Film: Withnail and I

[Shuba]

Anyone else seen this British Gem? The only movie I can think of that rivals its quotability is 'The Big Lebowski'. It should appeal to fans of that film. Its got a similar deadpan humour, and awesome cast of extra's. Also the kind of film that improves with multiple viewings.
The plot is basically non-existant. It follows around 2 unemployed actors on a alcohol/drug binge as they travel about trying to make sense of urban and rural life at the end of the 60's
Its one of my favourite films, something I think everyone should see. It goes particularly well with a Camberwell Carrot

"As Presuming Ed has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black"

 

[alasdairm]

"we've gone on holiday by mistake"

this movie is in my top 5 of all time. it's achingly funny in parts. most of my UK friends and i know huge sections of the script - if not the entire movie - off by heart.

great acting byt the relatively unknown (at the time) cast and surely one of the best scripts in a long time.

do yourself a favour and track it down

alasdair

 

[Neural Shock]

"We can't go on like this. I'm a trained actor reduced to the status of a bum!" (image - see avatar).

It's in my top 3 movies of all time. I think I've seen it 50-60 times. I'm not exactly sure of the number now. The closest film I can think of, in spirit, is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and it boots the shit out of that gem. Richard E. Grant does the best drunk ever seen in the movies, and the end is so poignant. Withnail gives his rendition of The Dane. Every line in the movie is a one-liner. What a movie. I'm going to watch it again after work. Thank you! Someone noticed this movie.

 

[FunkyAlfonzo]

What do you mean you put drugs in the onions? Get me some valium! I'VE GOT THE FEAR!

Yeah this movie is quite possibly the UK's finest film. Richard E Grant is amazing as a drunk and was completely teetotal at the time. I actually think that was to his advantage though because he must've got to study what people were like when drunk without being pissed up and unaware himself.

 

[Neural Shock]

What do you mean you put drugs in the onions? Get me some valium! I'VE GOT THE FEAR!

Yeah this movie is quite possibly the UK's finest film. Richard E Grant is amazing as a drunk and was completely teetotal at the time. I actually think that was to his advantage though because he must've got to study what people were like when drunk without being pissed up and unaware himself.

Bruce Robinson (writer / director) was determined to get him pissed so he dragged Richard and Paul McGann out for a piss up. After a while (Grant is allergic to alcohol) something began to happen in Grant. Eventually McGann and Robinson helped him out of the pub while Grant ranted about how great the guys were, and "thank you for this opportunity, Bruce". He then threw up. All the while Bruce was saying "remember, remember".

 

[killarava2day]

I saw it when I was about 11 or 12 so most of the humour went straight over my head, in fact I found it to quite disturbing. But I did find the scene where the Rick Mayall look-alike character drinks anti-freeze to get drunk

 

[Neural Shock]

Withnail: All right, this is the plan. We get in there and get wrecked. Then we'll eat a pork pie. Then we drop a couple of Surmontil 50s each; means we'll miss out Monday but come up smiling Tuesday morning.

Marwood: I wouldn't drink that if I were you.
Withnail: Why not?
Marwood: Because I don't advise it. Even the wankers on the site wouldn't drink that. That's worse than meths.
Withnail: Nonsense, this is a far superior drink to meths. The wankers don't drink it because they can't afford it.
<drinks>
Withnail: Have we got anymore?
Marwood: No.
Withnail: Liar. What's in your toolbox ?
Marwood: Nothing. Sit down.
Withnail: Liar. You've got antifreeze.
Marwood: You fool. You should never mix your drinks.
<withnail laughs hysterically and pukes on Marwood's shoes>

Owner's Wife: If you don't leave now, we'll call the police.
Withnail: Balls! We want the finest wines available to humanity. We want them here, and we want them now.

Danny: Trade: Phenodihydrochloride benzelex. Street: The embalmer.
Withnail: Balls! I'll swallow it and run a mile.
Danny: Cool your boots man. This pill's valued at two quid.
Withnail: Two quid ? You're out of your mind.
Marwood: That's sense, Withnail.
Withnail: You can stuff it up your arse for nothing and fuck off while you're doing it.
Danny: No need to insult me man. I was leaving anyway. Have either of you got any shoes?

