Withnail and I: An Evening to Remember Darren Conner.

It’s now just over a year since Darren Conner collapsed and died whilst taking part in a charity bicycle ride and this week at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre an evening was dedicated to remembering Darren. This year, as occurred last year with the special screening of Harold and Maude (1971), the staff at the cinema organised an evening not only to remember our friend and colleague but to raise money for another of Darren’s favourite charity’s this time The World Wildlife Fund.

The RBC Film Club, friends and staff enjoyed an informal get together with refreshments provided, thanks to who ever was responsible for that, followed by a screening of another of Darren’s favourite movies the black comedy Withnail and I (1987). There can’t be many of us who have never seen this movie, originally a box office failure and now described as one of Britain’s best cult films. Admittedly when I first saw this film some years ago I was not very smitten and did not find it at all amusing but what a difference a few years makes, it was like watching an entirely different movie. Perhaps it was the fact of watching it on a big screen with an audience of dedicated film lovers, but it was certainly laugh out load funny. It had some really great one liners emphasised by great comic acting from Richard E. Grant as Withnail, Paul McGann as “I” both of whom I believe were appearing in their debut feature films, Richard Griffiths as Withnail’s Uncle Monty and stealing both scenes’ he appears in was Ralph Brown as Danny the drug dealer, incidentally a dead ringer, in more ways than one, for a foreman who worked for me in the late seventies, but his name was Dave!!

Written and directed by Bruce Robinson (The Rum Diary 2011, Private Road 1971) it’s loosely based on his experiences as an out of work actor. The film, set in 1969, tells the story of two unemployed thespians Withnail and Marwood who attempt to drown their depressing life style in a continuous round of alcohol and drugs, plus the odd can of lighter fluid when times are really hard! Mistakenly imagining that the only way out, of what admittedly seems a continuous downward spiral, is to get out of town for a while. To this end Withnail approaches his Uncle Monty to borrow a country cottage he owns in the wilds of Penrith. But the boy’s stress levels are sorely strained finding that the countryside does not offer the respite they had hoped for.   Great evening, great film and a marvellous 60’s soundtrack, from the melancholic saxophone of King Curtis to guitar driven Jimi Hendrix tracks. Shame it has to have been for such a sad reason.

The Rum Diary.

Hunter S Thompson was an American writer who started life as a journalist and went on to write various best selling novels. He is credited as the originator of what became known as gonzo journalism, an exaggerated form of reportage where the writer becomes part of the story via a first person narrative. His other claim to fame is his excessive use of drugs and alcohol, which inadvertently led to him sadly committing suicide in 2005 at the age of 67. There had been two feature films based around his work, the first of which Where the Buffalo Roam (1980) starred Bill Murray as Thompson, the second Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) was directed by Terry Gilliam and this time Thompson’s friend Johnny Depp portrayed the journalist.

Richard Jenkins.

After a hiatus of nineteen years Bruce Robinson, who was responsible for Withnail & I (1987), was brought in to write the screenplay and direct The Rum Diary (2011), which was based on Thompson’s novel of the same name. Written in the 1960’s it was not published until 1998.  This time Johnny Depp not only starred in the film but also took on the function of producer. He plays the role of Thompson’s alter ego Paul Kemp a journalist who in 1960 moved from New York to San Juan in Puerto Rico to work on a daily newspaper and found him embroiled with some very unscrupulous US entrepreneurs.  

Giovanni Ribisi.

Lovingly shot on location in San Juan, the strength of this movie is in its very clever use of both verbal and perceived humour and the brilliantly drawn characters played by a superb cast: Richard Jenkins as the newspapers editor Lotterman, Michael Rispoli as Bob Sala news photographer and Kemps room mate and Giovanni Ribisi who steals ever scene he’s in as the substance abusing and Hitler loving Moberg. Depp’s love interest, there always is one, is the beautiful Scarlett Johansson look alike Amber Heard.   Johnny Depp executes his lines with great panache and really gives the impression that he is enjoying playing his role almost as much as this viewer enjoyed watching the film.

Mr Depp and love interest Amber Heard.

Private Road.

BFI Flipside DVD.

Swinging London is well and truly over in Barney Platt-Mills second feature film Private Road (1971). In his brilliant first feature Bronco Bullfrog (1969) he dealt with an East End of London working class community and the dead-end lives of British teenagers in 1969. In this his latest release on the BFI Flipside series he explores the lives’ of a group of confused middle class post hippies.

Ann Halpern is from a middle class suburban family residing in Esher. Through her fathers connections she gets a job as a secretary working for a publishing company in London where she meets a promising young writer called Peter Morrissey. The pair soon get into a relationship and move in to a flat together much to the displeasure of her parents. Following a confrontation between Ann’s father and Peter the couple decide to decamp to a remote, but beautiful coastal cottage so that Peter can concentrate on his writing. Anne soon tires of rural living and they both move back to London with an added complication: Ann is expecting a child! A domesticated life beckons and Peter writing is going nowhere, so he is forced to get a job in an advertising agency that he hates. He seeks the advice of an ex heroin-addicted friend Stephan about the future direction of his life!

Susan Penhaligon.

As with Platt-Mills previous work he gets the best from his cast whose performances are very naturally and unforced, a style of direction that is almost documentary in its approach. Filmed totally on location it enjoys a very interesting cast. Peter Morrissey is played by Bruce Robinson who wrote and directed the British cult classic Withnail and I (1986) a film set in London during 1969 which is alleged to replicate Robinsons experiences as a chronic alcoholic and resting actor living in squalor in London’s Camden Town. Susan Penhaligon who plays Ann Halpern is best known for her television roles, for example Bouquet of Barbed Wire in the seventies. Michael Feast, who wrote the music for the film, portrays Stephen. A quiet film that say’s a lot.

Robinson and Michael Feast.