Ryan's Daughter (1970)
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 16
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 8
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 2,592
My Rating
Movie Info
The logic behind inflating Robert Bolt's minimalist romantic drama Ryan's Daughter into a 12-million-dollar epic seems to have been "When David Lean directs, it's a super-spectacular." Sarah Miles (who at the time was married to Robert Bolt) stars as Rosy, the daughter of Irish pub keeper Tom Ryan (Leo McKern). Married to tweedy, sexless schoolmaster Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum), restless Rosy has an affair with British officer Randolph Doryan (Christopher Jones). When village idiot
Nov 9, 1970 Wide
Feb 28, 2006
MGM Home Entertainment
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Robert Mitchum
Charles Shaughnessy -
Trevor Howard
Father Collins -
Sarah Miles
Rosy -
Christopher Jones
Randolph Droyan -
John Mills
Michael -
Leo McKern
Tom Ryan -
Barry Foster
Tim O'Leary -
Owen O'Sullivan
Peter -
Marie Kean
Mrs. McCardle -
Evin Crowley
Moureen -
Barry Jackson
Corporal -
Douglas Sheldon
Driver -
Ed O'Callaghan
Bernard -
Philip O'Flynn
Paddy -
Niall O'Brien
Joseph -
Niall Toibin
O'Keefe -
Emmet Bergin
Sean -
May Cluskey
Storekeeper -
Archie O'Sullivan
McCardle -
Gerald Sim
Captain -
Des Keogh
Lanky Private -
Pat Layde
Policeman -
Brian O'Higgins
Constable O'Connor -
-
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All Critics (17) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (10) | DVD (13)
Overlength of perhaps 30 minutes serves to magnify some weaknesses of Robert Bolt's original screenplay, to dissipate the impact of the performances, and to overwhelm outstanding photography and production.
Top CriticAn awe-inspiringly tedious lump of soggy romanticism.
Those who were jealous of [Lean's] previous successes decried the film as an utter failure, though of course it is not, it just isn't quite as good as his other movies.
It doesn't transfigure the world. It embalms it.
A disappointing failure of tone, a lush and overblown self-indulgence in which David Lean has given us a great deal less than meets the eye.
It's insanely overproduced in Lean's standard epic style, yet somehow the crazy mismatches in scale contribute to the film's sense of romantic delirium.
Arguably David Lean's weakest film, this lushly photographed (it won Oscar for Freddie Young) period Irish romance is rambling and pointless, and feels like an occasion for Sarah Miles (then married to writer Bolt) to show off her beautiful body.
The best thing about this much-vaunted, overlong Irish epic love triangle is its gorgeous photography.
Imagine the 'straight A' student who receives, deservedly, a 'B' on his term project and you will capture the quandary surrounding David Lean's 1970 mega-feature
Some hippie-dippiness dates the picture, but the vérité posturing of Lean's peers looks a lot kitschier in retrospect
If you are looking for a breath of fresh Eire, you are in the wrong movie.
At 206 minutes, it should have been titled Orion's Daughter for its constellation-sized proportions.
Ryan's Daughter takes far too long to say much too little.
Lean's depiction of provincial Ireland during the unrest of 1916 may suffer a little from its rather worthy romanticism, but this does not dilute its powerful, epic vision.
Audience Reviews for Ryan's Daughter
RYAN"S DAUGHTER:
Needlessly drawn out
and boring love triangle.
David Lean's big fail.
There is no excuse:
great cinematography
can't save a snoozer.
Despite some good scenes
and production values, you
should skip this dull mess.
Super Reviewer
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Foreign Titles
- Ryan's Tochter (DE)
- La fille de Ryan (FR)
