Clockwise (1986)

John Cleese plays Brian Stimpson, an efficient headmaster at an English school who, while on his way to a conference where he is to deliver a speech, misses his train, which launches him into an escalating series of misadventures as he desperately tries to reach the conference, no matter what...John Cleese is quite funny as the clock watching schoolmaster, and features a good cast of familiar British actors, but film is not all that funny really, being a one-joke premise stretched out to feature-length. Also, unlike Cleese's more famous character(Basil Fawlty from "Fawlty Towers") Stimpson isn't really that bad, and doesn't deserve these calamities, which seem mean-spirited.

"Clockwise" is a dead boring, mostly silly and rather stupid story about an extremely efficient, amazingly punctual headmaster who finds his whole world coming apart at the seams when his strictly organised schedule goes awry. Director Christopher Morahan is unable to do anything with Michael Frayn's terribly bland plot, which is full of unfunny antics and awfully ridiculous situations. Some mildly effective humour is not enough to save the picture.Even ingenious British comic John Cleese is not able to transform the mirthless goings on, and being typically typecast doesn't help his cause. Luckily for the lanky comedian he was able to bury the memory of this disaster, and thus resurrect his career, with "A Fish Called Wanda".The support cast are totally uninspired, and George Fenton's music is not much better. Put plainly, "Clockwise" is never wacky enough or straight enough. This disappointment tends to sit on the comical fence, which inevitably backfires.Sunday, December 17, 1995 - Video

Headmaster Brian Stimpson has built his reputation on being organised and running his school on a tight schedule organised right down to the minute. Such is the success of this approach that he has been elected the chairman of the Headmaster's Association and is due to give a speech to the association in Norwich. A simple mix up over right and left sees him miss his train and also miss a lift from his wife. A chance encounter with one of his sixth form in a car sees him able to beg a lift from her but that only causes more panic and confusion with his wife and the girl's parents assuming that he is in a relationship with her. Meanwhile on the road how eventful can a simple drive of less than 200 miles be?With John Cleese playing the sort of character he is well known for you pretty much know what you're going to get here in this precursor to Planes, Trains & Automobiles. The narrative arch sees us establishing the strictly organised Stimpson before then spending the rest of the film gradually putting him through increasingly comic blunders and delays as he tries to get to his destination on time. It is nothing that special or clever and the events are never that unexpected or imaginative. Personally I rarely laughed out loud but was reasonably amused by it throughout. Morahan's direction is pretty by-the-numbers and his touch is too obvious to be of much help.Cleese is the whole show and it is down to his playing that the film is worth even looking at. Sure his performance is not a million miles from characters he has played before but he is still good. His timing and awareness of his own absurdity helps the material. The rest fall in behind him but mostly the film is all about him and he is rarely offscreen. Overall then an average comedy that is more or less what you expect but should do enough to amuse if not have you roaring with laughter. Cleese makes it worth the while so, if you like him you'll be OK but if not this isn't worth bothering with.

This came on TV whilst I was ill, and I found myself laughing uncontrollably at points. It's probably the best ever analysis of the finer points of the tight-arse institutionalised anxiety that so many of us grew up with in the UK in the 50's/60's. That makes it very subtle and complex: It may not travel well, but if you get one half of the richness of the references and cultural idioms being spoofed here, you'll appreciate what a glorious, authentic, intelligent, finely nuanced romp it is. Encapsulate all this in a "Monsieur Hulot's Greek Tragedy" high paced idiom, and it's a classic. Wanda is Chardonnay. This is fine burgundy. If you want a lot of fun getting to know why anybody would be silly enough to call a private school a public school, dive in, because this one is right on the button!