Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979) User Reviews

Great Stuff

[lee7-1 · 8/10 · 31 October 2005]

O.K. so this DVD isn't loaded with features and doesn't really have anything but a simple menu, the quality is pretty ropey as well.

That's the negatives out of the way.

This film is a masterpiece of filth, it's so funny, if you hate the political correctness that we live in today then rush out and buy this. Nothing on this DVD is the slightest bit correct, it's offensive, sexist, disgusting and I'm afraid racist too but it's so outrageous refreshing to hear Peter Cook's vicious wit and Dudley Moores fits of hysterics.

Remember to watch out for the Wigins sketch, this is so uncorrect it's unreal but it'll have you rolling.

Cooke and Moore produced the best recorded comedy ever, period!

Interesting

[hippy109 · 8/10 · 28 January 2007]

Studio stuff worth watching.

It is hard to see why people say that in this film Dudley and Peter show they dislike each other so much. My impression is that they were both very fond of one and other and at many times this shows my looks of admiration whilst one ad-libs. It is likely during their love & hate relationship that each admirers the others comic prowess. I would not ever consider them as comic genius as this sort of comedy is something that is in all of us. They just have the 'don't care' attitude to let rip. They do say things that you wouldn't usually hear yet the capacity to say it and understand it lies within us all - it's just been suppressed by the crud we endure today as 'comedy' and the political systems in place today curbing freedom of speech.

I enjoy this form of comedy Derek and CLive do and am appreciative of material such as this. Talking boll0cks and being stupid is what we need to see more of and this film delivers it - though anything else would likely be imitation.

I've no doubt that though Cook (due to his own personal feelings and struggles in his life at that time)comes out with the odd put down to Moore, my conclusion is that Moore was Cooks' rock and punching bag. I'm sure Moore knowingly accepted this whole-heartedly and this reinforced the magic chemistry of their friendship between them and appreciation of each's well of talents.

They unleash them here but it would be easy to see that they were capable of being a hell of a lot naughtier ! Sadly, all good things come to an end.

Watch it with a few beers and with your friends and feel alive.

fascinating chronicle of a relationship in its last throws

[axlmouth · 7/10 · 7 March 2006]

whilst as a comedy this film is very patchy and sometimes excruciatingly vulgar, what makes it watchable is the Moore/Cook relationship. Cook is by far the funnier, more dedicated and original.his quick-witted thought processes are brilliant though i did sometimes wonder if he was simply trying to be as shocking as possible simply for the sake of it. Moore often seems past caring,often simply following cook's lead but perhaps it is the strain of Cook's obvious resentment that knobbles him. certainly he seems to be struggling to keep up with Cook's genius, but then i've always felt Cook was the more talented. the material is often of a sexual nature, sometimes (mock?) misogynistic and swearing is prolific. watching this it's clear to see how comedy today is often very derivative. The horse racing sketch, for example, blows the juvenile "dicks and pussies" speech from team America out of the water. if only every drunk and stoner could be as spontaneously funny.

Brutal, tragic, hilarious

[Lupercali · 9 September 2004]

When Peter Cook died, few of his obituaries mentioned the 'Derek and Clive' albums of the mid to late 70's. They were swept under the carpet as some sort of embarrassing misdemeanor by the otherwise respectable comic genius. His ex-wife claimed that he had 'turned to the dark side' as I recall, due to drink, which she regarded as inevitable, owing to his incredible sensitivity.

Whatever. The fact remains that the Derek and Clive material might have been the product of a very different Peter Cook to the revered icon of the 60's. He was drunk, disillusioned, and harbored a white-hot fury against propriety and perhaps society in general - even including his old co-conspirator Dudley Moore, who was now just breaking into Hollywood. Despite what anyone might wish were true, the Derek and Clive material shows that Cook had lost none of his genius. Beneath the surface of the outrage and profanity is a mercurial comic mind, and an unsurpassed sense of the surreal and satirical.

'Derek and Clive Get the Horn' was filmed at the recording sessions resulting from Cook's plea to Moore to come and do one last Derek and Clive album ('Ad Nauseum'). Moore was less than enthusiastic, and even less so when Cook eventually released it (it had been on the UK prohibited films list for years), but he obliged and played the straight man one last time to Cook's stream-of-consciousness tirades.

Early on it becomes apparent just how dysfunctional the love-hate relationship between Pete and Dud had become by the time of this, their last collaboration. Cook is clearly jealous of Moore's recent success (why him? Cook knows he's the comic genius. Moore's just the boyish little guy who girls dig), and at times this fact is barely restrained. At other times it isn't restrained at all, when Cook unleashes barrages of incredibly personal abuse at Moore, which at one stage results in the latter walking out, only to be cajoled back. And at times it's clear that despite this jealousy and emnity, there is some of the old friendship and magic there; it breaks out in moments of spontaneous, boyish camaraderie. Equally, if Cook could be accused of mistreating Moore, Moore could equally be accused of staying to put up with it. The fact is, despite the personal animosity, Pete can and does crack Dudley up, and frequently reduces him to almost tearful laughter, moments after insulting him.

