In rural England in 1955, a single parent family, William Smith (played by Jeremy Irons) and his nine-year-old son Danny (played by Irons' real life son Samuel), fight off obnoxious tycoon Victor Hazell's attempts to force them into selling their little filling station, which has value to his project for developing a "new town". Between them they devise an elaborate plan to poach all of the pheasants from his estate, thus humiliating him before his rich and influential friends for whom he holds an annual shooting party.
A good old fashioned family film that should appeal to parents as well as their children. Charmingly directed by Gavin Millar, the mid-fifties period and a long extinct leisurely rural way of life is well depicted as is the spirit of Roald Dahl's marvellous source novel. Irons and his real life son Samuel offer excellent performances and the way their characters bond as father and son is a joy to watch. There is good support from a host of veteran British character actors, including Robbie Coltrane as Victor Hazell, Lionel Jeffries as the headmaster, Ronald Pickup as a fearsome ex-army officer turned schoolmaster, John Woodvine as a high flying property developer and Jimmy Nail as Hazell's head gamekeeper Rabbetts. Their performances are well-judged in that they are light-hearted to appeal to a family audience, yet still reasonably lifelike so they don't descend into caricature.
All in all, this is unmissable family entertainment and anyone who has read the book should see it too.
A good old fashioned family film that should appeal to parents as well as their children. Charmingly directed by Gavin Millar, the mid-fifties period and a long extinct leisurely rural way of life is well depicted as is the spirit of Roald Dahl's marvellous source novel. Irons and his real life son Samuel offer excellent performances and the way their characters bond as father and son is a joy to watch. There is good support from a host of veteran British character actors, including Robbie Coltrane as Victor Hazell, Lionel Jeffries as the headmaster, Ronald Pickup as a fearsome ex-army officer turned schoolmaster, John Woodvine as a high flying property developer and Jimmy Nail as Hazell's head gamekeeper Rabbetts. Their performances are well-judged in that they are light-hearted to appeal to a family audience, yet still reasonably lifelike so they don't descend into caricature.
All in all, this is unmissable family entertainment and anyone who has read the book should see it too.