Withnail And I [1986]

The picture quality is poor, and the contrast is somewhat bland. The only option on the disc menu is "play film" which really negates the point of having a menu. The aspect ratio always seems to be off somewhat, and I haven't been able to rectify this issue on any of the players I've used it on. There are no subtitles available, and there are not even any chapters. The lack of chapters and the dodgy aspect ratio are my two main gripes with this DVD. It makes watching the film a quite annoying experience, as you can't skip back or forward very easily (if your viewing is interrupted for whatever reason) and while watching it you can tell that everything's off; a little squashed, a little stretched.

A great film (which would get five stars if it were not for this poor DVD), which deserves better treatment - something it has received with a Criterion Collection release. Track down a copy of that instead and give this one a miss.


This is the most cultest of cult films!   January 31, 2007
DangermouseZilla (Doncaster, Yorkshire, UK.)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful

The first time I saw this film I was expecting the finest of British comedy. I was left pretty disappointed by it. I was about 12 at the time.

A few years later (I was about 15) I watched this film again and absolutely loved it. Since then, I have considered this film to be my favourite film of all time (I'm 26 now).

This is said to be one of the most quotable films of all time - and it really is! I couldn't even start to say which my favourite one is! Whenever I recommend this film to people, I always say that it might not blow you away first time round. But once you've watched it and given it a second chance - you realise the sheer genius in this film.

Paul McGann is one of my favourite actors, and he is the perfect on screen contrast to Withnail's neurotic ramblings.

This isn't just a film, it's a series of contagious quotes held together by the best dialogue available on screen. The actors don't just act - they ARE the characters. Richard E Grant is allergic to alcohol yet his character is the most believable I have ever seen.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

This disk is worth the money alone for the score (as other reviewers have said) - there aren't many tracks, and the tracks are short. But instead of listening to a low quality version of Withnail's theme, I now have the beautiful crisp version!

This contains the same documentary and interview as the previous DVD release, and also a new interview with Bruce Robinson, a fan made featurette, and the Withnail drinking game. It also has black and white stills which are frankly beautiful. I would love to have some framed and hung on the wall.

There is a booklet in the DVD case too which gives various facts on the film.

The box is a lovely metal one, it feels great in the hand, looks great on the shelf!

All in all there are 3 disks: 1 DVD of the main film, 1 DVD of features, 1 Audio CD of the score.

****************************************

If you only have a couple of hours left to live - make sure you make time to watch this film.



DVD is essential since VHS wears out after about 200 watches   June 5, 2003
Touring Mars (London, UK)
20 out of 22 found this review helpful

Bruce Robinson's "Withnail and I" is a modern classic, beloved by its cult following, and can be rewatched so many times that most people feel the need to have a spare copy handy just in case one wears out. Indeed, if you can hold on to your copy without lending it to someone and never getting it back, you're doing better than the rest of us!

Loosely based upon his own life, this is a story of two 'resting' actors and how they try in vain to escape the festering stink-hole that is Camden Town in 1969 by having a weekend out in country. Richard E. Grant's astonishing performance as the brilliantly sarcastic, cynical and eloquent anti-hero Withnail, is counterbalanced by the aloof Marwood (better known as 'I'), from whose perspective the film is based around. Richard Griffiths amazingly camp performance as Uncle Monty is one of his greatest roles, and when thrown into the mix with the scheming Withnail and the unsuspecting 'I', it makes for one of the most fascinating menage-a-trois ever to be caught on camera. Aside from the three main characters, there isn't really many other people in the film, but they include the late Michael Elphick as a poacher (who threatens Withnail with a dead fish), Withnail's dodgy mate Danny (who invents the legendary 'Camberwell Carrot', a joint that utilises up to 12 skins) and Presuming Ed (who doesn't say anything in the film except for 'Hare Rama').

Probably the most quoted movie in British history, nearly every single line is like a sound-bite. It has also spawned the most infamous drinking game in movie history, which involves trying to keep up with Withnail's drinking throughout the movie, which in reality is actually impossible. It is the mark of how great an actor Richard E. Grant is to point out that he doesn't drink himself, yet manages to portray drunkenness to absolute perfection, even to the point of giving one of the most convincing portrayals of a hangover in history.

