“I fuck arses”? Who fucks arses? Maybe he fucks arses.
Excellent review and I am extremely envious of your wife for having been at the premiere. It’s a film utterly unlike anything else, screamingly funny but, as you say, also moving and sad. Richard E. Grant reciting Shakespeare to the wolves at the end is almost unbearable because you suddenly realise that somewhere in the damaged haze Withnail is a great performer.
I know! How 'cool' is that? At the time it was just a 'little, low-budget British film'. Thanks for your kind words. I'm trying to approach this review in a slightly different way- I mean, Withnail's a film which has been reviewed SO many times. So, at least, this is my take on it- which is probably different from others... And yes, it's incredibly sad- beneath the dark humour.
“Let go before it's too late or hang on and keep getting higher, posing the question: how long can you keep a grip on the rope? They're selling hippie wigs in Woolworths, man. The greatest decade in the history of mankind is over. And as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black.”
Danny nails it. It’s a film of decline and endings, and of a sense of having missed opportunities that will never be repeated. As Robert Browning put it, “the glimmer of twilight/Never glad confident morning again!”
Withnail is one of those films that's like a beloved destination- dangerous to revisit lest the remembered pleasure pales. You conjure it wonderfully well, Luke but dare I rewatch?
Fantastic review of the film, which I love so much. I was on the staff at the NME when it came out, assistant production editor but I also did film, gig and LP reviews. One day the media editor chucked me a press release and asked me if I wanted to review a film about a couple of out of work actors at the end of the 1960s. Me and a then girl friend went and the opening bit about the two of them having been up for 48 hours and waiting for the pubs to open resonated and I was hooked…That bit at the end with the wolves and Withnail is so bittersweet.
That's lovely. Thank you so much. Really appreciate that. I'm very aware that this is a film- loved by many- so trying to approach it from a slightly different, very personal point of view, and again, a film which has been reviewed so many times. Hope I did it justice...
This, to me, is a film in which every single line of dialogue is pure, unadulterated genius. From ‘perfumed ponce!’ to ‘here hare here’ and Jeff Woad’s ‘huge thatched head…’ not a word is wasted. Bruce Robinson is a legend.
I went to a screening at which Richard E Grant spoke & answered questions… his favourite line? ‘Monty, you terrible c@*t!’
Indeed, even the posh, well-appointed confines of Penrith Tea Rooms aren't safe once the boys blow their Wellington money on pints and go looking for a bite of cake.
Hmmm…perhaps it’s just me, but I never fully got it. Need to watch it again, I suppose, but my one and only viewing of it back in the day, though not at the cinema, left me a little nonplussed.
Unlike your review, Luke, which does a great job of describing the film and its contemporaneous cultural environment, but still…oh, well, can’t like everything, can you?
It’s definitely a film that deserves a second viewing. In fact it rewards repeated viewings; the subtlety & quick-wittedness of the dialogue needs time to be fully appreciated.
Your comments on how that part of London has changed resonate with me about Soho where I worked in the early 80’s. Even then it was changing from the “characterful” village of the 60’s and 70’s but there were still remnants of the gangster, seedy culture which are now long gone. I remember many long “lunches” in the Star and Garter chatting with out of work actors and other local characters. Such a shame that so much of the character of these areas has been erased.
Excellent. I must have been one of the comparative few who saw it when released in the cinema (but in true Withnalian fashion, I can't remember where). I also went to the tenth anniversary screening in Leicester Square, where either McGann or Grant spoke. It wasn't packed which suggests the film was still fairly unknown. I liked your evocation of Phillips and London in the early 90s. Spot on.
Fantastic write up! I remember I was in a college and my roommate from the UK turned me onto the film. It was completely different than anything I had ever seen at the time.
London was such a different place in the late sixties to early 80s than it is now. Lots of very run down seedy areas like Fulham and Notting Hill so are so upmarket now. I remember The Gasworks well (one of my stepmothers worked there for a while) Bruce Robinson captures so much of this time so well
“I fuck arses”? Who fucks arses? Maybe he fucks arses.
Excellent review and I am extremely envious of your wife for having been at the premiere. It’s a film utterly unlike anything else, screamingly funny but, as you say, also moving and sad. Richard E. Grant reciting Shakespeare to the wolves at the end is almost unbearable because you suddenly realise that somewhere in the damaged haze Withnail is a great performer.
