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In Reply to: What movie is the most watched by YOU? posted by late on October 13, 2006 at 16:54:11:
also fun as hell. Good soundtracks, too.
Follow Ups:
I will take a second look at it, soon, but this film already put a magic spell on me, as in the hundreds of films I have seen since, it just won´t be left behind, if I may say so.
It has a definitive charm.
.
patrick,I was university age in England in the late 70's and certainly in 1977, my first year, the 60's seemed to be still going strong- there was deluded few hangers on.
There are two fantastic movies that are closely related as palpable looks at the shift away from the carefree 60's towards a darker, serious horizon: "Withnail and I" and "Prick up your Ears". Both are rmarkable true depictions of England in the late 60's.
The story of "Withnail and I" does not read as very interesting: two unemployed actors, freezing and penurious in their London flat, look for escape and "Withnail" borrows the key to the country holiday house from his uncle- who apparently is independently wealthy- and "gayer than Little Richard's underwear". The movie is mostly centred on their eventful visit to rural Wales- at one point Withnail pleads with a farmer for food, "We went on holiday- by MISTAKE!" and they indeed face an ominous poacher but more deadly- the advances of the rich uncle. AS you can see, the basic premise is uninteresting, but it's like saying the premise of "400 Blows" is "about a year in Francois Truffaut's boyhood"- there's so much more including typewriter theft! The amazing success of "Withnail" is both the comedic playing out but more, the realistic portrayal of life for this segment of the population, young, educated, but poor artists.
I'm not sure, but years ago, I seem to remember reading that the "I" character was in some way semi-autobiographical to George Harrison- does anyone here know if this is the case?
At the end of the 70's I moved to London and when I watch "Withnail and I", I can hardly contain my sensation of sympatico- and "been there/ deja vu". That movie's depiction of London is absolutely spot on: I lived in unheated 1880's flats with wiring and plumbing outside the walls, drove a 1952 Morris Minor that was stopped several times for bald tyres, road tax, and lights out, and went to the pub to "warm up". The artists' life on the dole, the luxuriant gay uncle with the Rolls-Royce and shabby holiday house, the atmosphere of country towns- "Wellies" or galoshes, the oddly wise and philosophical drug dealer- one of the great characters in this movie, it's all true! I even knew an older gentleman "Sir James", who used to wear a tie and 1934 bespoke, hand-made shoes- when he worked in the garden- a bygone age today.
The other movie that gets this segment of the end of the 60's London right is "Prick up your Ears" about the playwright Joe Orton. I really recommend this one with Gary Oldman as the rags to ragged chic author of "Loot" who met a tragic, young end after success included audiences with Paul McCartney when the Beatle's were be at their their bigger than Jesus level- 1967. The Islington flat used in the movie is the actual place Orton and his partner Halliwell lived in Islington, N. London. "Prick up your Ears" is intriguingly psychological and studies creativity, friendship, the burden of success on realtionships, the world of theatre, and the then illegal world of "cottages". In "Withnail and I", there is mention of "toilet traders" and in "Prick up your Ears" we learn what this term eans! Oldman is at his very best in portraying the amiable and energetic Orton as is Alfred Molina, the dangerously neurotic Halliwell character. Vanessa Redgrave is the sympathetic agent- a kind of mother figure.
In both "Withnail" and "Prick up" < a very apt abbreviation for the Joe Orton story- the ending is the symbolic end of the 60's- in both we feel there is this great, heady, optimistic age finally slipping away.
"Withnail and I" and "Prick up your ears" are frightening real- veuillez me faire confiance c'est cinema verite -style Anglaise !
Mais maintenant:
Bonjour- je dois aller, (Groucho "Marques")
Bambi B
I can smell the moist newspapers, the damp and the mist, the humid and the freezing, the too hot and the no escape.
Still remember the one who offered their arses to some rich and fanciful with too much money, homosexual.
The time when the last individualistic individual still were to be found.
Now Gillette and Coca Lola have take it all away, for the better and the poorer..."Blown-up ", should also not be forgoten.
