Forty Years OnHave been up to my eyeballs crafting a piece for The Sunday Times on Withnail & I to tie in with a DVD giveaway. Embraced as one of Britain's best loved "cult" films it was handy to discover that it was forty years ago this winter that Bruce Robinson first sent Marwood's battered Jag up the M1, the project beginning life as a novel. For those in the know, amongst Robinson and the prinicipals, there's a code of silence... an omertà... so that didn't help when it came to getting quotes. Due to alleged financial irregularities on the part of Handmade Films and others, it is claimed that a lot of money is still owed.
As devotees know, the experience of the film disillusioned Robinson and he hasn't directed a flick since 1992 (Jennifer Eight). This month, however, marks his return. Big fan Johnny Depp has managed to haul him out of retirement and they just last week finished shooting Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary in Puerto Rico. Released in 2010, it'll be Robinson's first directed film in eighteen years.
The big question remains as to just how good Withnail actually is. I was not a massive fan first time round and, having watched it again recently, remain unconvinced that it is anything more than a reasonably entertaining, quirky British comedy. There are some fantastic scenes, to be sure, but also some rather weak ones. Take away the segments with Uncle Monty (the fabulous, scene-stealing Richard Griffiths) and what are you actually left with?
