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Withnail and I

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Withnail and I
Original UK release poster
Art by Ralph Steadman
Directed byBruce Robinson
Written byBruce Robinson
Produced byPaul Heller
Starring
CinematographyPeter Hannan
Edited byAlan Strachan
Music by
Distributed by
Release date
10 April 1987 (United Kingdom)
Running time
107 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£1.1 million
Box office
  • $1,544,889 (USA)
  • £565,112 (UK)
  • A$103,117 (Australia)[2]

Withnail and I is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and "I" (portrayed by Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann) who share a flat in Camden Town in 1969. Needing a holiday, they obtain the key to a country cottage in the Lake District belonging to Withnail's eccentric uncle Monty and drive there. The weekend holiday proves less recuperative than they expected.

Withnail and I was Grant's first film and launched him into a successful career. The film also featured performances by Richard Griffiths as Withnail's Uncle Monty and Ralph Brown as Danny the drug dealer. The film has tragic and comic elements (particularly farce) and is notable for its period music and many quotable lines. It has been described as "one of Britain's biggest cult films".[3]

Plot

In September 1969, two unemployed actors, flamboyant alcoholic Withnail and contemplative Marwood[nb 1] live in a messy flat in Camden Town, London. Their only regular visitor is their drug dealer, Danny. One morning, the pair squabble about housekeeping and then leave to take a walk. In Regent's Park, they discuss the poor state of their acting careers and the desire for a holiday; they propose a trip to a rural cottage near Penrith owned by Withnail's wealthy uncle Monty. They visit Monty that evening at his luxurious Chelsea house. Monty is a melodramatic aesthete, whom Marwood intuits to be homosexual; the three briefly drink together as Withnail casually lies to Monty about his acting career and claims that grammar school-educated Marwood studied at Eton. Withnail persuades his uncle to lend them the cottage key, and they leave.

They drive to the cottage the next day, but find the weather cold and wet, the cottage without food, running water or power, and the locals unwelcoming – in particular a poacher, Jake, whom Withnail offends in the local pub. Marwood is anxious when he later sees Jake prowling around the cottage and suggests they leave for London the next day. Withnail in turn demands that they share a bed in the interest of safety, but Marwood refuses. During the night, Withnail becomes paranoid that the poacher wants to harm them and climbs under the covers with Marwood, who angrily leaves for a different bed. Hearing the sounds of an intruder breaking into the cottage, Withnail again joins Marwood in bed. The intruder turns out to be Monty, who has brought supplies.

The next day, Marwood realises Monty's visit has ulterior motives when he makes aggressive sexual advances on him; Withnail seems oblivious to this. He drives them into town to buy wellington boots, but they end up spending the money he gives them on drinks. Monty is hurt, though he puts it out of his mind quickly during a boozy round of poker. Marwood is terrified of what Monty might try to do and wants to leave immediately, but after much argument Withnail insists on staying. Late in the night, Marwood tries to avoid Monty's company but is eventually cornered in the guest bedroom as Monty insistently demands they have sex. Monty reveals that Withnail, during the visit in London, claimed that Marwood was a closeted homosexual. Marwood lies that Withnail is the closeted one and that the two of them are in a committed relationship, which Withnail wishes to keep secret from his family, and that this is the first night that they haven't slept together in years. Monty, a romantic, believes this explanation and leaves after apologising for coming between them. In private, Marwood furiously confronts Withnail.

The next morning, they find Monty has left for London, leaving a note wishing them happiness together. They continue to argue about their behaviour and Monty. A telegram arrives from Marwood's agent with a possible offer of work, and he insists they return.

As Marwood sleeps, Withnail drunkenly speeds most of the way back until pulled over by the police, who arrest and fine him for driving under the influence. The pair return to the flat to find Danny and a friend named Presuming Ed squatting there. Marwood calls his agent and discovers that he is wanted for the lead part in a play, but will need to move to Manchester to take it. The four get high smoking a huge cannabis joint but the celebration ends when Marwood learns they have received an eviction notice for unpaid rent, while Withnail is too high to care.

