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Withnail and I: The Screenplay
Bruce Robinson, nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay of The Killing Fields, is one of the most original and exciting film-makers in British cinema. He is perhaps best known for writing and directing Withnail and I - now a cult classic about to celebrate its tenth anniversary. To coincide with this anniversary Bruce Robinson has written a typically witty and sharp introduction to accompany the screenplay. This book is destined to become a collectors' item and a must have for all devotees of the film.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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378 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Robinson
60 books88 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Bruce Robinson is an English director, screenwriter, novelist and actor. He is arguably most famous for writing and directing the cult classic Withnail and I (1986), a film with comic and tragic elements set in London in the 1960s, which drew on his experiences as 'a chronic alcoholic and resting actor, living in squalor' in Camden Town. He is married to Sophie Windham, children's author and illustrator, and has contributed to some of her books. A book of interviews with Robinson, edited by Alistair Owen, is published as Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson is an English director, screenwriter, novelist and actor. He is arguably most famous for writing and directing the cult classic Withnail and I (1986), a film with comic and tragic elements set in London in the 1960s, which drew on his experiences as 'a chronic alcoholic and resting actor, living in squalor' in Camden Town. He is married to Sophie Windham, children's author and illustrator, and has contributed to some of her books. A book of interviews with Robinson, edited by Alistair Owen, is published as Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
September 15, 2020
" Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, and for once I'm inclined to believe Withnail is right. We are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell."
One of the darkest and most humorous comedies out there. I've read this screenplay often over the years, and have lost count of the number of times I've seen the film. One of a handful where I can quote chunks of dialogue verbatim.
Camden Town. A murky dank apartment. Filthy dishes spill over the kitchen sink. The flat has the damp atmosphere of squalor. Two out of work actors wander around in a drunken, doped out stupor.
MARWOOD sits and begins sipping coffee from the edge of his bowl.
WITHNAIL: "Why didn't I get any soup?"
MARWOOD: "Coffee."
WITHNAIL: "Well, why don't you use a cup like any other human being?"
MARWOOD: "Why don't you wash up occasionally like any other human being?"
WITHNAIL: "How dare you? How dare you? How dare you call me inhumane?"
Withnail and Marwood (the "I" of the title) are flatmates, both struggling thespians, feeling the effects of the end of the best decade ever - the 1960s - crashing to a spectacular end.
How best to cure their various ailments but to head out to the countryside. Lucky that Uncle Monty has just the place, and so happens a weekend you won't forget.
Danny the drug dealer, Jake the poacher, the genteel ladies of the tearooms, and an over amorous Uncle Monty who was under the misapprehension of the payment terms for the loan of his cottage….what could possibly go wrong?
Utterly brilliant. This one stands the test of time, plus some. Loved. Read it. Watch the film. Be impressed with witty dialogue, and comedy so bleak and dark, you'll remember it for a long time. Especially the closing scene. Poignant, bittersweet and aching.
Melancholic nostalgia at its best.
May 31, 2018
Withnail & I is one of my favourite films. It's a film unlike any other, & this screenplay is equally unique. In the opening few pages Bruce Robinson describes two rooms & their contents in beautiful, almost poetic, prose. Wonderful.
What follows (in my third or fourth reading of this screenplay) is the most amazingly quotable dialogue. Robinson's characters of Withnail, Marwood, Monty & Danny leap off the page & by the end you feel you know them as well as any real people.
There's a lot of humour & a little sadnesss, which all add up to a work of genius.
(For added effect I listened to the film soundtrack while reading!)
What follows (in my third or fourth reading of this screenplay) is the most amazingly quotable dialogue. Robinson's characters of Withnail, Marwood, Monty & Danny leap off the page & by the end you feel you know them as well as any real people.
There's a lot of humour & a little sadnesss, which all add up to a work of genius.
(For added effect I listened to the film soundtrack while reading!)
December 8, 2011
I will never play the Dane.
September 18, 2018
brilliant, beyond brilliant and ever so darkly funny
December 22, 2012
Only the second time I've bought and read a screenplay; the other was
Double Indemnity: The Complete Screenplay
.
Double Indemnity was simply so good a film, with dialogue so quickly fired, that I was desperate to see the words again on the page. This one I got because of a new crush on the author*; obviously it goes without saying that Withnail is an excellent film too, but then I couldn't have a crush on someone who wrote less than very well indeed.
