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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 373184" data-attributes="member: 23">And I followed it up with an evening screening: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsanet.pics%2Fstorage-3%2F0917%2FKGr0wqKdNrfV0w3Nt4ucEXoeTIZIK5fv.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=28eb7532144554821dde31b9fb8bdcdf2f18457a56054cb47f49917e0cf079ee&ipo=images" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 539px" /> Yet another to be filed under "how have I not seen this until now"? The simplest answer being 1989 me was aware of it by name and poster alone, and probably didn't feel it was my cup of tea. I remember him being a pretty big name at this time, but with the little I saw of him I never really "got" him back then. At the time it felt to me as though he was in everything. Kids at school - and boys particularly - seemed to love him in films like Roxanne or Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Me? At the time I thought the little I'd seen of him was pretty silly and found his overexposure a turn-off, which is part of the reason I happily skipped over the film. With this in mind, it was a wonderful surprise to find myself belly laughing at some of his scenes. Some of the characters he played here were just hilarious. There's an underlying cruelty to some of the humour (I felt guilty for laughing at the "Ruprecht" scenes because he appeared to be posing as someone with severe learning difficulties), but Martin has the charisma to soften the blow. Michael Caine is also an actor whose body of work is impressive, but who - to me - seemed pretty much the same in everything (thanks in no small part to his trademark distinctive speaking voice). That said, I don't recall watching one of his performances that wasn't in some way enjoyable. It's telling that just this week I was disappointed to find that he didn't return for the second Miss Congeniality film as I'd enjoyed him in the first. More than even Steve Martin, this film has allowed me to appreciate Michael Caine more than ever before. What really struck me - and this is mostly thanks to the dynamic with Steve Martin who is frequently very OTT and animated - was his stillness. He simply stood there taking it all - twinkle in the eye and knowing look on his face - and completely commanded the screen. It was great fun to see him playing other some roles within the role, and to hear that he's rather good at accents which here included German and Australian. And of course he was born to play a roguish cad with echoes of David Niven, Leslie Phillips or Terry Thomas. It was good to see Anton Rodgers in another film role. While I've seen him in some cameos and small roles in older British films, he's best known to me as William Fields. This year has given me the chance to see him do some different stuff: the singing and dancing in Scrooge was a revelation to me since there was a natural fluidity to his physicality that was light years away from the sitcom hubby I know; as was the lascivious roué in Upstairs Downstairs. His part in this film as the corrupt French police inspector showed yet another side to him, and he was perfect for this bigger supporting role. I was struck by a couple of nods (perhaps unintentional) to other vehicles of his: firstly, the con artist being known as The Jackal could be viewed as alluding to The Day Of The Jackal - the film version of which featured Anton. Secondly, and most exciting, a lengthy surveillance scene featuring Rodgers early-ish in the film was done to a quirky, slightly Gallic instrumental rendition of Pick Yourself Up which is best known to me as the theme to Anton's hit sitcoms Fresh Fields and its successor French Fields (where it was given a more Gallic style). This film was shot some time Fresh Fields ended (and around a year before French Fields began), and I couldn't help wondering if this was a deliberate little Easter egg. The rest of the casting remained consistently good. There are lots of familiar faces of the well-known and lesser-known varieties to keep the interest. The film's lighthearted twist was satisfying enough. I must confess I didn't see it coming until shortly before the reveal. </blockquote>

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