The
lowdown: 'Parting Shots' was written and directed by Michael
Winner, who assembled a cast that many film-makers
could only dream of for
this comedy-drama. Chris Rea stars as Harry Sterndale, a rather unsuccessful
photographer who
strives to make a living
taking wedding photos, although his subjects always seem to end up with
a shadow on their nose in
his photographs. Harry's
ex-wife Lisa (Diana Rigg) divorced him after dodgy financial adviser Gerd
Layton (Bob Hoskin) lost
all of their money. When
Harry learns that he has stomach cancer and is given just six weeks to
live, he decides to get his
revenge on people who have
wronged him during his life. He buys a gun and shoots Lisa, then proceeds
to drown Gerd in his
own swimming pool. Harry
then falls in love with Gerd's personal assistant, Jill (played by the
wonderful Felicity Kendall), who
goes on the run with him.
Meanwhile, Harry's best friend
and lawyer, John Fraser (Peter Davison) reveals that Harry would get a
larger payout from his
life insurance policy if
he died violently, such as if he were murdered, rather than simply dying
of cancer. Harry then hires a
hitman, Jamie Campbell-Stewart
(Oliver Reed in one of his last film roles) to kill him so that Jill can
receive his life insurance
payout. With the police
suspecting him of having killed Lisa and Gerd (by this stage he has actually
killed five people), Harry
learns that the medical
laboratory got his x-rays mixed up with those of another patient, and he
only has a stomach ulcer.
However, Jamie is still
out there and intends to complete his contract. Harry and Jill hide out
in the same hotel that a visiting
foreign dictator is scheduled
to stay, amid mass protests against the said dictator's human rights record.
Jamie accidentally
kills the dictator while
trying to shoot Harry. Jamie is found in possession of the gun that was
used to kill Lisa, and decides
to plead guilty to all of
Harry's murders. Harry and Jill get married, and Jamie becomes something
of a hero - with his own
fan clubs - for killing
the dictator. Harry and Jill decide to name their first child after him.
The
verdict:
'Parting Shots' has its moments and is quite entertaining, although the
basic
plot of a man who believes that
he is dying but then learns
that he is not has been done many times before. And you can guess very
early in the film that
Harry will turn out not
to have cancer after all. It is disappointing that more use was not made
of the all-star cast - which also
includes Ben Kinglsey, John
Cleese, Joanna Lumley as the proprietor of a 'gun pub' where Harry buys
the murder weapon,
Edward Hardwicke, Sarah
Parish and Gareth Hunt (Arak in Planet of the Spiders). Doctor Who
fans will also enjoy a cameo
by Nicola Bryant as a prostitute,
who is hired by Harry and John to "entertain" them (although Harry
only wants her to play
backgammon all night). This
film will appeal to people who like British humour, but it could have been
so much better.
Video
clips: Harry
and John 11.7mb
Harry admits to murder
8.2mb
Backgammon
5.7mb
Life insurance policy
6.7mb |
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