FOR ALL THOSE WHO COULDN’T GET TICKETS TO LAST YEAR’S SOLD OUT SCREENING, HERE IS ANOTHER CHANCE TO SEE THIS OFF BEAT COMEDY.
A year before he found world-wide fame as Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder braves an Irish accent to play the beleaguered horse manure collector, Quackser Fortune. Quackser falls for Zazel (Margot Kidder), an upper-class American studying in Trinity College. Despite their mutual fascination with each other, the mismatched pair quickly realise the romantic limitations caused by their differences. It all culminates in a hilariously uncomfortable scene at the Trinity Boat Club, when Zazel introduces Quackser to her well-to-do friends, with disastrous and hysterical results. In addition to Wilder’s eccentric turn, Eileen Colgan provides a great performance as the blowsy Betsey Bourke, who Quackser regularly calls into for a spot of sex and tea. Shot on location in Dublin the film serves as a vivid snapshot of Dublin in late ’60s, with scenes in Trinity College, ‘Gravediggers’ pub, Kavanagh’s in Prospect Square and the gate of Glasnevin cemetery.