Originally posted in August 2010, this is a re-posted version that runs 1m 52s shorter than the original, with clips to film clips and shore up the pacing, and is once again related to the remake of Death Wish. This episode is notable as being the final episode to be filmed in 4:3; my old miniDV could switch between widescreen and 4:3, and I'd occasionally use the later in the source was in that aspect ratio, as a concession to those that were still using such monitors. Obviously since those were becoming obsolete and I very rarely reviewed non-widescreen films, there was little point to continue doing so. Needless to say, this was made before Michael Winner's death, and this would remain his final film. Hope you enjoy!
Do you think there's a chance that the film could've worked? Maybe if the main character did doubt his actions or if some of his targets being relatively nice when he showed up to kill them years later and had actually regretted being mean to them. If it were something like Super, then I think it could've potentially worked. By the way, are you uploading your BMB on A Good Day To Die Hard in the near future? Because it would be great to see it on RU-vid. Plus, it is a Bruce Willis movie and Bruce Willis is in the new Death Wish so... maybe there's a chance.
I'm not sure, it's quite a sour little movie. I think if the movie wasn't so flippant or seemingly advocating his actions it would probably go a long way, but I think you'd need a very careful comic hand. As I recall, Bobcat Goldthwait's God Bless America is a similarly premised comedy. You may be right on what re-post may be next, Danny...
If it were more morally ambiguous and directed by somebody who was far better with comedy, like James Gunn, then yeah, I could see it being better. Also, I'm curious. What are your thoughts on Winner's work in general?
"It's cancer, Harry". Man, that is the most uncomfortable opening to ANY movie in history. I mean, just the way the doctor says it, it's so casual, it's like telling him his shoe is untied. But anyway, thanks for posting this, Film Brain. It's one of my favorite classic reviews.
the thing about being drowned by someone lightly pushing down on your head in a gigantic, spacious swimming pool is that it's quite impossible to survive; there's no known method of escape available. it's an old SAS method from the '40s known as "The Drowner-Maker."
In a weak grab at something, the announcer meant the actors are The Best Of British. She's not wrong, they just happened to be in a Michael Winner film.
Having never seen this film, I can see the problem, which the cop pretty much stated. The people are just assholes, not killers or rapists. I guess you can say Hoskin's character ruined some lives, maybe even caused a suicide or 2. It's one thing where the comedy is done fairly well, like in Heathers.
This is the same reason I don’t like Horrible Bosses. The entire movie’s premise is based on the idea of murdering people just because they make your life difficult. And by the end it’s shown most of the targets could have been dealt with without murder.
An interesting comparison piece to this film would be John Waters' Serial Mom (1994). That's a satire about a suburban mom who kills people who annoy her just a little bit, such as someone who borrows a videotape off her and returns it un-rewound! Which isn't that more ridiculous than Harry killing a chef for throwing him out of his restaurant. Crucially, Waters isn't advocating killing is a good thing, it's just a satire on reactions we have to people that annoy us. Parting Shots could have been a cheeky comedy giving into a momentary wish fulfillment a lot of us have, but what makes it chilly is the scenes where Felicity Kendal (of all people) and also the Police Officer (Gareth Hunt) talk in very serious tones about killing for justice. It's Winner's writing and direction of his actors that makes you feel he believes it.
A lot of major British actors were in this one, the final film directed by Michael Winner. And Chris Rea is a great rock musician/singer, but he really can't act. And the message of this thing was really off-putting, to say the least. My favorite print review of it said "It's Michael Winner, and you know, he doesn't have any sense of irony. He seems to be saying that it's perfectly OK to go out and kill people." Well, he DID direct movies about vigilantism, after all. Thanks so much for doing a BMB on this thing, FB!
This premise could have worked if it had a drastically different tone that didn't play it for comedy and didn't have them getting away with it in the end.
Sadly Michael Winner had a very consistent career in which he was able to convince companies to give him significant budgets, professional crews and often A Game actors. Neil Breen can only hope of achieving that.
So this is a British (and rather crap) version of Death Wish. Even the main character looks a bit like Charles Bronson. This is rather embarassing. How ITV had the balls to say it's the Best of British is beyond me.
I think it helped for ITV that I believe when I recorded this, they were showing some of Winner's films as a tie-in to the fact he had a restaurant criticism show on the channel. (This is the last time the film has appeared on UK TV, and has no local DVD release, but has been in a few places.)
@@gracekim25 They do say Featuring the Best Of British. Meaning the actors. It's the only good thing ITV could claw from this for the announcement. Also, Winner directed Death Wish and 2 of it's sequels.
Apologies for that. I obviously don't control YT's recommendations and presumably it is because of Rigg's presence, but definitely not the day to be watching this particular review.
@@FilmBrain I decided not to anyway. I will watch it eventually, I guess. I watched A Good Day to Die Hard instead and loved the review. Keep up the good work.
@@scottylewis8124 Unfortunately, yes. Along with many other big names in the industry (Chadwick Boseman, Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Olivia de Havilland, Kirk Douglas, Ian Holm, Terry Jones, and today David Prowse, to name just a few). 2020 is a really sad year on most fronts. :(
This kind of reminds me of a movie I saw once starring Burt Reynolds. Not the murdering part, but the "asking someone to kill him because he's already dying only for it to turn out he's not really dying" part. Can't for the life of me remember the name of the movie, just remember Sally Fields was in it playing his girlfriend. They have an argument because he feels she should at least lie to him and say she had an orgasm during sex since he's dying. He tries to kill himself and ends up in a mental institution and he asks one of the fellow inmates to kill him. Rest of the movie involves said inmate trying to kill him. Finding out he's not really dying. Some love interest that I can't remember who was played by. Ends with the other inmate (who actually is mentally ill - cause mental illness is always funny) chasing him down the beach to try and kill him again because he hadn't heard that Burt's character isn't actually sick. Sorry to go off topic like that. It's just your review caused me to flash back to that movie and how even as a little kid who'd laugh at almost anything I didn't think it the least bit funny despite the comical music and Three Stooges-like antics.
