This week Chris Deacy is joined by Andy Richards to discuss the films: Carry On Sergeant, Love Honour & Obey, Forrest Gump, and The Gruffalo.
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00:00 [Music]
00:13 Hello and welcome to Kent Film Club.
00:15 I'm Chris DC and each week I'll be joined by a guest from Kent to dive deep into the
00:20 impact certain films have had on their life.
00:23 Each guest will reflect on the films which have meant the most to them over the years.
00:27 And every week there will be a Kent Film Trivia where we quiz you at home about a film that
00:32 has a connection to the county.
00:35 And now let me introduce you to my guest for this week.
00:38 Having produced hundreds of TV programmes for the likes of ITV and the BFI in addition
00:43 to KMTV, he's none other than our very own channel director.
00:47 He is Andy Richards.
00:49 Hello Chris.
00:50 Great to meet you again Andy.
00:52 And I don't know your film choices but maybe I'm not surprised that there's a carry-on
00:57 film in there.
00:58 Well yes, so even you reading the introduction there had me sweating a bit.
01:03 I've really struggled.
01:04 I don't know how many people say this but I've really struggled to pick my films.
01:09 I've loved films growing up and into my young adulthood and then into this stage of my life
01:16 with having young children.
01:18 And it's been really, really tough.
01:20 But yeah, my first film that I've picked, people might be surprised, is a film called
01:25 Carry On Sergeant.
01:26 Now I'm not a huge, I'm not a carry-on film fanatic at all but I grew up in Guernsey in
01:34 the Channel Islands and up until probably the late 90s, mid to late 90s, there wasn't
01:41 a proper cinema there.
01:44 There was one screen that occasionally had films that were maybe out six, seven months
01:50 from the UK.
01:52 So we had to rely on videotaping and watching what was ever on those four channels, even
01:58 before Channel 5.
02:00 And my dad recorded Carry On Sergeant and people of a certain age will understand this
02:06 is when you videotape.
02:08 There's no series recording or anything like that so there's always bits missing.
02:13 There's this very first bit missing at the beginning of Carry On Sergeant but I can remember
02:17 as a six or seven year old, absolutely in hysterics watching this old black and white
02:25 movie.
02:26 And of course it was the very first carry-on film.
02:28 And I remember like you watching it on TV because there was a time in the 80s when they
02:32 would show all the carry-on films and often they showed them in the morning, certainly
02:35 during school holidays.
02:37 And this one resonated because you've got a young Bob Munkaus but also William Hartnell,
02:40 the first Doctor Who.
02:42 That's right.
02:43 How do you think it squares up with the other carry-on films?
02:46 I've watched a few others and I think what was really interesting about this film is
02:52 that it was 1958 so not too long after the war.
02:57 And it was about a bunch of different characters being thrown together into this situation
03:03 to prepare to battle and they're from all walks of life.
03:07 And I really enjoyed that or really kind of understood different characters and different
03:12 people and different people in society having to come together to do something.
03:17 So I think there was a bit of a social statement in this film in some ways.
03:24 Probably if I watched it back now some of it certainly wouldn't be politically correct
03:28 today.
03:29 But I can remember resonating with characters and things like that.
03:31 I'm not sure if I really felt the same about the other carry-on films.
03:34 I think they were a bit more slapstick.
03:36 They kind of went a little bit more goofy.
03:38 The later ones certainly did from the late 60s but even some of the early ones like carry-on
03:42 regardless is all about people in the workplace.
03:44 And again it's the social order.
03:46 The fun and the comedy in there is that we can relate.
03:49 Certainly audiences back in the 50s could relate to that post-war period and finding
03:53 humour out of the everyday situations.
03:56 Absolutely.
03:57 And it was just so fun.
03:58 Just little bits of comedy.
04:00 Nothing too much in your face.
04:02 Like the hypochondriac character was just brilliant.
04:05 Everything was wrong with him.
04:06 Trying to find every single excuse to go home.
04:09 He was brilliant.
04:10 And of course they would miss the ropes when they're trying to cross the river and all
04:15 those types of things.
04:16 So subtle, subtle bits of comedy.
04:18 Not too much in your face.
04:19 And I suppose that's what I loved as a kid.
04:21 I was always quite an old heart.
04:23 I loved Tony Hancock.
04:24 I loved Blackadder.
04:27 I loved all kinds of old school comedies so to speak.
04:32 So I suppose that's why that one resonated with me.
