Hear My Song **** (1991, Ned Beatty, Adrian Dunbar, Shirley Anne Field, Tara Fitzgerald, William Hootkins, Harold Berens, David McCallum, James Nesbitt, Brian Flanagan) – Classic Movie Review 9937

First-time director and co-writer Peter Chelsom’s 1991 Hear My Song stars Ned Beatty as infamous Irish singer Josef Locke, who is hiding in Ireland from the law, Jim Abbott (David McCallum), who want him for tax evasion. But Micky O’Neill, (Adrian Dunbar), the owner of a failing rundown theatre club (Heartley’s) in Liverpool, wants him to top the bill after a Locke impersonator (William Hootkins) flops.

Shirley Anne Field plays Cathleen Doyle, the Fifties beauty contest winner Locke abandoned years ago, who just happens to be the mother of Dunbar’s girlfriend, Nancy Doyle (Tara Fitzgerald).

All these disparate elements come together beguilingly in this whimsical romantic comedy, written by Dunbar and director Chelsom. It is lightweight, but when it is on the screen it is thoroughly engaging and entertaining. Beatty mimes convincingly to Locke songs and, after a bit, you forget he’s a famous American star actor and Locke’s personality emerges.

The script tidies life up to portray the world as we would like it to be, complete with a happy ending, but why not?

Vernon Midgley provides the voice of Josef Locke.

It was shot in Ireland in less than six weeks for under £2 million. Chelsom and Dunbar took it to the Cannes Film Festival, where Harvey Weinstein bought the American distribution rights for Miramax, helping to turn it into a hit in the UK and America, and helping Ned Beatty earn a Golden Globe nomination.

Also in the cast are Harold Berens, David McCallum, James Nesbitt, Brian Flanagan, Stephen Marcus, Britta Smith, Rúaidhrí Conroy, Pat Laffan, Frank Kelly and Norman Vaughan (Self).

Hear My Song is directed by Peter Chelsom, runs 113 minutes, is made by British Screen Productions, Channel Four Films, Limelight Productions, Windmill Lane Productions and Palace Pictures, is released by Miramax (1992) (US), is written by Peter Chelsom (story and screenplay) and Adrian Dunbar, is shot in Metrocolor by Sue Gibson, produced by Alison Owen, scored by John Altman, and designed by Caroline Hanania (Production Design) and Kave Quinn [Katharine Naylor] (Art Direction).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9937

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com