Eccentric Kerry politician Michael Healy-Rae told a tale of Tom Cruise in 1991 when he almost got into a real-life fight for stepping over the line in a local pub.

It was a long, long time ago that Tom Cruise descended on County Kerry with his then-wife Nicole Kidman to make their “Irish” movie "Far and Away" – 1991 to be exact – and the locals are still yapping away about it.

Well, at least one person is – the Kerry politician Michael Healy-Rae, who told the Irish radio show hosted by Pat Kenny on Tuesday that Cruise’s on-screen fisticuffs nearly came to real-life during one incident in a local pub, the Loo Bridge Bar outside of Kilgarvan, not far from where the film was shooting.

According to Healy-Rae, some local named Ger the Manny – yep, Ger the Manny! – didn’t take kindly to TC reaching over the bar to grab some extra ice for his Diet Coke.

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We’ll let him take it from there: "He was an elderly man and he had his stick up on the counter and he was sipping away at a little glass of Guinness.

"Ger jumped up off his stool, he caught his stick and drew a belt at yer man’s hand trying to hit him across the hand.  But he just missed and there was a big bang down on the counter right near the Yank’s hand. 

“Cruise shouted, ‘My goodness I was just leaning in to get a bit more ice.’

"Ger the Manny shouted out, ‘You b*****d you were trying to steal Matt’s fags.’”

Fags, of course, are cigarettes in Irish slang.  And not surprisingly, Tom and Nicole finished their drinks pretty quickly and scattered!

What did you think of "Far and Away?" Top Irish movie or one of the worst? There seems only to be two sides to this argument. Let us know in the comments section below. 

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