Quackser Fortune (Gene Wilder) – humble, fiercely independent, but none-too-bright – doesn’t want to spend his life working in a factory like his dad (Seamus Forde), so he creates a business collecting and selling horse manure in Dublin, Ireland.
He follows the horse-drawn delivery wagons, shovels up horse droppings from the streets into his pushcart, and resells it as fertilizer to the housewives of the city. He loves doing this, the city loves him for it, and he is generally loved by everyone he meets (especially the housewives who often also enjoy his visits in other ways).
As the modern world encroaches and his trade becomes no longer viable (horse-drawn carriages are banned in Dublin and have been replaced by trucks), he must find another path.
However, Quackser has no skills to find another profession and can’t even read or write.
An adventurous American college student called Zazel (Margot Kidder in her second feature film) gradually seduces Quackser, and he thinks it’s love. For her, it’s a frolic, which she regrets by the time they actually sleep together as their differences become more apparent.
Wilder’s working-class Dublin dialect is first-rate, and the nostalgic cinematography of Dublin’s streets and locales is a poignant reminder of a bygone era.
Aloysius “Quackser” Fortune
Gene Wilder Zazel
Margot Kidder Betsy Bourke
Eileen Colgan Mrs Fortune
May Ollis Mr Fortune
Seamus Forde Maguire
David Kelly Donal
Danny Cummins Kathleen Fortune
Liz Davis Mike
Tony Doyle Vera Fortune
Caroline Tully Tim
John Kelly Damien
Paul Murphy Milk Depot Attendant
Brendan Matthews David
David Hogarty Walter
Robert Carrickford Elaine Boland
Marjorie McHenry
Director
Waris Hussein
Video
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As the modern world encroaches and his trade becomes no longer viable (horse-drawn carriages are banned in Dublin and have been replaced by trucks), he must find another path.
Aloysius “Quackser” Fortune
Milk Depot Attendant
