Hard Way, The

Date: 1979
Director: Michael Dryhurst
Production Company: Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Stars: Patrick McGoohan, Lee Van Cleef, Edna O'Brien, Donal McCann, Ronan Wilmot
Location(s): County Dublin, County Wicklow

Region(s):

Storyline:

After completing his last job and considering himself retired, a professional assassin is pressured into carrying out one more hit.

Additional Information:

Screen captures by Phil Wilkinson

The film was intended to be a cinema release but was instead shown on televison.

More information about the film and its locations can be found at http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/reviewsthehardway.htm

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Ageing hit-man John Connor looks out from his vantage point to see the car of his final target. Supposedly somewhere in London, this looking over the since regenerated Hanover Quay and the Grand Canal Dock in Dublin 2. Hanover Quay also appears in '30 is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia'.

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Considering himself retired, the killer makes his way to Euston station. The taxi and drop-off entrance of the station on Melton Street NW1.

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After a last drink in the station bar, Connor catches the train to Holyhead for the ferry to Dún Laoghaire. Euston station with a train that appears to be heading for Birmingham!

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The shot pans with the departing train. Looking north from the platforms with buildings on Hampstead Road to the top left.

With the bow doors slowly opening, St. Columba arrives in Ireland. Dún Laoghaire Harbour in County Dublin.

The same harbour along with the lighthouse as they appear now, captured by Alan Bourke.

Friends and family wait for passengers to disembark. The quay at Dún Laoghaire with the since demolished Carlisle Pier station in the background.

Alan Bourke provides this matching view of the quayside.

Connor drives to the house of his estranged wife Kathleen and parks up opposite. Seymour Road in Bray, County Wicklow. The area is seen from a distance in 'Dead Man’s Evidence'.

Alan Bourke provides this shot of the location from ground level.

A short time later, Kathleen Connor (Edna O'Brien) leaves the house. Facing north on Seymour Road with Seapoint Road in the distance.

An excellent match by Alan Bourke.

Getting out of the car and crossing the road, John Connor (Patrick McGoohan) enters the property. The corner of Seymour Road and Duncairn Avenue.

The same corner captured by Alan Bourke.

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Inside the house, Connor looks around before leaving a cheque for his family.

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The assassin drives on to his remote cottage in Galway. The cottage and outhouses are located on the Luggala Estate in Roundwood, County Wicklow.

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Parking his Austin Princess, Connor goes inside the cold, empty building.

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McNeal (Lee Van Cleef) arrives at Dublin Airport and is met by Joe Flynn (Ronan Wilmot) and his associates Ryan (Donal McCann) and Casey (Derek Lord).

The American is driven to his hotel in Dublin where the assassination of Father Cressy is discussed. Outside the Shelbourne Hotel on St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2 which also features in 'Another Shore', 'The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne' and 'Ulysses'.

The Shelbourne Hotel revisited by Pat Cleary.

In the west of Ireland, Connor walks into town. The corner outside St. Joseph's church on Main Street in Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow.

Pat found that the the trees have been removed providing a much better view.

Conner enters Haslams Bar where he reads the newspaper over a whiskey. Facing the bar that is now named the Mountkennedy Inn on Main Street in Newtownmountkennedy.

A much more colourful location in Pat Cleary's shot.

Learning that Connor is unwilling to carry out the killing, McNeal leaves Dublin to find him. Alan Bourke identifies this as the N11 road just north of Kilmacanogue in Wicklow, adding "There's a riding school beyond the trees on the left which was used as "The Vortex", where the Eternals in the John Boorman film 'Zardoz' lived.

And Alan provides this capture as proof. Image copyright Google.

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When Connor refuses McNeal's offer, Flynn and his men are sent to visit him.

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Flynn, Ryan and Casey find Connor as he comes out of the wood shed and hand him a photo of his wife.

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Connor accompanies the men and is taken to meet McNeal.

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Flynn tells McNeal that he's concerned after the plan is explained and Connor agrees to do the job.

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Ryan brings a Man with a specialist sight to the workshop where Connor is making adjustments to his rifle. Possibly Lad Lane in Dublin 2, suggests Pat Cleary, which still has several large, arched as well as small doors. Conclusive proof is difficult due to so much re-development already completed and continuing on both sides of the road.

