Withnail and Jim

W: Right, you f##ker, I'm going to do the washing up.

I: No no you can't. It's impossible I swear it. I've looked into it. Listen to me listen to me. There are things in there, there's a tea-bag growing. You haven't slept in sixty hours you're in no state to tackle it. Wait till the morning we'll go in together.

W: It is the morning, stand aside

I: But you don't understand. I think there is something living in there

W: What, a rat?

I: It's possible, it's possible

W: Then the f##ker will rue the day


I was glad to find that Jim had Withnail and I in the DVD player at his flat. The parallels between Jim and Withnail are obvious to those familiar with both these iconic characters. The picture I have enclosed is not, in fact, from Hilldrop Close (a one time residence of Jims) but is in fact from Withnails. Drinking tea and coffee served in bowls was not uncommon at Hilldrop and the above dialogue was often quoted in an attempt to wind Jim up. It invariably failed. Fortunately, his flat at Bracebridge was a completely different story.

An aversion to domestic chores and a fondness of alcohol and smoking were not the only similarities between these two. Withnails line, "I'll be thirty in a month and I have a sole flapping off my shoe" has considerable irony.

Other lines from the film I have often heard Jim qoute include,
'We just ran out of wine. What are we gonna do about it? '
'We want the finest wines available to humanity, and we want them here, and we want them now. '
'I must have some booze. I demand to have some booze'
'We'll have to work fast. [to barman] a pair of quadruple whiskies and another pair of pints...'
'I could take double what you could take and run a mile'
'Look at me. I am a trained actor reduced to the status of a bum'

The film was clearly a favourite of his and I will always think of him when I watch it. In moments of drunken sincerity, he would often quote the following Withnail rendition of Hamlet, particularly if it were raining -
http://www.withnail-and-i.com/sounds/17.mp3
I can picture him now, soaked to the skin and taking a bow!