ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Aiden Melton The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

ianlouisiana When I listened to the wireless in the 1940s and 50s Mr Locke was a regular on the Light Programme,constantly appearing as a guest of such luminaries as Henry Hall or Vic Oliver on their radio shows.He topped the bill at Variety Theatres all over the country for years then disappeared off the radar - "Got some girl in trouble I'll be bound",was my father's comment which went a bit above my head at the age of 13.So clearly his reputation had reached even the leafy lanes of Surrey by that time,if not the real reason for his vanishing.My mother was inconsolable until she discovered Mario Lanza who was Italian and much more exciting. "Hear my song" tells of the search by a cut- price impresario for the elusive Irish tenor.Like "The Commitments" it presents the Irish as they really are rather than how the Americans choose to portray them - as refugees from a John Ford movie. Ned Beatty is splendid as the reluctant recluse, a man still capable of charming the birds out of the trees.He has the voice of an angel - so he does.My personal favourite Miss Shirley Anne Field makes a very welcome appearance,and the circle is closed by Mr Harold Behrens in a small role rounding off the connection to post - war BBC radio where he was a regular on "Ignorance is Bliss". Appearing unheralded on the horizon out of nowhere - as it were - "Hear my Song" is a beautifully crafted little film,a masterpiece in miniature and anyone whose love for movies is more than skin deep will adore it.

RondoHatton Gee, good story. Great scenery. Excellent acting. Great music. Tara Fitzgerald unclothed. Well, Tara's nude scene was less than germane to the plot, though I think she's totally yummy. Ned Beatty actually pulled the role of Jo Locke off quite well, not going over the top trying to lay on the old Irish brogue bit too heavy. The Locke vocals were sung by Vernon Midgely, & since I had never heard music like that before, I was knocked out. The trad Irish "diddly-diddly" tunes in the soundtrack are by Patrick Street, one of the best contemp Irish bands you can find. Adrian Dunbar, who co-wrote the screenplay with author Peter Chelsom, was wonderful, as semi-crooked music hall manager Mickey O'Neill. Tara Fitzgerald portrayed Nancy Doyle, O'Neill's "fiancee", & brings the role off very well. James Nesbitt, who may be known from "Ballykissangel", plays O'Neill's best friend back in Ireland. Shirley Anne Field, one of Britain's true beauties of the 60's, plays Fitzgerald's mother, a flame left behind by Beatty's Jo Locke, when he left England as a tax exile in the '50's. I just wish we could get a Director's Cut here in the States, as the US theatrical & video releases list actors(Brian Flanagan as "Young Mickey", Constane Cowley as "Nurse, and Marie Mullen as "Mickey's Mum") in the credits which for some inexplicable reason were cut from the North American release. This scene has to do with why Mickey O'Neill can't tell someone he loves them(i.e. Tara Fitzgerald as Nancy). Rumour has it "Hear My Song" will be re-released on DVD in the UK in July '09....but a US release is still delayed so DVD makers can press more boxed sets of "Dog, The Bounty Hunter", anime, and Hannah Montana(whose "movie" was actually directed by Peter Chelsom, who directed and wrote "Hear My Song") Still, this is a wonderful movie,

aknk1 Micky O'Neill, a sleazy Irish entertainment promoter has about run his course offering pseudo-acts like Franc Cinatra. The Ryan family that owns the theater is about ready to throw him out when they ask who his next performer is "Bing Crosby spelled with a K"?, but Micky O'Neill comes up with the name of Josef Locke and the Ryan's gasp as Josef Locke is supposedly out of the country, because of tax fraud or something. So Micky is given a reprieve until it becomes known that the Josef Locke he has booked is a fraud, Since his girlfriend's mother once had a fling with Jo and has been duped by the fake Jo, Micky has been outcast by the Ryan family, his girlfriend and especially his girlfriend's mother. He hops a ride on a boat to Ireland where he meets up with his friend Fintan, a concert promoter, and the two of them ride through the Irish countryside in search of the real Josef Locke in an effort to convince him to return to England to perform. When they find him, the Irish comedy really begins, and also the Irish singing. The tenor voice is spectacular and when Jo sings, women weep.......

larcher-2 An awkward start, then a charming movie; part of the emerging genre of Irish fairy tales, complete with the mystical village of Tully More. One early scene has an entirely unnecessary bit of fairly explicit sex and brief nudity; this, like most of the first half-hour or so, flounders. The story finally hits its comic stride when the semi-hero goes off to Ireland to search for a reclusive tenor. The movie flattens out at the end, turning utterly sentimental and entirely predictable. Certainly worth watching, but basically nice fluff.