Danny: This grass is the most powerfull in the western hemisphere. It grows at exactly two thousand feet above sea-level. I have it special flown in from my man in Mexico. His name's Huang. He's an expert.

 

[Neural Shock]

I hope I don't get in trouble for all these images but...
-----

Withnail: What are we supposed to do with that ?
Marwood: Eat it.
Withnail: Eat it ? Fucker's alive!

Jake: If I hear more words out of you I'll come up and set one of these black pods on you.
Withnail: Don't threaten me with a dead fish.

Monty: As a youth I used to weep in butcher shops.

Marwood: I could hardly piss straight with fear. Here was a man with three quarters of an inch of brain who'd taken a dislike to me. What had I done to offend him? I don't consciously offend big men like this. This one has a definite imbalance of hormone in him. Get any more masculine than him and you'd have to live up a tree.....

..."I fuck arses". Who fucks arses? Maybe he fucks arses. Maybe he's written this in some moment of drunken sincerity. I'm in considerable danger in here. I must get out of here at once.

Withnail: SCRUBBERS! SCRUBBERRRRRRS!
School girls: Up yours, granddad.
Marwood: Shut up. If you don't stop we're going to get stopped by the police.
Withnail: Little tarts. They love it.

 

[Shuba]

Those are classic! There is rarely a situation in life where you can't apply a quote from this movie.

Danny: I don't advise a haircut, man. All hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hairs are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos, and transmit them directly into the brain. This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight.

Withnail: Look at that. Look at that. "Accident Blackspot"? These aren't accidents. They're throwing themselves into the road gladly. Throwing themselves into the road to escape all this hideousness.
[to a pedestrian]
Withnail: Throw yourself into the road, darling - you haven't got a chance.

"I think the carrot infinitely more fascinating than the geranium. The carrot has mystery. Flowers are essentially tarts. Prostitutes for the bees."

"We are multi-millionaries. we'll buy this place and fire you immediately."

"I'm going to pull your head off, because I don't like your head."

 

[dr seuss]

PERFUMED PONCE!

again, one of the greatest movies of all time

 

[Looper]

Monty you terrible cunt! :D

It's been a month or two... time to whip out the DVD again.

 

[alasdairm]

the DVD has an excellent feature which interviews the actors, and some of the crew including the director on whose life story many of the characters and stories were based.

alasdair

 

[WarmRushes]

What happened to my agent!? Bastard must of died!

 

[tenderjuice]

This is a movie that I must pay homage too. I have been dying to see it for such a long time so I bought it on DVD recently and it is absolutely captivating. The plot is irrelevant. The script and casting are nothing short of genius. This deserves reviving.

I love this film and the more I see it the more I love it.

 

[L2R]

*slowly aquiring my taste for this film*

 

[tambourine-man]

^
Good for you... it's the best!

 

[dr seuss]

one of my most favouritely delivered lines of all time, in the phonebox:

Withnail: 'How dare you!'. hangs up. 'Fuck you!'

 

[cydonorb]

This is a film I have to see again, mainly because I just didn't get it on the first go-round. People--friends & critics--whose opinions I value just love this film, so I'm keeping an open mind about it. On the first viewing I just got tired of listening to a couple of speed freaks prattling in about nothing. However as this film has such a devoted following I have to think that I just wasn't in the right mind frame for it on the day I saw half of it (I left the cinema after 45 minutes).

Sometimes I'll see a film & hate it but will give it a second chance. Sometimes after the second viewing I'll say to myself "wow, what the fuck did I eat for breakfast the day I saw that film the first time!". Films that I at first hated but then ended up loving include ALL THAT JAZZ, BLUE VELVET, THE TIN DRUM & DIVA.

Then there are times when halfway through the second viewing I either leave the theatre or eject the DVD with an even more intense dislike for the film. Some of the films on this dishonor role include GLADIATOR, LIQUID SKY, SALO: THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM, FORREST GUMP, HUMAN TRAFFIC & EATING RAOL.

Now that WITHNAIL is out on a Criterion DVD I'll give it another shot soon.

 

[Sn2.ru]

"Why, to tutor it in the ways of righteousness and procure some uncontaminated urine!"

Five stars.

 

[alasdairm]

you can now rate this movie

alasdair