WHEN
the Scottish actor and director Peter Mullan was growing up in a
working-class Roman Catholic family, goodness was embodied in the
clergy. It was the clergy of his pious mother, who contended with eight
children and an alcoholic husband. It was the clergy of the Hollywood
films the Mullan children watched on television: ''Boys Town'' with
Spencer Tracy, ''Angels With Dirty Faces'' with Pat O'Brien, ''Going My
Way'' with Bing Crosby.