04:35 And is it something that you've watched in recent years?
04:37 Because with me the carry-on films are kind of set in stone.
04:40 I watch them repeatedly.
04:42 Often even like on a Friday night on BBC they'd show them.
04:45 Unthinkable today.
04:46 Like carry-on girls.
04:47 There's no way they'd show that anymore.
04:50 But is this something that you're choosing because you associate it with your childhood?
04:54 You mentioned growing up in Guernsey.
04:55 Or is it something that you would put on now if you wanted your guilty pleasure?
05:00 No, I don't think I would.
05:01 In fact before we did the show I went to have a quick look and it immediately took me back.
05:08 So I picked this one just because it reminded me more of the video tapes, putting them on,
05:14 watching them over and over.
05:15 And which film can I really remember doing that with the most?
05:19 And it was this one and probably Cool Runnings.
05:23 And is there a particular scene in this?
05:25 Because this was the template.
05:26 I think they did move the formula a little bit because it's a more serious film.
05:31 There are silly moments in it, slapstick moments in it.
05:33 But actually it sort of works in its own right.
05:35 I don't know if they knew when they made this that there was going to be another 30 years
05:39 worth of material.
05:40 Oh it's definitely the hypochondriac.
05:42 I forget his name, the actual character.
05:45 But it's when he's going through his medical and he's saying there's absolutely everything
05:53 wrong with him but there's absolutely nothing wrong with him at all.
05:56 I remember just rolling around laughing at this really clever wit and just the subtle
06:02 changes and the way that he's getting examined and you do lots of different noises.
06:08 Just brilliant.
06:09 That's what really resonates with me.
06:10 And also there's the character, I forgot the name of the character, but again it's all
06:15 those bit slaps, missing the rope, going to line up but doing too many paces, the drill
06:24 sergeant getting absolutely furious.
06:26 It's all those types of things.
06:27 I have to watch this again.
06:28 Well thank you Andy.
06:29 It's time now to move on to your second chosen film and you've gone for Love, Honour and
06:36 Obey.
06:37 Right, this is a really strange choice and not many people have watched this film but
06:44 when I got to, I don't know, I would say 16, 17, 18, I was really starting to love film
06:52 but I didn't see an awful lot at the cinema.
06:56 And Bing and Guernsey, small screens and whenever I had the opportunity to go over to the UK
07:04 it would be the absolute staple that we would do.
07:06 We would go to Odeon or we would go to whatever the other chains were.
07:12 But when I went to university, I first went to university at the University of Teesside
07:17 up in Middlesbrough and I met a local there, his name's Nick, Nicky Donnelly and we were
07:26 from completely different backgrounds.
07:29 He had grown up in a really rough area of the country, really rough area of Middlesbrough.
07:35 I had been from this quite affluent place in Guernsey but we really, really connected
07:40 on film and there had been so many films I hadn't seen at that point.
07:45 I hadn't seen Scorsese, so you know, Goodfellas, Casino, he introduced me to all those.
07:51 Loads of 80s films like Red Heat, All the Predators, all these types of films.
07:57 But this film is the one that we used to laugh at over and over and over again.
08:00 It's an amazing cast and not many people, when you talk about British gangster films
08:04 or crime films, not many people have heard about it.
08:08 But it's Ray Winston, a very young Jude Law, Johnny Lee Miller, Denise Van Outen's in it
08:15 randomly and it's just a great, again, it's kind of a comedy gangster film and it's just
08:22 brilliant.
08:23 The soundtrack, we used to sing the soundtrack over and over again.
08:25 So this is a bit of a nod really to my mate Nicky, I've not seen in 20 odd years but we
08:30 just loved watching films all night and probably should have gone to more lectures.
08:33 Well they're a very key genre because you think of Sexy Beast with Ray Winston, these
08:39 kind of films were, and The Craze I suppose also could have kick-started this particular
08:45 point as well.
08:46 But they do stand up next to their American counterparts because you think of Goodfellas,
08:52 this is a different sort of scale but these films have people like Ray Winston in them
08:58 who are very gruff, they kind of fit the roles very well.
09:01 And like Carry On Sergeant, they are commentaries on maybe the underside of British life over
09:08 the last several decades.
09:09 Oh absolutely, I think that's what resonated really when we watched this film.
09:14 So Ray Winston went on to be in The Departed after this, Sexy Beast was made not long after
09:18 this as well, I think it was about 1998, 1999, no it might be closer to 2000.
