MovieChat Forums > Castaway (1987) Discussion > The best British film of the 1980s?

The best British film of the 1980s?

posted 17 years ago by Picnic-3
7 replies | jump to latest

I adore this film, right from Kate Bush's 'Be kind to my mistakes', written the same year (1986), on the opening credits. The song, falling between Hounds of Love (1985) and The Sensual World (1989) was never a part of any of her major albums until it was put as one of the bonus tracks on the re-issued Hounds of Love CD.

Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe sizzle with antagonism and lust. Reed is a natural bon vivre, a gentleman by many accounts with, it seems, an intellect as hearty as his bon vivre nature. Beautiful Donohoe matches him- it's a bit like the passion and dry wit of watching The War of the roses with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in a way. Thankfully, Reed's fruity brilliance showed up again in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

[–] willson_x 13 years ago

Best British film of the 80s??
"Brazil",
"Danny Champion Of The World",
"When The Whales Came"
"Educating Rita",
or "Lair Of The White Worm" (also with Amanda Donohoe :p)
OORRRRR,- if this counts- "The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes" with Jeremy Brett, if not the best film, then the best TV series of the 80s, nay, EVER!!!!
Please let's continue this list! I'd love to see more, I'm sure there are more out there that I can't think of
fanx!

[–] Clemencedane 10 years ago

Local Hero...

[–] backofthevan 9 years ago

Without a doubt, the best British film of the 1980s was Withnail and I.

[–] swanstep (2745) 2 years ago

Not mentioned in this thread so far: Mona Lisa, The Hit, The Company of Wolves, Prick Up Your Ears, The Cook The Thief His Wife Her Lover, Belly of an Architect, Excalibur, Threads, The Long Good Friday, Gregory's Girl, A Fish Called Wanda, Caravaggio, Meantime, High Hopes, A Room With A View, My Beautiful Launderette, Meaning of Life, Time Bandits, even Roeg's own Bad Timing and Insignificance are significantly more interesting in my view. Lots of other greats too made by UK directors off-shore, e.g., The Mission, Repo Man, Blade Runner, Altered States, Crimes of Passion, friggin' Fatal Attraction, and so on. In sum, Castaway probably wouldn't make my Top 40 British films of the decade. I mean, I've not seen the little-known but quite good 'Turtle Diary' for decades but I suspect that that's better than Castaway too! (checking now I see that it's got a much higher IMDb-score).

[–] wearsalan (5554) 2 years ago

All good movies and, in my opinion, better than Castaway.

[–] Alfabeta 12 years ago

Damn close. This movie soo shouldn't work, but with Roeg's magic and casts chemistry, it does.

Kate Bush only makes the deal sweeter.

[–] moxey (141) 7 years ago

Without A Clue
The Living Daylights
Licence To Kill
A Fish Called Wanda
Withnail and I
Brazil
Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Educating Rita

There's quite a few choices.