Withnail and I (1987)
 Destined
from the very start to be the student film of choice, Withnail
and I spawned a generation who would hold this film as the
benchmark for on-screen drinking.
From this revisiting of Bruce Robinson's much misspent youth
sprung forth a collection of fabulously quotable one-liners -
"You can shove it up your arse for nothing and fuck off while
you're doing it!" - and great performances from both Richard
E. Grant as Withnail and Paul McGann as the more innocent
"I" (he is never called by his scripted name, Peter
Marwood).
Impoverished and growing increasingly demented in London, the
hapless duo borrow a cottage in Cumbria from Withnail's eccentric
Uncle Monty (a magnificent Richard Griffiths).
But far from the
pastoral bliss portrayed in other English films, they find the
country a rapacious, hostile environment and matters, are not
helped by the arrival of Monty, who has fallen for "I"
and won't take no for an answer: "I mean to have you
boy", he tells him. "Even if it must be burglary".
The bulk of the laughs are courtesy of the outlandish Withnail,
whether he is smearing liniment on his body to keep warm, drinking
cigarette lighter fluid, or searching for child urine in a bid to
outwit the drink-driving tests.
But bedecked in John Lennon glasses and sporting a nervous
disposition, McGann instils his role with an inner strength and
confidence that Grant's blustering Withnail could never have.
Further colour is added by Michael Elphick as a sinister
poacher, and Ralph Brown as Danny - the duo's parasitic dope
dealer and the self-aggrandizing inventor of the "Camberwell
Carrot".
The original script called for Withnail to commit suicide at
the end, but this was sensibly rejected. The truth is that this
blistering Teflon drunk is a bit too tough to kill.
Who could believe from this film that Grant is both a confirmed
teetotaller and non-smoker (and that was from before, not as a
result of filming). Certainly this is the only film that could
turn Penrith into a cult destination for film fans and dope heads
the world over.
Utterly, utterly brilliant.
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