Movies can influence you in various ways but of all that I have seen so far, few have been as touching as "Withnail & I". Its like the feeling of having missed seeing a Dinosaur who passed this way, not more than a moment ago !
If you have visited a venue after a Phenomenon was over, you’ll probably understand what I’m getting at. Even the Grass (the one on the ground, that is :-P) is overawing and you are just left cursing yourself at what you have missed. If ever there was a befitting tribute to the 60s, its legend, its exponents, its beliefs and its decline, this was it.
Withnail & I was a movie made in 1986 by British Director Bruce Robinson. It traces the dissipatory lifestyles of two friends Withnail (Richard Grant) & I (Paul McGann), the narrator, in wake of the 1967 aftermath. The movie starts with a shocker showing Withnail gulping down from a tin of pesticide or something early morning to smoothen his comedown, the Pubs not having opened up yet.
The two friends are aspiring actors and share a ramshackle flat. Roles arent forthcoming and Life revolves around getting high with friends, getting drunk in pubs and sometimes even substance abuse to keep themselves warm. They decide to go to the countryside where one of Withnail’s relatives, Uncle Monty has offered to let them a cottage. While the scene itself is exhilarating they find to their dismay that they are without proper food supplies and the neighbours arent exactly epitomes of hospitality. To compound problems "I" discovers that Uncle Monty is Gay and has been made to believe (courtesy Withnail) that he too is Queer. The close yet fragile relationship between the two friends is dealt with in a most impressive fashion by Robinson. The movie meanders towards the climax where "I" is offered the Lead in a Play and he must decide for himself and move on....
The soundtrack boasts of some of the best songs of the day. Since the movie was produced by Harrison’s HandMade Films, including songs like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was a cakewalk. In addition "All Along The watchtower" (Hendrix Version), "A White Shade of Pale" (Procol Harum) and Voodoo Child (Hendrix) are all there to make you feel at home !!
Humour is just fantastic whether its their friend’s attempt at explaining the origin of the Camberwell Carrot (Gosh, what pride these guys took in inventing psychedelics and giving them wonderful names) or the Dolls head with the tablets or Uncle Monty barging into I’s room and expressing his desire to "’ave him even if it must be burglary !!" The look on Uncle Monty’s face when "I" informs him that he has a "relationship" with Withnail and is loyal to him, is one to die for.
Grant’s acting and screen presence is astounding. McGann is great too. Richard Griffiths is brilliant playing the role of a cultured, oversophisticated and overweight Uncle Monty. Panache is the word that comes to my mind when I think of how well he mimics his character. No words for dialogues/screenplay too. I’ll let the quotes speak for themselves :-
Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, and for once I’m inclined to believe Withnail is right.
Hair are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos and transmit them directly into the brain.
The greatest decade in the history of mankind is over. And as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black.
The city is coming down from a long and excessive trip, and there are going to be a lot of refugees.
While the movie isnt as blunt in its portrayal of the 60s as movies like Weekend/Easy Rider were, if you look hard enough you’ll find the theme. Too much of art and too much of freedom was something that Capitalist always found difficult to deal with. The only way out for them was to quell the revolution under the garb of side effects of substance abuse and urge the docile junta to move on. And so most of the junta in UK, USA and many other parts of the world was torn between accepting the revolutionary counterculture of the decade or reverting to the seemingly more sane World Order they had long been habituated to.
For diehard 60s exponents like Withnail, there never was a choice. They had tasted the creative explosion of arts, the harmony with Nature, the triviality of Order, the freedom of thought, etc and even been a part of it. They had seen what they believed was the best they could have. So they couldnt have gone back to the ’old wicked ways’ of the world and settled for less. Their fate was sealed.
But many others - the fence sitters, were faced with the dilemma. And the dilemma was more than they could handle – that of choosing Mainstream over the less trodden path, choosing commerce over art, necessity over passion, ’progress’ over stability and what have you. So when "I" has to choose between Withnail’s companionship and the Lead role in a Play, its not only himself that he is choosing for. Its for an entire generation. Its for all those who survived the 60s.
The choice was made. And it marked the end of an Era, Mankinds best if you ask me. Life would never be the same again... The statement may be Cruel and it may be Ironic but its True. The movie’s tagline said it all :-
If you don’t remember the sixties, don’t worry — neither did they !!