Whisky Galore!
December. 25,1949Based on a true story. The name of the real ship, that sunk Feb 5 1941 - during WWII - was S/S Politician. Having left Liverpool two days earlier, heading for Jamaica, it sank outside Eriskay, The Outer Hebrides, Scotland, in bad weather, containing 250,000 bottles of whisky. The locals gathered as many bottles as they could, before the proper authorities arrived, and even today, bottles are found in the sand or in the sea every other year.
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Reviews
Good start, but then it gets ruined
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
WHISKY GALORE! is one of the films that helped to cement Ealing Studios's reputation as a fine leading purveyor of British comedies. It's a memorable production that was of course based on the true story of a cargo ship becoming wrecked off the coast of Scotland and shedding its cargo of whisky bottles to the delight of the local populace.What plays out is straightforward stuff indeed; there's not a great deal of narrative structure or plot here as this is for the most part a character piece. The viewer sits back and watches how each of the characters reacts to the unusual situation as the officials try to retrieve the stolen whisky while the locals try to hide their ill-gotten games. It's the sort of film that can write itself, if I'm honest, but the cast make it work.Basil Radford (without his comic partner Naunton Wayne for a change) is fine as the stressed-out captain tasked with retrieving the cargo. A youthful Gordon Jackson is all smiles and James Robertson Justice typically larger than life as the doctor. Joan Greenwood in particular makes an impact as the wife of one of the islanders. WHISKY GALORE! is a farce that works thanks to a fast pace and plenty of little twists in the narrative to keep you watching, and crucially it's also funny in the dated, genteel English way.
A good whisky needs time to fully express itself; drinking it without its having reached its maturity just won't do. Well, like a great whisky, this film has developed itself over time. Already 65 years old, and that is certainly a long period of ageing, "Whisky Galore" is still crisp, certain, subtle and appealing, what you would expect both a great spirit and a great film to be. Like the perfect sip, it gets ahold of you from the very beginning, captivating the drinker (or the viewer) with calculated pace and timing, keeping your interest from start to finish. The movie deals easily with complex issues, such as the relation between parents and offspring, military and civilian, State and folk, always leaning towards the weaker. Ever gentle, it will make you smile and leave you with a nice reminiscence lingering for a long time: once again, just as a glass of the best scotch would do. Cheers!
I had heard that this movie was a classic, and I was anxious to see it. After all, I've seen others Ealing comedies such as "Kind Hearts And Coronets" and "The Man In The White Suit", and those were good. But this movie was an unfunny dud.Perhaps it was funnier to Britons, but my mother and I hardly laughed. The whole concept could have been good, but the humor was dry as the proverbial funeral drum, and the concept of the officer trying to retrieve the whiskey and suffering for doing his duty, well, the idea is more cruel than amusing. Avoid this one and stick to the much better, later ones which are genuinely funny.
When I saw this film was made by Ealing Studios, I jumped at the chance to see it. That's because following WWII, this small studio made a long string of cute little gems--all with exquisite writing, acting and direction--and on shoestring budgets. Their Alec Guinness films and PASSPORT TO PIMLICO are some of the very best films of the era. So I wasn't surprised when I found I also enjoyed this slight little film about a town that ran out of whisky (the Scottish spelling) and their attempts to smuggle in a new supply of drink. Once again, the very simple story was deftly handled and it was quite entertaining. There were only two drawbacks--neither one might affect you personally. The first was the language. While I watch tons of British television and movies, I, like most Americans have a much harder time understanding Scottish accents than English accents. I really would have loved subtitles or closed captioning, but the videotape I saw had neither. Secondly, the quality of the print was really lousy. Both these problems can be blamed on Critic's Choice Videos. I've seen other films from them and must say they produce among the WORST quality videotapes--try to find ANY other brand.