Later, Marwood packs a bag and leaves for the train station, turning down Withnail's request for a goodbye drink. In Regent's Park, Marwood confesses that he will miss Withnail, but insists that they part ways there. Bottle of wine in hand, Withnail performs "What a piece of work is a man!" from Hamlet, seen only by the wolves in a nearby zoo enclosure, then walks home alone in the rain.

Cast

Production

The film is an adaptation of an unpublished novel written by Robinson in late 1969. Actor friend Don Hawkins passed a copy of the manuscript to his friend, the wealthy oil heir Moderick Schreiber in 1980. Schreiber, looking to break into the film industry, paid Robinson a few thousand pounds sterling to adapt it into a screenplay, which Robinson did in the early 1980s. On completing the script, producer Paul Heller urged Robinson to direct it and found funding for half the film. The script was then passed to HandMade Films. After he read it, George Harrison agreed to fund the remainder of the film.[4][5]

Robinson's script is largely autobiographical. "Marwood" is Robinson; "Withnail" is based on Vivian MacKerrell, a friend with whom he shared a Camden house, and "Uncle Monty" is loosely based on Franco Zeffirelli from whom Robinson received unwanted amorous attentions when he was a young actor.[6] He lived in the impoverished conditions seen in the film and wore plastic bags as Wellington boots. For the script, Robinson condensed four or five years of his life into two weeks.

The narrative is told in the first person by the character played by Paul McGann, named just once in passing in the film (see below) as Marwood, and only credited as "I".

Early in the film, Withnail reads from an article headlined "Boy Lands Plum Role For Top Italian Director" and then goes on to imply that the director is sexually abusing the boy. This is a reference to the sexual harassment that Robinson alleges he suffered at the hands of Italian director Franco Zeffirelli when, at age 21, he won the role of Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet.[7]

The end of the novel saw Withnail committing suicide by pouring a bottle of wine into the barrel of Monty's gun and then pulling the trigger as he drank from it. Robinson changed the ending, as he believed it was "too dark."[8]

According to Danny's speech at the end of the film, 'We are 91 days from the end of this decade and there's gonna be a lot of refugees'. This means the drug-addled scene after the pair return from Penrith occurs on Thursday 2 October 1969, six weeks after Woodstock and three days before the first broadcast of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It is not known if Robinson intended any significance by including such a specific date.

Denis O'Brien, who oversaw the filming on behalf of HandMade Films, nearly shut the film down three days into the shoot. He thought that the film had no "discernible jokes" and was badly lit.[9]

The film cost £1.1 million to make. Robinson received £80,000 to direct, £30,000 of which he reinvested into the film to shoot additional scenes such as the journeys to and from Penrith, which HandMade Films would not fund. He was never reimbursed his money after the film's success.[10]

Casting

Paul McGann was Robinson's first choice for "I", but he was fired during rehearsals because Robinson decided McGann's Liverpool accent was wrong for the character. Several other actors read for the role, but McGann eventually persuaded Robinson to re-audition him, promising to affect a Home Counties accent. He quickly won back the part.[11]

Actors who were considered for the part of "Withnail" included Daniel Day-Lewis, Bill Nighy and Kenneth Branagh.[9] Robinson claims that he told Richard E. Grant that "half of you has got to go", and put him on a diet to play the part[9][12] although Grant denies this in the 1999 documentary "Withnail and Us". The role of Withnail was Grant's first in film and launched him into a successful career.

Though playing a raging alcoholic, Grant himself is a teetotaller with a health condition preventing him from properly processing alcohol. He had therefore never been drunk prior to making the film. Robinson decided that it would be impossible for Grant to play the character without having ever experienced inebriation and a hangover, and thus "forced" the actor on a drinking binge. Grant has stated that he was "violently sick" after each drink, and found the experience as a whole deeply unpleasant.[13]

During the filming of the scene in which the lighter fluid is consumed, Robinson changed the contents of the can, which had been filled with water, to vinegar. While the vomiting is scripted, the facial expression is totally natural.[14]

Filming

Sleddale Hall, the location used as Monty's cottage. This photo dates from 2007. The hall was restored in 2011–2012.