You've probably seen Withnail & I more than once, and know perfectly well that it's very funny, but there's more here than just the words from the film itself. A few scenes which didn't make it into the movie. Wonderful descriptions of the characters and their actions, and settings so well realised that the words are almost sensual despite being used of a squalid place; these are especially good in the first half.
And an introduction which is one of the best pieces I've read about having difficulty writing the item itself properly and on time. In part because of the opening tone of malaise and angry desperation very funny but deeply, not flippantly felt, and over a few pages it moves through reminiscences and old diary entries about the original Withnail (his former flatmate Vivian MacKerrell), via stream of consciousness to the ache of missing a deceased friend, just as mood does change when you begin to read about then write about a thing which has great meaning to you. But also its structure isn't fully tightened, unlike 90% of such I-can't-write-this-column columns which always rather diminishes the meta-effect.
My only qualm about Withnail & I is fuelled by the minority-awareness - or as some might say political correctness - which is the legacy of work in the public and voluntary sectors for nearly a decade and then reading a bunch of feminist websites. It's not a question I feel qualified to answer myself, but because it's partly about fear of one particular predatory homosexual, do some people feel there's anything generally homophobic about the film? Having read how Uncle Monty was partly inspired by Robinson's memories of being sexually harrassed by Franco Zeffirelli on the set of Romeo & Juliet, it's also a great example of a traumatic experience sublimated to create some legendary comedy.
* Which wouldn't have started if Alex hadn't posted about A Fantastic Fear of Everything (thank you!) which I watched and thought was fantastic, if someone else hadn't told me the film was based on Robinson's story Paranoia In The Launderette and if my Netflix free trial hadn't recommended Still Crazy in which Robinson's character would have utterly melted me anyway, but he was gorgeous too. I'd really needed something like this as rebound.
Double Indemnity was simply so good a film, with dialogue so quickly fired, that I was desperate to see the words again on the page. This one I got because of a new crush on the author*; obviously it goes without saying that Withnail is an excellent film too, but then I couldn't have a crush on someone who wrote less than very well indeed.
You've probably seen Withnail & I more than once, and know perfectly well that it's very funny, but there's more here than just the words from the film itself. A few scenes which didn't make it into the movie. Wonderful descriptions of the characters and their actions, and settings so well realised that the words are almost sensual despite being used of a squalid place; these are especially good in the first half.
And an introduction which is one of the best pieces I've read about having difficulty writing the item itself properly and on time. In part because of the opening tone of malaise and angry desperation very funny but deeply, not flippantly felt, and over a few pages it moves through reminiscences and old diary entries about the original Withnail (his former flatmate Vivian MacKerrell), via stream of consciousness to the ache of missing a deceased friend, just as mood does change when you begin to read about then write about a thing which has great meaning to you. But also its structure isn't fully tightened, unlike 90% of such I-can't-write-this-column columns which always rather diminishes the meta-effect.
My only qualm about Withnail & I is fuelled by the minority-awareness - or as some might say political correctness - which is the legacy of work in the public and voluntary sectors for nearly a decade and then reading a bunch of feminist websites. It's not a question I feel qualified to answer myself, but because it's partly about fear of one particular predatory homosexual, do some people feel there's anything generally homophobic about the film? Having read how Uncle Monty was partly inspired by Robinson's memories of being sexually harrassed by Franco Zeffirelli on the set of Romeo & Juliet, it's also a great example of a traumatic experience sublimated to create some legendary comedy.
* Which wouldn't have started if Alex hadn't posted about A Fantastic Fear of Everything (thank you!) which I watched and thought was fantastic, if someone else hadn't told me the film was based on Robinson's story Paranoia In The Launderette and if my Netflix free trial hadn't recommended Still Crazy in which Robinson's character would have utterly melted me anyway, but he was gorgeous too. I'd really needed something like this as rebound.
May 2, 2016
Thanks to Anthony Bourdain, who was a guest on Turner Classic Movies, and Robert Osborne, who hosts the channel, I discovered the marvel that is "Withnail & I". Anthony Bourdain touted Withnail as his "favorite movie of all time", and so I decided to watch it. This was back in 2012. Since then, I have watched the movie over 200 times. Yes, seriously. I also carry this excellent screenplay in my bag, everywhere I go. I must have read it at least 25 times, and counting.
