WHISKY GALORE
Whisky Galore
Many, myself included, will balk at the idea of a remake of this classic film believing it really shouldn’t be tampered with. However director Gillies MacKinnon has wisely decided to stick with the winning formula and has merely updated it seemingly by flicking a switch which has transformed it into colour. Drawing in a cast which includes Gregor Fisher, Eddie Izzard James Cosmo, Kevin Guthrie and many others it emerges triumphantly as an ensemble piece with everyone seemingly having as much fun in their roles as it is to watch.
For anyone not familiar with the story it centres on a small, remote Scottish Island, Todday, which due to wartime rationing has had its whisky allowance slashed. For the island’s small community this is akin to being deprived of food. However fate lends a hand when a ship on its way to New York crashes on a rock with a cargo of 50,000 cases of the amber nectar.
Of course to the island’s residents this is beyond fortuitous and they embark on an after dark mission to retrieve the boat of some of its precious cargo. What follows is a cat and mouse game between customs and excise, the pompous home-guard captain, well played by Eddie Izzard, and many of the island’s inhabitants who are determined to hold onto as much of their haul as possible.
By not adding anything unnecessary or contemporary to the mix the film emerges as a triumph in that it doesn’t detract from the much loved charming original. As a closer to this year’s festival proceedings I don’t think it could be bettered as it provides more than a fitting finale.
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