Nuns on the Run **** (1990, Eric Idle, Robbie Coltrane, Camille Coduri, Janet Suzman, Doris Hare, Lila Kaye) – Classic Movie Review 9850

The often hilarious 1990 British caper comedy Nuns on the Run stars ideal Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, who give winningly amusing performances as bank robbers who hide in a nunnery dressed as nuns.

Writer-director Jonathan Lynn’s 1990 British caper comedy Nuns on the Run stars ideal Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, who carry on up the cloisters as Brian and Charlie, bank robbers who snatch a million and are chased by villains.

When the going gets tough, the toughs get going to a nunnery, where the ladies with the abbey habit look every bit as frightening. Eric Idle’s Brian becomes Sister Euphemia of the Five Wounds and Robbie Coltrane’s Charlie becomes Sister Inviolata of the Immaculate Conception.

Nuns on the Run is an often hilarious drag farce, with a broad but amiable sense of humour, led by the continually amusing performances of the stars dressed as nuns, plus a nifty turn from Janet Suzman as a sniffily superior mother superior. Yes, it is easy and entertaining to go with the film’s idea that nuns are funny, and men dressed as nuns are even funnier.

Also in the cast are Camille Coduri, Janet Suzman, Doris Hare, Lila Kaye, Winston Dennis, Robert Patterson, Robert Morgan, Tom Hickey, Colin Campbell, Nicholas Hewetson and Richard Simpson.

It is produced by George Harrison’s HandMade Films and was released on 16 March 1990. Robbie Coltrane also played in HandMade’s hit Mona Lisa (1986).

Outdoor scenes were shot in London at Chiswick, Putney, White City and Kings Cross. The convent exterior was filmed at St Michael & All Angels Church on Priory Avenue, Chiswick, West London. Interiors were shot at the former Royal Masonic School for Boys at Bushey in Hertfordshire.

The soundtrack is composed and performed by Yello, and features George Harrison’s song ‘Blow Away’ and Steve Winwood’s ‘Roll With It’.

The cast are Eric Idle as Brian Hope/ Sister Euphemia of the Five Wounds, Robbie Coltrane as Charlie McManus/ Sister Inviolata of the Immaculate Conception, Janet Suzman as Sister Superior Liz, Camille Coduri as Faith Thomas, Robert Patterson as Mr ‘Case’ Casey, Doris Hare as Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, Lila Kaye as Sister Mary of the Annunciation, Tom Hickey as Father Seamus, Colin Campbell as Norm, Robert Morgan as Abbott, Winston Dennis as Morley, Gary Tang as Ronnie Chang, David Forman as Henry Ho, and Ozzie Yue as Ernie Wong.

Robbie Coltrane died at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Falkirk, on 14 October 2022, aged 72. He is remembered for Scrubbers (1983), Krull (1983), The Supergrass (1985), Defence of the Realm (1985), Absolute Beginners (1986), Mona Lisa (1986), The Fruit Machine (1988), the James Bond films GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999), From Hell (2001), and as half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films (2001–2011).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9850

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