My Wild Irish Rose, 1947

Directed by: David Butler

Produced by: Warner Bros.

Starring: Dennis Morgan, Andrea King, Arlene Dahl

Irish singer Chauncey Olcott’s rises to Broadway fame thanks to help from singer Lillian Russell, but his lover, Rose, becomes jealous and their relationship meets complication as Olcott must fight for Rose.

 

The Quiet Man, 1952

Directed by: John Ford

Produced by: Republic Pictures (I), Argosy Pictures

Starring: John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald

Sean Thornton retires from an American boxing career to his hometown in Ireland where he falls in love with Mary Kate Danaher. Mary Kate’s brother disapproves of their courtship causing a stressful journey to their happily ever after.

 

Miller’s Crossing, 1990

Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Produced by:  Circle Films, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro

A fallout between Irish gang boss, Leo O’Bannon, and his right-hand man, Tom Reagan, forces Tom to switch sides and join the Italian mafia during the turf wars over the city and its liquor trade.

 

State of Grace, 1990

Directed by: Phil Joanou

Produced by: Cinehaus, Orion Pictures, Rank Organization

Starring: Ed Harris, Gary Oldman, Sean Penn

Terry Noonan becomes an undercover cop after returning home to New York and must balance his conscious while being law enforcement and involved with the local Irish mafia.

 

Far and Away, 1992

Directed by: Ron Howard

Produced by:  Imagine Films Entertainment, Universal Pictures

Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Gibson

Joseph Donnelly leaves Ireland with his landlord’s daughter after troubles with the landlord. Once in America, the two works towards a dream of owning land in Oklahoma.

 

Angela’s Ashes, 1999

Directed by: Alan Parker

Produced by: David Brown Productions, Dirty Hands Productions, Scott Rudin Productions

Starring: Joe Breen, Robert Carlyle, Emily Watson

Based on the memoir by Frank McCourt, it follows the anecdotes told by McCourt about his life growing up as a poor, Catholic, Irish-American in Limerick. 

 

The Boondock Saints, 1999

Directed by: Troy Duffy

Produced by: Franchise Pictures, Brood Syndicate, Fried Films

Starring: Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus

Irish American brothers’, Connor and Murphy MacManus, journey as vigilantes begins after they kill Russian mafia out of self-defense; they must skirt the authorities while taking in crime in Boston.

 

Gangs of New York, 2002

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Produced by: Alberto Grimaldi Productions, Initial Entertainment Group

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis

Amsterdam, the son of an Irish gang leader infiltrates the gang responsible for murdering his father with plans to kill the leader. Amsterdam’s identity is discovered and his father’s killer and him begin a chase to finish the other off.

 

Kill the Irishman, 2011

Directed by: Jonathan Hensleigh

Produced by: Anchor Bay Films, Code Entertainment, Dundee Entertainment

Starring: Vincent D’Onofrio, Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken

Based on the true story of Danny Greene, and Irish mobster from Cleveland in the 1970s. Greene was responsible for the turf war which resulted in the downfall of mafia across the United States.

 

Brooklyn, 2015

Directed by: John Crowley

Produced by: BBC Films, HanWay Films, Telefilm Canada

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson

Eilis Lace immigrates to New York from Ireland and experiences a roller-coaster of emotions as she overcomes homesickness and finds herself torn between her life in the United States and her life in Ireland.