The Mighty Quinn
'No alcoholic voluntarily does anything about his or her problem. What we're up against is a disease, and a disease that is not curable.' To dry out in Detroit you go to the Sacred Heart
Rehabilitation Centre, one of the biggest treatment centres for alcoholics in the United States. It was founded by Fr Vaughn Quinn.
For an alcoholic, the path to self-knowledge and sobriety is a rough one. No one knows this better than Fr Quinn himself. His exuberant style conceals a first-hand . knowledge of his clients' despair: he is, in his own words, 'just a recovering alcoholic'.
This film follows the personal struggles of both clients and counsellors through the precarious business of alcoholic rehabilitation: from Quinn's search for drunks in his 1925 hearse on the streets of Detroit, through painful therapy groups, to three intensive days for a small group of residents on board The Mighty Quinn - a 38-foot yacht skippered by Quinn on Lake St Clair.
Narrator Peter France
Film cameraman JOHN WESTHEUSER Film editor DAVID DENOVAN Producer DAVID CHERNIACK
Everyman editor DANIEL WOLF