Withnail and I (2nd Edition)

- Blurb -

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.