"Young Cassidy"

One of the movie channels dove deep into the past, showing this 1965 film for St. Patrick's Day.  Based on the Sean O'Casey book Mirror in My House it featured some of the biggest actors of the time.  Australian Rod Taylor is compelling as the eponymous lead and nails the Irish accent.  You can almost excuse him for being a bit too old for the role.  Unfortunately much of the supporting cast doesn't live up to his performance but they don't seem to be given much of a chance.  The writing is abrupt and hackneyed, a poor vehicle for someone like Maggie Smith who is trapped in a cardboard cutout of woman rather than provided with a fully realized person to portray.  Julie Christie's accent is barely there and not good, while other accents are so thick as to make the dialog unintelligible.  Many of the others come off as bad caricatures, like the offensive "paddies" portrayed in comedy clubs of the early 20th century.  All-in-all my Irish roots demanded that I watch this but I wouldn't recommend it for the uninitiated.  Better off reading some of O'Casey's actual work, which has a poetry that is utterly missing in this low-budget flick.