Withnail and I sank almost without a trace when it was first released
in 1987. Financed by HandMade Films, the late George Harrison's
production company, and drawing heavily on first-time writer-director
Bruce Robinson's experiences, this virtually plot-free story follows two
out-of-work actors (Withnail, played by Richard E. Grant, and 'I',
played by Paul McGann), eking out a living in a run-down London of the
late 1960s, and embarking on a booze-fuelled weekend in the country
which takes various unexpected turns. Although it initially failed to
find an audience, it did not take long for the film to attract a
dedicated cult following which still persists today. Lines from the film
such as 'we've gone on holiday by mistake!' and 'Bring me the finest
wines known to humanity!' have become popular favourites and the subject
of countless internet memes.
Kevin Jackson's in-depth study gives a full account of the film's
origins and production history. But his main focus is the mood and magic
of the film, its aesthetics and sensibility, seeking to show, without
ever detracting from the film's comic brilliance, just how much more
there is to Withnail and I than drunkenness and swearing. 'It is an
outstandingly touching yet witheringly unsentimental drama of male
friendship, ' Jackson writes, 'a bleak up-ending of the English pastoral
dream, a piece of ferocious verbal inventiveness' - and, without
question, one of the greatest of all British films.
In his new foreword to this edition, writer Bharat Tandon pays tribute
to to both Withnail's peculiar genius and enduring appeal, and to his
close friend Kevin Jackson.
