Water (1985 film)
| Water | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
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| Directed by | Dick Clement |
| Produced by |
Ian La Frenais executive Denis O'Brien George Harrison |
| Written by |
Dick Clement Ian La Frenais Bill Persky |
| Based on | story by Bill Persky |
| Starring | |
| Music by |
Mike Moran Eric Clapton Eddy Grant George Harrison |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Atlantic Releasing (USA) |
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Release date
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January 1985 (UK) April 1986 (USA) |
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Running time
|
115 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Water is a 1985 British comedy film scripted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, directed by Clement, and starring Michael Caine.
The story is set in the fictional Caribbean island and British colony of Cascara. Widely ignored by the British Government, media, and general public, local Governor Baxter Thwaites is having an easy life in his small and peaceful colony. That peace is disturbed when an abandoned oil rig starts delivering water - at the standard of the finest table water brands (and laxative companies, as it contains a substance that makes you "shit like clockwork"). Different parties, including Downing Street, the Cascara Liberation Front, the White House, French bottled water producers, and the Cubans take interest in the future of the island and threaten to destroy the cosy way of life enjoyed by the island's inhabitants.
The plot spoofs some elements of the comedies Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1958) and Passport to Pimlico (1948) and the then-recent invasions of the Falkland Islands and Grenada.
The film stars Caine as Baxter Thwaites, a Governor who has 'gone native' (similarly to his role in The Honorary Consul), and Billy Connolly as local biracial activist Delgado, supported by the last performance of Leonard Rossiter, as Sir Malcolm Leveridge, and one of the last performances of Fulton Mackay.
The film is largely set on the fictional island of Cascara. In the film an oil well is re-opened and discovered to have mineral water with a 'slight laxative effect'. The island's name itself is a play on this as Cascara is the name of a plant (scientific name Rhamnus purshiana) which has laxative properties.
The film was one of three movies that HandMade Films intended to shoot in 1984, the others being A Private Function and a comedy from John MacKenzie, The Travelling Man (which ultimately would not be made). It was written by the experienced comedy duo Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement, who had just made Bullshot (1983) for HandMade.
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