Danny the Champion of the World

A charming movie set in rural England after the war. Widowed Father Jeremy Irons is bringing up his son in a caravan on a small piece of land where he also runs his own garage. Unfortunately this small piece of land is crucial to the plans of the local, much disliked, Nouveau Riche squire played by Robbie Coltrane. A real smarmy cove. He wants their land and will call in all favours to get rid of them. He is also currying up to the local gentry with a pheasant shoot, but what if there were no pheasants for anyone to shoot?. What they need is a champion pheasant catcher..

This is another winner from Roald Dahl the peerless childrens writer. Real-life father and son Jeremy and Samuel Irons play the leads in this with Grandad Cusack as the local doctor. Just a bit of a whimsical romp for the two elder actors whereas young Samuel had to put a noticable effort into it. All the same it is a thoroughly heartwarming story. There are quite a few well known faces in it, Jean Marsh doing a caricature of a spinsterish do gooder, Michael Hordern as a slightly dotty Lord, Jimmy Nail as a disgruntled gamekeeper, and Lionel Jeffries as the tippling but exceedingly fair Headmaster. It's almost as if they thought "What shall we do this summer? I know lets do a movie together." They are all perfectly natural and comfortable. A joy to watch.

Watch it with your children you wont regret it.