Young Cassidy

Young Cassidy (1965)

He's a brawling, sprawling giant - on the make for fame and fortune and then some!

In Dublin circa 1911, John Cassidy (Rod Taylor), an impoverished idealist, whose ambitions are restricted by the demands of looking after his family, journeys through the social injustices of Dublin life, involving himself with the rowdy tramway-men strike, dawdling with prostitute Daisy Battles (Julie Christie), and seeking a better life. He falls in love with bookshop assistant Nora (Dame Maggie Smith) who encourages him toward a life of writing. Finding success at the Abbey Theatre, his unorthodox views estrange him from family, friends, and his own past.

Date of release
1965-02-25
TMDB
6.4 / 10 (22)
Runtime
1h 50m
Genres
Drama
Director
Jack Cardiff

Casting

Interesting facts

Young Cassidy is a 1965 British biography drama film directed by Jack Cardiff and starring Rod Taylor, Julie Christie, and Maggie Smith. It is a biographical drama based upon the life of the playwright Seán O'Casey.

Production

As early as 1907, performances of John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World resulted in riots by theatergoers, which had to be quelled by police. The real W. B Yeats, a friend of both authors, said similar words at or after both riots. Young Cassidy brings this parallel history (the riots of The Plough and the Stars and The Playboy of the Western World) to vivid life, tied together by the character of Yeats.

Based on Seán O'Casey's autobiography Mirror in My House (the umbrella title under which the six autobiographies he published from 1939 to 1956 were republished, in two large volumes, in 1956), the movie began production in 1964, changing his name in the film to John Cassidy. O'Casey had read earlier drafts of the movie, and gave his approval to the script, as well as to the choice of lead actor, Rod Taylor.

Rod Taylor stepped in when the original choice for the role, Sean Connery, had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts with the James Bond movie Goldfinger. Prior to Connery, Richard Harris was attached.

The movie was initially directed by John Ford (who had already directed a movie version of The Plough and the Stars in 1936), but he fell ill about two weeks into production and was replaced by Jack Cardiff. Filming was held up for two weeks. Only one member of the cast was replaced – Sian Phillips came in for Siobhán McKenna. O'Casey died shortly before production on the film finished.

Anne Cotes the editor felt "the stuff that he [John Ford] shot was not great. And it was a bit unfair on Jack Cardiff, because it was not a very good film and it was to my mind totally miscast... It was Rod I mean he’s quite a good actor, but he just was miscast for the leading part."

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