Darby o gill and the little drunk leprechaun. Darby O’Gill and the Little People is a 1959 American fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions, adapted from the Darby O’Gill stories of Herminie Templeton Kavanagh.
Darby O’Gill and his young adult daughter Katie have long lived in the small Irish town of Rathcullen, where Darby works as the somewhat neglectful live-in caretaker of Lord Fitzpatrick’s estate and spends his time poaching rabbits and regaling pub-goers with his fantastical stories of meeting leprechauns. Darby, however, is unwilling to acknowledge this shift in his career path. He prevails upon Michael to hide the development from Katie for two weeks, the time Fitzpatrick gives them to move, and also invites Michael to live with them in the gatehouse until that time. Michael proves himself to be handsome, handy with his fists, and a good singer, but not too bright.
That night Darby goes off to fetch Fitzpatrick’s horse from the fields. The horse leads Darby to an abandoned well and then, with the surprising viciousness and malign intelligence of a horse who is actually a mischievous fairy creature called a pooka, rears up and knocks Darby in. Darby has no intention of remaining prisoner of the leprechauns, so he plays “The Fox Chase” on Brian’s Stradivarius violin to trick the foolish leprechauns into opening the mountain and leaving all together on a fox hunt. Darby escapes, only to later meet King Brian at the Fitzpatrick estate when Brian seeks to bring Darby back to Knocknasheega. Upon returning to the gatehouse, King Brian warns Darby that he’s taking too long to think up his wishes and Darby admits that he’s having trouble thinking up his last wish because he’s not interested in material wealth, rather, he wants Katie to meet someone who can be a good partner. Without charging a wish, King Brian promises to help Katie meet someone.
He approaches both Michael and Katie in their beds during the night and instructs them to meet together next Sunday. The next morning word spreads through the town that Darby is gathering at the local pub to make his third wish. Meanwhile, Pony’s mother, Sheelah, has been conspiring with a local postal worker to read the townspeople’s mail. She thusly learns about Darby’s firing and conspires with the complicit postal worker to ensure that Katie, also, learns the truth. Sheela succeeds in getting the news of the impending eviction to Katie, who angrily confronts Michael. Michael defends himself by blaming Darby for the deception and tries to solve the problem by, once again, grabbing Katie by the upper arms.
It is at this moment that Michael senses an opening to propose marriage, but he has grossly misjudged his timing. Katie refuses and storms out of the gatehouse. That night, back at the estate, Michael again violently grabs Katie, who escapes by repeatedly pummeling Michael in the head and causing him to release her and stagger away. She runs into the fields to find a horse so she can escape to shelter elsewhere. Undeterred by Katie’s desperate attempts to flee, Michael fetches a lantern so he can follow her, but is ambushed by Pony, who has secreted himself in the estate with assaultive intent. The two men bring Katie home, where she is ministered to by Father Murphy.