Mark Taffin, a debt collector in the small town of Ballymoran, uses his smarts and martial arts skills to help locals collect debts they are owed. He beats up a restaurant owner and collects his car to pay the man's debt, and aids a trio of young men who have been sold a faulty van. He also helps Charlotte, a local barmaid, who is having trouble with her employer, and who becomes his girlfriend. Taffin learns a local councillor, Gibson, is conspiring with a landowner named Henderson to hide the ownership of the landowner's meadow, so that a local sports field will be sold instead of the meadow, and the meadow will be worth much more as building land once a planned chemical plant is built beside it, on the sports field. Taffin confronts Gibson, but is unable to change anything until he intimidates Henderson by blowing up his outhouse. The corrupt business syndicate behind the chemical plant hires some thugs, including Conway, to intimidate the townspeople. The thugs beat up Taffin, who once again withdraws from town, berating Charlotte for her wish that Taffin should be out helping the world in some way, until Conway and his thugs beat up Taffin's brother, Mo. The trio of young men who aided Taffin, as well as Taffin's friend Ed help him take down two of Conway's thugs, and Taffin himself beats up Conway after a car chase, between Conway's Rolls Royce and Taffins red Ford Mustang, through the winding rural roads. One of the corrupt syndicate Mr. Martin is accused of rape by Charlotte, at Taffin's behest, so Taffin can blackmail Martin into ending the building of the chemical plant. Taffin's plot seems to work, but the head of the syndicate, Sprawley, hires a hitman named Deacon who sets fire to Martin's house, killing him and his wife, and framing Taffin for the crime. Despite there being no evidence that Taffin is guilty, the townspeople turn on Taffin, as he earlier said they would. Sprawley offers Deacon one last job - to kill Mark Taffin. Taffin tries to leave town to find Sprawley but Deacon gets to him first, and enlists Conway to hold Taffin hostage in his car, forcing Taffin to follow Deacon to a remote spot where he can be killed. However, Taffin gets the upper hand on Conway and Deacon, shooting them both dead. A distant shot shows his car blowing up, and Taffin presumably dies. Charlotte berates the townspeople for being too cowardly to do what Taffin did, and then turning on him. Taffin, masquerading as Deacon, meets Sprawley on a deserted beach in Dublin, telling him to clear his name, and shooting Sprawley when he refuses and pulls a gun on him. Charlotte goes to leave the country, but Taffin appears behind her in the queue as she waits for the bus to the airport, telling her to, "Be cool, Charlotte. Be cool."
Cast
Production
Taffin was filmed in County Wicklow in Ireland in 1987 and 1988. Issues arose between the author Lyndon Mallet and the production company surrounding the casting of Pierce Brosnan in the role of Mark Taffin. This was due to the actual nature of the character in the book. In the book, Mark Taffin was never a handsome man; he was decidedly overweight and very unattractive, a very different image to that portrayed by Brosnan.
Reception
Time Out called the film "confused and unexciting," deeming that Brosnan was not up to his job. Time Out also criticized the script, a sentiment echoed by Apollo Movie Guide, which thought Taffin was a "disappointment for anyone expecting a smart Brosnan thriller with the Irish touch."