As for "Prick up... " already on its way...Bonne Journée,
Avec plaisir, the usual way...
Patrick
Patrick,You are absolutely right that Frears is an episodic director. "Prick" is really a "flashback" movie and I think part of it's power is that we know Orton's story ended tragically and at a a young age- right away.
"Once upon a time, there was a young man of explosive talent and instant success, but we're talking about him in the past tense- so he must be dead." This sets up what I think is a very good juxtaposition. We see Orton and Halliwell having fun defacing books- pranks for which they went to prison for 6 months- where Orton gets in shape and reads- portrayed as having a better life than at home- where the self-consscious and ackward Halliwell is destroyed. Orton is an energetic lover of life - Halliwell is amused by life, but not sure he want to make much effort at it. The scene where Orton sets up an anaonymous gay rendezvous in a public bathroom - or "Cottage" in that parlance- for the intensely shy Halliwell could have been sordid and actually kind of humiliating, but the affectionate humour is infectious and we like Orton.
But, as Orton has success, Halliwell feels abandoned and becomes impatient and angry- though Orton tries to bring him along for the ride, Halliwell has some kind of fractured ego and he takes his revenge- for the disappointing life he made for himself- out on Orton.
It's the juxtaposition of the happy, energetic and forward looking, the sureealism of the pranks, to the darkness of Halliwell and the eventual tragedy that I think is conceptually brilliant and then the careful comedic to deadly progress of the relationship is beutifully directed and acted.
While I think of Oldman's portrayal of Orton, I'm reminded of his use of a similar personality type in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" where we are made unsure which character he is. Tim Roth is perfect as his more rational counterpart. "R&G are D" is a fantastic Tom Stoppard movie of his play about the ill fated R&G in "Hamlet". In Hamlet we first hear of R&G as Hamlet's friends who were summoned to try and find the reasons Hamlet is acting oddly. The movie shows R&G hovering around the periphary of the action of "Hamlet" and every so often,, R&G enter the play and do their two or three scenes in the Shakespeare, then flit away. It's a fantastic "behind the scenes" comedic look at "Hamlet" and I think makes the Shakespeare even more intriguing. Another example of this idea was the pulling of Falstaff out of "Henry IV" and "Meery Wives of Windsor" and doing an opera!
The atmosphere of "R&G are D." is nicely surreal and wondrously chaotic. I wished the Actor was done by not Richard Dreyfuss- "Dick Dryface" I call him, but Oldman and Roth are just fantastically funny- like Laurel and Hardy, R&G are really one person split into halves that must always battle. It very well fits the dictum: "Comedy is tragedy we see happen to someone else". And- we learn that "Probability Theory" is a dangerous placebo!
Hello, I must be going!Bambi B
R&G are D, friends talk about it back then...Anyway I just ordered it.
Yesterday I indulge myself at seing Withnail & I again, and it did not change my mind.
Partly brillant, but ultimatively a failure as goes my taste for it.
A " cult " film does not make it any better.
The perfect part is the country moment. ( Starting with the visit to the uncle in London )
Too bad for me that it does not hold this pace all the way.Have you seen " Peter´s Friends " ?
Some good moment in it too...
- http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=films&n=43761&highlight=withnail+and+I&r=&session= (Open in New Window)
I'm sure "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" would never have got onto the soundtrack without him being in the wings
The (UK?) DVD has some ( very worthy ) extra features including interviews with Bruce Robinson who goes into detail of how the Withnail character evolved; an interview with Richard E Grant and a 10th Anniversary reunion of the CastGrins
A great musician!
Britain.
I kind of doubt that; if you check IMDB he's been acting regularly since Withnail and I. Wayne's World II is worth watching just for his role as a legendary roadie.
came out to thunderous critical review, I went expecting to see... greatness.
I remember it as depressing, dark, and with nary a forgiving attribute.
I'd like to say I'll see it again to see if my original opinion was warranted but what remains of the memory is so negative...
While I trust you ( for films ) and also trust BB, now I am real curious about...me...
Will I like it or not...Frears is a good director, but not very linear...So...
.
a
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