Bruce Robinson is wonderful. This movie/screenplay is brilliant. My favorite thing EVER. So much so that I decided to start a collection of vintage items seen in the film. It went from a small collection to a rather large one (and still growing). If you're interested, you can Google "Wall-O-Withnail" and you'll find it.
Best thing about this screenplay is that it reads wonderfully as a book. The scene notes, by themselves, are worth the cost of the book. Just simply great stuff. It helps if you have a dry, British sense of humoUr, and watch a lot of BBC, because this is chock-full of phrases and references most Americans just wouldn't get. For example, "going for a slash" might sound like the intentions of a murderer in America, but in the UK it means someone's bladder is uncomfortably full.
Whatever you do - WATCH THE MOVIE! It just might change your life.
Bruce Robinson is wonderful. This movie/screenplay is brilliant. My favorite thing EVER. So much so that I decided to start a collection of vintage items seen in the film. It went from a small collection to a rather large one (and still growing). If you're interested, you can Google "Wall-O-Withnail" and you'll find it.
Best thing about this screenplay is that it reads wonderfully as a book. The scene notes, by themselves, are worth the cost of the book. Just simply great stuff. It helps if you have a dry, British sense of humoUr, and watch a lot of BBC, because this is chock-full of phrases and references most Americans just wouldn't get. For example, "going for a slash" might sound like the intentions of a murderer in America, but in the UK it means someone's bladder is uncomfortably full.
Whatever you do - WATCH THE MOVIE! It just might change your life.
July 30, 2013
Forever one of my favourite films. An absolute pleasure to read Robinson's honest and somehow familiar language - the amusing and honest stage directions add so much more to each scene than what is conveyed in the already clever dialogue alone. In particular with the final scene - Withnail's rendition of Hamlet's 'i have of late...' - is enriched with a heavy, dark humour that is not present even in Richard E. Grant's sublime performance. Robinson's introduction with its dedication to his friend and inspiration for Withnail is moving and puts the whole thing into a melancholic perspective. Beautiful film & screenplay.
January 24, 2016
I initially gave this four stars, and I think this is the only time I've gone back and changed the rating to a higher one. This screenplay is simply fantastic.
It adds so much to the story, and watching the film again after reading it is a completely other and better experience.
The stage directions are nothing other than beautiful and read like prose in places.
Loved it, loved it so much.
It adds so much to the story, and watching the film again after reading it is a completely other and better experience.
The stage directions are nothing other than beautiful and read like prose in places.
Loved it, loved it so much.
October 29, 2013
One of my favourite films, ever. It's possible to quote endlessly from this book, but what this screenplay does add beyond the film, are the explanations on the characters' intents, notably during the final scene. Also, Robinson's explanations of the scenes are wonderfully humorous (and tragic, put it that way). Very well worth the cash.
June 7, 2015
Withnail and I is my favorite movie - I have watched it more than any other. The screenplay is absolutely hilarious. I love to read screenplays where the writer includes extra info that help the director and actors gain a deeper understanding of motive. Bruce Robinson has written a perfect screenplay and it adds a lot of insight into the characters - who I love dearly.
March 1, 2017
Brilliant screenplay. Bruce Robinson is so hilarious. Even the introduction had me in stitches.
August 2, 2014
This is one of my all time favourite films and I saw that there was this screenplay with Paul McGann on the cover so it was instantly bought. Without opening the cover I thought how could this be better or different to the film? After reading; it is!
The notes explaining the scenes not only create the scene in your mind but they focus on the points of the room or of an appearance of a character that you may have overlooked in the film. This really adds to the entire story. Not only that but they are also hilarious.
This is a great addition to your understanding of the film and it just solidified the love I have for this story.
The notes explaining the scenes not only create the scene in your mind but they focus on the points of the room or of an appearance of a character that you may have overlooked in the film. This really adds to the entire story. Not only that but they are also hilarious.
This is a great addition to your understanding of the film and it just solidified the love I have for this story.
