The Quare Fellow( 1962)

TV-MADrama

58%

User
Score

Overview

Thomas Crimmins is a new warder, or guard, in an Irish prison. He is young, naive, and idealistic, determined to serve his country by his part in meting out justice to criminals. His superior, Regan, however, realizes that even prisoners are human beings, and Regan is sick of the eye-for-an-eye attitude that leads the state to execute condemned men, or "quare fellows." Crimmins begins to see that not all is black and white in his new world, and when he becomes involved with Kathleen, the wife of one of the condemned men, his attitude begins to change. When new evidence arises to suggest that Kathleen's husband may not deserve his fate, Crimmins is torn between his duty and his humanity.

Top Billed Cast

Patrick McGoohan
Thomas Crimmin
Sylvia Syms
Kathleen
Walter Macken
Regan
Dermot Kelly
Donnelly
Jack Cunningham
Chief Warder
Hilton Edwards
Holy Healy
Philip O'Flynn
Prison Governor
Leo McCabe
Dr Flyn
Norman Rodway
Lavery
Marie Kean
Mrs. O'Hara
Pauline Delaney
Mickser's Wife
Geoffrey Golden
1st Customs Official
Tom Irwin
2nd Customs Official
Joseph O'Donnell
Poet
Agnes Bernelle
Meg
Iris Lawler
Minna
Dominic Roche
Prison Chaplain
Brian Hewitt-Jones
Jenkinson
Arthur O'Sullivan
'Himself' - The Hangman
Aubrey Morris
Silvertop
Eamonn Brennan
Flaherty
Robert Bernal
Mickser
Gerry Alexander
Kelly
T. P. McKenna
Walsh
Harry Brogan
Dunlavin
Eric Gorman
Neighbour
James Caffrey
O'Connor
John Cowley
Cleary
John Welsh
Carroll
Eddie Golden
Reception Warder
David Kelly
Reception Clerk
Frank O'Donovan
Clancy
Desmond O'Neill
O'Shaughnessy
Aiden Grennell
Food Orderly
Derry Power
Stretcher Bearer
Brendan Cauldwell
Shamrock Attendant
Pat Layde
1st Publican
Marie Conmee
Publican Woman
Michael C. Hennessy
2nd Publican
James Brennan
Old Patriot
Ronnie Walsh
Irate Citizen
Charlie Roberts
Dock Worker
Marcella Grimes
Charwoman
Celia Salkeld
Lavery's Assistant

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Review 1Discussion

A review by John Chard

6.5

Written by John Chard on Tue Apr 07 2015

Condemned men, strange? The Quare Fellow is directed by Arthur Dreifuss who along with Jacqueline Sundstrom co-adapts the screenplay from the Brendan Behan play. It stars Patrick McGoohan, Sylvia Syms, Walter Macken and Dermot Kelly. Music is by Alexander Faris and cinematography by Peter Hennessy. Thomas Crimmin (McGoohan) begins new employment at a Dublin jail firmly believing in the benefits of the death penalty. Not everyone of his colleagues feels the same, though, and as Crimmin works through his time and gets close to the wife of a condemned man, his beliefs are splintered. The ...