Wilt | |
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Directed by | Michael Tuchner |
Produced by | Brian Eastman |
Written by |
Andrew Marshall David Renwick Tom Sharpe (novel) |
Starring |
Griff Rhys Jones Mel Smith Alison Steadman Diana Quick |
Music by | Anne Dudley |
Cinematography | Norman G. Langley |
Edited by | Chris Blunden |
Production
company |
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Distributed by |
Rank Film Distributors (UK) The Samuel Goldwyn Company (US) |
Release date
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Running time
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92 min |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $74,483 |
Wilt is a 1989 film adaptation by LWT of the Tom Sharpe novel of the same name. The story follows the comic misadventures of the eponymous Henry Wilt as he is accused of the murder of his wife when she suddenly goes missing after a party at a friend's house where they have a very public argument.
The film was directed by Michael Tuchner, with Andrew Marshall and David Renwick credited as screenplay writers. It was released in North America under the title The Misadventures of Mr. Wilt.
Henry Wilt is a community studies teacher at a poorly funded college where most of the pupils seem to be fairly apathetic to learning. Eva Wilt, his wife, is interested in the spiritual aspects of martial arts, Transcendental Meditation and similar pursuits. Eva's disdain for Henry's interest in reading adds to his general frustration at work, including being turned down for a promotion again, and leads him to occasionally fantasize about killing her. Her 'Yuppie' friends, Hugh Westroper and his beautiful, glamorous wife Sally, only exacerbate his alienation from her world by talking disparagingly about teaching as a profession and about his car.
While he is walking home and speaking out one of his fantasies, he crosses paths with a botched sting operation by the incompetent Inspector Flint, whose wire has fallen off while trying to bust a drug dealer. Wilt intervenes in the resulting struggle and, thinking he is witnessing a mugging, unknowingly helps the drug dealer to get away.
Soon afterward, a construction worker at the school sees what looks like a woman's body in a hole being filled with concrete. Meanwhile, Henry Wilt has had to get a lift into work as apparently he had had an accident in his car the previous night. Inspector Flint arrives at the school as they start work on digging out the body. Some papers are found at the hole where the body was seen, and a brief search identifies the writer of those papers as Henry Wilt. Evidence against Wilt mounts as he makes a phone call to his home from the police station and pretends the answerphone is his wife while Inspector Flint is present at Wilt's house.