Read
June 22, 2009Read the STOP SMILING interview excerpt with author Bruce Robinson
Against the Grain: Bruce Robinson
By JC Gabel
(This interview originally appeared in STOP SMILING The U.K. Issue)
Stop Smiling: Do you think there was ever a time when movie studios welcomed the creativity and passion of writers and took their ideas more seriously?
Bruce Robinson: You could answer that question with a yes and also a no and be just as accurate with either. Writers came late into the film industry as a kind of technological accident. When movies started, sound hadn’t been invented, so they didn’t need writers. They just needed producers, directors, cameramen and actors. So the industry was very well established by the time the technology evolved to add some words. Writers started coming in about 30 years later and were always the unwanted guests at the wedding. We were put up with. A writer does his job and delivers it. At least a year is going to go by and by then they’ve forgotten who the writer is and anyway by now he’s probably writing something else. So writers aren’t part of the filmmaking process. It’s hard to get used to, but if you want to be a screenwriter, you have to.
SS: Do you or your family ever go to see films in the theater?
BR: We live in a remote part of England and rarely go to the movies. The last picture I went to see was a memorable walkout — what was that film — about Martians destroying the world? There were spaceships hanging over Washington, over the entire world?
SS: Independence Day.
BR: Independence Day. There was this huge thing, a mile up, hanging over Washington. And the line was, “There’s going to be some very frightened people out there, Mr. President.” Fucking A there will be. Can you imagine a thing the size of Catalina Island hanging over the city and the only line they can come up with is, “There’ll be some very frightened people out there”? Who wrote that shit? No screenwriter on earth could write a line like that.
SS: In a way though, don’t you think that Independence Day, fluffy as it was, epitomized the pre-9/11 paranoia?
BR: The great abiding tradition in American entertainment is enemies. They gotta have them. They gotta have the fear. It’s a seamless slip from Commies to Arabs — hardly anybody noticed it happen. When you look through the binoculars of American entertainment, it’s stuffed with fear. Hollywood is basically about Yanks running away from special effects. From the infantile end of Scooby Doo, right up to the mainstream, it’s the same ethic of fear. There are monsters and madmen and Arabs out to get you and like I say, the only place with no fear are the ads. It’s a phenomena of America — unfortunately taking root here. Michael Moore made the point in his film. Cut to the weatherman who says, “The Midwest is cool and in Los Angeles it’s 68 degrees. It’s snowing in Vermont and today a lady in Tennessee was bitten by a rare and dangerous snake — so look out for those snakes, folks.” Fear, fear and you’re watching the fucking weather forecast. Oil that gun, there’s snakes out there and it’s 65 in Dallas. The real fear I have is that our whole political system is evolving into an optical illusion whose currency is fear. It’s a cliché, but it truly is becoming Orwellian. In my view Mr. Bush has nothing to sell anybody but fear. If kids are afraid they run to their parents. If people are afraid they run to the authorities, empowering them, who then sell them more fear. September 11 and the events around it were a true catastrophe, but unlike Independence Day, that terrible attack didn’t come out of the blue. As a matter of fact it came out of Saudi Arabia, it came out of sanctions that killed half a million Arab kids in Iraq, and it came out of a dozen years of bombing the south of that same country. But that isn’t like anyone wants to hear it. Better to keep it like Independence Day and sell them the fear. And the more fear you can inculcate, the more control you’ve got. McCarthy understood that and I can’t believe we’re falling for it again. This is the New McCarthyism. I went into East Berlin in the ’70s, Checkpoint Charlie, and there were all these stern-looking idiots with mirrors on poles under the car. Thirty odd years later I went into Paramount Studios on Melrose Avenue and got the same thing. Is that how we want to live? It’s a pantomime the whole of America is being sucked into, a show in one act called Homeland Security. And it will never have an end. The only real security anyone can ever have is being told the absolute truth.
Read the rest of the interview excerpt...
Against the Grain: Bruce Robinson
By JC Gabel
(This interview originally appeared in STOP SMILING The U.K. Issue)
Stop Smiling: Do you think there was ever a time when movie studios welcomed the creativity and passion of writers and took their ideas more seriously?