The film was not shot entirely on location. There was no filming in the real Penrith; the locations used were in and around nearby Shap and Bampton. Monty's cottage, "Crow Crag", is actually Sleddale Hall, located near the Wet Sleddale Reservoir just outside Shap, although the lake that "Crow Crag" apparently overlooks is actually Haweswater Reservoir.

Sleddale Hall was offered for sale in January 2009;[15] a trust has been created by fans who wish collectively to purchase the building for its preservation as a piece of British film history. It was sold at auction for £265,000 on 16 February 2009. The starting price was £145,000. It was bought by Sebastian Hindley, who owns the Mardale Inn in the nearby village of Bampton, which did not feature in the film. Hindley was unable to raise the necessary finances and in August 2009 the property was resold for an undisclosed sum to Tim Ellis, an architect from Kent, whose original bid failed at the auction.[16]

The bridge where Withnail and Marwood go fishing is located at the bottom of the hill below Sleddale Hall, a quarter of a mile away. The telephone box where Withnail calls his agent is beside the main road in Bampton.[citation needed]

Hertfordshire

Although exterior and ground floor interior shots of Crow Crag were shot at Sleddale Hall, Stockers Farm in Rickmansworth was used for the bedroom and stair scenes. Stockers Farm was also the location for the "Crow and Crown" pub.

Milton Keynes

The "King Henry" pub and the "Penrith Tea Rooms" scenes were filmed in the Market Square in Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes at what is now the "Crown Inn" and Cox & Robinsons Chemists.

London

"The Mother Black Cap" pub in the film was in reality "The Frog and Firkin" pub in Tavistock Crescent, Westbourne Green. For some time after the film, it was officially called "The Mother Black Cap". It has since been demolished. Withnail and Marwood's flat was located at 57 Chepstow Place in Bayswater (W2). The shot of them leaving for Penrith as they turn left from the building being demolished was shot on Freston Road, W11. The cafe where Marwood has breakfast at the beginning of the film is located at the corner of Ladbroke Grove and Lancaster Road. The scene where Withnail and Marwood are ordered to "get in the back of the van" was filmed on the flyover near John Aird Court, Paddington. The final scene was shot in Regent's Park. Uncle Monty's house is actually the West House, Glebe Place, Chelsea, SW3.

Shepperton Studios

Police station interior was shot at the studios.

Name of "I"

"Marwood"? A telegram arrives at Crow Crag

Although the first name of 'I' is not stated anywhere in the film, it is widely believed that it is 'Peter'. This myth arose as a result of a line of misheard dialogue.[17] In the scene where Monty meets the two actors, Withnail asks him if he would like a drink. In his reply, Monty both accepts his offer and says "...you must tell me all the news, I haven't seen you since you finished your last film". While pouring another drink, and downing his own, Withnail replies that he has been "Rather busy uncle. TV and stuff". Then pointing at Marwood he says "He's just had an audition for rep". Some fans hear this line as "Peter's had an audition for rep", although the original shooting script and all commercially published versions of the script read "he's".

The "I" character's name is given as 'Marwood' in the original screenplay. It has been suggested that it is possible that 'Marwood' can be heard near the beginning of the film: As the characters escape from the Irishman in the Mother Black Cap, Withnail shouts "Get out of my way!". Some hear this line as "Out of the way, Marwood!", although the script reads simply "Get out of my way!".

There is, however, one occasion in the film where the name 'Marwood' is given, though not stated. Toward the end of the film a telegram arrives at Crow Crag and as Withnail reads the note, the name 'Marwood' appears to be visible, upside-down, on the envelope. 'I' is now widely accepted as 'Marwood', as this was the name that was used in the script of 'Withnail and I', but due to the fact that the story is told from Marwood's point of view, he is considered as 'I'. In the end credits and most media relating to the film, McGann's character is referenced solely as "...& I."

