The Fruit Machine (1988)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Philip Saville

Writer:

Frank Clarke (writer)

Release Date:

9 November 1989 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Two gay teenagers go on the run after witnessing a murder.

Plot Keywords:

Gay | Dolphin | Gay Teenager | Hustler | Homosexual

Cast

Emile Charles	...	Eddie
Tony Forsyth	...	Michael
Robert Stephens	...	Vincent
Clare Higgins	...	Eve
Bruce Payne	...	Echo
Robbie Coltrane	...	Annabelle
Carsten Norgaard	...	Dolphin Man
Kim Christie	...	Jean
Louis Emerick	...	Billy
Joseph Carrington	...	Ray
Julie Graham	...	Hazel
Paula Ann Bland	...	Beverley
Niven Boyd	...	Dave
Claire Parker	...	Young Jean
Caroline Milmoe	...	Lillie

Also Known As:

Wonderland

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Australia:M | USA:R | West Germany:16 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Granada Television

Quotes:

[after seeing his buddy, who protests that he is NOT a rent boy get out of a car driven by an older man]
Eddie: Who's he?
Michael: It's, eh, my uncle.
Eddie: Uncle who?
Michael: It's my uncle Dick. Yeah, that's right. My Uncle Dick.

Movie Connections:

References Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

Soundtrack:

Male Stripper

Beautiful Thing meets Halloween meets Romeo and Juliet

This odd movie tells the tale of two gay boys in the UK who witness a murder and are then pursued by the killer who wants to leave no witnesses.

Eddie is somewhat effeminate and likes to spend his time with his mother watching old romantic movies on the telly and retouching her roots while she tells him tales of how she was almost a star. Eddie is a dreamer and sometimes even has visions. He also has an abusive Dad who doesn't want a `poofter' for a son.

Michael is a beautiful rent boy living on the streets after escaping from a youth detention center. Everyone wants him but it's for only one thing.

Somehow the two boys have met up and become best mates. When Eddie decides to run away from home and the abusive father, Michael swears to take care of him. And so the boys begin their adventures, first in gay nightclub called the Fruit Machine and then later in Brighton accompanied by a retiring opera tenor. In Brighton, Eddie visits Wonderland a seaside aquarium with a trained dolphin show. There he meets a girl animal rights advocate and Eddie becomes obsessed with setting the dolphins free. Meanwhile Michael is `paying the rent' with the tenor using the only currency that he has. Unfortunately the killer has followed them to Brighton.

There is a very touching love story here between the two boys and I wanted to know more. How did they meet and become friends? What have they said to each other about their mutual attraction? One can intuit a lot from what is shown but there could have been so much more. Is Eddie still a virgin? How much does he know about how Michael supports himself? Has he never made an attempt to get physical with Michael because he knows?

This movie seemed to me to be two movies uncomfortably joined into one. The whole `pursued by a killer' plotline seemed to have been grafted onto the main story, perhaps to make it more palatable to the general public and hence more commercial. As far as I'm concerned they needn't have bothered. The story of the relationship between the two boys was more than enough and the sporadic appearance of the killer was a jolting distraction to the story I was really interested in.