The DVD contains a great documentary which has plenty of Bruce Robinson himself, and discusses how the characters came about, and how the film has earned cult status among other things. It also offers you a couple of different sound options just incase you have a fancy 5.1 system or something similar. There is also some nice stills of Grant and McGann being stupid in a bathroom, and a commentary track by McGann and Ralph Brown (who plays Danny in the film) which is worth a listen.

Don't just buy this movie... buy two or three, you're going to need them!


Shakespeare and I   July 14, 2007
Gordon Charles Ros (Germany)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

There's not much else to add to the glowing reviews of this film which is by far the best movie I have ever seen (and I've seen quite a few) except to draw a parallel between the character of Withnail and a Shakesperian tragic hero. I know that there are students of literature out there who will baulk at the very idea but that's probably because they are too snobby to consider a film like this a work of art. But it is. I must have watched this film 50 times but I never cease to feel a cathartic chill run down my spine when Marwood says goodbye to Withnail in the end:

'I shall miss you Withnail.'
'I shall miss you too. Chin chin.'

This scene is one of the most moving I have ever seen. The drunken fool Withnail, at whom and with whom with have laughed, and who has spent the whole film not giving a toss about his friend, is suddenly and breathtakingly turned into the tragic hero he is and all the laughing gets stuck in your throat so suddenly that you feel shocked and guilty that you have laughed at all. Withnail's pathetically sad attempts to get Marwood to have one last drink are shockingly tragic. 'There's always time for a drink.' If that is not Shakespearian, I don't know what is. But it gets better (or worse depending on how you look at it) with Withnail's final solioquy, delivered in the pouring rain to a pack of miserable wolves...it is his final great act and the tragedy is no-one is there to see it except the wolves. When he walks off into the distance, you are left stunned (well I am) just like when you see Othello unexpectedly stick the dagger in his own heart.

Withnail and I is described and reviewed as a comedy, but I see it as a tragi-comedy. If Withnail and I was just a comedy, we would have long forgotten it. In many ways, it is a brilliant comedy but it is much more than that. I guess we all take out of art what we want and according to how we see the world. I can only speak for myself when I say that Withnail and I is the most beautifully crafted film I have ever seen. I happily confess that it helps to be British (esp. English) and male, but I would argue that anyone over, say, 18 who doesn't feel that carthatic chill at the final scene, is not fully human.

For those of you (and there are a couple) who say they don't like the film, all I can say is: 'Very, very, foolish words man.'


Here hare here   December 24, 2003
Stuart Townsend
18 out of 22 found this review helpful

The trouble is, I saw this film a long time ago, long before the pretentious (hope that's spelt right!) t**ts and wanabee thespian "celebs" of our time came crawling out claiming this was their "fave" if it really is then good luck to them, but I feel they are merely being chauffered towards the nearest bandwagon rank.

The film revolves around two characters desparate to break into the world of acting. Being overlooked for parts by younger "actors" and unable to qualify for even adverts for "Cheroot vendors who deem a haircut out of the realms of possibility for Withnail himself" Covering himself in Deep Heat to fight off the chills of winter because thay can't afford to turn the heating up. Desperatley indulging in drink and drugs to pass the the time between signing on and running out of money.

Beware the appearance of the hippyfied substance dealer "Danny" because at first you feel you'd love to know someone like that, and then suddenly realise him being your friend would be less preferable than a dose of the clap.

So much happens in this film that it would be an injustice to try and exlpain it all, its so much easier to purchase it and see for yourself.

This film deserves to be taken in without anticipation and expectation,it is probably one of the saddest ending I've ever seen in a film,and the characters, shooting and general pace is so perfect, I am yet to see anything that comes remotely close.

And this from what you'd probably regard as an uneducated meathead from the south east of London. The trouble is I find that once an item of such perfection has been over exposed it loses that natural feeling of it being almost a private source of enjoyment, you feel priviledged that you are one of the few that have sampled one of the finest moments in film and you don't really want to share it in case it becomes spoilt. I know it sounds selfish but I think I enjoyed this film all the more when I knew not that many people knew about it.

I defy you to watch this film and not feel happy, sad, and thoroughly lucky to have been a witness to one of the finest pieces of modern art that is accessible to every man, woman and child (of an acceptable age)

Apologies for the spelling