles – for actors and writers from this background, Peaky Blinders has an implicit importance that goes far beyond the machinations of its often extravagant criminal plot twists. When someone speaks disdainfully of Tommy’s background, he sarcastically drawls, “I sell pegs and tell fortunes.” This isn’t your romanticised view of Gypsies. If anything, it’s a reminder that English Travellers have been around for a long time, and even back then they were sick of your stereotypes.

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12 Best Irish Movies On Netflix In March 2024

By Author Keith O'Hara

Posted on Last updated: March 11, 2024

This is a guide to the best Irish movies on Netflix . And, I’ll level with you… there aren’t many!

In years past Netlflix had some of  the best Irish films ever made available to watch but, as of March 2024, it’s pretty slim pickings.

However, there are some decent Irish films on Netflix, including  ‘My Sailor My Love’  (set on Achill Island) and the comedy  ‘Hard Times’ .

Table of Contents

The best Irish movies on Netflix

Photos via Tourism Ireland press pack

We’ve done our best below to bring together a mix of the best Irish movies Netflix has to offer. Unfortunately, you won’t find old-school favourites, like The Commitments, as it isn’t part of their catalogue.

You will, however, find a heap of movies that you (hopefully) haven’t watched/heard of that’ll keep you gripped from start to finish, like ‘Waking The Titanic’ .

1. Hard Times

One of the few Irish comedy films on Netflix is  ‘Hard Times’ . The film is set in the fictional village of Kilcoulin’s Leap – an area that’s down on its luck.

A group from the village decide the best way to bring prosperity back to the town is to steal a consignment of ‘blue pills’ and then sell them in Amsterdam.

However, things take a turn when they store the stolen pills in the village’s Holy well. I watched this recently and very much enjoyed it!

The need-to-knows about the movie:

• Genre: Comedy-drama
• Release date: 2009
• Starring: John Lynch, Linda Hamilton, Cornelius Clarke and Lochlainn O’Mearain
• Plot in a nutshell: In an attempt to bring prosperity to their town, villagers steal a consignment of ‘blue pills’

2. My Sailor My Love

Photos via Shutterstock

One of the more overlooked Irish movies on Netflix is  ‘My Sailor My Love’ , set on Mayo’s Achill Island.

The story follows a retired sea captain who lives on his own in a scenic but rural part of Ireland that has lost his way, letting both himself and his home deteriorate.

That is until his daughter hires a local woman to help him around the house and love (eventually) blossoms. If you’re after Irish romance movies on Netflix, give this a bash.

• Genre: Romance-drama
• Release date: 2022
• Starring: James Cosmo, Brid Brennan and Catherine Walker
• Plot in a nutshell: Story follows a retired sea captain living alone on an island who starts a relationship with a local widow

3. Apocalypse Clown

One of the more unusual Irish films on Netflix is  ‘Apocalypse Clown’ , which was filmed in Dublin and Kildare.

The story follows a clown called  ‘Bobo’ who, along with some other clowns and a reporter called  ‘Jenny’ try to uncover what caused Ireland’s technology to collapse.

The world has gone into a spin and chaos has hit Ireland – this is the clowns last chance to ‘Make it big’ . This sounds a bit mental. Hit play above. It  looks  mental, too!

• Genre: Comedy
• Release date: 2023
• Starring: David Earl, Natalie Palamides and Amy De Bhrún
• Plot in a nutshell: Ireland’s technology is mysteriously brought to a halt and chaos ensues, forcing a group of clowns to give their dream one last short

4. The Irish Wish (arrives March 15th)

One of the newest Irish movies on Netflix lands on March 15th – ‘The Irish Wish’ , starring Lindsay Lohan was recorded in Dalkey, Temple Bar, Wicklow and in parts of Clare.

It follows a book editor, played by Lohan, who’s set to be a bridesmaid at her friends wedding. However, a few days before the big day, she wishes she  was  the bride.

She wakes up the next day and, Voilà, she’s the bride. The plot doesn’t  sound  great but, as it’s being released around St. Patrick’s Day, it’ll likely become one of the most popular Irish romance movies on Netflix by month end.

• Genre: Romantic-comedy
• Release date: 2024
• Starring: Lindsay Lohan
• Plot in a nutshell: A book editor, played by Lindsay Lohan, wishes to be the bride at her friend’s wedding and wakes up the next day to find her wish magically granted

5. Waking The Titanic

This is  not  a documentary about the Titanic – it’s so much more! ‘Waking The Titanic’  tells the story of 14 people from the village of Addergoole in County Mayo who sought a better life.

