Nuns on the Run (1990)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Jonathan Lynn

Writer:

Jonathan Lynn (written by)

Release Date:

16 March 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

The Story of an Immaculate Deception.

Plot:

Brian and Charlie (B & C) work for a gangster. When the boss learns they want to "leave", he sets them up to be killed...

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Cross Dressing | Gender Disguise | Transvestism | Priest

Cast

Eric Idle	...	Brian Hope
Robbie Coltrane	...	Charlie McManus
Camille Coduri	...	Faith
Janet Suzman	...	Sister Superior
Doris Hare	...	Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart
Lila Kaye	...	Sister Mary of the Annunciation
Robert Patterson	...	'Case' Casey
Robert Morgan	...	Abbott
Winston Dennis	...	Morley
Tom Hickey	...	Father Seamus
Colin Campbell	...	Norm
Richard Simpson	...	Mr. Norris
Nicholas Hewetson	...	Louis
Gary Tang	...	Ronnie Chang
David Forman	...	Henry Ho

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Chile:14 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) | USA:PG-13 | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Burlington Lane, Chiswick, London, England, UK

Company:

HandMade Films

Trivia:

Case Casey, the British gangster, is watching The Long Good Friday (1980).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Brian's and Charlie's car runs out of gas, we hear the engine stall and the starter engine being cranked, while we still see Brian holding the steering wheel with both hands.

Quotes:

Charlie McManus: You've got the Father, the Son and the holy ghost. But the three are one - like a shamrock, my old priest used to say. "Three leaves, but one leaf." Now, the father sent down the son, who was love, and then when he went away, he sent down the holy spirit, who came down in the form of a...
Brian Hope: You told me already - a ghost.
Charlie McManus: No, a dove.
Brian Hope: The dove was a ghost?
Charlie McManus: No, the ghost was a dove.
Brian Hope: Let me try and summarize this: God is his son. And his son is God. But his son moonlights as a holy ghost, a holy spirit, and a dove. And they all send each other, even though they're all one and the same thing.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Soundtrack:

MOON ON ICE

Handmade with Care.

Handmade films started off by making the phenomenal Monty Python's Life of Brian, made several fantastic films to follow that, and just 11 years later wound down their production with this hidden gem. Nuns on the Run is a truly British comedy. No other country in the world can do comedy as well as the British, and this movie represents when they got just about everything right. Perfect casting, fantastic scenario and some hilarious one-liners. This was really one of the last great films comedies, with only Fierce Creatures and Chicken Run coming close since. Unfairly maligned, I seldom hear a good word said about it in the film community, yet nobody I know possibly has any criticism of it. It will continue to be a personal favourite of mine, and I'd hope that other people will in time realise just what they've been missing. 9/10.