Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class.Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class.Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 11 wins & 12 nominations total
Maria Doyle Kennedy
- Natalie Murphy
- (as Maria Doyle)
Ken McCluskey
- Derek Scully
- (as Kenneth McCluskey)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe kid on the skateboard who appears outside Jimmy's window during the first third of the movie when the band are recruiting members is Peter Rowen, the then boy from the covers of U2's "Boy" (1980) and "War" (1983) albums. At the time this movie was filmed, he owned a skate shop in Dublin and was a champion skateboarder.
- GoofsWhen the photographer tells everyone to say "testicles", only three people move their lips enough to make an audible sound (they are actually mouthing the word "lesbians"), but the sound is as if everyone was saying "testicles" out loud.
- Quotes
Jimmy Rabbitte: Do you not get it, lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once, say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Commitments: Try a Little Tenderness (1991)
- SoundtracksMustang Sally
Written by Mack Rice
Performed by Andrew Strong, with Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Bronagh Gallagher
Featured review
Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins) is a small time hustler selling pirated tapes and T-shirts. Outspan Foster (Glen Hansard) and Derek Scully (Ken McCluskey) ask Jimmy to manage their wedding band. Jimmy declares that they need to be a hard working Soul band. He puts an ad in the papers and it's a parade of wrong music. His Elvis loving dad (Colm Meaney) doesn't get it. Sax playing Dean Fay (Félim Gormley) is the first brought into the band. Billy Mooney (Dick Massey) is the drummer. Jimmy gets Natalie Murphy (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Imelda Quirke (Angeline Ball) and Bernie McGloughlin (Bronagh Gallagher) as the backup singers. After watching a drunken Deco Cuffe (Andrew Strong) sing at the wedding, he gets him as the lead singer. Joey "The Lips" Fagan (Johnny Murphy) is the womanizing experienced trumpet player who comes up with their name "The Commitments". He hires the volatile Mickah Wallace (Dave Finnegan) as their security.
This is fun. It's great music. The cast is mostly musicians trying their hands at acting. Some of them would become quite interesting. It's based on the first of novelist Roddy Doyle's lower class Barrytown trilogy. It's heart warming and then sadly inevitable. The portrayal of the Irish lower class is one of loving profanity. The one word I would use is life. This movie is full of life. The movie could have ended with something predictable but this way it's poetry.
This is fun. It's great music. The cast is mostly musicians trying their hands at acting. Some of them would become quite interesting. It's based on the first of novelist Roddy Doyle's lower class Barrytown trilogy. It's heart warming and then sadly inevitable. The portrayal of the Irish lower class is one of loving profanity. The one word I would use is life. This movie is full of life. The movie could have ended with something predictable but this way it's poetry.
- SnoopyStyle
- Aug 17, 2014
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Camino a la fama
- Filming locations
- Musical Hall, Ricardo's Snooker Hall - Lower Camden Street, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland(The Band's Rehearsal Room)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $12,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $14,919,570
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $271,333
- Aug 18, 1991
- Gross worldwide
- $14,919,633
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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