Out of the 14 boarded the Titanic, only 3 survived. The movie tells the tale of the loss experienced by those who’s loved ones were lost to the sinking of the Titanic.

• Genre: Docu-drama
• Release date: 2012
• Starring: Rachel Duffy, Caroline Hegarty and Miriam Kelly
• Plot in a nutshell: The documentary tells the story of 14 people that left a small village in Ireland in search of a better life

Arguably one of the better known Irish films on Netflix is  ‘Belfast’ , starring Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan.

It follows the lives of a working-class Protestant family living in Belfast and facing the challenges experienced during the Troubles in Belfast.

The movie is seen through the eyes of  ‘Buddy’  who’s father has gone to England for work. Life for the family becomes increasingly unsafe and they are forced to make a life-changing decision.

• Genre: Drama
• Release date: 2021
• Starring: Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan
• Plot in a nutshell: It follows the challenges faced by a working-class family in Belfast during the Troubles

7. Black Ice

One of the older Irish movies on Netflix is  ‘Black Ice’ , starring Killian Scott and Jane McGrath. It’s set in Donegal but the movie was filmed in Leitrim and Sligo.

It looks at the world of underground car racing in rural Ireland. The story follows siblings Alice who’s brother lost his life during a race. She is in a relationship with Jimmy (Scott) who is well-known on the car racing scene.

The pair attempt to break into the legitimate rally scene, but things aren’t as straightforward as they may seem

• Release date: 2013
• Starring: Jane McGrath, Killian Scott, Dermot Murphy and Marian Quinn
• Plot in a nutshell: Siblings Tom and Alice escape small town boredom by rallying around rural Irish roads

8. Derry Girls

Right, it’s not a movie, but it’s one of the only Irish series on Netflix at the minute and, as you’re probably aware, it’s a belter!

Derry Girls was created and written by Lisa McGee and is set in County Derry in Northern Ireland during the 1990s.

The show follows Erin and her friends as they battle the highs and lows of teenage life in Derry.

If you’re in search of a great show and you’re not bothered about whether or not it’s Irish, dive into our guide to the 17 best series on Netflix Ireland .

The best eh-they’re-only-kinda Irish films on Netflix

I define an ‘Irish movie’ as one that’s set in Ireland. If you disagree with that then fair enough! 

There’s an absolute clatter of movies on Netflix that are widely regarded as ‘Irish movies’, as they feature Irish actors or because they are partly set in Ireland.

Below, you’ll find three of the most popular Irish films on Netflix that are very debatably Irish.

1. The Foreigner

The film follows Ngoc Minh Quan’s (Jackie Chan) search for answers and justice when his daughter is caught up in an IRA attack.

Quan ultimately decides to seek vengeance instead of waiting for the perpetrators to be caught. Travelling to Ireland, he pursues and attempts to confront former Provisional IRA member, Liam Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan) who is now the Deputy First Minister for Northern Ireland and knows more than he lets on. 

Director Martin Campbell has crafted a nail-biting action movie and also stars Charlie Murphy.

2. P.S. I Love You (25% on Rotten Tomatoes)

P.S. I Love You is based on a book of the same name by Cecelia Ahern, who penned it when she was just 21, in 2004.

Now, if horrific Irish accents trouble you, avoid this one . Whoever gave the OK for Gerard Butler’s Irish accent needs a good kick up the backside.

Holly and Gerry are happily married. Then tragedy strikes and Gerry passes away. Holly discovers that Gerry has left her letters that she receives at random intervals. One takes her to Ireland.

This is arguably one of the most notable movies set in Ireland on Netflix, with many visiting Ireland every year to see the filming locations.

3. The Siege of Jadotville (64% on Rotten Tomatoes)

Set in 1961, during the United Nations Operation in the Congo, this action film is the story of how an Irish Army peacekeeping unit fends off an attack by a group of mercenaries hired by mining companies who support a new Congolese government.

Directed by Richie Smyth, and leading the charge is Jamie Dornan, as Commandant Pat Quinn, with Guillaume Canet as the mercenary Rene Faulques, and Mark Strong as zealous Conor Cruise O’Brien who try to prevent an escalation in the conflict.

FAQs about the best Irish movies on Netflix

We’ve had a fair few emails about this guide since it first went live, like ‘Why isn’t x movie included?’.

Below, we’ll attempt to answer the most FAQ, but shout in the comments if you have one that hasn’t been tackled.

What are the best Irish films on Netflix?

In our opinion, the best Irish movies on Netflix are Hard Times, My Sailor My Love, Waking The Titanic and Black Ice.

