Monday, 16th SEPTEMBER 2002 MEMBERS ONLY!!!
featuring: THE RISE AND RISE OF MICHAEL RIMMER (1970) A Brilliantly acerbic British political satire. Mysterious, charismatic, fresh-faced, clipboard-wielding efficiency-expert Michael Rimmer marches unannounced into the run-down offices of the Fairburn advertising & market-research agency one morning, clad in a smart suit– and proceeds to use the company as the first rung on his ladder to hasty success. So loud, brash, & confident that no-one dares question his right to be there, Rimmer manipulates people easily, and is loved by all, eventually finding himself running the place. After a while the company becomes a thrusting, dynamic organisation. Using this as a springboard into politics, through a series of ruthless manoeuvres, (media manipulation, political chicanery, blackmail, bribery & murder) he begins his rise through the Tory ranks, from MP to Cabinet Minister and finally PM.
Rimmer even selects a bride by market research. Black dystopian satire, in the Brazil (1985) vein, it quickly escalates into mayhem, marking the final death throes of the Swingin' Sixties and the changeover to Monty Python. Along with Bedazzled (1967) and The Wrong Box (1966), this must be rated with Peter Cook's best work. The supporting cast is superb. The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer, panned by contemporary reviewers as a latecomer to the swinging sixties’ satirical ball, now appears decades later to be a most incisive, witty, and unnerving political/social satire. It’s the finest celluloid outing of the great Peter Cook, portraying a character even more cutting and ruthless than his wily tempter George Spiggott, the Devil character from Bedazzled (1967).
By the end, this all-too-plausible-creation has declared himself first President of Great Britain, his whirlwind rise to power leaving all enemies discredited, deceased, or simply reeling at the force of his overwhelming charisma. Appearing as a series of comic sketches (featuring the usual array of Brit talent) part-scripted by 'Monty Python' duo Cleese & Chapman, partly by Cook & director Kevin Billington, the movie dovetails superbly, every routine achieving the requisite laughs while keeping the sinister Machiavellian plot forging ahead. One early Rimmer success is an ad campaign re-inventing a staid brand of inedible humbugs, packaging them into a rather suggestive length of silver tubing, re-naming the product 'Scorpio', and filming an extremely risqué TV commercial. After this, there's no stopping the devious fraudster. Spin-doctoring a Conservative election victory he secures himself a safe seat, (becoming M.P. for the constituency of 'Budleigh Moor'!) while nabbing a trophy-wife (fabulously sexy Vanessa Howard) in the process.
Later in a convenient photo-opportunity atop an unstable oil rig platform Rimmer is able to push the PM to his watery death. Once installed as the new leader, Rimmer goes into overdrive. At face value, the ultimate in democracy –he allows everyone in Britain to vote in a referendum on every single issue. The public, saturated with form-filling and ballot-marking, give up all interest in politics leaving a clear path for Rimmer to announce his upgrade to presidential status. Surviving two assassination attempts during the Kennedy-in-Dallas style closing scenes, Cook's concluding, chilling freeze-frame stare into the camera leaves no doubt as to his future dictatorial intentions. TechnicolorTM. Prod: Harry Fine, Executive prod: DAVID FROST. Dir:Kevin Billington. Wr: PETER COOK, JOHN CLEESE, GRAHAM CHAPMAN, Kevin Billington. Cast: PETER COOK (Michael Rimmer), JOHN CLEESE (Pumer), GRAHAM CHAPMAN (Fromage), ARTHUR LOWE (Ferret), DENNIS PRICE (Fairburn), HAROLD PINTER (Steven Hench), DENHOLM ELLIOT (Peter Niss), RONNIE CORBETT (Interviewer), RONALD FRASER (Tom Hutchinson), FRANK THORNTON (Stoddart). 100 mins. Reel Movies. It's gone a little PINK, and has a few splices in it, but we can't imagine where else you’ll get an opportunity to see this GREAT COMIC CLASSIC OF BRITISH CINEMA. Besides, pink is great, as colours go. For the night, we're obliged to suspend our usual generous offer to visitors- to wit, we cannot admit casual visitors or guests to this particular screening. It is, nonetheless, an opportunity for newbies to become members of Splodge! IF YOU WISH TO BECOME A MEMBER, THE JOINING FEE IS SO LOW,IT MIGHT AS WELL BE FREE! If you wish to join on the night, we strongly advise you to arrive well-prior to the time listed for the screening to commence!
MORE BLOODY MEETINGS: THE HUMAN SIDE OF MEETINGS (1984) John Cleese (playing the manager) takes the chair at his dentist's office and learns in an entertaining dream-sequence how badly he is still chairing his meetings. He is back in court, this time charged with neglecting the human aspect of his meetings. His misdemeanor are replayed as evidence, from failing to prevent a squabble, to allowing the discussion to go off at a tangent and then allowing himself to be railroaded into a poor decision. Features JOHN CLEESE, GRAEME GARDEN. Prod Co: Video Arts. Wr. Antony Jay. Dir: CHARLES (The Avengers, Dangerman, Man In A Suitcase,The Professionals, Space 1999, etc., etc.). CRICHTON. 27 mins. ALC.
MR MONEY (1979) Hilarious '70s projection of a future that came all too quickly - ATM automation in banking. What happens when you automate the officiousness of mercantile bureaucracy? You get a paternalistic Totalitarian ATM. Mr. Money is a talking automatic-teller machine with quite a personality - giving each customer what he considers they deserve!
MORE SPLODGY INFO BACK TO THE VAULT SPLODGE! HOMEPAGE HERALD SUN SPLODGE! ARTICLE