Danny, the Champion of the World (film)

Last updated

Danny, the Champion of the World
Danny film DVD.jpg
UK DVD cover
Based on Danny, the Champion of the World
by Roald Dahl
Screenplay byJohn Goldsmith
Directed by Gavin Millar
Starring
Music by Stanley Myers
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom [1]
  • United States [1]
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
ProducerEric Abraham
Cinematography Oliver Stapleton
Editors
Running time96 minutes
Production companies
Budget$3 million [2]
Original release
Network
  • The Disney Channel (United States)
  • ITV (United Kingdom)
Release29 April 1989 (1989-04-29)

Roald Dahl's Danny, the Champion of the World, or simply Danny, the Champion of the World, is a 1989 comedy drama television film directed by Gavin Millar from a screenplay by John Goldsmith, based on the 1975 novel Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl. The film stars Jeremy Irons, with his son, Samuel, in the title role. It tells of a father and son who conspire to thwart a local businessman's plans to buy their land by poaching his game pheasants. It was filmed on location in Oxfordshire, with Stonor Park, Henley-on-Thames, being a prominent feature in the film.

Contents

Danny, the Champion of the World debuted in the United States on 29 April 1989, on The Disney Channel. [3] In the United Kingdom, the film premiered at the Odeon West End in London on 27 July [4] and received a theatrical release on 28 July, by Portobello Productions, before being exhibited on television on 26 December, on ITV. [5]

Plot

In 1955, in the English Countryside, impoverished widower William Smith lives with his nine-year-old son Danny in an old vardo behind the garage and filling station they operate together. Wealthy local profiteer Victor Hazell, who has bought all of the surrounding land, tries to convince the Smiths to sell as well, but William refuses to budge. In response, Hazell sends local inspectors to harass the Smiths over various trivialities. Danny fixes a child welfare officer's rattling old car when she arrives, and she agrees to see to it that no more inspectors bother the Smiths. Another inspector privately advises William to “hang on” to his land.

Meanwhile, Danny starts a new term at school. Delivering a car repair bill to his kindly headmaster, Mr. Snoddy, Danny accidentally discovers Mr. Snoddy is a heavy gin drinker, and agrees to keep the secret. This incident causes Danny to be late for class; his harsh new teacher, Captain Lancaster, gives him a warning. When Danny is late a second time after helping a rabbit escape a snare, Lancaster gives him 1,000 lines to write.

One night, William sneaks out of the vardo. Discovering this, Danny stays up waiting for him until he returns. William explains that he had been attempting to poach some of Hazell's pheasants as a playful revenge, using raisins as bait; William and his late father poached birds this way during the Great Depression. With Danny's blessing, William makes a second attempt some days later. Danny goes to bed, but later awakens to find William is several hours overdue in returning. William has been repairing an old Austin 7, so Danny sets out in the car to find his father, narrowly avoiding a police cruiser in the process. Once in Hazell's woods, Danny overhears Hazell's gamekeepers Rabbets and Springer, who are gloating over an injured poacher who has fallen into their illegal pit trap. After they leave to fetch Hazell, Danny discovers the trapped poacher is William, helps him out of the pit, and drives him back home to have his broken ankle treated by Doc Spencer. Suspecting the truth, Hazell sends Police Sergeant Enoch Samways to question William about his injuries; however, Samways dislikes Hazell, and falsifies the report to say that William fell down the vardo stairs. Doc Spencer agrees with this decision, as William could have been killed by falling in the trap.

When Captain Lancaster mistakenly believes he has caught Danny cheating on a test, he canes Danny's hand. Mr. Snoddy intervenes and threatens to dismiss Lancaster, as corporal punishment is not allowed in the school. Later, Danny and William learn that Mr. Hazell will be holding a huge pheasant shoot on his property to impress some of the local aristocracy. Hoping to embarrass Hazell, Danny decides he and William should drug the pheasants using a sedative Doc Spencer has prescribed for William. The Smiths stay up late to crush the pills and stuff the raisins with the powder, causing Danny to fall asleep in school the next day. Lancaster keeps Danny after school, ordering him to run laps as punishment; however, Danny escapes the schoolyard, and Lancaster attempts to follow, ripping his trousers. Embarrassed, he resigns his position, much to Mr. Snoddy's delight.