09:25 And it's around the time of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, all the Guy
09:30 Ritchie films and it's all that kind of more gritty, more kind of working class elements
09:37 to the stories around why these people were in this together.
09:41 But also a real sense of family and companionship within their gangs but doing terrible things
09:48 at the same time.
09:49 And it was just a great film, great soundtrack as well.
09:53 So I'd recommend to anybody to watch it.
09:55 Because as you were describing it I thought also the Italian job, which obviously has
10:00 maybe more comedic element.
10:02 But do you think that these films are able to tell us a lot about society?
10:09 Scorsese does this very well, they're characters that you wouldn't necessarily on paper anyway
10:13 want to meet, you wouldn't want to share a house with them, you wouldn't want Travis
10:16 Pickle necessarily to be living in your apartment.
10:19 But you get to know them, you kind of realise that there are things around integrity or
10:23 family that matter to them.
10:26 Is that the hook?
10:27 They're great anti-heroes aren't they?
10:28 They really are about family, about compassion but getting the job done in every way possible.
10:38 That's probably the best way to describe it.
10:40 But it was just a fabulous film and a great genre.
10:44 In British gangster films definitely, crime films, I think they tell a great story.
10:49 But I could list them forever.
10:51 The American ones are fantastic.
10:52 Heat, that's another film Nicky introduced me to.
10:55 There are so many brilliant films in that genre.
10:58 I don't think they're done as well today, they're really not.
11:01 Do you think it matters whether you watch them on the big screen or the small screen?
11:05 Great question.
11:07 Because I've experienced them on the small screen, I've totally resonated with them.
11:13 I haven't gone and seen a great gangster movie at the cinema I suppose.
11:17 I can't really think of something that I've gone.
11:20 The Irishman is a great example, Netflix isn't it?
11:23 I love that film.
11:25 I thought that was also a brilliant, brilliant Scorsese.
11:30 Going and sitting in the cinema to watch that for more than three hours, I find that a bit
11:35 tricky these days without any intervals.
11:37 But they work so well on the small screen as well.
11:39 I agree but I did do it twice and I'm not sure in retrospect that was a good idea.
11:44 That's about all the time we have for this first half of the show.
11:48 However, before we go to the break we have a Kent film trivia question for you at home.
11:53 Which Jason Statham movie featured Dartford Crossing?
11:57 Was it A) Blitz, B)
12:00 Safe or C) Redemption?
12:04 We'll reveal the answer right after this break.
12:07 Don't go away.
12:20 Hello and welcome back to Kent Film Club.
12:22 Just before that ad break we asked you at home a Kent film trivia question.
12:27 Which Jason Statham movie featured Dartford Crossing?
12:30 I asked was it A) Blitz, B)
12:34 Safe or was it C) Redemption?
12:37 And now I can reveal to you that the answer was in fact C) Redemption.
12:42 The crossing was used in the scene where Joey, played by Jason Statham, drives a van across
12:46 the bridge and a lorry approaches the toll.
12:51 Did you get the answer right?
12:53 Well it's time now to move on to your next chosen film Andy and you've gone for this
12:57 is such a classic, Forrest Gump.
13:00 Yes, so I know off camera we've talked about this before and on a rival programme, let's
13:05 call it a programme that talks about music on a beach.
13:10 I heard an amazing, amazing interview, one of the best I've ever heard of Tom Hanks and
13:16 Tom Hanks I think, I'm going to put it out, he is my favourite actor.
13:20 I've decided today, he's my favourite actor.
13:23 And I just love his work, his body of work and the different films that he's done.
13:29 And Forrest Gump was one of those films that I can just again remember, late 90s, I was
13:36 just kind of in my, growing up as a teenager really starting to discover more about myself.
13:42 The film that has empathy, has determination, it's almost like three or four films in one
13:50 and how the director manages to do that in the different acts.
13:56 Although Tom Hanks will say it is a Vietnam film, it's a Vietnam film, that's what the
14:02 genre is supposed to be.
14:04 But it isn't, it's about coming of age, it's about loss, it's about friendship, about race,
14:12 about America, how it was developing in those times.
14:16 It's just a brilliant, brilliant film.
14:18 And I saw it when it came out at the cinema in '94 and what really stood out about that
14:24 is that it was often what was going on off screen as it were, it was the fact that it
14:29 really hit the zeitgeist.
