MovieChat Forums > The Dead (1987) Discussion > What happened to some of the male guests...

What happened to some of the male guests?

posted 15 years ago by longhairedtoad
8 replies | jump to latest

I haven't seen this movie in years, but it was broadcast on the IFC channel last night and I got to view most of it. At the start of the dinner, I saw two or three young men in the dancing scenes. It was never pointed out who they were. By the time dinner was ready and they all took their seats, none of these men were there. There were shots from both ends of the table showing all who were seated and these men were absent. So what happened to them?

"No one should write a book God wouldn't want to read."

[–] mad19571 14 years ago

Hi longhairedtoad

This is almost a year later and you may not be attached to IMDb any more but here you go. Off of my DVD viewing, I emphasize DVD because if you watch it on VHS the picture is pan and scanned and faded by now and does not ever show everyone that is at the table. I took the time to pause the frame and those early dance scenes do have the male cast members that we see later on at the table. Two of them we meet right at the very beginning (including a young Colm Meaney) the rest we meet throughout the first half hour. The only one that I found a bit confusing is Frank Patterson - in the first long shot it looks like a very young man but at the end of the dance scene it is him. There is the possibility that my eyes missed something and there is the possibility that - due to shooting schedules that doubles might have been used in long shots - but it was fun trying to track this down for you so thanks.

I'll make a good Gordon, Gordon!

[–] jackboot 14 years ago

The original poster was correct - there were three fresh-faced, younger male guests who were already at the party, dancing, and who had no lines. They were just extras who danced. They were not seated at the table. They were there at the beginning of the film and we never saw them leave nor did we see them speak or interact with the others, except as dancers. I guess they just included them to make the party look fuller. It allowed the other men (principle players with speaking lines and names) to go and drink and speak with each other while the women were in the parlour, dancing.

[–] longhairedtoad 14 years ago

Thanks for trying to find the answers to this. For a moment there, I thought I had just imagined those other guests but it does seem they were there as extras.

"No one should write a book God wouldn't want to read."

[–] mad19571 13 years ago

Just a quick update of off this years viewing. Jackboot is %100 correct about the three young men. In the credits they are listed as

1st young gentleman - Paul Grant
2nd young gentleman - Paul Carroll
3rd young gentleman - Patrick Gallagher

Some eagle eared viewer has add these names to IMDb's cast list - #1 as Mr Duffy and #3 as Mr Egan. They are only seen in the room where the dancing takes place and they are there through the dancing, Mary Jane's piano solo, Aunt Julia's song and Mr Grace's recitation. They disappear almost at the moment that Aunt Kate asks the men to bring tables into the dining room. As Jackboot surmises they were almost certainly there to fill out the numbers needed so that there wouldn't be too many of the women standing around not dancing.

One note for any other readers that come on this thread. Yes, one of the women is not at the dinner. That would be Molly Ivins but her leaving the party is explained and seen onscreen.

The three men who disappeared all looked to be in the early to mid twenties so I suspect that they were sitting at the kids table in the kitchen :-)

Cheers to all fans of this special film

I'll make a good Gordon, Gordon!

[–] arianwenn 13 years ago

Perhaps the young men came to pay a social call and then went on to dinner elsewhere. It did happen.

LeeAnn Rimes. No it doesn't.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Indeed.

[–] bootblack987 8 years ago

They snuck out early in desperate search of anyone or anything that could be the least bit interesting. Alas, I fear they might have only found something yawn-inducing as what they tried to escape from... 

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

If you don't like the movie, then just don't watch it. No need for all this negativity.