THE GENERAL  (1998)  ***

Reviewed 10/4/98

Criminal Martin Cahill broke into British director John Boorman's house in 1981 and made off with a golden record of the Dueling Banjos music from Boorman's Deliverance. Boorman's new movie on Cahill opens with his assassination by the IRA in 1994 then goes back to follow how he got there. Shot in black and white and masterly directed, the film is revelatory in following how Cahill and his gang pull capers and allude the police. The film's only problem, but a big one, is that it concentrates too much on Cahill's criminal activities and not enough on his personal life. For example, his wife is jealous but accepting of his menage-a-trois relationship with her and her sister. This is only touched upon but would have been a good opportunity to flesh out these other aspects of Cahill's character more.