Guns in the Heather | |
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Directed by | Robert Butler |
Produced by | Ron Miller |
Starring | Glenn Corbett |
Music by | Buddy Baker |
Release date |
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Running time | 3:00:00 (180 minutes) |
Countries | United Kingdom United States |
Language | English |
Guns in the Heather is a 1969 Walt Disney adventure film directed by Robert Butler and produced by Ron Miller. It stars Kurt Russell, Glenn Corbett and Alfred Burke. [1] It was originally broadcast in parts on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in the United States under the title Guns in the Heather, then re-edited for a European theatrical release under the English title, The Secret of Boyne Castle. It was re-broadcast on American television in 1978 under the title Spy-Busters. The story is based on the 1963 novel Guns in the Heather, by Lockhart Amerman.
The film was primarily shot on location in Ireland (St. Flannan's College in Ennis, Corkscrew Hill, Corofin and Kilfenora, County Clare feature) with additional scenes shot at Pinewood Studios near London, England.
Rich Evans (Kurt Russell), An American exchange student’s day at the Leinster School in Ireland is interrupted when a bleeding man drives up to the school and gives Rich a message for his brother Tom (Glenn Corbett), before dying. Rich and his friend Sean O’Connor (Patrick Dawson) are taken from the school by a man who claims to be from the American Embassy, but who turns out to be an Eastern Bloc agent. Rich and Sean make a daring escape and eventually reach Tom, who is an American intelligence agent and not the Irish sales rep for an American steel company as Rich thought. Rich and Sean get off the flight to London Tom placed them on when they spot some of the enemy agents and find Tom in time to save him from other agents, who had grabbed him. They head to Boyne castle, where the message said vital info about an East Bloc defecting scientist was hidden. However Tom is locked up with the real Lord Boyne, while East Bloc agents replace Lord Boyne and his staff. Rich finds the info, but when he calls the US embassy with it, the bad guys are listening in. The imprisoned group help Tom make an ingenious escape from the dungeon they’re locked into. Using a dory and a glider they are able to intercept the East Bloc agents before they can grab the defecting scientist.
Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a 1959 American fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions, adapted from the Darby O'Gill stories of Herminie Templeton Kavanagh. Directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Lawrence Edward Watkin, the film stars Albert Sharpe as O'Gill alongside Janet Munro, Sean Connery, and Jimmy O'Dea. It was released on Walt Disney Home Video via video cassette in October 1981.
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American actor. At the age of 12, he began acting in the Western TV series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). In the late 1960s, he signed a ten-year contract with The Walt Disney Company, where he starred as Dexter Riley in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in Elvis (1979), he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Russell became the studio's top star of the 1970s.
Events from the year 1946 in Ireland.
Events from the year 1931 in Ireland.
The 1990s brought a growing international awareness of Irish traditional music, along with a period of economic success for Ireland and the launch of the music-and-dance show Riverdance. In America, the 1991 television series Bringing It All Back Home, produced by Philip King, focussed on the Irish roots of much American music, and was followed by other TV productions also themed around Irish music.
Dunguaire Castle is a 16th-century tower house on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay in County Galway, Ireland, near Kinvara. The name derives from the dun (fort) of King Guaire, the legendary king of Connacht.
Patrick David Barr was an English actor. In his career spanning over half a century, he appeared in about 144 films and television series.
Frongoch internment camp at Frongoch in Merionethshire, Wales was a makeshift place of imprisonment during the First World War and the 1916 Easter Rising.
Robert Stanton Butler was an American film and Emmy Award-winning television director. He is best known for his work in television, where he directed the pilots for a number of series including Star Trek, Hogan's Heroes, Batman and Hill Street Blues.
Another Time, Another Place is a 1958 British melodrama film directed by Lewis Allen and starring Lana Turner, Barry Sullivan and Sean Connery. It was written by Stanley Mann based on Lenore J. Coffee's 1955 novel Weep No More.
The Fighting Prince of Donegal is a 1966 adventure film starring Peter McEnery and Susan Hampshire, based on the novel Red Hugh: Prince of Donegal by Robert T. Reilly. It was released by the Buena Vista Distribution Company. The film was shot entirely at and near Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
The Barefoot Executive is a 1971 American comedy film starring Kurt Russell, Joe Flynn, Wally Cox, Heather North, Harry Morgan and John Ritter. The plot concerns a pet chimpanzee named Raffles who can predict the popularity of television programs. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Robert Butler. It was frequently aired during The Wonderful World of Disney from the late 1970s through the 1980s.
The 15th Youth in Film Awards ceremony, presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film, television and theatre for the 1992-1993 season, and took place on February 5, 1994, at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, California.
The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Directing is an Emmy award given for direction in daytime television. Both series and specials are eligible for this category.