Film Brain YES! Thank you! I'm terrible with Google. And there's so many movies that I can remember seeing but I can't remember the titles of. This was a terrible, TERRIBLE movie! I remember watching it on network tv in the wee small hours of the morning in the 1980s a couple of hours before my Saturday morning cartoon were on and everyone else was still asleep.
Actually, from what I remember of the film (saw it when it first came on cable), he never finds out he's NOT dying. He just decides he wants to live while trying to drown himself. He then swims to shore, only for DeLuise's character to start chasing him with a knife and that's how it ends.
You're probably right, Carl. I was young when I saw this. (I saw a lot of movies on network tv in the early to mid 80s they'd probably never show now.) So some details are fuzzy. I just mainly remember how BAD this movie was. If I could afford the extra money to pay Film Brain to review it, in fact, I probably would just so he could beat down a bad movie I've actually seen and remember hating.
The funny thing is he, Chris Rea, is a very respected musician and singer. Just for one example, his 1989 album "The Road To Hell" got a 6x platinum certification in the UK charts. It's one of my favourites. I don't know why he decided to be in this film though.
I think if the cast were given better material (and they cast a more charismatic lead than Chris Rea) This could've been made to be an awesomely deranged dark comedy. Some parts of this like the goofy comedy music over the murders could've been made to work if the scenes were better shot and paced.
I bet Chris Rea was only supposed to be a composer for the movie, and Winner wanted to cast such great actors as either Anthony Hopkins or late Alan Rickman (both Rickman and Rea battled pancreatic cancer, Rea survived, somehow, and Rickman died) as the lead. Tony Hopkins has already worked with Michael Winner on a Chorus of Disapproval (another stinker, where he plays a loudmouth Welsh amateur stage director). Greetings from Russia! Rea is a legend here. He should stick to singing and playing guitar.
The review is misleading and its tone suggests watching the movie. I did - and enjoyed it! In a sense, it is quintessentially British. Everyone (?) living in Britain accummulates this list of people he/she would like to shoot (understanding, of course, that many of them are not worth the bullet).
Wait, THAT's why this guy is so familiar! Chris Rea??? Well... he is no actor, for sure. He should have stuck to singing about the naked truth and the light.
@@FilmBrain Wow! It is still quite astounding. Considering some of the names, who can't be short for work, or money I'm amazed they didn't find excuses for why they couldn't do it. Maybe it was like with Movie 43, with Winner pestering them continuously to do their brief bit, and basing his shoot around them? Maybe he threw amazing dinner parties and they wanted an invite to his next? I think even if they really liked the guy, they'd still think I can't be in this. Or perhaps it was just plain ignorance: friend asks them to shoot something quickly for them, and actor doesn't bother reading the script before saying yes, or anything beyond their part.
@@davidjames579 Winner was a bit of a 'raconteur' and didn't seem short of celebrity friends despite nearly always coming across as rather odious. I wouldn't be surprised if most never even watched it [John Cleese especially]. The exception was Peter Davison who only did it due to lack of other options and hated every second of it [as detailed in his autobiography]. He also says Winner's friends didn't seem to be enjoying it either.
It's a movie... about glorifying vigilante gun violence. "This [movie] has been bought to you by _The NRA,_ Because *Fuck You."* - Tony 'Some Jerk With a Camera' Goldmark, 2014
I first watched Parting Shots in 2001. It's a good movie. But it isn't a great one. I've met one of the actors from the movie Peter Davison. Chris Rea's acting is okay. The supporting cast all gave good performances to their standards. Good soundtrack. "Before I Go" by Chris Rea was a beautiful melancholic song. The movie has it's moments. You root for and feel really sorry for Harry Sterndale and it's understandable why he wants to kill Diana Rigg, Bob Hoskins and John Cleese's characters because they made his life so miserable. Diana Rigg's character Lisa is a terrible person. Lisa saying to Harry "People get cancer because they deserve to die" was a nasty thing to say. If Ben Kingsley's character wasn't so rude to Harry and Jill, Harry wouldn't had shot him. The movie had a good twist. I really thought the movie was going to have a sad ending and that it ended with Harry succumbing to cancer. I am glad the movie ended on a more upbeat note. Parting Shots is not a movie for everyone. If you like vigilante and revenge flicks or spoofs of vigilante and revenge flicks, I recommend you give Parting Shots a go. Watch it and decide for yourself if it's good and bad.
@@FilmBrain It's a very weird film. It follows the book quite closely [Winner wrote the script!] but completely takes the story out of it's noir american setting [setting it in contemporary Britain to save money] which just doesn't work. At least it got me into Raymond Chandler because I discovered him via the film [which was free in a newspaper] so that's something.
Note for film brain guns aren't illegal in the uk, its illegal to own one without a fire arms license fuck im 18 and ive known this since i was 5. look it before you say im wrong
Not to mention that Britain can also be shit when it comes to making a TV show based on a foreign show, like with their remake of That 70s Show (which was called Days Like These).
i watched it yesterday. It's a masterpiece. well, it isn't it's just as bad as this chap says it is. i just would nt have bothered to make a vt about it.
Great movie. Hard to find today. The haters evidentially don't get it. Great stars having a ball in a dark comedy. Who is this jerk talking about it? So annoying.
