Watching Withnail

[Dex Sawash]

Have tried several times but only last about 10 minutes. Do I need to start when I was 18 or maybe become depressed?

Fucksakes wrong forum

[Buelligan]

Dodgy ground this, Dex, dodgy old ground.  Lebowski and Withnail are two, probably the most important two[nb]in terms of film[/nb], joint gatekeepers of my liking a person properly.  I already like you properly so there must be something wrong with you at the moment.  Please get more rest and take some vitamins.  Worried now.

[shiftwork2]

I don't have great affection for Danny so these days I tend to start with the first appearance of Uncle Monty.  Try that.  Bonus point as that scene contains the finest line in the whole film - do you grow?

[Buelligan]

Danny's just like my brother.  I love him.

[shiftwork2]

Oh I get that most people find him a highlight and Ralph Brown does a great turn, it's just...dunno.

[pancreas]

I don't have great affection for Danny so these days I tend to start with the first appearance of Uncle Monty.  Try that.  Bonus point as that scene contains the finest line in the whole film - do you grow?

Similarly I like the spherical wafer in a Ferrero Rocher, so I dig that bit out, scrape it clean and throw the rest away.

[paruses]

My gut reactions was that it's the kind of film you watch when you're young and then have great affection for. However, I then remembered that I watched it when I was 21 and didn't like it much but rewatched it when I was in my early 30s and really enjoyed it and it's become one of my favourite and most-watched films.

What is it you don't get on with?

Fake Edit - agree that maybe jumping in at Uncle Monty could help the transition process.

[shiftwork2]

Similarly I like the spherical wafer in a Ferrero Rocher, so I dig that bit out, scrape it clean and throw the rest away.

That would have worked had Danny been in 90% of the film.

[crankshaft]

Have tried several times but only last about 10 minutes. Do I need to start when I was 18 or maybe become depressed?

Fucksakes wrong forum

I really like Withnail. The cult status around it in the 1990s actually put me off seeing it for a very long time (there's nothing more boring than a bunch of men quoting lines from something rather than actually having a conversation). I also can't stand Danny - I just want to push him out of the nearest window. I reckon you should give it one more go.

[Bazooka]

Ban this fiend, wrong forum and getting Withnail & I wrong, a disgrace.

[Buelligan]

Oh I get that most people find him a highlight and Ralph Brown does a great turn, it's just...dunno.

No, he's not a highlight, the whole film's a highlight, it's a love poem. 

Hunter Thompson could have been speaking about it when he wrote

We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave... So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high water mark — that place where the wave finally broke, and rolled back.

just change the place and time.

[paruses]

I really like Withnail. The cult status around it in the 1990s actually put me off seeing it for a very long time (there's nothing more boring than a bunch of men quoting lines from something rather than actually having a conversation). I also can't stand Danny - I just want to push him out of the nearest window. I reckon you should give it one more go.

I like how awful Danny is. The kind of person who would be consistently awful but then have a grain of kindness - talking I down with confidence and care - that makes you think he's not so bad. He would then immediately return to type. Like Super Hans.

Having recommended missing the opening scene I now withdraw that comment as I absolutely love the opening. I don't know what I was thinking.

Agree with crankshaft completely about the cult side of it but that's true of anything, especially cults.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Two pound ten a tit, and a fiver for his arse.

[pigamus]

Actually it's Danny who has the best line in the film, about St Peter preaching the Epistles to the apostles. Beautiful.

[Norton Canes]

Just imagine McGann and E. Grant are both Doctor Who but neither of them know the other is Doctor Who so they can't blow their cover.

[Norton Canes]

And for extra frisson, imagine the same is true of Richard Griffiths

[paruses]

Actually it's Danny who has the best line in the film, about St Peter preaching the Epistles to the apostles. Beautiful.

At least 80% of the time that I see a judge in a TV drama I say "this was more like a long white hat" to myself.  Or out loud if I am being honest.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I'm glad they didn't go with the original ending for the film that was in the screenplay. That would have been quite depressing.
Spoiler: It involves a gun.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I didn't like it the first time I saw it, but happened to watch it again and loved it. Now one of my top 10. So, maybe just persevere with it until you like it.

[Buelligan]

At least 80% of the time that I see a judge in a TV drama I say "this more like a long white hat" to myself.  Or out loud if I am being honest.

Heh, I often tell my brother I've looked into it, studied the papers.

[Dex Sawash]

I'm glad they didn't go with the original ending for the film that was in the screenplay. That would have been quite depressing.
Spoiler: It involves a gun.

?

[pigamus]

Tell you something else, say what you like about Richard E. Grant, but that bit near the end where Marwood gets the part and Withnail says "Well done" - that still catches me out no matter how many times I watch it. I forgive him everything for that moment alone.

[Buelligan]

?

I love that scene.  You're obviously feeling better!

[Panbaams]

Don't do what I did and read the screenplay before you see the film.

[Brundle-Fly]

One of those films I saw at the time in the cinema with no expectations and loved it. One can get proprietorial over stuff like this. You get narked off when your secret little film that (in your head), only you and a couple of mates know about becomes very popular and the film poster ends up adorning many johnny come lately student walls up and down the country. And the beautiful waltz theme is used in an advert for cruise holidays.
Then, years later, get even more narked off when people now say it's actually overrated or boring or problematic, etc. Leave Withnail alone!

[shagatha crustie]

I struggled on first watch, I remember. The audio is weirdly muffled, and to the untrained ear the subjects being discussed are confusing and esoteric. Upon revisiting, and more familiarity with the plot and characters, the whole script coalesces into poetry, a kind of sacred text.

[pigamus]

Don't do what I did and read the screenplay before you see the film.

Do read the introduction though. It made me cry.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I can't fathom anyone watching the first ten minutes and not being completely enraptured so probably not the right person to reply.

The quality of dialogue and performance during the opening, so tightly strung and snappily edited, not a line is wasted.

[Hand Solo]

Some of the dialogue in the opening few minutes was re-dubbed, can't remember all the changes - "Murder, Sodomy and rape" I think was changed to "Murder, Allbran and rape" and "I'm in the middle of a fucking overdose" was changed to "bloody", and a few other various things.

IMDB has this:

The original cinema version of this film was shorter than the one that has since been released on video, laserdisc and DVD. Changes include:

Marwood's opening voice-over has been redubbed.

Marwood's speech about his thumbs having gone weird has been cut. The scene thus goes from the line "I don't feel good" to "Look at my tongue".

Withnail's "I'm gonna pull your head off" has been cut.

Danny's anecdote about The Coalman has been cut.

Some dialogue concerning Withnail's current work and Marwood also being a thespian has been cut out of the scene at Monty's home.

The scene of Marwood slipping in the mud and then angrily persuading Withnail to have another look at the shed has been cut.

The first part of Withnail and Marwood's conversation with the major, concerning Withnail having been in the Territorials, has been cut. The scene in this version simply dissolves from Withnail and Marwood walking to the pub with Marwood's voice-over to the major bringing up the subject of Jake. Marwood's line about why Withnail lied to the major has understandably also been cut.

The word Saveloy has been redubbed to Sausage.

Just imagine McGann and E. Grant are both Doctor Who but neither of them know the other is Doctor Who so they can't blow their cover.

They've both played The Doctor, and Richard Griffiths was actually considered as the 8th Doctor Who before the series was cancelled.

[Blue Jam]

Don't do what I did and read the screenplay before you see the film.

I love the description of Withnail as "Pale as an oven-ready chicken".

And Presuming Ed. having "A voice as deep as a well".