The Violent Enemy (also known as Came the Hero) is a 1969 film directed by Don Sharp and starring Tom Bell, Susan Hampshire, Ed Begley, and Noel Purcell. It was written by Edmund Ward based on the 1966 novel A Candle for the Dead by Hugh Marlow (as Jack Higgins).
The plot concerns an IRA plot to blow up a British power station.The Violent Enemy at BFI
Premise IRA bomb expert Sean Rogan escapes from prison, and is reluctantly recruited into a scheme by IRA leader Colum O'More to blow up a British electronics factory back in Ireland. Rogan wants a peaceful life but O'More insists.
Rogan is given Hannah Costello to assist him. Inspector Sullivan is suspicious of Rogan.
Cast Tom Bell as Sean Rogan Susan Hampshire as Hannah Costello Ed Begley as Colum O'More Noel Purcell as John Michael Leary Jon Laurimore as Austin Michael Standing as Fletcher Philip O'Flynn as Inspector Sullivan Sam Kydd as Shorty
Original novel The film was based on the 1966 novel A Candle for the Dead by Hugh Marlow (better known as Jack Higgins). The Observer called it "fast and exciting".CRIMERATION Richardson, Maurice. The Observer 14 Aug 1966: 18. The sale of the movie rights enabled Higgins to quit teaching and write full time.
The book would subsequently be reissued in 1969 as The Violent Enemy by Jack Higgins.
Production Don Sharp had previously worked with the producers on Taste of Excitement (which would be released after this film). He says the original title of the film was Candle for the Dead. The title was changed to Came the Hero when filming began in Waterford in October 1968 and was finished by December.'Aznavour Signs 2-Year Pact Martin', Betty. Los Angeles Times 12 Oct 1968: c9. Sharp says it had a "nice cast" with Begley being "marvellous... it was a very good movie to make. I loved filming in Ireland. Tom Bell was marvellous".
Release Sharp says "everyone was delighted" with the film but just as it was released in May 1969, IRA activity started up again causing the film to be pulled.
The film was given a small re-release in early 1971. Critical reception The Monthly Film Bulletin called it a "moderately interesting if not particularly convincing melodrama".VIOLENT ENEMY, The Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 36, Iss. 420, (Jan 1, 1969): 178.
Western Daily Press called it "a moderate suspenseful film."
Sky Movies described it as "one of only a handful of British films to deal with the troubles in Ireland. Played as a melodrama, the film is efficiently directed by action specialist Don Sharp. Tom Bell has the right air of disillusionment about him as the IRA man who's learned moderation in a British jail".
The Radio Times noted, "it's efficiently made, if unsurprising, and familiar American actor Ed Begley is worth watching as the fanatical Irish mastermind behind the scheme."
The Independent said "The sum of all these substantial parts is less than a masterpiece. Too much of a hint of 'Oirish' accents among English actors. Too much talk of The Cause. Too little movement in the clock above Leary's bar, which is forever stuck at seven minutes past nine. Still it fills an idle hour and a half well enough."
References
External links
The Violent Enemy at BFI The Violent Enemy at Letterbox DVD