Bruce Robinson: You could answer that question with a yes and also a no and be just as accurate with either. Writers came late into the film industry as a kind of technological accident. When movies started, sound hadn’t been invented, so they didn’t need writers. They just needed producers, directors, cameramen and actors. So the industry was very well established by the time the technology evolved to add some words. Writers started coming in about 30 years later and were always the unwanted guests at the wedding. We were put up with. A writer does his job and delivers it. At least a year is going to go by and by then they’ve forgotten who the writer is and anyway by now he’s probably writing something else. So writers aren’t part of the filmmaking process. It’s hard to get used to, but if you want to be a screenwriter, you have to.
SS: Do you or your family ever go to see films in the theater?
BR: We live in a remote part of England and rarely go to the movies. The last picture I went to see was a memorable walkout — what was that film — about Martians destroying the world? There were spaceships hanging over Washington, over the entire world?
SS: Independence Day.
BR: Independence Day. There was this huge thing, a mile up, hanging over Washington. And the line was, “There’s going to be some very frightened people out there, Mr. President.” Fucking A there will be. Can you imagine a thing the size of Catalina Island hanging over the city and the only line they can come up with is, “There’ll be some very frightened people out there”? Who wrote that shit? No screenwriter on earth could write a line like that.
SS: In a way though, don’t you think that Independence Day, fluffy as it was, epitomized the pre-9/11 paranoia?
BR: The great abiding tradition in American entertainment is enemies. They gotta have them. They gotta have the fear. It’s a seamless slip from Commies to Arabs — hardly anybody noticed it happen. When you look through the binoculars of American entertainment, it’s stuffed with fear. Hollywood is basically about Yanks running away from special effects. From the infantile end of Scooby Doo, right up to the mainstream, it’s the same ethic of fear. There are monsters and madmen and Arabs out to get you and like I say, the only place with no fear are the ads. It’s a phenomena of America — unfortunately taking root here. Michael Moore made the point in his film. Cut to the weatherman who says, “The Midwest is cool and in Los Angeles it’s 68 degrees. It’s snowing in Vermont and today a lady in Tennessee was bitten by a rare and dangerous snake — so look out for those snakes, folks.” Fear, fear and you’re watching the fucking weather forecast. Oil that gun, there’s snakes out there and it’s 65 in Dallas. The real fear I have is that our whole political system is evolving into an optical illusion whose currency is fear. It’s a cliché, but it truly is becoming Orwellian. In my view Mr. Bush has nothing to sell anybody but fear. If kids are afraid they run to their parents. If people are afraid they run to the authorities, empowering them, who then sell them more fear. September 11 and the events around it were a true catastrophe, but unlike Independence Day, that terrible attack didn’t come out of the blue. As a matter of fact it came out of Saudi Arabia, it came out of sanctions that killed half a million Arab kids in Iraq, and it came out of a dozen years of bombing the south of that same country. But that isn’t like anyone wants to hear it. Better to keep it like Independence Day and sell them the fear. And the more fear you can inculcate, the more control you’ve got. McCarthy understood that and I can’t believe we’re falling for it again. This is the New McCarthyism. I went into East Berlin in the ’70s, Checkpoint Charlie, and there were all these stern-looking idiots with mirrors on poles under the car. Thirty odd years later I went into Paramount Studios on Melrose Avenue and got the same thing. Is that how we want to live? It’s a pantomime the whole of America is being sucked into, a show in one act called Homeland Security. And it will never have an end. The only real security anyone can ever have is being told the absolute truth.
Read the rest of the interview excerpt...
November 30, 2016
Withnail and I is one of my favourite films. (Indeed I once snapped that it was my favourite to an obnoxious man in a job interview, after he'd patronisingly said my favourite must be a costume drama because I am a lady or something? I didn't get the job, which was definitely for the best.) This is the script, pure and simple. Reading it in a freezing cold living room at four in the afternoon, whilst wrapped in a sleeping bag and wearing gloves made from old socks, made me happy. It really is a masterpiece of cinema, just as easily enjoyed in paper form.
March 31, 2020
I LOVE THIS BOOK this book was recommended to me by a best friend of mine a decade ago. we immediately started using lines from it as our inside jokes. oh it feels so sentimental and nostalgic to read it! it's a drunken hilarious witty sad account of two friends. no wonder we loved it :) pro tip: get your friends to write inscriptions to you in sentimental books like this <3
oh yeah, movie was equally awesome! i demand wine and cakes!
oh yeah, movie was equally awesome! i demand wine and cakes!