So much for the personal relationship business. What about the material? Well, I'm assuming that anyone who wants to chase this film down has heard at least some of the Derek and Clive material, if not the Ad Nauseum album. You know pretty much what to expect. There is extra material not featured on the album, and there is material on the album which is not shown here. What does strike you as different is the dynamic between the two performers. On the record it was clear that Cook did most of the talking while Dud just says "yeah" now and again, and that if Dud does get a story of his own going, Pete usually shuts it down and carries on with whatever he had in mind - but you really don't realize just how dominant Cook was until you see them on film. Apart from a few piano pieces which never ended up on the album, Dud is basically just there so that Pete's performance isn't a monologue.

To anyone who might be an old-time Pete and Dud fan, buying this video out of curiosity - please, be warned: this stuff burns. In the near 30 years since the Derek and Clive albums, I have honestly never heard anything which goes so far. It makes the most provocative episode of 'South Park' seem about as controversial as The Two Ronnies. It's hard to give you an example without breaking IMDb's review guidelines, but I'll try. Let's just say that far from the most offensive sketch in the movie begins with Pete describing how he was sexually aroused by the Pope's funeral on TV. "He looked so f*****g vulnerable... I couldn't prevent myself having a w*nk immediately!" And you can probably imagine where a sketch ends up, which begins with the innocent remark by Cook, "You know how it says in The Bible that Jesus was, on the whole, basically nice...?"

It's a tragic film, because Cook really was in self-destruct mode; it was the last, dysfunctional fling of a brilliant comic partnership, and Cook basically did little else for the rest of his life. It's brutal for reasons I've mentioned above, and others which I couldn't even mention here. And damn it, above all, it's terribly, terribly funny. Even on his last legs, so to speak, Peter Cook was very possibly the funniest man alive.

The film drags in places, but when it's good, it's wonderful. Horribly wonderful.

Faultless

[Dock-Ock · 10/10 · 31 July 2001]

The brilliance of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as a double act has never fully been apreciated. Most of the famous sketches are from Not only But Also, but the funniest ones come from the Derek and Clive tapes. Derek and Clive Get the Horn is the Jewel in the comical crown for both Cook and Moore as comedians. It is also something of a last hurrah. Although both men would appear together again over the years, this was the last original performance they gave together, and it rarely came, excuse the pun, funnier than this. Dud is at his giggling funniest best and Pete cracks Dud up with his waspish dry wit throughout. Overall not a movie to show grandma on Boxing day, or any other day come to that. Come to think of it its best you watch it on your own. With the curtains drawn, at Two 0 clock in the morning. And it was directed by Russel Mulcahey! Good GOD

Favourite sketches : Mother, Horse Racing, Songs and Schoolboy. Just so you know i have seen it and iam not making it up!

A classic

It gives me the horn!

[arhsp · 10/10 · 26 July 2000]

Someone once described this recording, the filmic version of Ad Nauseum, as "Pete and Dud on acid." This is hilarious. It's crude and shocking and clever and insightful. In years to come, this'll be a profoundly interesting social document. If any "film" ought to be blasted off into space for aliens from the planet Z to find and watch, then this is it. I'll bet they'd laugh their socks off at it as well.

This film is great.

[ANGRYPILLS · 10/10 · 13 November 1999]

The last stand of Cook and Moore.This seminal work from aussie director and music video legend Mulcahy is a fitting epitaph to the disintegrating comedy partnership of Pete and Dud during the recording sessions for what would later become the ad naeseum album.The film is by and large a torrent of swearing, drunken verbal abuse,and generally obnoxious behaviour documented for public consumption.If you are a christian,a woman or a person of high moral value look away now. In an age of political correctness this film is a huge tonic if you don`t take it seriously. (10/10)

Disturbing

[graham_525 · 5/10 · 12 August 2008]

I describe this as disturbing not because of the material but because of what this film showed of Peter Cook. I liked Ad Nauseam as an audio piece of work and was quite excited at the prospect of seeing this. However I found the experience of watching this just depressing. It's not funny and Peter Cook comes over as a very bitter character. In public Cook needed to be constantly mocking everything around him. I'm sure psychiatrists could spin a few theories as to why he was like this. He did actually visit a psychiatrist for many years the reason being, according to himself, that he had been putting on silly voices for so long he didn't know who he was. It's a self defence mechanism to be constantly funny and to belittle anyone who dares to be serious about life. Of course Cook was a genius, there is absolutely no doubt about that. However he was a genius in quite a narrow way. What he was good at he was the best at: being incredibly witty and spinning wonderful flights of surreal fancy. Sometimes his flight of fancy had an almost childish innocent charm and sometimes they were dragged up from the lowest depths of the human psyche.

