Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)

Director:

Peter Richardson

Writers:

Peter Richardson (written by) and
Pete Richens (written by) ...

Release Date:

3 December 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Tagline:

He's got the tool and he'll finish the job.

Plot Keywords:

Queen Of England | Air Raid | WWII | Satire | Storm Trooper

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jon Culshaw	...	Prime Minister
Tom Clarke Hill	...	Lieutenant Baker (as Tom Clarke-Hill)
Hamish McColl	...	Captain Davies
Christian Slater	...	Winston Churchill
Romany Malco	...	Denzil Eisenhower
Simon Rake	...	Reporter 1
James Long	...	Reporter 2
James Putnam	...	Reporter 3 (as James Puttnam)
Bob Mortimer	...	Potter
Vic Reeves	...	Bendle
Neve Campbell	...	Princess Elizabeth
Harry Enfield	...	King George VI
Jessica Oyelowo	...	Princess Margaret
Leslie Phillips	...	Lord W'ruff
Nigel Harrison	...	Jack

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Indonesia:Dewasa | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-11 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Brixham, Devon, England, UK

Company:

Little Bird Productions

Trivia:

'Winston Churchill' receives his first ever "actor" credit in this film, playing the part of Roy Bubbles. However, the role was played unwittingly, as the film uses archive footage of Winston in public to fit the part.

Goofs:

Continuity: There are three consecutive shots of the scene where the Fuehrer crashes a car into a building. The first and third shots appear to be from the same take. The second shot, however, has the following anomalies: Martin Bormann ("Hollywood" version) and Lord W'Ruff appear closer to the car and more to the (viewers') left of it; a luggage tag has moved; a white cuff can be seen from beneath Bormann's jacket sleeve; W'Ruff's scarf is draped differently.

Quotes:

Denzil Eisenhower: You cant be judge, jury, and executioner at the same time. It's just not the American way.
Winston Churchill: Hey, you'll never get to be President if you're runnin' that kinda policy.

Movie Connections:

References The Ladykillers (1955)

Soundtrack:

The Washing on the Siegfried Line

Who put blood or sweat into this thing?

One hint about "Churchill: The Hollywood Years": Ask around . . . no one's seen it. Cooler heads probably managed to mothball this seeming direct-to-airline release. (I sat through it having run out of other on-demand options during a very long flight from Asia to NYC.) The premise in an interesting one, not a good one; Hollywood producers have made a Winston Churchill bio-pic with a young American GI (Christian Slater) in the lead for the benefit of the American audience. It's hard to single out the writing, acting, or direction for criticism because the entire film seems to consist of (justified) outtakes from a movie that may have had some idea what it was doing in the comic space between "Airplane" and "The Player." The film that finally makes it on to the seatback in front of you is jaw droppingly ill-conceived.