Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

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:

London Taxi | Nazi | Forced Marriage | Storm Trooper | Hitler

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:

On the DVD commentary during the scene where US Churchill and Denzil Eisenhower exit the British War Office: director, Peter Richardson, dubs, "This is very r... relevant to the Iraq War".

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene in the "Irish Cockney" pub, there is a quick cut away from Lillybet (without glasses), and back (without glasses). It is doubtful whether she could have put them on so quickly.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Baker: Shakespeare was American?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse (2005)

Soundtrack:

Happy Birthday

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.