The night before the shoot, Danny and William manage to drug and capture all the pheasants, hiding them in the garage. The party guests mock Hazell when no pheasants appear at the shoot, and Hazell sends Rabbets and Springer to investigate. The keepers discover that the pheasants are drunkenly flying around William's property, having awakened sooner than expected. Soon, Hazell and most of the villagers have gathered to see the spectacle. Hazell wants William arrested, but Sergeant Samways reminds Hazell that game laws decree live pheasants belong to whoever owns the land they are on. Hearing that William still owns his land, Mr. Tallon, a developer, steps forward. It turns out that, without William's centrally-located property, Hazell couldn't go ahead with a secret plan to build a newer and bigger town practically on top of the village itself. Humiliated, Hazell angrily drives away. Danny sets the pheasants free, and the townsfolk celebrate the happy ending together.

Main cast

ActorRole
Jeremy Irons William Smith
Robbie Coltrane Victor Hazell
Samuel IronsDanny Smith
Cyril Cusack Doc Spencer
Michael Hordern Lord Claybury
Lionel Jeffries Mr. Snoddy (Headmaster)
Jean Marsh Miss Hunter (Social Worker)
John Grillo Mr Parker (Social Worker)
Jimmy Nail Rabbetts (Head Gamekeeper)
William ArmstrongSpringer (Gamekeeper)
Ronald Pickup Captain Lancaster
John Woodvine Tallon

DVD release

A Region 2 DVD was released in 2005 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It includes a documentary feature titled Danny and the Dirty Dog (referring to Victor Hazell, who is described as a "dirty dog" by Roald Dahl), which features interviews with Roald Dahl, Jeremy Irons, and Robbie Coltrane (in character as Victor Hazell).

Reception

The film had mostly positive reviews. [6] [7] Some viewers were pleased in particular by the film's positively-updated view on the subject of corporal punishment in schools, which Dahl was an outspoken opponent of, particularly because he himself had suffered permanent injuries to his buttocks.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roald Dahl</span> British writer and poet (1916–1990)

Roald Dahl was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".

<i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i> 1964 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka.

<i>The BFG</i> 1982 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

The BFG is a 1982 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It is an expansion of a short story from Dahl's 1975 novel Danny, the Champion of the World. The book is dedicated to Dahl's oldest daughter, Olivia, who had died of measles encephalitis at the age of seven in 1962.

<i>Matilda</i> (novel) 1988 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Matilda is a 1988 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was published by Jonathan Cape. The story features Matilda Wormwood, a precocious child with an uncaring mother and father, and her time in school run by the tyrannical headmistress Miss Trunchbull.

The Big Read was a survey on books carried out by the BBC in the United Kingdom in 2003, where over three-quarters of a million votes were received from the British public to find the nation's best-loved novel. The year-long survey was the biggest single test of public reading taste to date, and culminated with several programmes hosted by celebrities, advocating their favourite books.

<i>Boy</i> (autobiography) 1984 autobiography by Roald Dahl

Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984) is an autobiography written by British writer Roald Dahl. This book describes his life from early childhood until leaving school, focusing on living conditions in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, the public school system at the time, and how his childhood experiences led him to writing children's books as a career. It concludes with his first job, working for Royal Dutch Shell. His life story continues in the book Going Solo.

<i>James and the Giant Peach</i> 1961 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

James and the Giant Peach is a children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of it over the years, done by Michael Simeon, Emma Chichester Clark, Lane Smith and Quentin Blake. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1996 which was directed by Henry Selick, and a musical in 2010.

<i>The Twits</i> 1980 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

The Twits is a 1980 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was first published by Jonathan Cape. The story features The Twits, a spiteful, idle, unkempt couple who continuously play nasty practical jokes on each other to amuse themselves, and exercise their devious wickedness on their pet monkeys.

<i>Georges Marvellous Medicine</i> 1981 childrens book written by Roald Dahl

George's Marvellous Medicine is a children's novel written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. First published by Jonathan Cape in 1981, it features George Kranky, an eight-year-old boy who concocts his own miracle elixir to replace his tyrannical grandmother's regular prescription medicine.

