| The Supergrass | |
|---|---|
| File:The Supergrass.jpg | |
| Directed by | Peter Richardson |
| Written by | Peter Richardson Peter Richens |
| Produced by | Michael White |
| Starring | Adrian Edmondson Jennifer Saunders Peter Richardson Ronald Allen Robbie Coltrane Alexei Sayle Nigel Planer Dawn French |
| Distributed by | CBS/Fox Video Ltd. |
Release dates | November 1985 (UK TV premiere) |
Running time | 94 min. |
| Language | English |
The Supergrass was the first feature-length film by the 1980's alternative comedy group The Comic Strip. It was written and directed by Peter Richardson, and starred Richardson, Adrian Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders, with supporting roles and cameos for many Comic Strip regulars.
The Supergrass parodies the cop and conspiracy dramas of the period, but generally avoids the absurdist style more typical of the Comic Strip. The writing is straight-faced, relying on situation and deadpan parody for comedic effect. The underlying premise is subtly ambiguous - did Dennis Carter make up a story about drug smugglers that by coincidence actually exist, or did he really get involved with them while on holiday with his mother? Unusually for a production starring Edmondson, The Supergrass has little violent slapstick.
Synopsis
editTo impress his girlfriend Dennis Carter tells her that he is involved with drug smugglers. The police find out, and force him into an undercover operation to catch them. Although it seems to be just Dennis's fantasy, there actually are drug smugglers in the Devon village where he went on holiday.
Plot
editDennis Carter tries to impress his girlfriend Andrea by telling her he has become involved with drug smugglers while on holiday in the West Country. He is overheard by two policemen, who arrest him and take him to the local police station. When they search for the drug ring he described on the police computer, it raises an alarm at Scotland Yard, and a Commander Robertson from the Drug Squad descends on them demanding to know about the suspect they are holding.
Dennis protests his innocence, but Robertson, who is desperate for a high-profile success before he retires, refuses to believe him. He offers immunity and a new life if Dennis will inform on the presumed drugs ring. The casual bust in a London pub quickly escalates into an undercover operation, with hotshot Drug Squad detectives Harvey Duncan and Lesley Reynolds brought in to handle the "supergrass". Duncan and Reynolds have a romantic history, but they suppress the personal tension and join the operation in a spirit of professionalism.
After equipping themselves with the trappings of a group of drug traffickers, the three set off for Devon. As they approach their destination in a small seaside resort, they fall foul of a traffic cop who starts to shadow them when they refuse his help. On arrival, they settle into the clifftop hotel and start to establish their cover, although Dennis is more interested in living it up at the police's expense. At the same time another Drug Squad officer, DS Troy, arrives with a large guitar case and checks into a nearby bed & breakfast.
Troy starts to observe activities in the resort independently of our three protagonists. He discovers a group acting suspiciously on the beach. We find them living in a house by the beach, and when they remove their disguises they turn out to be a two criminals called Gunter and Wong, with a pair of child actors helping them pose as a family.
Harvey begins to suspect that the drug smuggling story is just a fantasy concocted by Dennis, but Robertson persuades him to continue for a few more days. Dennis and Lesley discover Jim Jarvis, who Dennis met on his previous holiday, indulging his predilections on the beach. He talks of importing heroin, although Dennis and Lesley don't necessarily believe him. Jim invites them to a disco in the evening, where he tries to chat up Lesley, and sells Harvey some dope. Lesley asks Dennis for a slow dance, whereupon Harvey starts to drink heavily and slaps her. When she hits back twice as hard he staggers away.
In the morning Harvey takes Dennis to the beach to find out if there is any basis to his story. By accident Dennis falls into a hidden hole in the sand, where they find a cache of contraband. Harvey reports the find to Roberston and Troy joins the others. That night Dennis finds Jim murdered in the pub, and in panic he confesses to the three detectives that it was all a story to impress Andrea. He tells them he sank some money (only £30) on a buoy, to show Andrea if she came back with him. To verify his story they row out to find it, but when Harvey pulls up the bag it contains half a million pounds.
Now they believe Dennis really is involved with a drug ring, and interrogate him about the supposed drop. Dennis makes up another story about a white boat arriving the next morning. Troy fetches his guitar case and marches out to the end of the breakwater to wait for the drug couriers to arrive. Meanwhile Dennis, Harvey and Lesley get wildly drunk playing the Truth Game, at the end of which Harvey and Lesley are reconciled.
In the morning, Wong rows to shore and runs into the beach house screaming that the money has gone. Back at the hotel, as the lovers sleep on and Dennis checks the drug money, Gunter and Wong appear with guns and tie him up. Harvey arrives just in time to save him, and the crooks escape through the window. The police immediately raid the beach house, but find only the children.
Down on the breakwater Troy sees a yacht approaching. He opens the guitar case, assembles a chainsaw, jumps into the harbour in front of the yacht, and proceeds to cut it up. Dennis runs down shouting that it is the wrong boat, but by the time he get to the waters edge it is too late, and the boat is in pieces.
As the police gather on the beach to report that they didn't find any drugs in the house or the yacht, Dennis notices Gunter and Wong on the quayside, now dressed as fishermen, loading lobster pots into a van. In the pots, under the lobsters, are some white bags. Dennis is about to tell Harvey about this, but changes his mind, and the van drives off unmolested.
As the van drives across Dartmoor Gunter throws the slingback sandals from his "mother" disguise out of the window, right in front of the traffic cop that harassed Dennis on the way down. The cop lowers his magazine, starts his motorbike, and begins to pursue them across the moor...
Cast
edit| Dennis Carter | Adrian Edmondson |
| Lesley Reynolds | Jennifer Saunders |
| Harvey Duncan | Peter Richardson |
| Troy | Robbie Coltrane |
| Gunter | Nigel Planer |
| Wong | Keith Allen |
| Andrea | Dawn French |
| Jim Jarvis | Daniel Peacock |
| Commander Roberston | Ronald Allen |
| Motorbike Cop | Alexei Sayle |
| Collins | Michael Elphick |
| Franks | Patrick Durkin |
| Landlady | Marika Riviera |
| Mrs Carter | Rita Treisman |
| Mary | Alan Pellay |
| Waiter | Neil Cunningham |
| Disc Jockey | David Beard |
| Shop Assistant | Kevin Allen |
| The Children | Rebecca Harold Alexander Harold |
| Stunt Driver | Dave Holland |
Cast Trivia
edit- This is one of the few Comic Strip productions not to feature Rik Mayall
- Adrian Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders were married in the May of this year
Locations
editMusic
editOriginal Music by Keith Tippett and The Working Week Band.
Additional Music:
- The Supergrass Theme - P.P.Arnold
- Two Tribes - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
- Move Closer - Phyllis Nelson
- Drop The Bomb - Trouble Funk
- Gotta Get You Home Tonight - Eugene Wilde
- No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley
- Ultimo Ballo - Angele Maimone
- Tequila - No Way José
- Slave to The Rhythm - Grace Jones
- Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick - Ian Dury & The Blockheads