February 2, 2024
Withnail and I possibly has the greatest film script of all time. I am so glad I have a copy of it so that I can double check whether my incessant quotes are correct word by word. It was also really interesting to see all of the direction notes, because it shows how the actors knew to perform it in the way they did.
September 14, 2007
[approaching the pub]
Withnail: Right, here's the plan. First, we go in there and get wrecked, then we eat a pork pie, then we drop some Surmontil-50's each. That way we'll miss out on Monday and come up smiling Tuesday morning.
Withnail: Right, here's the plan. First, we go in there and get wrecked, then we eat a pork pie, then we drop some Surmontil-50's each. That way we'll miss out on Monday and come up smiling Tuesday morning.
December 1, 2019
Just finished reading the screenplay of Withnail & I, my second favourite film of all time. (LOTR before you ask). Obviously fairly pointless to read a script of something I know off by heart, but bloody enjoyable nonetheless. This was always going to get 5 stars.
October 12, 2024
A firm young carrot
Anyway, I loathe those Russian plays. Always full of women staring out of windows, whining about ducks going to Moscow. /
Anyway, I loathe those Russian plays. Always full of women staring out of windows, whining about ducks going to Moscow. /
March 19, 2022
“To a delightful weekend in the country…”
Clinking of glasses
“Another sherry?”
A sherry is poured; your glass is continually filled under protest.
Monty follows with yet another anecdote about his sensitive crimes in a punt with a chap called Norman who had red hair and a book of poetry stained with the butter drips from crumpets…
“Surrounded by trees and nature, one feels a glorious stirring of the senses. A rejection of poisonous inhibition, and a fecund motion of the soul…”
An uneasy silence ensues behind a wide-eyed and effortful smile…
“Are you a sponge or a stone?
Do you like to experience all facets of life, or do you shut yourself off from new experience?”
No response… the affixed smile fighting not to become a grimace…
“I’ve been watching you all evening. You’ve been avoiding my eyes, haven’t you?
You mustn’t blame yourself. I know how you feel, and how difficult it is… it’s like a tide.
Give in to it boy. Go with it! It’s society’s crime not ours…
You’re simply blackmailing your emotions to avoid the realities of your relationship with him!
And it isn’t his fault he cannot love you anymore than it’s mine that I-I-I-I ADOOOORRRREEE YOU!!!”
You’ve heard enough; you make a desperate attempt to flee and bolt for the bedroom door that was hitherto ajar - but is now deftly barricaded by a quick-footed amorous beast in a paisley nightgown with modestly applied makeup.
After narrowly avoiding a buggering, you berate your perfidious housemate for having beguiled you into Uncle Monty’s ensnarement. The recriminations simmer into a sherry-filled haze, as the evening hastens towards repose.
In the morning, you find a note:
“Perhaps it is appropriate justice for the eavesdropper that he should leave as his trade determines, in secrecy and in the dead of night.
I am, yours ever faithfully.
Montague H. Withnail.”
Clinking of glasses
“Another sherry?”
A sherry is poured; your glass is continually filled under protest.
Monty follows with yet another anecdote about his sensitive crimes in a punt with a chap called Norman who had red hair and a book of poetry stained with the butter drips from crumpets…
“Surrounded by trees and nature, one feels a glorious stirring of the senses. A rejection of poisonous inhibition, and a fecund motion of the soul…”
An uneasy silence ensues behind a wide-eyed and effortful smile…
“Are you a sponge or a stone?
Do you like to experience all facets of life, or do you shut yourself off from new experience?”
No response… the affixed smile fighting not to become a grimace…
“I’ve been watching you all evening. You’ve been avoiding my eyes, haven’t you?
You mustn’t blame yourself. I know how you feel, and how difficult it is… it’s like a tide.
Give in to it boy. Go with it! It’s society’s crime not ours…
You’re simply blackmailing your emotions to avoid the realities of your relationship with him!
And it isn’t his fault he cannot love you anymore than it’s mine that I-I-I-I ADOOOORRRREEE YOU!!!”
You’ve heard enough; you make a desperate attempt to flee and bolt for the bedroom door that was hitherto ajar - but is now deftly barricaded by a quick-footed amorous beast in a paisley nightgown with modestly applied makeup.