Dudley Moore was a huge talent in his own right but on Peter Cook's turf, improvisational comedy, he only just managed to keep up. It's to his credit that he managed to play Cook's game at all, most of us would have just sat in awe, too intimidated to speak. However Dudley Moore had a wonderful talent of his own which was comedy acting. Peter Cook as a comedy actor stunk, let's be honest. He was the king of off the cuff quick fire genius but if he had to work to script, with the exception of 3 minute comedy sketches, he fell flat. He couldn't do what Dudley had achieved in Hollywood and he knew it. Dud was no longer his verbal punch bag and had out grown him in every way.

Dudley Moore looked to me like he hated every moment of this film and he seemed bored by and embarrassed of the obscenity. Not surprising considering he was 44 years old. This film charts the disintegration of both their professional and personal relationship. Dudley Moore didn't show up for the third day. I think they performed live together only once more after this but only after one of the Pythons, John Cleese I think, begged Dud to do it.

When I heard Cook's "cunt kicker in" monologue on audio I found it very funny because of the sheer extremity. Derek and Clive at their best were cathartic for the audience and liberating. Not because we are laughing at the idea of a man really committing such an act but because there is a psychological release to hear such things. When all is said and done they are only words and no matter what we say out loud it doesn't matter. Nobody really gets hurt and our head doesn't fall off.

However seeing Cook saying this and other material wasn't funny. It was dark and weird. This film leaves us with a sense that Cook had, at least at that point in his life, a major problem with women. He seems to be exorcising some very deep and very dark part of his own soul. To find such material funny we are trusting in the artists intelligence and decency. We have to believe that for the artist the material is nothing more than empty ridiculous words chosen to break every taboo that society has. I believe that earlier Derek and Clive was a joyous exploration of all the things we aren't supposed to say. However by the time this film was made Cook's misogyny, alcoholism and jealousy of Dudley Moore were destroying both him and his profound and wonderful talent.

Friday night lads film

[rdouglas66 · 10/10 · 16 August 2006]

This film is extremely offensive to just about everybody, but therein lies it's beauty.

If you are easily offended especially by the C word you will hate this film.

If however you are a teenager or twenty something looking for some hilarity then call round your mates, get them to bring round pizza and beer and you have the recipe for an unforgettable evening.

Cook and Moore are absolutely fantastic really work well sparking off each other.

This would never be released these days - you are unlikely to find anything like this ever again.

Extraordinary comic non-anachronism

[matthewtomlins · 7 March 2002]

Derek and Clive is for those who love that feeling you have at 3am when there is only half an inch left from the Tesco's scotch, and 8 fags left from your 100 regal. Basically, this is Pete and Dud on booze and hash, the performers Peter Cook and Dudley Moore reach a career and cultural high point as political correctness and taboo are dismissed by characters you probably would not like to encounter in real life though you can imagine the kind of individuals they are mocking; the kind of individuals who are running and ruining the world today. The essence of the performance is to simply combine the liberating effects of alcohol (which is consumed before and throughout the recording, concealed in coffee mugs) with their own vocal talents, creating an imaginary 'radio play' type world full of filthy perverts and leering homosexuals. The improvised feel of the film accommodates the many anarchic digressions and cutaway scenes, though largely the comedy is generated in improvised skits where the two assume characters (Usually Cook as the intellectually and physically dominant, and Moore as an inferior.) Cook, although in top form seems to be continuing some sort of personal attack on Moore, although this may simply be a key to outlining the chemistry between the two, which eventually moves from the stool in front of the mikes and over to the piano and drum kit, where Moore the piano virtuoso improvises a mock opera.

A little slow to begin with but working up to genius and a strong sense of fraternity between the performance and viewer,' Derek and Clive get the horn' will continue to astonish it's viewers for as long as a film with such normally unacceptable behaviour and dialogue remains as it is, a hidden gem, which when discovered, provides a magic tonic for both the intellect and the frustrations and contrivance of political correctness.

Genius

[danielhewson1 · 10/10 · 20 January 2020]

This film is the high point of western civilisation, it's all downhill from here, there will never be another Derek & Clive.

The most profane filth ever performed on film

[p_brown · 6 April 2000]

.... and we love every minute of it. Lord Longford and Richard Branson also get a mention.

Lewd and lascivious behaviour, drinking, drug-taking and a non-stop torrent of abuse make this the most hilarious film I've ever seen.

The filth and the fun

[terraplane · 11 October 2004]

When two ordinary blokes spend an hour swearing at each other, it begins to pall after the first 30 seconds. When Peter Cook and Dudley Moore do it, you realize just how incredibly funny they were. Of course it's appalling, yes it's disgusting and as for downright filthy, well, Derek and Clive invented it. As previous comments have said, this was made at the time when Moore had just broken through into Hollywood stardom while Cook was left behind, a comic genius that nobody wanted. It goes without saying that Peter Cook was indeed the funniest man that ever lived, just listen to anything he's ever recorded or filmed. Including this magnificent testimony to the most scabrous comic invention ever to say the word "Fuc-k". But was he really furious with Dud for making it big? I don't think so. Although his alter-ego Clive might have a few words to say about it. All of them prefaced with "fuc-king cun-t" Brilliant stuff, watch it if you can find it and split your sides laughing. Then spend the next couple of hours reciting the filth you have just watched. I bet you will.