{"id":4144,"date":"2024-09-21T14:28:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-21T14:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4144"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:58:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T22:58:54","slug":"a-prayer-for-the-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/21\/a-prayer-for-the-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"A Prayer for the Dying"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A Prayer for the Dying<\/strong> (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Samuel Goldwyn Company\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 107 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language, brief rear nudity, suggestive content, thematic elements)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Mike Hodges\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Edmund Ward and Martin Lynch\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Bill Conti\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Garfath\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 11, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Mickey Rourke, Bob Hoskins, Alan Bates, Sammi Davis, Christopher Fulford, Liam Neeson, Leonard Termo, Camille Coduri, Maurice O\u2019Connell, Alison Doody, Karl Johnson, Ian Bartholomew, Peggy Aitchison.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $1.4M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I won\u2019t get into the politics of the crime drama A Prayer for the Dying<\/strong>. This isn\u2019t the place for it. Besides, the movie doesn\u2019t seem overly concerned with exploring the problems in Northern Ireland either. It\u2019s content to feature a former IRA hitman trying to leave behind his life of violence as its protagonist and leave it at that. I\u2019m perfectly fine with that. Besides, there are countless other movies that deal with the subject in a more meaningful way. Have you seen the 2014 film \u201971? If not, I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I remember when A Prayer for the Dying<\/strong> came out. Advance word wasn\u2019t good. Both director Mike Hodges (Get Carter) and star Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart) publicly disowned it after the studio made unauthorized cuts. In what can only be perceived as an insult, they wanted it to be more like an action movie in order to appeal to American audiences. I know this decision was motivated purely by box office greed, but it still feels like they think we\u2019re all idiots here in the US. They also replaced John Scott\u2019s (Greystoke) original score with one by Bill Conti (Rocky), again without permission from Hodges. He was so angered by their unsolicited interference that he attempted (unsuccessfully) to have his name removed from the credits.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Rourke plays Martin Fallon, an IRA hitman who decides he\u2019s had enough after accidentally blowing up a school bus full of children. He flees to London where he makes a deal with crime boss Jack Meehan (Bates, King of Hearts). In exchange for doing one last job- in this case, killing a \u201cbusiness\u201d rival- he\u2019ll be supplied with $50K, a passport and safe passage to America.<\/p>\n

\u00a0He carries out his assignment in a cemetery where he\u2019s seen by local priest Father Da Costa (Hoskins, Mona Lisa). Meehan orders Martin to kill the priest because there can be no witnesses. Martin has a better idea, one that doesn\u2019t involve more killing. He admits to the murder in a confessional booth effectively silencing Da Costa due to the seal of confession. For all the non-Catholics out there, this refers to the duty of priests not to reveal anything they hear during Confession. Initially infuriated over being put in this position, Da Costa pleads with Martin to seek absolution and cleanse his soul.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Unfortunately, this isn\u2019t good enough for Meehan. He still wants the priest dead and Martin too. He\u2019s not the only one after him. The IRA wants Martin too. They send his former cohort Liam (Neeson, Schindler\u2019s List) to bring him back to Belfast. For his part, Martin doesn\u2019t want to go back. He wants to give up his life of violence. He\u2019s also fallen in love with the priest\u2019s blind niece Anna (Davis, The Lair of the White Worm) who lives with him at his church where she serves as organist.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Based on the 1973 best seller by Jack Higgins, A Prayer for the Dying<\/strong> is a decent crime thriller in which serious themes take a back seat to more conventional genre elements- e.g. love interest in danger, a deadly trap laid for the hero and ticking time bomb. It never addresses \u201cThe Troubles\u201d between the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland in a meaningful way. There\u2019s a lot of non-specific talk about \u201cthe cause\u201d, that\u2019s it. It simply uses the protagonist\u2019s IRA involvement as a plot device. It makes more of an effort when it comes to religion and the church\u2019s view on violence. There\u2019s a lot of talk about penitence and seeking forgiveness. I can\u2019t speak to what exactly the studio cut from A Prayer for the Dying<\/strong>, but I have heard rumors of a Director\u2019s Cut. I\u2019d be interested in seeing it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0All that aside, what\u2019s left is a pretty good movie. Rourke, who spent time with actual IRA members in preparation for the role, is good in the lead role. His Irish accent sounds about right; the red hair is a bit much though. I was a big Mickey Rourke fan in the 80s. He consistently took on challenging roles in titles like Diner, Rumble Fish, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Year of the Dragon, 9 \u00bd Weeks, Angel Heart, Barfly and A Prayer for the Dying<\/strong>. Hoskins is fantastic as the priest with a violent background. He did things in the Army he isn\u2019t proud of. He became a priest to atone for his sins. He understands Martin better than anybody. Bates is terrifying as the vicious, cold-blooded gangster who also runs a funeral home. Here\u2019s a man with an interesting moral code. He has no qualms about killing or ordering hits, but he won\u2019t tolerate any member of his staff bilking old ladies. Davis is simply lovely as the blind girl who sees a kind person when she looks at Martin.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although it tends to drag in parts, A Prayer for the Dying<\/strong> is a compelling film. The last 20 or so minutes are a complete action movie clich\u00e9 with Martin barely escaping a deadly trap on a freighter and rushing to get Anna and her uncle to safety before a bomb goes off. You know what, I don\u2019t mind. It\u2019s hardly original, but it\u2019s not a total misstep either. I don\u2019t what else to say other than I like A Prayer for the Dying<\/strong>. It has its flaws, but it\u2019s not the stinker everybody makes it out to be.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Prayer for the Dying (1987)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Samuel Goldwyn Company\/Drama-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 107 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language, brief rear nudity, suggestive content, thematic elements)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Mike Hodges\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Edmund Ward and Martin Lynch\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Bill Conti\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Garfath\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 11, 1987 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Mickey Rourke, Bob Hoskins, Alan Bates, Sammi Davis, Christopher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/A-Prayer-for-the-Dying-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4400,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions\/4400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}