<i>Danny, the Champion of the World</i> 1975 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Danny, the Champion of the World is a 1975 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The plot centres on Danny, a young English boy, and his father, William. They live in a Gypsy caravan, fix cars for a living in their mechanic shop and partake in poaching pheasants. It was first published on February 14, 1975, in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape.

<i>Fantastic Mr Fox</i> 1970 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Fantastic Mr Fox is a children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl. It was published in 1970, by George Allen & Unwin in the UK and Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S., with illustrations by Donald Chaffin. The first Puffin paperback, first issued in 1974, featured illustrations by Jill Bennett. Later editions have featured illustrations by Tony Ross (1988) and Quentin Blake (1996). The story is about Mr Fox and how he outwits his farmer neighbours to steal their food from right under their noses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miss Trunchbull</span> Fictional character

Ms Agatha Trunchbull, also known as Ms Trunchbull, or simply The Trunchbull, is the fictional headmistress of Crunchem Hall Primary School, and the main antagonist in Roald Dahl's 1988 novel Matilda and its adaptations: the 1996 film Matilda, the 2011 musical, and the 2022 musical film adaptation. She is said to look "more like a rather eccentric and bloodthirsty follower of the stag-hounds than the headmistress of a nice school for children".

Trout tickling is the art of rubbing the underbelly of a trout with fingers. If done properly, the trout will go into a trance after a minute or so, and can then easily be retrieved and thrown onto the nearest bit of dry land.

<i>The Night Digger</i> 1971 British film by Alastair Reid

The Road Builder is a 1971 British thriller film directed by Alastair Reid and starring Patricia Neal, Pamela Brown and Nicholas Clay. The screenplay was by Roald Dahl based on the novel Nest in a Fallen Tree by Joy Cowley, about two women who are visited by a suspicious handy man.

The Gamekeeper is a 1980 British drama film directed by Ken Loach. It is based on a novel of the same name by Barry Hines. It competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. As with Barry Hines's other scripts, most of the dialogue is in Yorkshire dialect.

Danny is a masculine given name.

<i>Esio Trot</i> (film) 2015 television film by Dearbhla Walsh

Roald Dahl's Esio Trot, or simply Esio Trot, is a British comedy drama television film directed by Dearbhla Walsh and written by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, based on the 1990 novel, Esio Trot, by Roald Dahl. In the film, a retired bachelor falls in love with his neighbour, a widow who keeps a tortoise as a companion after the death of her husband.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roald Dahl bibliography</span> List of works written by Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British author and scriptwriter, and "the most popular writer of children's books since Enid Blyton", according to Philip Howard, the literary editor of The Times.

Gipsy House is a house in the village of Great Missenden in the English county of Buckinghamshire. It was the home of the writer Roald Dahl and his family for several decades. The house is situated on Whitefield Lane, an old drovers' road on the outskirts of the village. It is currently privately owned but the writing hut is on display at Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.

<i>Matilda the Musical</i> (film) 2022 film by Matthew Warchus

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical, or simply Matilda the Musical, or Matilda, is a 2022 fantasy musical film directed by Matthew Warchus from a screenplay by Dennis Kelly, based on the stage musical of the same name by Tim Minchin and Kelly, which in turn was based on the 1988 novel Matilda by Roald Dahl. It is the second film adaptation of the novel, following Matilda (1996). The film stars Alisha Weir as the title character, alongside Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Sindhu Vee, and Emma Thompson. In the plot, Matilda Wormwood (Weir), who is neglected and mistreated by her parents, develops psychokinetic abilities to deal with Miss Trunchbull (Thompson), the ruthless and cruel headmistress of Crunchem Hall School.

References

  1. 1 2 "This page no longer exists". Archived from the original on 3 October 2018.
  2. Billington, Michael (27 November 1988). "FILM; when Three Generations Go on Location". The New York Times.
  3. "Danny, the Champion of the World (Television)".
  4. "Roald Dahl's 'generous spirit' uncovered by auction find – his prized school trophy gifted to a little boy". March 2022.
  5. "Danny the Champion of the World". Empire. January 2000.
  6. "Danny the Champion of the World Review. Movie Reviews - Film - Time Out London". 7 June 2011. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011.