 Originally this film was intended to be a film about Martin Cahill  (aka The General) a Dublin crime lord. However when the makers  discovered that John Boorman (qv) was making a film about him  already, they changed the storyline. The original intent of the film  can still be seen in certain sequences. When he tortures a member of  his gang in the belief that he had stolen from him (there is a  similar though more accurate scene in _General, The (1998)_ (qv))  and when visiting the gallery to steal the paintings (The General  stole several painting that comprised part of the Beit collection in  Russborough house) and also the fact that his wives were sisters