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At a disused quarry, the sight is fine tuned. Pat Cleary identifies this as the old Roadstone Quarry at Fassaroe, near Bray in County Wicklow with the Little Sugar Loaf in the left distance and the Great Sugar Loaf in the right distance.

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After being handed a cheque for forty thousand pounds, Connor hides out in a safe house. Seen from Aungier Place this is Aungier Street in Dublin with St. Peter’s church tower and buildings towards the corner of Whitefriar Place standing to the right. The church had closed in 1950 and was demolished in 1983.

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McNeal flys to Paris where he meets with his paymaster, Duval. Second unit or stock footage of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris 75008.

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Connor is collected and taken to Dublin Airport to carry out the shooting. The sign says it all.

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Watching from a nearby warehouse, Connor scans the apron for Father Cressy's appearance.

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Knocking Flynn out, Connor makes his escape from the warehouse.

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Connor gets into the gangster's Jaguar.

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Ryan watches from the warehouse as Connor drives away.

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As Ryan runs downstairs and discovers Flynn, Connor speeds from the airport. The road from Dublin Airport, in County Dublin at the time of filming but since 1994 in Fingal.

With Father Cressy still alive, McNeal makes other plans. Likely by the second unit, this view of Notre-Dame de Paris is from Quai de la Tournelle in Paris 75005.

Following the vein of a second unit exercise, a slightly lower shot extracted from the library of SJ.

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Duval meets McNeal in a quiet Left Bank bar. Looking towards the corner of Quai de la Tournelle and Rue de Poissy in the 5th arrondissement.

Connor returns to his wife's house to warn her and before putting her in a taxi. Carlisle Terrace at the corner of Seymour Road and Duncairn Avenue, Bray.

Alan Bourke slips between parked cars to get this comparison.

Casey and Ryan arrive in the street. Looking towards Quinsborough Road from Seymour Road in Bray.

A daylight view of the same location by Alan Bourke.

Followed by Ryan and Casey, Connor drives away and dumps the Jaguar to make for a nearby railway yard on foot. Seapoint Road, Bray in County Wicklow when filmed but now part of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown created in 1994.

Alan revisited the street for this shot.

Leaving their car, Ryan and Casey climb the steps up to the sidings. Seapoint Road in Bray.

Alan Bourke followed the action up the steps.

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The two men search old railway carriages before Connor shoots them both.

Kathleen arrives at Dún Laoghaire to catch the ferry to England. The ferry route to Holyhead in Wales was diverted away from Dún Laoghaire to Dublin Port in early 2015.

Pat Cleary explains that "The Dun Laoire to Holyhead sea route once departed from this Carlisle Pier but subsequently moved to St. Michael's Wharf (now Pier) seen in the following capture. Following demolition of the Terminal Buildings it has become a public car park and a storage area for pleasure boats. The area beyond the fence has been used for funfairs and, occasionally, for berthing smaller vessels."

From the quayside, Connor watches the ferry leave. Dún Laoghaire port in County Dublin.

For this shot, Pat Cleary's camera was just small enough to fit through the fence seen in the previous capture. St. Michael's Pier in the background, and the area west of it, was extensively enlarged and renovated to become the new Terminal for the Dun Laoire to Holyhead Car Ferries and, subsequently, HSS. The route was finally closed in 2015 and the Terminal buildings currently lie vacant.

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In the Parisian bar, McNeal foils a hit-man's attack as he waits for Duval. More second unit work on Boulevard de Clichy in Paris 75009.

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McNeal makes his way back to his nondescript hotel and telephones Flynn.

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Three Assassins are sent by McNeal to kill Connor.

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After Connor disposes of the expected hit-men, McNeal tells Flynn to make sure that Connor finds out that he is in the secluded country house. Alan Bourke identifies this as Hollybrook House near Bray in County Wicklow.

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Leaving his boss alone, Flynn leaves the building. Hollybrook House in Bray advises Alan, just across the main road north of Kilmacanogue seen earlier.

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McNeal practices his aim in the grounds of the house. Hollybrook House, Bray located by Alan Bourke who adds that the property is also featured very heavily in John Boorman's 'Zardoz'.