Captain Lightfoot

{{Short description|1955 film by Douglas Sirk}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Captain Lightfoot | image = Captain Lightfoot - Film Poster.jpg | caption = Film poster by Reynold Brown | director = Douglas Sirk | based_on = a novel by W. R. Burnett | producer = Ross Hunter | screenplay = W. R. Burnett<br>Oscar Brodney | starring = Rock Hudson<br/>Barbara Rush<br/>Jeff Morrow | music = Heinz Roemheld<br/>Herman Stein | cinematography = Irving Glassberg | editing = Frank Gross | studio = Universal Pictures | distributor = Universal Pictures | released = {{Film date|1955|02|18|Chicago, Illinois|1955|03|26|United States}} | runtime = 92 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = $1.3 million (US)<ref>'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', ''Variety Weekly'', January 25, 1956</ref> }}

'''''Captain Lightfoot''''' is a 1955 American CinemaScope Technicolor adventure film directed by Douglas Sirk starring Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush and Jeff Morrow and is Sirk's adaptation of a book by W. R. Burnett written in 1954.

The movie is set in the early 19th century with the hero and his brother-in-arms becoming highwaymen, robbing the wealthy around the foothills of Dublin, Ireland. Captain Lightfoot falls in love, and the ensuing drama threatens everyone's safety.

The movie was filmed around Clogherhead, County Louth, Marlay Park in Rathfarnham, County Dublin, and in the Powerscourt Estate in Enniskerry, County Wicklow. Slane Castle in Slane County Meath was used as the exterior of Ballymore Castle.

Director/writer Michael Cimino used the nicknames of Martin and Doherty for the main characters in his debut feature film, ''Thunderbolt and Lightfoot'' (1974).

==Plot== In 1815, Michael Martin, member of an Irish revolutionary society, turns highwayman to support it, and soon becomes an outlaw. In Dublin, he meets famous rebel "Captain Thunderbolt" and becomes his second-in-command, under the name "Lightfoot."

==Cast== * Rock Hudson as Michael Martin, aka "Lightfoot"<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/captain-lightfoot|title = Captain Lightfoot|magazine = The New Yorker}}</ref> * Barbara Rush as Aga Doherty * Jeff Morrow as John Doherty, aka "Capt. Thunderbolt" * Kathleen Ryan as Lady Anne More * Finlay Currie as Callahan * Denis O'Dea as Regis Donnell * Geoffrey Toone as Captain Hood * Hilton Edwards as Lord Glen * Sheila Brennan as Waitress * Harry Goldblatt as Brady * Charles B. Fitzsimons as Dan Shanley * Christopher Casson as Lord Clonmell * Philip O'Flynn as Trim

==Production== W.R. Burnett said "Sirk was a very bad job of miscasting" on the film as "He had no sense of humor. And Captain Lightfoot is a light piece, full of humor."<ref>{{cite book |last1=McGilligan |first1=Patrick |title=Backstory : interviews with screenwriters of Hollywood's golden age |last2=Mate |first2=Ken |publisher=University of California press |year=1986 |editor-last=McGilligan |editor-first=Patrick |pages=49–84 at p 78 |chapter=W.R. Burnett: The Outsider}}</ref>

==See also== *List of American films of 1955

==References== {{reflist}} Tony Tracy, "''Captain Lightfoot'' (1955): Caught between a Rock (Hudson) and a Rapparee," ''Screening Irish America'' (ed. Ruth Barton), (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2009)

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0047919|Captain Lightfoot}}

Category:1955 films Category:1950s adventure drama films Category:American historical adventure films Category:Films directed by Douglas Sirk Category:Films scored by Heinz Roemheld Category:Films scored by Herman Stein Category:1950s historical adventure films Category:Films set in the 1810s Category:Films based on American novels Category:Films based on works by W. R. Burnett Category:Films produced by Ross Hunter Category:Films shot in Ireland Category:Films set in Ireland Category:American adventure drama films Category:Universal Pictures films Category:American CinemaScope films Category:1955 drama films Category:1955 English-language films Category:1955 American films Category:English-language adventure drama films Category:English-language historical adventure films