Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)

In this irreverent parody, the British court and war government consist mainly of idiots and/or traitors. Hitler moves into Buckingham palace and plans to marry into the Windsors. A US Army... See full summary »

Director:

Peter Richardson

Writers:

Peter Richardson, Pete Richens,

Stars:

Jon Culshaw, Tom Clarke Hill, Hamish McColl

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jon Culshaw	...	Prime Minister
Tom Clarke Hill	...	Lieutenant Baker (as Tom Clarke-Hill)
Hamish McColl	...	Captain Davies
Christian Slater	...	Winston Churchill
Romany Malco	...	Denzil Eisenhower
Simon Rake	...	Reporter 1
James Long	...	Reporter 2
James Putnam	...	Reporter 3 (as James Puttnam)
Bob Mortimer	...	Potter
Vic Reeves	...	Bendle
Neve Campbell	...	Princess Elizabeth
Harry Enfield	...	King George VI
Jessica Oyelowo	...	Princess Margaret
Leslie Phillips	...	Lord W'ruff
Nigel Harrison	...	Jack

Storyline

In this irreverent parody, the British court and war government consist mainly of idiots and/or traitors. Hitler moves into Buckingham palace and plans to marry into the Windsors. A US Army officer claims the cigar-smoking iconic PM was an actor, Ray Bubbles, impersonating his own father, USMC lieutenant Winston Churchill, a genius spy who stole an enigma code machine and almost single-handedly won a very alternative battle for Britain.

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Plot Keywords:

sabotage | buckingham palace london | franklin d. roosevelt | nazi | fictional biography | 

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Taglines:

Based on an actual war.

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Genres:

Comedy | War

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 December 2004 (UK)

Also Known As:

Az ifjú Churchill kalandjai

Filming Locations:

Brixham, Devon, England, UK

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£148,326 (UK) (3 December 2004)

Gross:

£148,326 (UK) (3 December 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Little Bird Productions, Inside Track Films, Isle of Man Film Commission

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Adolf Hitler character is mistaken for Charles Chaplin on more than one occasion in this movie. Once by a cab driver and once by the King, Hitler is the subject of mistaken identity joke for Chaplin's the Tramp character from the classic silent comedy The Gold Rush where he is remembered for eating his shoe. Interestingly, it is of note that Chaplin spoofed and parodied Adolf Hitler in his later movie, The Great Dictator,

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Goofs

A royal servant throws Prince Mario's gift into a sack. The same gift reappears back in the royal servant's hand immediately after, only to be re-thrown into the same sack - in the same manner as before.

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Quotes

King George VI: Right, show's over, time to go home, ok? Come on, let's go. Come on, obey me, please, I'm the king.

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Crazy Credits

One extra scene and several outtakes are shown during the end credits.

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Connections

References The Ladykillers (1955)

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Soundtracks

"Churchill Rap"
Written by Romany Malco and Simon Boswell
Re-mixed by André Jacquemin
Performed by Romany Malco and Christian Slater

User Reviews

Criminal waste of comic talent

The idea probably looked quite funny on paper, but sadly this film fails to deliver any real laughs at all. What is the point of having all those comedy giants in the movie, but not actually giving them anything particularly funny to say or do. You can see that this could have been so much better. The director, Peter Richardson, has touched on this theme before in the genuinely funny, "Strike!". That film spoofed how Hollywood might just treat a big screen adaptation of the 1984 UK miners strike. It is spot on. But this is just so wide of the mark. I give credit to the cast, who seemed to be doing their best with a pretty mediocre script. Christian Slater at least gave his part his best shot, and he did have some of the better dialogue. It just seems that there wasn't enough to go round. A tragedy.