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"Withnail and I" and "Prick up your Ears" - perfect period piece obituaries of the twilight of 60's London

Posted by Bambi B (A) on October 14, 2006 at 12:20:56

In Reply to: Withnail and I... posted by patrickU on October 14, 2006 at 09:20:56:

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

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