Episode 505: The Last of the High Kings (1996)

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We dedicate this pairing to celebrating the life and talent of Catherine O'Hara, who we lost to complications related to cancer on January 30th of 2026. As we've done several of her best-known films over the last decade, we're going to focus on a couple lesser-known features. First off, O'Hara shows her dramatic chops as an Irish-Catholic mother tasked with raising five children basically on her own in director David Keating's 1996 film about a summer in 1977 Ireland called "The Last of the High Kings." Released originally in Ireland and the UK, when it was packaged by the studios for release in other markets (i.e. the United States), it was repackaged as "Summer Fling." The film stars O'Hara as Cathleen Griffin, whose husband Jack (Gabriel Byrne) is constantly on the road, working as an actor. This leaves Cathleen alone to manage Frankie (Jared Leto), Maggie (Renee Weldon), Noelie (Ciaran Fitzgerald), Ray (Peter Keating) and Dawn (Alexandra Haughey). Frankie is convinced he's failed his exams and torpedoed his chances at college. All he has to look forward to is planning a beach party and longing after two girls from his class, Jayne Wayne (Lorraine Pilkington) and Romy Thomas (Emily Mortimer). Along the way, Frankie's tasked with with chaperoning a visiting American, Erin (Christina Ricci), who is interested in him but Frankie doesn't feel the same until it's too late. And, through all of the chaos of the summer, a shared love of Elvis Presley motivates Frankie and his friends to keep pursuing their beach party, but will it ever happen? Also starring Colm Meaney, Stephen Rhea, and Mark O'Regan!

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