The Luck of Ginger Coffey Movie Review

More people saw Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb punch Robert Shaw as Red Grant in the stomach than will ever see a frame of this move, which is a pity really, because The Luck of Ginger Coffey contains one of Shaw's finest performances. Shaw is Ginger Coffey, who moves to Canada with his family, dreaming of a better life. Instead, he slides deeper and deeper into alcoholism. A strong cast gives meaning to Ginger's story. Irvin Kershner previously directed the well-regarded Hoodlum Priest and went on to direct offbeat films like Flim-Flam Man and Up the Sandbox. Between The Empire Strikes Back and Robocop 2, he directed Sean Connery and Kim Basinger in Never Say Never Again (the least generic James Bond film), and 1989's Traveling Man, an underrated return to his offbeat roots with John Lithgow, Jonathan Silverman, Margaret Colin, and John Glover. Kershner's indie debut, 1958's Stake-Out on Dope Street (shot when he was 25 on a $30,000 budget), and his best movie, 1970's Loving, are not yet available on video. Sadly, the hard-living Robert Shaw and Mary Ure were both dead by 1975. Based on Brian Moore's novel and filmed in Montreal.

1964 100m/B CA Robert Shaw, Mary Ure, Liam Redmond, Tom Harvey, Libby McClintock, Leo Leyden, Tom Kneebone; D: Irvin Kershner; W: Brian Moore; C: Manny Wynn; M: Bernardo Sagall. VHS