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Created on Wednesday, 10 February 2016 16:44
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Written by James Leavey
Of all the film joints in all the towns in all the world, they had to stalk into mine.
Yeah, well, so I rewrote that famous line by Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca.
But he wouldn't have minded for he loved to smoke, even though it killed him in the end.
For those fecking anti-smokers are on the bully again. This time they want to extend the
smoking ban from the inside of every cinema to every film on the screen.
I presume that means retrospectively and would include many a fine film made in Dublin.
Such as The Commitments, a late 1980s comedy based on oddy Doyle's story in which
the nicotine habit was still legally enjoyed inside and out of the city's bars.
And then there was Educating Rita where Dublin's Trinity and University colleges stood
in for Liverpool. I'm sure Sir Michael Caine would have felt right at home in Dublin, for in
those days he used to love a fine cigar.
James Joyce loved cigars too – sure, didn't I once get to sniff his cigar case and temporarily
house one of my Montecristo No.2s in it. His short story, The Dead, was partly filmed in
Dublin by John Huston, who once lived in style in Galway where he smoked his cigars to
heart's content.
Meanwhile, the anti's are keeping their stupid gobs shut when anybody asks if they also want
to ban drinking, violence, fast food and unnatural sex from the movies. But then why would they,
there'd be nothing left for them to do.
Talking of which, it was only the other day that myself and Guy Hancock at the DCE were making
a list of great cigar-friendly films we love to inhale to.
Oddly enough, our list included some of those nicotine-friendly movies made here which are
currently being promoted by Visit Dublin's website – which describes the city as a breath of
fresh air.
Jaysus! You couldn't make it up if you tried.
ends