3. The Commitments
The Commitments was directed by Alan "Pink Floyd, The Wall" Parker in 1991 and followed the exploits of Jimmy Rabbitte, a young Irish man who aspired to find a group of working class Dubliners to form a soul band because deep down, he knew that not all Irish people wanted to listen to U2 all the time. Released in 1991, it won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, as well as BAFTA Awards for Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also voted the best Irish film of all time in 2005. The cast were mostly unknowns in the acting industry, picked more for their musical abilities than acting talent but truthfully, you wouldn't notice it. The songs are all covers of great R&B tunes, with the amazing Andrew Strong (18 years old at the time) singing lead vocals with a voice beyond his years. There is a cameo by the guy who appeared on U2's Boy and War album covers early on, a nod to the Irish rock giants perhaps. The soundtrack peaked at #4 in the UK and #8 in America and proved so popular the band was reunited to record The Commitments Volume 2 the following year, at which time it went to #13 in the UK and peaked only at #118 in the USA, proving that there was a limit of how much R&B sung by white singers America was willing to accept. Interesting footnote is that real Irish band, the Corrs, all had small bits in the movie and eventually retained the film's musical coordinator John Hughes as their manager.