Plunkett & Macleane (1999)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Jake Scott

Writers (WGA):

Selwyn Roberts (earlier screenplay)
Robert Wade (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

22 January 1999 (Denmark)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Adventure

Tagline:

Interrupted hanging

Plot:

Will Plunkett and Captain James Macleane, two men from different ends of the social spectrum in 18th-century England...

Plot Keywords:

Highwayman | 1700s | Bisexual | Robber | Revenge

Cast

Jonny Lee Miller	...	Macleane
Iain Robertson	...	Highwayman Rob
Robert Carlyle	...	Plunkett
Ken Stott	...	Chance
Tommy Flanagan	...	Eddie
Stephen Walters	...	Dennis
James Thornton	...	Catchpole
Terence Rigby	...	Harrison
Christian Camargo	...	Lord Pelham
Karel Polisenský	...	Newgate Priest
Neve McIntosh	...	Liz
Matt Lucas	...	Sir Oswald
David Walliams	...	Viscount Bilston
David Foxxe	...	Lord Ketch
Jake Gavin	...	Newgate Gent

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong violence, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Singapore:M18 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | New Zealand:R | Portugal:M/12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Arts Council of England

Trivia:

James Macleane (1711-1750) was the son of Scottish parson, and became known as 'Gentleman Highwayman' in partnership with his good friend Plunkett (also a Scotsman). Plunkett really was an apothecary, although it was Macleane's wife who had died. Macleane was an inveterate dandy, and this caused to make the fatal mistake of wearing a set of stolen waistcoats into the shop of the tailor who made them, leading to his arrest and subsequent hanging in November 1750.

Goofs:

Factual errors: While there was an Earl of Rochester extant in 1748, he would have been 76 years old, and was certainly not known as a bisexual profligate. The character seems to be based upon John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester who lived during the reign of Charles II and died in 1680.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Judge Beresteade: Captain James Macleane, for drunkenness, unruly behavior, causing an affray and disturbing the King's, I hereby sentence you to be placed in the Knightsbridge debtors' jail and to be held there until you are sober. Take him away.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Libertine (2004)

Soundtrack:

Childhood

Big frocks, big choons, big laughs and edge of seat stuff

Ah, how refreshing to see a vision of 18th century England complete with mud, the pox and gibbets... and accompanied by a delightful techno soundtrack to boot. This is the story of downtrodden highwayman Plunkett (Robert Carlisle) and Gentleman-fallen-on-hard-times Captain Macleane (Jonny Lee Miller), and how they get together and rob the aristo pigs. Plunkett is a hard nut, but MaCleane is far too polite for that, and thus becomes 'the gentleman highwayman'. He falls in love with Lady Rebecca (Liv Tyler), (who to be frank is the only weak part of the whole shebang) and wants to impress her.

The costumes are fantastic. Big, colourful, historically innacurate beautiful togs. Alan Cummings gets all the best threads, and the best lines as Lord Rochester, sporting a very non-18th century eyebrow piercing. The music shifts between swooping glorious choirs and thumping bass-laden techno, which doesn't jarr as you think it should do in a historical film. The script is fast-moving and peppered with modern-day colloquialisms; Merchant Ivory, this is not. There are hilarious parts, disgusting parts, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-and-nibble-your-fingernails parts, but the whole thing chugs along and is wonderfully entertaining throughout. This is cheer-in-the-cinema stuff. Unmissable.