However, in the supplemental material packaged with the Special Edition DVD in the UK, McGann's character is referred to as Peter Marwood in the cast credits.

Reception

In 1999, the British Film Institute voted Withnail and I the 29th greatest British film of all time. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw it ranked the 15th best British film ever.[18] The line "We want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here and we want them now", delivered by Richard E. Grant as Withnail, was voted the third favourite film one-liner in a 2003 poll of 1,000 film fans.[19]

The film had a UK gross of £565,112 and a US gross of $1,544,889. DVD and VHS sales have been quite strong throughout the years, and the film has gained cult status with a number of websites dedicated to the film itself. In 2000, readers of Total Film voted Withnail and I the third greatest comedy film of all time. In 2004 the same magazine named it the 13th greatest British film of all time. Withnail & I was 38th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Films poll.

The film holds a 94% "fresh" rating, and an average rating of 8.5 out of 10 from critic website Rotten Tomatoes.[20] In August 2009 The Observer polled 60 eminent British film filmmakers and film critics who voted it the second best British film of the last 25 years.[21] The film was also ranked number 118 in Empire's 500 Greatest Films of all Time list. In 2009 critic Roger Ebert added the film to his "Great Movies" list, describing Grant's performance as a "tour de force" and Withnail as "one of the iconic figures in modern films."[22]

In 2007 a digitally remastered version of the film was released by the UK Film Council. It was shown at over fifty cinemas around the UK on 11 September, as part of the final week of the BBC's "Summer of British Film" season.[23] In 2011, Time Out London named it the 7th-greatest comedy film of all time.[24]

Legacy

There is a drinking game associated with the film.[25] The game consists of keeping up, drink for drink, with each alcoholic substance consumed by Withnail over the course of the film.[26][27] All told, Withnail is shown drinking roughly nine and a half glasses of red wine, half a pint of cider, one shot of lighter fluid (vinegar or overproof rum are common substitutes), two and a half shots of gin, six glasses of sherry, thirteen measures of Scotch whisky and half a pint of ale.[28]

In 2010, McGann said that he sometimes meets viewers who believe the film was actually shot in the 1960s, saying "It comes from the mid-1980s, but it sticks out like a Smiths record. Its provenance is from a different era. None of the production values, none of the iconography, none of the style remotely has it down as an 80s picture."[29]

Soundtrack

The film features a rare appearance of a recording by the Beatles, whose 1968 song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" plays as Withnail and Marwood return to London and find Presuming Ed in the bath. The song, which was written and sung by George Harrison, was able to be included in the soundtrack due to Harrison's involvement in the film, as one of the producers.[5]

There is a misheld belief among some fans of the film that King Curtis was murdered on the night his live performance of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was recorded.[30] Ralph Brown, in the audio commentary on some DVD issues, wrongly states that he was shot in the car park after the concert. Curtis was stabbed to death in August 1971, some five months after the recording was made in March 1971. The recording comes from Curtis's album Live at Fillmore West.[31]

  1. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" (live) – King Curtis – 5:25
  2. "Piano Sonata in B Flat Major, D960"  - Franz Schubert, performed by Leslie Pearson
  3. "The Wolf" – David Dundas and Rick Wentworth – 1:33
  4. "All Along the Watchtower" (reduced tempo) – Jimi Hendrix – 4:10
  5. "To the Crow" – David Dundas and Rick Wentworth – 2:22
  6. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" (live) – Jimi Hendrix – 4:28
  7. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"  – The Beatles – 4:44
  8. "Marwood Walks" – David Dundas and Rick Wentworth – 2:14
  9. "Monty Remembers" – David Dundas and Rick Wentworth – 2:02
  10. "La Fite" – David Dundas and Rick Wentworth – 1:10
  11. "Hang Out the Stars in Indiana" – Al Bowlly and New Mayfair Dance Orchestra – 1:35
  12. "Crow Crag" – David Dundas and Rick Wentworth – 0:56
  13. "Cheval Blanc" – David Dundas and Rick Wentworth – 1:15
  14. "My Friend" – Charlie Kunz – 1:28
  15. "Withnail's Theme" – David Dundas and Rick Wentworth – 2:40

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The character is named Marwood in the published screenplay but goes unnamed in the film credits.

