American audiences tended to get only the glorified English version of the Tudor period in films...so this vastly pleasing piece of swashbuckling came as a breath of fresh air, telling the story from the Irish viewpoint for a change. The Disney studios had earlier tried their figurative hand at Scots history with Rob Roy; the Highland Rogue, an interesting but less successful and flawed attempt. It wasn't until the 1995 films of Rob Roy and Gibson's Braveheart that we got a better idea of the other side. Peter McEnery, at that time a great favorite Romantic lead from the previous Disney hit "Moonspinners" opposite Hayley Mills, had just proved in the French film "La Curee" that he was ripe for more mature roles. The Irish prince Red Hugh O'Donnel turned out to be arguably his best and most sympathetic role to date, a truly dashing and romantic swashbuckling hero. If you like costume epics, don't miss this one!
Review of The Fighting Prince of Donegal
