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There are parties devoted to this film. There are at least three drinking games related to it that I know about. And it’s infinitely quotable script quickly becomes as much a part of student vocabulary as Monty Python. On top of that, it’s actually a genuinely funny, touching, and well acted piece of cinema which, despite being made in 1987, still holds incredible relevance for the ‘youth of today’ (whoever they are). So, having rambled on about the majestic relevance of this masterpiece, I suppose I should probably mention a little about the film itself. Withnail and I (again, it’s another film with a nameless main character; the ‘I’ of the title is the narrator, through who’s eyes we see the events of the film) are a pair of down on their luck actors in 1969 London. Both are from rich families, have expensive educations, and are determined not to be ‘normal working’ people. However, their lack of jobs, plus Withnail’s amazingly hedonistic tendencies, mean they live in a rat-infested shared flat, owe money to everyone, and generally exist in squalor. And people wonder why students identify with this film...? After a string of failed auditions, the pair decide that a break in the Great British Countryside to get them away from London and lift their spirits. However, they are monumentally unprepared for such a trip. Heck, Withnail is rarely prepared to eat and breathe, never mind exist on his own wits in a country cottage. The pair stumble from disaster to disaster, including aggravating the locals, an encounter with a randy bull and a randy Uncle Monty (Withnail’s incredibly camp relative, who takes quite a shine to ‘I’), being threatened with fish and figuring out how to kill a chicken. Throughout all these trials, Withnail’s first and foremost solution to each of them is to get absolutely staggeringly drunk on anything available while generally bemoaning the state of the world and actively trying to get ‘I’ to do everything for him. It might not sound like much, but it’s the script, the characters and the performances which make this film; Richard E. Grant (who you might have seen in Spice World, or Hudson Hawk - the man doesn’t really pick his films too carefully...) is astonishingly perfect as the incredibly aristocratic drunken sot Withnail; making passionate declarations while drunk up to his eyeballs on whatever is available, while Paul McGann (estwhile of Queen of the Damned, and who’s part was cut out of Alien3 - another actor who’s film career isn’t exactly stellar) plays a wonderfully understated ‘I’, the ignored voice of reason swept along by Withnail’s mad rush to the bar. The script is just full of fantastic lines as well, as the huge section of Groovy Quotes below will attest to; though the words alone can’t really do justice to Richard E. Grant’s brilliantly overblown acting. I know why students love this film; the identification between Withnail and themselves is amazing. Both live in squalor, both hate to work, and both drink as much as possible. Arguments such as the ‘who’s going to make the coffee’ argument, and the ‘we should really do some washing up before something evolves in the sink and eats us’ dilemma resonate in student houses throughout the land. Oh, and there’s some kind of touching undercurrent about loyalty, friendship, and failed dreams, but by the time that comes to the fore, all the students playing their drinking games are face down on the carpet that hasn’t been cleaned for 4 months. This is a very British film, with some very British slang in it; so be warned, non-anglophiles - our crazy Brit words will be coming at you thick and fast. The language gets pretty vulgar, and theirs some recreational drug use (after all, this film is set in the 60’s) if that’s the kind of thing that’s likely to offend you. If not, and you’re a fan of sharp dialogue over explosions and murder, Withnail & I might be a perfect nights viewing for you. |
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Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?
Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]
Although credited on screen only as "... and I", Paul McGann's character is named as "Marwood" in the script. It is widely believed that the characters first name is Peter, but this isn't given in the script or on screen anywhere. In the scene where Withnail ostensibly downs a bottle of lighter fluid, the can, which in rehearsals had been full of water, was full of vinegar. Director Bruce Robinson used vinegar on the take to get a better facial reaction from Grant. The vomiting was scripted and faked.
In the tearoom scene, Richard E Grant breaks out laughing. This wasn't scripted, but every time he spoke, he could hear the snorting of the dogs belonging to the old ladies at the table behind. He thought that this was someone laughing and kept corpsing. After too many re-takes, the director gave up and kept the laughter in. During the motorway scenes, in the interior shots of the car, Paul McGann is seen to be driving, but in some exterior shots, the driver is 'Bruce Robinson' , the director. The reason for this is that Paul McGann had only just passed his driving test when the film was made, and so was a bit wobbly on the motorway. Also, as he pulls away in London to set off for the Lake District, he stalls the car. This was unintentional, and was included anyway. The photograph of Richard Griffiths in Uncle Monty's cottage is from The World Cup: A Captain's Tale in which he played a football manager and referee. Official and Not-So-Official Websites
I: I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear anything. My God, it’s a nightmare out there, I tell you, a nightmare! Withnail: We’ve just run out of wine; what are we going to do about it? Withnail [looking at his tongue in a mirror]: Look at my tongue. It’s wearing a yellow sock.
Withnail: Right! I’m doing the washing up!
Withnail: What is it, what have you found?
Withnail: The thermostats. What have you done to them?
Danny the Dealer: I don't advise a hair cut man. All hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hair 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: There must and shall be aspirins.
I: I'm not from London you know!
I: You never discuss your family do you?
(discussing a live chicken that has been left for them by a farmer)
(‘I’ is faced with a horny bull)
Withnail: This place has become impossible. Nothing to eat, freezing cold and now a madman on the prowl outside with eels. Soundtrack Review
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Rich's Rating: Staggering (in more ways than one).