References

  1. ^ "WITHNAIL AND I (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 27 March 1987. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  2. ^ IMDb: Box office for Withnail and I Retrieved 2013-04-28
  3. ^ Russell, Jamie (October 2003). "How "Withnail & I" Became a Cult". BBC. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  4. ^ McManus, Thomas Hewitt. Withnail & I: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know but Were Too Drunk to Ask, Lulu.com, 2006.
  5. ^ a b Pirnia, Garin (19 March 2016). "13 Loaded Facts About Withnail and I". Mental Floss. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  6. ^ Murphy, Peter. "Interview with Bruce Robinson". Archived from the original on 7 July 2007. Retrieved 7 August 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Film 4 review. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  8. ^ Owen, Alistair. Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson. p. 128. Bloomsbury, 2000.
  9. ^ a b c "Withnail and I in Camden". Time Out. Archived from the original on 20 February 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Owen, Alistair. Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson. pp. 108–109. Bloomsbury, 2000.
  11. ^ Owen, Alistair: "Smoking in Bed. Conversations with Bruce Robinson", page 109. Bloomsbury, 2000.
  12. ^ "Withnail and I > Richard E. Grant". Withnail-links.com. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
  13. ^ "The World According To Grant". 17 January 2003.
  14. ^ "Withnail and I – Facts & Trivia".
  15. ^ "Farmhouse from cult film for sale". BBC. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  16. ^ Wainwright, Martin (25 August 2009). "Some extremely distressing news: Withnail and I shrine falls through". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  17. ^ Hewitt-McManus, Thomas: "Twenty things you might want to know about Withnail & I", DVD insert. Anchor Bay, 2006.
  18. ^ "The 100 best British films". Time Out. Retrieved 24 October 2017
  19. ^ Michael Paterson (10 March 2003). "Caine takes top billing for the greatest one-liner on screen". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  20. ^ "Withnail and I". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  21. ^ "The Observer Film Quarterly's best British films of the last 25 years". The Observer. London. 30 August 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  22. ^ Ebert, Roger (2009) Withnail & I Movie Review, 25 March 2009, retrieved 2 April 2014
  23. ^ "BBC – The Summer of British Film – What's On". BBC. Archived from the original on 22 April 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ "100 Best Comedy Movies". Time Out London. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
  25. ^ Turner, Luke (15 July 2008). "Withnail and I comes of age". The Quietus. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  26. ^ Jonze, Tim (14 November 2011). "My favourite film: Withnail and I". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2011. I have to confess, I first heard about Withnail and I in terms of a drinking game – could you watch the film while matching the two lead characters shot for shot, pint for pint, Camberwell carrot for Camberwell carrot?
  27. ^ "The Withnail and I Drinking Game". withnail-links.com. Retrieved 9 May 2009.
  28. ^ The Withnail and I Drinking Game, DVD featurette. Anchor Bay, 2006.
  29. ^ Dixon, Greg (21 October 2010). "Paul McGann coming in from the cult". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  30. ^ "Withnail Links – Soundtrack". Fan site. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
  31. ^ "Top 25 Movie Music Moments". clashmusic.com. 27 March 2011.
Further reading
  • Ali Catterall and Simon Wells, Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since The Sixties (Fourth Estate, 2001)
  • Richard E. Grant, With Nails: The Film Diaries of Richard E. Grant (Picador, 1996)
  • Thomas Hewitt-McManus, Withnail & I: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know But Were Too Drunk To Ask (Lulu Press, 2006)
  • Kevin Jackson, Withnail & I (BFI, 2004)
  • Alistair Owen (editor), Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson (Bloomsbury, 2000)
  • Bruce Robinson, Withnail & I: The Original Screenplay (Bloomsbury, 1995)
  • Maisie Robson, Withnail and the Romantic Imagination: a eulogy (King's England Press, 2010)
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