Barry Lyndon

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Actors: Ferdy Mayne (actor), Wolf Kahler (actor), Ryan O'Neal (actor), Murray Melvin (actor), Liam Redmond (actor), Steven Berkoff (actor), André Morell (actor), Patrick Magee (actor), Jonathan Cecil (actor), Pat Laffan (actor), Hardy Krüger (actor), Michael Hordern (actor), Hans Meyer (actor), Marisa Berenson (actress), Harry Towb (actor),

Plot: In the Eighteenth Century, in a small village in Ireland, Redmond Barry is a young farm boy in love of his cousin Nora Brady. When Nora engages to the British Captain John Quin, Barry challenges him for a duel of pistols. He wins and escapes to Dublin, but is robbed on the road. Without any other alternative, Barry joins the British Army to fight in the Seven Years War. He deserts and is forced to join the Prussian Army, saving the life of his captain and becoming his protégé and spy of the Irish gambler Chevalier de Balibari. He helps Chevalier and becomes his associate until he decides to marry the wealthy Lady Lyndon. They move to England and Barry, in his obsession of nobility, dilapidates her fortune and makes a dangerous and revengeful enemy.

Keywords: 1700s, 1760s, 1770s, 1780s, 18th-century, adultery, amputation, armed-robbery, arrest, attempted-suicide
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Romance, War,
Taglines: At long last Redmond Barry became a gentleman -- and that was his tragedy.

Quotes:

[Barry is masquerading as a British lieutenant in Prussia after having defected from the British army]::German Girl: It must be very danger for you, to be in the war.::Redmond Barry: I'm an officer and I must do my duty.

[Redmond Barry sees a lone figure down the road, his back facing him]::Redmond Barry: Excuse me, sir!::[Man turns around aiming dual pistols at Barry]::Captain Feeny: Good morning again, young sir! [a young man on horseback approaches and holds Barry up from behind with a pistol] Don't even think about it. Get down off that horse. Raise your hands high above your head, please. Come forward... stop. How do you do? I'm Captain Feeny.::Redmond Barry: Captain Feeny?::Captain Feeny: Captain Feeny at your service.::Redmond Barry: THE Captain Feeny?::Captain Feeny: None other. May I introduce you to my son, Seamus.::Seamus: How do you do?::Redmond Barry: How do you do?::Captain Feeny: To whom have I the honor of speaking?::Redmond Barry: My name's Redmond Barry.::Captain Feeny: How do you do Mr. Barry? And now I'm afraid we must get on to the more regrettable stage of our brief acquaintance. Turn around, and keep your hands high above your head, please.::[Seamus frisks Barry and finds a pouch full of money]::Seamus: There must be 20 guineas in gold here, father!::Captain Feeny: Well, well, well. You seem to be a very well set up young gentleman, sir!::Redmond Barry: Captain Feeny, that's all the money my mother had in the world. Mightn't I be allowed to keep it? I'm just one step ahead of the law myself. I killed and English officer in a duel, and I'm on my way to Dublin until things cool down.::Captain Feeny: Mr. Barry, in my profession we hear many such stories. Yours is one of the most intriguing and touching I've heard in many weeks. Nevertheless, I'm afraid I cannot grant your request. But I'll tell you what I will do. I'll allow you to keep those fine pair of boots which in normal circumstances I would have for myself. The next town is only 5 miles away, and I suggest you now start walking.::Redmond Barry: Mightn't I be allowed to keep my horse?::Captain Feeny: I should like to oblige you, but with people like us, we must be able to travel faster than our clients. Good day, young sir. [Barry soon is a few paces ahead of the robbers] You can put down your hands now, Mr. Barry!

Sir Charles Lyndon: Have you done with my Lady?::Redmond Barry: I beg your pardon?::Sir Charles Lyndon: Come, come, sir. I'm a man who would rather be known as a cuckold than a fool.

Sir Charles Lyndon: [laughs] He wants to step into my shoes. He wants to step into my shoes. Is it not a pleasure Gentlemen for me, as I am drawing near the goal - to find my home such a happy one - my wife so fond of me, that she is even now thinking of appointing a successor? Isn't it a comfort to see her like a prudent housewife - getting everything ready for her husband's departure?::Redmond Barry: I hope you're not thinking of leaving us soon, Sir Charles?::Sir Charles Lyndon: Not so soon my dear as you may fancy, perhaps. Why man I've been given over many times these four years. And there was always a candidate or two - waiting to apply for the situation. I'm sorry for you, Mr. Barry. It grieves me to keep you or any gentleman waiting. Had you not better arrange with my doctor or have the cook flavor my omelette with arsenic, eh? What are the odds, gentlemen, that I live to see Mr. Barry hang yet?::Redmond Barry: Sir, let those laugh that win.

Narrator: [voice-over] A lady who sets her heart upon a lad in uniform must prepare to change lovers pretty quickly, or her life will be but a sad one. This heart of Lischen's was like many a neighboring town and had been stormed and occupied several times before Barry came to invest it.

Redmond Barry: I'm not sorry. And I'll not apologize. And I'd as soon go to Dublin as to hell.

Narrator: [voice-over] No lad who has liberty for the first time, and twenty guineas in his pocket, is very sad, and Barry rode towards Dublin thinking not so much of the kind mother left alone, and of the home behind him, but of tomorrow, and all the wonders it would bring.

Narrator: [voice-over] Barry's first taste of battle was only a skirmish against a small rearguard of Frenchmen who occupied an orchard beside a road down which, a few hours later, the English main force would wish to pass. Though this encounter is not recorded in any history books, it was memorable enough for those who took part.

Captain Grogan: I've only a hundred guineas left to give you for I lost the rest at cards last night. Kiss me, me boy, for we'll never meet again.

Narrator: [voice-over] It is well to dream of glorious war in a snug armchair at home, but it is a very different thing to see it first hand. And after the death of his friend, Barry's thoughts turned from those of military glory to those of finding a way to escape the service to which he was now tied for another six years. Gentlemen may talk of the age of chivalry, but remember the ploughmen, poachers and pickpockets whom they lead. It is with these sad instruments that your great warriors and kings have been doing their murderous work in the world.