It's been thirty years since we first met the McMullens.
And now they are back.
"The Brothers McMullen" inhabits an honored place in the pantheon of Irish American cinema.
That said, "The Quiet Man" it is not. For one thing, the McMullens are a noisy bunch.
And they inhabit a different time - the middle of the 1990s - and a different place, Long Island as opposed to an imaginary place on the island of Ireland.
As is the case with all too many standout films the arrival of the comedy-drama Brothers into the cinematic world was a touch and go affair.
But that arrival was impressive enough to deliver, three decades on, a new look at the Irish Catholic McMullens, and again courtesy of Barry (Finbar) McMullen played by Ed Burns.
Burns only had to look into a mirror to come up with the story of the McMullens. And he didn't have to leave his then family home in Valley Stream, Long Island to film it.
But how would it fare outside the front door? Was that as far as it would go in the world?
"When I finished The Brothers McMullen I sent it to every movie company but got nothing but rejection letters," Burns told the Echo is a phone interview.
What was needed was a little Irish chutzpah.
"The film cost $25,000 to make so it was a small budget film, and it is very hard for such films to get seen."
Enter the factors called chance and luck.
"I was working as a production assistant for Entertainment Tonight. Robert Redford was at the Entertainment Tonight studio to be interviewed. I had a VHS of the movie. I decided to try and give it to Redford. My boss warned me that if I tried to do that I would lose my job."
Burns duly tried - and succeeded. He approached Redford (who sadly recently passed) at an elevator and asked him if he would take a look at the film. Redford took the VHS. And that was it for a time.
"I got a call two months later," said Burns.
The call was an invitation to screen "The Brothers McMullen" at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
Utah is a long way from Long Island, but a good story travels to anywhere. The small film shot in a house was suddenly a big hit film heading for many movie houses. It was big because it won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Sundance Festival.
Burns and his family film were famous. He went on to other work, including a front line role in "Saving Private Ryan."
But the McMullen family and its complicated dynamic never quite left the mind of Ed Burns.
He thought of a sequel. Maybe a twentieth anniversary one, a twenty-fifth.
"I forgot about it but then I saw how a lot of kids were moving back in with their parents because of the lack of affordable housing. That's where I started."
Starting would mean reaching back to cast members from 1995.
"I needed Connie Britton, now a big star. I told her the story. She loved it."
Britton had been a virtual unknown before "The Brothers McMullen."
"I called McGlone."
That would be Michael McGlone, a McMullen brother.
With the family reuniting Burns got to work on finishing a screenplay that had been in his mind for a dozen years. Filming of "The Family McMullen" took place in Brooklyn and New Jersey in early 2025. The film was released in October for a special one night screening.
"This group of actors really works well together," said Burns.
"The Family McMullen" is a Warner Brothers production, but for HBO/Max. This gives the movie both long life and virtually limitless reach.
The publicity poster for "The Family McMullen" depicts the family members, older and new generation, at a dinner table with a turkey on it.
So it could be a Christmas movie.
In fact, Burns explains, it is more of Thanksgiving-centered one or, as the official website more elaborately describes it: "As with the original, The Family McMullen is an ensemble comedy written and directed by Edward Burns which tracks the romantic entanglements of a now 50-something Barry McMullen (Burns) and his 20-something kids, as well as his brother Patrick (Michael McGlone) and widowed sister-in-law Molly (Connie Britton), who are also facing unexpected romantic hurdles.
Such is family life - 1995 or 2025.
"The Family McMullen" premieres on HBO/Max on Friday, December 5.
