Movies/Shows with Celtic Roots

[Allan Thomson]

You are correct there are several versions of the story in Film, of Greyfriars Bobby the best known one being made in 1961, the most recent I know of was made in 2005.

The Lassie film was "Challenge to Lassie" made in 1949 and that is the one based on Greyfriars Bobby.
you can watch it here https://ffilms.org/challenge-to-lassie-1949/

I've mixed Liz Taylor up with a later Lassie film.

As you can see from the Avatar I'm a bit biased about Rough Collies..

I bet there were some skye terrier owners up in arms about that one... There was resentment about a Pittenweem Terrier being used instead of a Skye in one of the more recent remakes...

[Singlemalt]

There are lots of Canadian shows and films with solid Celtic roots. Particularly from the Atlantic Provinces where Scottish and Irish immigration dominates. Most are pretty low budget affairs (high budgets for such a small market are not an option). One that comes to mind which might be available to the wider world is "Men with Brooms". It is a cute movie and lots of fun and I consider it one of the finest Curling Movies ever made.

[stickman]

The picture of Scotty supposedly playing the pipes is a joke. I noticed that all of the tuning slides are all the way down, no way that pipe was in tune.

[kiltedsawyer]

Just found this on line:

[OC Richard]

Is it a common misconception in the States that Irish people and Scottish people are interchangeable?

Yes.

Being a piper and out piping at various events I've heard comment than range from revealing shocking ignorance to surprising knowledge.

Two comments from American youth, heard while I was in Highland Dress with my pipes, will suffice:

1) a teenage girl asked "are you Scotch-Irish? My ancestors came from Scotch-Ireland!"

2) looking at the Union Jack on my pipe-case one teenage boy asked another "what's the difference between Britain and the UK?" to which the other replied "Northern Ireland is part of the UK but not part of Britain".

[OC Richard]

The picture of Scotty supposedly playing the pipes is a joke. I noticed that all of the tuning slides are all the way down, no way that pipe was in tune.

Almost never are the sound you're hearing made by the things you're seeing.

The bagpipes you see were just a prop of course. The piping was done by Catherine Graham-Nicholson, a fine Canadian piper. I heard that they wouldn't give her time to re-tune her pipes which had got out of tune due to the different temperature in the recording studio (they're often cold). Odd how they give a violinist time to tune but not a piper!

The story is told how the composer, James Horner, was dead-set against using bagpipes but the director insisted. Horner vented his displeasure by scoring the orchestral version of Amazing Grace in a clashing key so that the fade from bagpipes to orchestra would sound horrid. It did.

All of us pipers were dismayed at how bad it sounded when first we heard it. There's no excuse- bagpipes play in perfect tune with orchestras and pipe organs etc all the time.

The irony is that Horner went on to score Braveheart and Titanic which used pipes to great effect (though those were the uilleann pipes).

[huntgathergrow]

Loved the film and always a big fan of John Wayne but I think the continuity issues are the least of it with the authenticity here. The only people I have ever seen wearing kilts in Ireland have been at a wedding and the pipers are usually only seen at Orange order parades on the 12th of July. Is it a common misconception in the States that Irish people and Scottish people are interchangeable?

I think there can be some confusion because there are larger cities with a significant Irish influence that have pipe bands. They see the pipe bands in kilts and think it's an Irish thing. Just my theory on it.

As for the interchangeability of Scottish and Irish people, that's probably more complicated. There's certainly some misunderstanding because of the term "Scots-Irish" in the States. I certainly had a misunderstanding until recently regarding the term and this history of the Ulster-Scots in America. And while I don't speak for all Americans, I think there's additionally mixing of the 2 due to the strong Celtic heritage of both peoples.

If you have any more questions, feel free to DM me. This is something I've been reading about recently, trying to understand the history of the Appalachian region and its people, my people.

[huntgathergrow]

a teenage girl asked "are you Scotch-Irish? My ancestors came from Scotch-Ireland!"

Yeah... I can't say I was much more informed as a kid, but I do hope that I can now be a better influence on friends and family in helping them understand Appalachian history, the Ulster-Scots and why we ought to educate ourselves before we Americans go around saying "I'm this" or "I'm that". It's certainly something to be proud of, but we should be so proud that we want to get it right and we're respectful to those who's families have remained in the region long since our ancestors left.

OC Richard, ever planning to return to the Promise Land?

[Macman]

I think there can be some confusion because there are larger cities with a significant Irish influence that have pipe bands. They see the pipe bands in kilts and think it's an Irish thing. Just my theory on it.

We live in Canada, but my wife is from New York City. When we first started dating, she was talking to a friend in NYC about me, and said that I wore a kilt, so I must be Irish-Canadian. Her friend straightened her out quickly!

[kiltedsawyer]

I was watching "A River Runs Through It" the other day, and while I've seen the movie a dozen times I noted something that I had either forgotten on simply failed to notice. Towards the end of the church picnic scene there is a piper playing and in full THCD, (if I have that right.) I have been to Montana several times but never thought about there being a Scottish connection. Curious, I came upon several articles on line, including this one:

http://explore.virtualmontana.com/20...missing-scots/

So, not a movie with "Celtic Roots" but then again the lead characters are Presbyterians.

Cheers,

David