14:30 Because of course, anybody growing up watching this film, anybody who remembered obviously
14:33 a generation before me, the Vietnam War, they would have resonated with this.
14:37 Even the idea that he almost met Elvis Presley or maybe did meet Elvis Presley or maybe his
14:41 mother had a relationship with somebody who was connected to Elvis Presley.
14:44 And there are lots of funny moments.
14:46 But in a previous episode of this we've looked at sliding doors.
14:49 But it has those similar kind of motifs, the sort of what if you were to insert yourself
14:54 somewhere where you maybe weren't but you could imagine yourself and how would you have
14:58 changed history?
14:59 Absolutely.
15:00 And the opportunities that he sees and he's successful in.
15:04 And it starts by talking about how his IQ isn't particularly high, they never really
15:09 talk about a diagnosis of anything because I'm sure that was a long time before those
15:14 types of things.
15:15 But he really takes his opportunities in life and whether it's the ping pong or Bubba Gump
15:22 Shrimp or making the smiley, everyone forgets the smiley, he did the have a nice day motive
15:28 when he's doing his running.
15:30 And it's just a really lovely film.
15:33 But the key point for me with Hanks and again what I heard in this other interview which
15:36 has resonated with me since is that if you look at his body of work it's about a man's
15:43 struggle with loneliness.
15:45 And I could reel off about 15 films or his struggle with himself.
15:51 So the year before he won the best Oscar for Philadelphia.
15:56 There's Big, he's on his own even.
15:59 Toy Story, Woody struggles with his loneliness and his place in the world.
16:04 Road to Perdition, a father really struggling with his relationship with his son.
16:09 The Castaway is probably the biggest example of again a man on his own trying to find his
16:15 way through a difficult situation.
16:17 And he plays this particular character over and over again but so well.
16:22 Captain Phillips, I could go on and on.
16:24 Grey, that's a fantastic film on Apple Films at the moment.
16:30 So yeah, I love Tom Hanks and his story there.
16:33 That really stands out here as well and of course linking in with your other choices.
16:37 It's the underdog or the person perhaps who isn't completely understood or has to work
16:42 their way, navigate their way through a world that isn't particularly understanding.
16:46 100%.
16:47 Empathy.
16:49 Having some empathy and understanding and there's that beautiful scene in Forrest Gump
16:56 when he's asking Jenny, he's just found out that he's got a son and he's asking Jenny
17:02 if he's got the same level of intelligence as himself.
17:07 And it's just this, that was his first thought was having that empathy for this boy and trying
17:12 to understand what this boy was going to do in life.
17:16 Haley Jollisman is the little boy which again not many people realise who went on to have
17:22 a great career.
17:23 But oh, I didn't like Jenny throughout.
17:26 But again, Jenny's a really interesting character, Robin Wright who's obviously come to more
17:32 fame in House of Cards.
17:35 But her battles and the way that she had had struggles but she continually let Forrest
17:41 down but Forrest always was there.
17:44 And what stands out, you mentioned the underdog motif but of course he lasts the course.
17:49 But he may be written off and that's why he's worried about his son.
17:52 And I don't always cry at movies but that scene on the bench when she knows that she's
17:57 dying and he realises he has a son.
17:59 And that was so powerful because something resonated there.
18:02 There was that moment of self-reflection that maybe up to that point we've been judging
18:06 him, maybe laughing at him or others have been judging him.
18:08 But suddenly at this moment here, he kind of realises who he is and his place in the
18:14 world and he wants the best for his son.
18:15 It does, absolutely.
18:17 And ending with the feather going off again and him seeing his son start the same cycle
18:27 as we saw at the beginning of the film.
18:29 But he was capable and happy but still alone because he left his son and his son was off
18:35 to school.
18:36 And again, that continuing kind of drive to keep going but with a bit of loneliness.
18:44 Such a brilliant choice.
18:45 Well, thank you, Andy.
18:46 Now to move on to your final chosen film and you've gone for The Gruffalo.
18:52 Yes, so this was tough.
18:55 So I wanted to, because I've talked about, most of the films I've talked about is about
19:00 my early life and my kind of coming of age.
19:05 But since I've had a young family, film plays a big part in all young families really.
19:13 And lots of trips to see the various Minions films or Frozen or whatever.
19:17 Frozen was close by the way for this choice.
19:20 But I had to go for The Gruffalo.
19:23 Again I do call it a film rather than a TV programme because it is, because it's its
19:29 own body of work.