Are there any comedy Irish movies on Netflix?

As of March 2024, the only Irish comedy on Netflix is Hard Times. Netflix have removed a lot of great movies over the past year.

Keith O’Hara has lived in Ireland for 35 years and has spent most of the last 10 creating what is now The Irish Road Trip guide. Over the years, the website has published thousands of meticulously researched Ireland travel guides, welcoming 30 million+ visitors along the way. In 2022, the Irish Road Trip team published the world’s largest collection of Irish Road Trip itineraries . Keith lives in Dublin with his dog Toby and finds writing in the 3rd person minus craic altogether.

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Tuesday 21st of March 2023

Rick J Lynch

Wednesday 3rd of November 2021

carol barron

Wednesday 20th of January 2021

Calm with horses

Monday 18th of January 2021

In the name of the father. One of the most important Irish movies made.

Sunday 25th of October 2020

Song of the Sea!!!

Wednesday 17th of March 2021

Song of the sea is awesome

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Was Bloomington's first gay bar in the Irish Lion building? What we found about its history

After its closure in May, the Irish Lion Restaurant and Pub now joins the long and dramatic history of the West Kirkwood building it inhabited for over four decades. The building is currently listed for sale by Chris Cockerham with FC Tucker/Bloomington Realtors.

Here are some of the highlights from over a century of articles from The Herald-Times and Bloomington Evening World archives.

West Kirkwood: Saloons, hotels and a questionable reputation

The Irish Lion building began in 1882 as a pub and inn, according to the restaurant’s website. A map of the city in 1892 shows the inn as Bundy’s European Hotel, a safe haven for travelers on the nearby railroad and boarding house tenants. There was a saloon on the first floor.

The building has long been rumored to have provided salacious services. Though no specific building was mentioned, a newspaper article about county fairs in the 1890s described “questionable women shows” that would take place at the fair before being transferred to the inns and saloons on West Kirkwood at night. The street and surrounding blocks had a sordid reputation and its tendency to hold rainwater on each side of the street gave it the name “the levee.”

For decades, the area saw drunken fights, gambling and prostitution, leading to the nickname becoming somewhat derogatory. In 1909, the police raided an illegal saloon on the corner of Morton Street and Kirkwood Avenue, finding “enough booze…to stock a small saloon,” and a couple in a locked room who quickly got dressed before they were rounded up with the other arrestees — 18 total — and taken to jail.

The illicit activities on the levee continued. A later article reflected on the “Morton Street girls,” at the time “an accepted institution as much as the grocery and shoe stores.”

According to the H-T archives, it was tradition in the levee to celebrate “bock beer season” in the springtime by posting pictures of long-whiskered billygoats in windows. Bock beer is a dark, dense beer usually brewed in autumn and served in the spring. The season would also bring “sporting gentlemen” who would provide a “peculiar service…over the mahogany” and in upstairs poker rooms.

From Kirkwood bar to Irish pub

In the decades following, the building was home to Hinkle’s Lunch in the 1950s-60s and the Kirkwood Bar shortly afterward. The Kirkwood Bar is mentioned in The Herald-Times archives in 1968, when co-owners Jack Shields and Hank McGuire locked themselves in their beer cooler and had to dig through the ceiling into the apartment above to escape. Advertisements for the bar that year listed offerings like fried potatoes, corn bread, beans, fresh fish, sandwiches and cold beer.

Ownership of the bar changed hands a few times, ultimately ending with Don Ellington. The bar hosted at least two weddings in 1974, including a marriage between employee “Squeaky” and bar patron Flora Mae Kaiser. In 1976, the New Horizons Gay Community Services Center moved to a spot above the bar to offer counseling sessions. The same year, the bar advertised “female impersonators,” another term for drag queens, in an Indy Crossroads newsletter.

In 1977, an H-T writer described the Kirkwood Bar as a “hard-knocks railroad-track bar” that had begun to attract a “gay/straight crowd.” The bar was also listed in an October 1977 edition of “Gay Chicago News.”

Larry McConnaughy opened the Irish Lion in 1982 after the Kirkwood Bar’s closure, a century after the building began its life as a tavern. The restaurant and pub advertised authentic Irish food and the historic nature of the building, purchasing antiques to decorate the interior. The restaurant’s history fueled ghost stories , from glasses flying across the room to commotion from phantom parties.

The Irish Lion building even made it into the ‘80s sitcom “Cheers,” the opening credits of which include several photographs from old bars across the country.

Reach Marissa Meador at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: History of Irish Lion building on Bloomington's Kirkwood Avenue

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