Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1995)

Director:

Henry Cole

Writers:

Henry Cole (story)
Tim Sewell (writer)

Release Date:

2 June 1995 (UK)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

Murder, Vice, Corruption... All good English values.

Plot:

High society, high times, and no end in sight. Shameless is an emotionally charged story about heroin...

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Love | Male Female Relationship | Shamelessness | Police

Cast

Joss Ackland	...	Insp. Sam Stringer
Christopher Adamson	...	Max Quinlan (as Chris Adamson)
Marcus Bentley	...	Photographer's Assistant
Claire Bloom	...	Liz Stringer
Jeremy Brett	...	Tony Vernon-Smith
Russ Kane	...	Flying Eye Reporter
Andrew Connolly	...	Clive Nathan
Louise Delamere	...	Sandy
Cheryl Doll	...	Young Antonia
Nicola Duffett	...	Diane
Alan Freeman	...	Disc Jockey (as Alan 'Fluf' Freeman)
Paula Hamilton	...	Charlie
David Harewood	...	Jessop
Ian Henderson	...	Surveillance Detective
Kate Howard	...	Melissa Dyer

Also Known As:

Mad Dogs & Englishmen (Canada: English title) (video box title)
Shameless

MPAA:

Rated R for strong drug use and for violence, sexuality, and language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:16 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge, London, England, UK

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Although Tim Sewell is credited with writing the screenplay from an original story by director 'Cole, Henry', shortly before the start of principal photography, Cole himself rewrote some sections of the script to bring out the British upper-class eccentricity which he felt was missing.

"Shameless" misuse of Jeremy Brett

I don't usually make a point to watch films this bad (predictable plot, laughable dialog, horrible music soundtrack, etc), but when I saw that my all-time favorite actor Jeremy Brett had a brief but memorable role in "Shameless" (originally titled "Mad Dogs and Englishmen"), I couldn't resist. It's a bizarre experience to witness an actor -- who so perfectly embodied the iconic Sherlock Holmes in the beloved Granada TV series -- appear in such an odd role of a drug-supplying sugar daddy. It's even odder to see a glimpse of him in a modern-day sexual scene with a young woman. Regardless, as usual, he stole the movie even if he was only barely in it. I only wished the director has used Brett to his fullest talents instead of as an aside eccentric.

A young Elizabeth Hurley makes a mediocre attempt to portray a bored little rich girl with drug problems and C. Thomas Howell does his best to seem sexy in a grunge biker kind of way. But Brett's booming voice, subtle expressions and dynamic presence wakes you up for just long enough to pay attention to his character. Once he disappears from the screen, you realize all too soon that the rest of the film is worthless. It takes a great actor to lift up a role from the muck, and I'm sorry to see that this was Brett's only chance to do a modern-day storyline from his usual historic epics before he passed away.

He briefly commented in an interview why he did the role, and soon realized the film was a disaster.

On "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (1995)-- "I was mad to do it, but I wanted to show the world that I was still alive and I could do other things apart from Sherlock Holmes. I hope they don't release it..."