19:30 It's a single piece.
19:32 And it's just an absolute staple for us every single Christmas to see what the next Julia
19:37 Donaldson animation is going to be on Christmas Day.
19:40 And both my children have loved The Gruffalo so much and the other Julia Donaldson films
19:47 and Axel Scheffel animations, illustrations that have been adapted to film.
19:54 And it's just a brilliant, brilliant story.
19:56 And also the UK doesn't often export animation that, it's not really, I don't want to say
20:07 not that well because that's not true because we've got brilliant animators in the UK.
20:10 But this is the one that really has put UK animation on the map.
20:14 And I'm wondering as well, would you have watched this film if it wasn't for the fact
20:19 that your children were with you?
20:22 And do you think that you're watching it through their lens?
20:25 Are you sort of, as they're watching this, do you kind of feel that there's something
20:29 you're connecting with them?
20:30 And the story.
20:32 And the story.
20:33 You know, that's the best thing about The Gruffalo.
20:36 Although I've got conflicting views on the actual moral of the story.
20:42 For me, the mouse, lie at all costs and you'll get away with it.
20:46 That's basically what I often think.
20:48 But at the same time, it's his mind and his confidence that gets him through a tricky
20:54 situation with all those predators.
20:57 And the ultimate predator in the end, The Gruffalo, he manages to use his wit to outwit
21:03 them.
21:04 It's a modern twist on the tortoise and the hare, isn't it?
21:09 But yeah.
21:10 But does animation do that in a way that live action can't?
21:14 Because it's come up quite a few times in the series and animated films come up and
21:17 it's kind of really resonated.
21:19 Often it's the film that somebody's travelled with them from childhood.
21:22 Yeah, I think so.
21:24 It does.
21:25 It is.
21:26 It's just an amazing sensory kind of way of engaging with content.
21:31 I love live action.
21:34 I could go into the politics of live action for children and animation and how I think
21:38 there should be much more live action for children.
21:41 There's just not enough made.
21:43 It is predominantly animation now.
21:45 But it's about being able to understand the simplicity of the story, but also how powerful
21:53 those stories come through, which with The Gruffalo and all the millions of other ones
21:57 that are now available from the creators, they're all just fantastic pieces of work.
22:03 And I would say on Christmas Day it's one of the biggest things.
22:07 It's Tabby McTat this year, which we've already got in the plan and looking forward to watching
22:13 on Christmas Day.
22:14 And when you're watching something like this, do you kind of look back at your own childhood?
22:19 Do you kind of feel that if you'd watched this when you were younger, it would have
22:23 been mesmerising, wonderful?
22:25 Or is it something that works so well because of where you are at this time in your life?
22:31 I think it's where I am in my life.
22:33 I think when you're a young parent and you're suddenly produced with these two young children,
22:38 my kids are 10 and 9 now, so a bit older, they still love them.
22:41 And my son in particular loves the Julia Donaldson stories.
22:45 It's like, oh, how am I going to navigate my way through this?
22:49 Ah, I've got my toolkit.
22:51 And in my toolkit is the telly.
22:54 But more importantly for me is the quality of the content is so important.
23:00 And these films have always been so important.
23:03 So it's definitely where I am in life.
23:04 I would have loved it as a child as well.
23:07 But I could do a whole show with you just on children's films, frankly.
23:13 And a very quick question.
23:14 Is there one scene that stands out?
23:16 Oh, it's got to be Gruffalo Crumble at the end when he reveals to the Gruffalo that the
23:23 mouse's favourite food is Gruffalo Crumble.
23:25 And that is enough to send the Gruffalo on its way.
23:29 Fantastic.
23:30 Well, you've sold that to me, Andy.
23:31 Well, I'm afraid that that's all the time we have for today.
23:34 Many thanks to Andy Richards for joining us and being such a brilliant guest.
23:38 And many thanks to you all for tuning in.
23:41 Be sure to come back and join us again at the same time next week.
23:45 Until then, that's all from us.
23:46 Goodbye.
23:47 Goodbye.
23:48 Goodbye.
23:49 Goodbye.
23:49 Goodbye.
23:50 Goodbye.
23:50 Goodbye.
23:51 Goodbye.
23:52 Goodbye.
23:52 Goodbye.
23:53 Goodbye.
23:54 Goodbye.
23:54 Goodbye.
23:55 Goodbye.
23:56 Goodbye.
23:56 (whooshing)
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