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

Color:

Color

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:

Craig Armstrong's music for the hanging/escape scene was widely popular in trailers in 1999/2000. It was heard in trailers for such films as Romeo Must Die, The Patriot, and Quills.

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:

References Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Soundtrack:

Hell

Pox-tastic review!

England in the 1700's, (1745 to be exact) was not a nice place. The rich were all made up to the eyeballs with ludicrous hair and cuffs you could hide a poodle in. They did, however smell a little better than the poor, who were lucky if they made it through the day without a vital appendage falling off in the street.

It is to this world that the audience watching Plunkett and Macleane are introduced. It's not pretty, but it's very believable and prepares you to accept the lengths to which people will go to clamber from the muck to a better life.

Thrown together through circumstance, Macleane, a semi-respectable gentleman who spends too much on women and gambling and Plunkett, a common criminal with more than a few tricks up his sleeve, find that they can rob together successfully as partners. So they do. A lot.

There's a lot of good ideas in the film, primarily the concept of turning the idea of 18th Century English nobility on its head and making it seem little more than an excuse to wear wigs and lipstick. A refreshing change in these days of Merchant Ivory productions and hey-nonny snooze.

Then there's the obligatory love interest, Lady Rebecca (Liv Tyler) and the vicious baddie, in the form of the Thief Taker General Chance, played with sadistic relish by Ken Stott. Both perform well, but it's up to the two leads, and the chemistry that worked well in Trainspotting to steal the show. Being Highwaymen, they steal it with ease, commanding each scene with humour and grit in equal proportions. Some moments of the film are laugh out loud funny, while others border on the disgusting. Always funny and compelling as an action movie, (the love story is left firmly in second place) Plunkett & Macleane is great fun. Though the efforts of the excellent cast and director Jake Scott, we have another British hit on our hands.

All in all, to blatantly rip off a line from the film:

"It was fantastic and I had a bloody good laugh!"