Whisky Galore

Hated it at the start, warmed up to it slightly halfway through, mainly due to the scenery. I just watched Whisky Galore! (1949) a few weeks ago and thought it was brilliant, and it still holds up pretty damn well so I don't get why this was remade. Eddie Izzard is utterly dreadful in this version and his scenes are difficult to watch. Gregor Fisher and James Cosmo were entertaining in their roles but it wasn't enough to turn it around for me. This remake just felt bland and lifeless.

Ignore both the reviews claiming the original film was better, it wasn't (standard B comedy with female characters that were walking stereotypes), & also those saying that it's somehow Irish & not 'authentically Hebridean:' nonsense! The Hebrides have their own culture, & I found the music & accents as true to the islands as a movie could be. The story is simple, beautifully acted & directed with minimal fuss. There are a few goofs but they don't detract from the joy of the story & watching Eddie Izzard, Gregor Fisher & all the cast at their craft is an evening well-spent. Suitable for the entire family, this is a perfect little film.

This is a true story. Small towns and islands have a way of bringing people together. And especially back then before internet people worked as a group to not just protect their town but their ways. In this case the drinking of Whiskey. The people of the island young and old work together making this a wonderful story.

It has the same warm spirit of the original made many years ago. A simple story line that works very well.

Absolutely delightful film. Fabulous location and styling. Adored it. Really made me smile.

Loved it! Just Loved it! The people of the Scottish island of Todday, in the Outer Hebrides, are a simple folk. Everyone seems to know everyone else's business and they all congregate at the local pub in the early part of the 1900's but due to the world war rationing their love for Scottish whiskey runs dry. Not to say the townsfolk are not religious as they do in fact practice on the Sabbath abstaining from all work whatsoever and going to church is a normal activity on the Sabbath even if the priests sermons are too long and too preachy. As the island is dry of any alcohol as luck would have it a cargo ship named the SS Cabinet Minister runs aground and the townspeople of the island of Todday who were in church earlier in the day as any good Christian would do, they extended a helping hand to the ships crew. As night fell though almost the entire island's townsfolk got in their boats to help themselves to the stranded ships valuable cargo of 5000 cases of whiskey. As with any good story there always has to be a party pooper and on the island of Todday that honor belongs to a military reserve volunteer named Sergeant Odd played perfectly by Eddie Izzard. Who will get their way on this remote island of Todday? Will the military reservist Sergeant Odd out muscle the thirsty islanders or will the islanders outsmart Sergeant Odd and whet their whistles? Their is romance blooming on the island as well, and some parents are for the young ones getting married and some are not. But what is a wedding without some whisky galore to celebrate the newlyweds with? It's a grand story and I give 8 out of 10 toasts to the lovable islanders of Todday.

In the midst of World War 2 Scottish spirits (no pun intended) are at an all-time low when a local publican announces that their supply of whisky has run dry. This leads to the local community becoming even more depressed making a troublesome time even more arduous. However, their luck changes when a cargo ship transporting whisky to New York runs a ground and the locals seize their opportunity to steal the whisky despite interference from Home Guard Captain Waggett (Eddie Izzard) and Customs and Excise trying to thwart their chances... Although I was aware that this film was a remake I hadn't seen the original so I went in with the benefit of watching this film with a fresh pair of eyes. I have no idea what the original film was like, but the remake was something of a middling effort as far as I was concerned... Although the actual meat of the film (involving stealing the whisky) was quite fun the actual build up to this event was a little tedious and provided very few laughs. It is only really when Eddie Izzard shows up that the film actually starts to become entertaining - his incompetence is often amusing and the pompous nature of his character makes him fun to watch, but with his character I did feel as though I was merely watching a slight reworking of Captain Mainwaring from Dad's Army - like I say this works and serves the film well, but if you draw comparisons in this manner then perhaps it will do more harm than good to the film. I think what really lets the film down is in its messy and rather unfocused plotting; the stealing of the whisky is what I came for, but the film seems to put more focus on rather dull sub-plots (a sargeant's blossoming romance and a tweed salesman who seems to drift in and out of the story). I found that these aspects of the story dragged the film down slightly and took away a lot of the fun. To be fair though it isn't all bad though; Izzard gives a committed and amusing turn as the incompetent Captain and is funny in nearly every scene that he is involved in. Special mention should also go to Annie Louise Ross whose turn as the battleaxe Mrs Campbell was pretty memorable and was one of the highlights of the film. Director Gillies MacKinnon is the real weak link here whose directing is perhaps some of the flattest that I've ever seen; it has no life to it and the whole film is a little twee and cutesy and I felt that he could have done a lot more with the concept. Yes Whisky Galore has its moments, but when these funny moments only come from 2 cast members then you've got yourself a real problem. It's inoffensive enough to make it watchable, but not nearly funny enough to make it memorable.

If you can't improve a classic film, why remake it? The real story of the wreck of the SS Politician might have provided a different angle, but this is just a warmed over version of Compton Mackenzie's fiction, albeit in colour, with the implausible addition of the Duke of Windsor's love letters. Not worth wasting time over.

'At the height of WWII', the remote Outer Hebridean island of Todday (IRL Portsoy, near Aberdeen) runs out of whisky. Then, the RMS Cabinet Minister is wrecked, with a cargo of 50,000 cases of whisky and the abdicated King Edward VIII's love letters on board. The islanders band together to thwart attempts by the local Home Guard commander and customs to find the bottles. Also, the postmaster's two beautiful daughters are getting married and need whisky for the celebrations. (Cue idyllic Celtfest wedding scene) WG is beautiful to look at, the sense of period is pretty good, and once you get used to the slow pace and lack of any LOL moments, it passes the time quite pleasantly. Don't expect anything more. The shipwreck is quite a while in coming, and the raid on the wreck has to wait for Sunday to pass. Towards the end there's a car chase at about 20mph. My two problems with WG are (1) the number of characters whose stories all seem to to be of the same importance - there's no central character like Bombolini in 'The Secret of Santa Vittoria', and (2) the sanitised, prosperous, oh-so-comfortable lifestyle they all enjoy. In the wedding scene, there are dozens of lights strung over the square. Where, I might ask, does a remote Scottish island in the middle of WWII get all that power from? Where do they all get the petrol for their jaunts everywhere? There's absolutely no sense of the islanders having any hardship at all. All that's at stake is two minor characters' weddings, and the free whisky. Not much to hang a drama on. Also, Gregor Fisher and Eddie Izzard ham it up. Some may find this funny.

It is always worth taking Michael Caine's advice when it comes to remakes. Always remake a bad movie, never a good one! Director Gillies MacKinnon has put a new spin on the Ealing classic. Like the Dad's Army film released in the same year it is lacklustre. Set in 1941, a Hebridean island is running low on whiskey due to rationing. When a ship capsizes carrying 50,000 cases of Scotch whiskey to America. The locals decide to bring it ashore while Captain Wagget of the Home Guard must stop them. There was a charm and impishness in the original film. This one is just sluggish like the entire existence of the movie was to take advantage of tax breaks. There was a brief moment where Tim Pigott Smith appears like a Colonel Blimp type of character and I would had liked to have seen more of that quirkiness.