Plot
Set in the 1930s, Bullshot follows the absurd adventures of Captain Hugh "Bullshot" Crummond, a dim-witted but overconfident British hero, as he attempts to rescue Professor Fenton and stop the evil Count Otto von Bruno and Lenya von Bruno from stealing a secret energy formula. A parody of vintage adventure serials, the film features exaggerated heroics, slapstick comedy, and spoofed melodrama. Crummond ultimately defeats the villains and saves the day with the help of Rosemary Fenton.
Production
The film was based on the play Bullshot Crummond which was first performed in the 1970s and had toured in North America, including a four year run in San Francisco and a year's run in Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles the makers tried to pitch the play as a film but could not find interest. [2]
Ron House was auditioning for Dick Clement and told the director about Bullshot Crummond. Clement was interested and was sent a copy of the production filmed for cable televison. Clement showed this to HandMade Films who agreed to finance. [2]
Alan Shearman, Diz White, and Ronald E. House reprised their roles from the original stage production. "Ron, Diz and I have worked together for 12 years," said Shearman. "Then suddently there were two more people, Dick and Ian [La Frenais], on the exact same wavelength. It was marvellous. HandMade Films are pretty marvellous as well. We had never realised that people in the film industry worked the way that they do - taking a close interest in what you are doing but at the same time letting you go and do it in your own way." [2]
Principal photography took place primarily at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, with some location shooting in and around London. The film was shot mostly on studio sets designed to mimic the exaggerated and stylised look of 1930s adventure serials. The production sought to retain the theatrical and spoof-driven tone of the play. Filming began April 1983. [3]
Reception
The film was poorly reviewed by British critics except for Barry Norman. [4] The Observer felt "the appropriate length for this kind of thing is a ten minute sketch." [5] The Evening Standards felt it "has a good chance of winning an audience if critics keep quiet about it" calling it "a good looking parody" that "as for jokes, it blows every one that director Dick Clement tries to set up." [6]
Colin Greenland reviewed Bullshot for Imagine magazine, praising its energetic and comedic style. He described the film as "pell-mell, hammer and tongs, hell for leather all the way through a plot that gets more deliciously ludicrous by the second". Greenland highlighted the "superb (over-)acting in spiffing costumes on scrummy sets", noting the abundance of laughter-inducing moments and memorable comic cameos by Billy Connolly, Mel Smith, John Wells, and 'Legs' Larry Smith. [7]
The film received mixed reviews from mainstream critics. Some praised its affectionate parody of 1930s adventure serials and the performances of the lead actors, while others found its humour uneven and overly reliant on theatrical farce. [8] [9]
Retrospective audience reviews often emphasise the film's cult appeal and status as a comedic pastiche. Viewers have described it as "a wonderful little film with all kinds of tongue-in-cheek references to British culture", comparing its tone to P. G. Wodehouse, "although a little more over the top". [10]
Michael Palin wrote in his diary about seeing the film: " Find the first ten minutes very ordinary, and the overplayed style rather offputting, but the film gradually wins me over, by its sheer panache and good nature." [11]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
