Clockwise (1986)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Christopher Morahan

Writer:

Michael Frayn (original screenplay)

Release Date:

10 October 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

If you've ever been late... you'll know what this film is all about!

Plot:

An uncompromising British school headmaster finds himself beset by one thing going wrong after another.

Plot Keywords:

Headmaster | School | England | City | Country

Awards:

1 win

Cast

John Cleese	...	Brian Stimpson
Penny Leatherbarrow	...	Woman Teacher
Howard Lloyd-Lewis	...	Ted
Jonathan Bowater	...	Clint
Stephen Moore	...	Mr. Jolly
Alison Steadman	...	Gwenda Stimpson
Mark Bunting	...	Studious Boy
Robert Wilkinson	...	Streaker
John Bardon	...	Ticket Collector
Mark Burdis	...	Glen Scully
Nadia Sawalha	...	Mandy Kostakis (as Nadia Carina)
Dickie Arnold	...	Man at Station
Angus MacKay	...	First Class Passenger
Peter Needham	...	Porter
Peter Lorenzelli	...	Taxi Driver

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Australia:G | Netherlands:AL | Denmark:A | Norway:7 (TV rating) | Finland:S | Norway:A | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Cottingham Road, Kingston-upon-Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Canal+ Image UK

Trivia:

The school where Stimpson is headmaster is named after Thomas Tompion (1639-1713), a famous clockmaker.

Goofs:

Continuity: The headrests in Gwenda's car disappear then reappear between shots as she is leaving the railway station.

Quotes:

Brian Stimpson: The first step to knowing who we are... is knowing where we are and... WHEN we are.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in What the Pythons Did Next... (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

This Is My Lovely Day

Impeccably executed British Comedy classic. Timeless.

There are a great many films which are painful in their bland mainstreaminess.

And a very few which manage to pull it off, and remain funny to virtually everyone, over a period of several years.

This John Cleese vehicle from the mid 1980s manages to fit into the latter category - it is simply such a very well crafted traditional comedy, that it is impossible not to be touched.

Here we see Cleese very much in Basil Fawlty mode, as an aspiring head-teacher for whom things just don't run smooth when it really matters.

The other classic elements of British Farce are there - major misunderstandings, people getting undresses, well-intentioned old ladies who say the wrong things at the wrong times, and of course Geoffrey Palmer as a straight man.

And just a touch of poignant surrealism in the way the final minute leading into the credits is played out, to offset the traditional production values.

It's straightforward, and unchallenging, and probably the best film about lateness ever made. High praise indeed, for something so mainstream.