After narrowly avoiding a buggering, you berate your perfidious housemate for having beguiled you into Uncle Monty’s ensnarement. The recriminations simmer into a sherry-filled haze, as the evening hastens towards repose.
In the morning, you find a note:
“Perhaps it is appropriate justice for the eavesdropper that he should leave as his trade determines, in secrecy and in the dead of night.
I am, yours ever faithfully.
Montague H. Withnail.”
December 10, 2024
If you couldn’t tell by my Profile Picture I’m a big admirer of this film, so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed the screenplay, it has a few more scenes and is much more descriptive, you can tell it began as a novel and goddamn do I wish I could read that, as Withnail and I is one of those stories that I think could work as well as Prose as in picture, you can imagine the grime and grayness portrayed in the film with Robinson’s words and the mindsets of the characters are ones I can relate too, it is a peculiar feeling the arena of the unwell, it is one that is both something to be pitied yet at the same time enjoyed, like the last hoorah of an era, that is what Withnail and I is about and this script shows it perfectly.
“Dostoyevsky described hell as perhaps nothing more than a room with a chair in it. This room has several chairs.”
Is a brilliant line, Robinson is one of my favorite writers ever even with his limited output
“Dostoyevsky described hell as perhaps nothing more than a room with a chair in it. This room has several chairs.”
Is a brilliant line, Robinson is one of my favorite writers ever even with his limited output
October 1, 2020
Whilst I've had to put this in my "read" section, this a book which is constantly to hand in our house!
Believe it or not, before I met my husband, I had never seen Withnail & I!!!!!!!!! How the bloody hell?!!! After showing me the Withnail light (!!!), it has become an obsession for me as much as it has always been for my hubby! We have cravings to watch the film that have to be met at least every two months or so!
Needless to say the screenplay is always to hand so we can quote lines at one another!!!!
"You've got soup, why haven't I got any soup?"
"The sky is bruised"
"Flowers are just prostitutes for the bees"!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh how I love Uncle Monty!
So this book is our holy book, the source of mirth and meaning, and long may it reign!!
Believe it or not, before I met my husband, I had never seen Withnail & I!!!!!!!!! How the bloody hell?!!! After showing me the Withnail light (!!!), it has become an obsession for me as much as it has always been for my hubby! We have cravings to watch the film that have to be met at least every two months or so!
Needless to say the screenplay is always to hand so we can quote lines at one another!!!!
"You've got soup, why haven't I got any soup?"
"The sky is bruised"
"Flowers are just prostitutes for the bees"!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh how I love Uncle Monty!
So this book is our holy book, the source of mirth and meaning, and long may it reign!!
June 2, 2021
I’ll set this here black pod on you. After watching the film numerous times I was pleasantly surprised to read a few odd bits that weren’t in the film. Funny little story at the start too about the writers old mate who he based withnail on. The ending always brings a tear to my eye. Five star book highly recommended!
January 4, 2022
Surprised to read that the original line for the teabag growing in the sink scene was…
That shit’ll bore through the glaze. We’ll never be able to use the dinner service again!
One word really can make a huge difference. It was changed to..
The poop will bore through the glaze. We’ll never be able to use the dinner service again!
That shit’ll bore through the glaze. We’ll never be able to use the dinner service again!
One word really can make a huge difference. It was changed to..
The poop will bore through the glaze. We’ll never be able to use the dinner service again!
October 6, 2025
So, as a palette-cleanser, the three genres: comedy, tragedy, and history. Even with an indifferent audience the Bard's shadow weighs a ton. Can't give it five perfect stars because of what it's had to follow; sorry, Bruce, but if it's any consolation HM sets an astronomically high bar. Will have to play the drinking game when you go, although it nearly killed me the first time. Salut
March 6, 2022
If this is genuinely the screenplay, I can't believe the film was made. But now the film is made, it is a cult work, a work of genius. I loved it at the time, although the portrayal of Uncle Monty now sticks in the sensibilities. I suspect the lesson us: I should read books and watch films
December 27, 2017
Just perfect.
January 31, 2018
Poetry in action.
October 30, 2018
Excellent. It helps to picture Richard E Grant as Withnail, but that aside, it works just as well as a filmscript as it does a film.
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