Radio host Alan 'Dickie' Bird witnesses how an icecream van is attacked and destroyed by angry competitors. This leads him into the struggle between two Italian families over the icecream market of Glasgow.
A nice, amusing and creative premise.
I enjoyed 'Comfort and Joy'. Bill Paterson heads events confidently as Alan, he's fun to watch in the lead. Patrick Malahide ('Game of Thrones', 'Luther') is in there too, while Alex Norton and Roberto Bernardi play their respective roles well.
The pacing, to me at least, is a little off at around the midway point, but otherwise it's a pleasant film from 1984. Watch it if you get the opportunity.
Without any help at all from "Mr. Bridger", the Italian chip shops and ice cream vans of Glasgow are being smashed up. It's only because he takes a bit of a shine to one of the girls in the van that local radio personality "Alan" (Bill Peterson) witnesses one of the assaults and decides that he must do something to ensure peace breaks out. There really were "ice cream wars" in Glasgow so this engaging comedy has it's roots in fact as he tries to get the warring "Mr. Cool" (Robert Bernardi) and "Mr. Bunny" (Alex Norton) round the wafer table before his new soft-top BMW becomes little more than a bright red ashtray. He starts to use his radio show to convey illicit messages that just come across as gobbledegook to his station boss "Hilary" (R...
