Shake Hands with the Devil

Jun 24, 1959

1h 51m

★ 6.5

A story of love and hate...and the sudden sound of guns!

Overview

In 1921 Dublin, the IRA battles the "Black & Tans," special British forces given to harsh measures. Irish-American medical student Kerry O'Shea hopes to stay aloof, but saving a wounded friend gets him outlawed, and inexorably drawn into the rebel organization...under his former professor Sean Lenihan, who has "shaken hands with the devil" and begun to think of fighting as an end in itself. Complications arise when Kerry falls for a beautiful English hostage, and the British offer a peace treaty that is not enough to satisfy Lenihan.

Genres

Action

Drama

Production Companies

Troy Films

Pennebaker Productions

Shake Hands with the Devil Trailers

Cast

Sean Lenihan

James Cagney

Kerry O'Shea

Don Murray

Jennifer Curtis

Dana Wynter

Kitty Brady

Glynis Johns

The General

Michael Redgrave

Lady Fitzhugh

Sybil Thorndike

Chris Noonan

Cyril Cusack

Mary Madigan

Marianne Benet

Timmy McGrath

John Breslin

Tom Cassidy

Harry Brogan

Terence O'Brien

Richard Harris

Sergeant Jenkins

William Hartnell

Northern Irishwoman Helen Cuffe (Julie Christie) is overwhelmed with sadness when her husband is killed by the Irish Republican Army. She and her teen son, Jack (Frank MacCusker), then move to a tiny town and start life anew. There, Helen meets a mysterious American man named Roger Hawthorne (Donald Sutherland), who is in the area to refurbish an old train station. A romance slowly blossoms between Roger and Helen, but Jack then gets involved with a violent political group, and tragedy looms.

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