"The Irish are the blacks of Europe, Dubliners are the blacks of Ireland, and the North Siders are the blacks of Dublin ... so say it loud — I'm black and I'm proud!" Or so Jimmy Rabbitte ( Robert Arkins ) tells his slightly puzzled friends as he tries to assemble a rhythm &sblues show band in a working class community in Dublin in Alan Parker 's film The Commitments . Jimmy is a would-be music business wheeler and dealer, and he's decided what Dublin needs is a top-shelf soul band. However, top-shelf soul musicians are hard to find in Dublin, so he has to make do with what he can find. However, after a long round of auditions, Jimmy makes two inspired discoveries: Deco ( Andrew Strong ), an abrasive and alcoholic streetcar conductor who nevertheless has a voice like the risen ghost of Otis Redding , and Joey "The Lips" Fagan ( Johnny Murphy ), a horn player who knows soul music backwards and forwards and claims to have played with everyone from Wilson Pickett to Elvis Presley . Before long, the band — called the Commitments — is packing them in at local clubs. But do they have what it takes to make the big time? Based on the novel by Roddy Doyle , who also co-wrote the screenplay, The Commitments is sparked by fine performances by its young cast and enthusiastic performances of a number of '60s soul classics; the cast, who play their own instruments, reassembled the band for a concert tour after the film became a hit. — Mark Deming
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Robert Arkins | Jimmy Rabbitte |
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Michael Aherne | Steven Clifford |
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Angeline Ball | Imelda Quirke |
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Maria Doyle Kennedy | Natalie Murphy |
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Dave Finnegan | Mickah Wallace |
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Bronagh Gallagher | Bernie McGloughlin |
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Felim Gormley | Dean Fay |
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Glen Hansard | Outspan Foster |
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Dick Massey | Billy Mooney |
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Johnny Murphy | Joey 'The Lips' Fagan |
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Ken McCluskey | Derek Scully |
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Andrew Strong | Deco Cuffe |
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Colm Meaney | Mr. Rabbitte |
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Anne Kent | Mrs. Rabbitte |
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Andrea Corr | Sharon Rabbitte |
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Gerard Cassoni | Darren Rabbitte |
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Ruth Fairclough | Rabbitte Twin |
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Lindsay Fairclough | Rabbitte Twin |
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Michael O'Reilly | Greg |
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Liam Carney | Duffy |
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Ger Ryan | Pawnbroker |
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Mark O'Regan | Father Molloy |
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Phelim Drew | Roddy the Reporter |
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Sean Hughes | Dave from Eejit Records |
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Philip Bredin | Ray |
| Director | Alan Parker |
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| Writer | Roddy Doyle, Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais | |
| Producer | Marc Abraham, Armyan Bernstein, Dick Clement, Souter Harris, Ian La Frenais, Lynda Myles, Roger Randall-Cutler, Tom Rosenberg, David Wimbury | |
| Musician | Wilson Pickett | |
| Photography | Gale Tattersall | |
| Edition | 25th Anniversary |
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| Nr Discs | 1 |
| Distributor | RLJ Entertainment |
| Edition Release Date | Sep 19, 2016 |
| Regions | Region B |