I know! How 'cool' is that? At the time it was just a 'little, low-budget British film'. Thanks for your kind words. I'm trying to approach this review in a slightly different way- I mean, Withnail's a film which has been reviewed SO many times. So, at least, this is my take on it- which is probably different from others... And yes, it's incredibly sad- beneath the dark humour.
“Let go before it's too late or hang on and keep getting higher, posing the question: how long can you keep a grip on the rope? They're selling hippie wigs in Woolworths, man. The greatest decade in the history of mankind is over. And as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black.”
Danny nails it. It’s a film of decline and endings, and of a sense of having missed opportunities that will never be repeated. As Robert Browning put it, “the glimmer of twilight/Never glad confident morning again!”
Withnail is one of those films that's like a beloved destination- dangerous to revisit lest the remembered pleasure pales. You conjure it wonderfully well, Luke but dare I rewatch?
Fantastic review of the film, which I love so much. I was on the staff at the NME when it came out, assistant production editor but I also did film, gig and LP reviews. One day the media editor chucked me a press release and asked me if I wanted to review a film about a couple of out of work actors at the end of the 1960s. Me and a then girl friend went and the opening bit about the two of them having been up for 48 hours and waiting for the pubs to open resonated and I was hooked…That bit at the end with the wolves and Withnail is so bittersweet.
That's lovely. Thank you so much. Really appreciate that. I'm very aware that this is a film- loved by many- so trying to approach it from a slightly different, very personal point of view, and again, a film which has been reviewed so many times. Hope I did it justice...
This, to me, is a film in which every single line of dialogue is pure, unadulterated genius. From ‘perfumed ponce!’ to ‘here hare here’ and Jeff Woad’s ‘huge thatched head…’ not a word is wasted. Bruce Robinson is a legend.
I went to a screening at which Richard E Grant spoke & answered questions… his favourite line? ‘Monty, you terrible c@*t!’
Favorite movie EVAH, and may Richard E. Grant bask forever in the glory of the Lord.
I’ll admit, though, I fuckin’ love a good gastropub :-/
Indeed, even the posh, well-appointed confines of Penrith Tea Rooms aren't safe once the boys blow their Wellington money on pints and go looking for a bite of cake.
We’ve gone in holiday by mistake!
Hmmm…perhaps it’s just me, but I never fully got it. Need to watch it again, I suppose, but my one and only viewing of it back in the day, though not at the cinema, left me a little nonplussed.
Unlike your review, Luke, which does a great job of describing the film and its contemporaneous cultural environment, but still…oh, well, can’t like everything, can you?
It’s definitely a film that deserves a second viewing. In fact it rewards repeated viewings; the subtlety & quick-wittedness of the dialogue needs time to be fully appreciated.
Try describing this movie to someone who has never heard of it. Just try.
I don't know how many times I've seen this film, but every time I do, I discover another immortal line that I somehow missed before.
Great movie and great review.
Your comments on how that part of London has changed resonate with me about Soho where I worked in the early 80’s. Even then it was changing from the “characterful” village of the 60’s and 70’s but there were still remnants of the gangster, seedy culture which are now long gone. I remember many long “lunches” in the Star and Garter chatting with out of work actors and other local characters. Such a shame that so much of the character of these areas has been erased.
Great movie…
Excellent. I must have been one of the comparative few who saw it when released in the cinema (but in true Withnalian fashion, I can't remember where). I also went to the tenth anniversary screening in Leicester Square, where either McGann or Grant spoke. It wasn't packed which suggests the film was still fairly unknown. I liked your evocation of Phillips and London in the early 90s. Spot on.
Fantastic write up! I remember I was in a college and my roommate from the UK turned me onto the film. It was completely different than anything I had ever seen at the time.
Feels like the London I spent so much time in, late seventies....
London was such a different place in the late sixties to early 80s than it is now. Lots of very run down seedy areas like Fulham and Notting Hill so are so upmarket now. I remember The Gasworks well (one of my stepmothers worked there for a while) Bruce Robinson captures so much of this time so well
I have the Ralph Steadman edition with the wine quote brilliant. Great revue top stuff we lived in London in Kensington in 1968 - 1972 fab times
Thanks! Appreciated. One of my favourite periods, especially in London. Has *something* about it...